Teens and Weight Loss

As you can see from this book, there are number of ways in which helping a teen to cope with their obesity, as well as helping them lose weight safely. Often, obesity treatment programs which have been devised for teens rarely have weight loss as a goal, but rather they aim to slow or halt any weight gain so that the teen will grow into their body weight over the next few months or years. It is estimated that for every 20% excess of body weight a teen has, they will need about 1½ years weight maintenance to obtain their ideal body weight.

So, early and appropriate intervention on the part of the parent is particularly valuable. It has been found that modifying a teens eating and exercise habits is much easier to do than with an adult.

The three forms of intervention that a parent could use are as follows:

Physical Activity

By adopting a formal exercise program, or just simply becoming more active, you will help to burn fact and increase the amount of energy a teen expends. Studies have shown that exercise, as well as coupling it with one of the other forms of intervention, is a successful way to help them lose weight safely.