Obesity in Teens: Teen Boys Struggling With Obesity
Kids Weight Loss
Many people these days are interested in kids weight loss. Perhaps you’ve got a teen son that is obese, or perhaps you’re a teen boy yourself and need to get rid of weight. Regardless, you need to know that there are diet plans for overweight teenage boys that genuinely work. It’s a tough subject – obesity in teens – so let’s face that fact up front. If you are honest with yourself you’ll stand a better chance. So don’t flinch — be responsible for your health & persevere.
Obesity in Teens: Visit Your Doctor First
For Parents: Before you do anything at all with your overweight children, it is crucial for you to consult your family physician to ascertain a few things. Your doctor should verify that your teenager is actually overweight. Although that could seem obvious, nevertheless you ought to verify it. This is because opinions vary; what one person thinks of as overweight, another doesn’t. And there is teen pressure too, and teasing. It is good for your teen to get a precise picture from his doctor, and go from there. To know the basics of nutritional requirements, and find out about a weight loss program will be helpful also.
Parents: Consider Your Eating Habits & Try To Develop Healthy Habits
As a parent, you could point the finger at yourself. That may be because you have heard that kids learn alot of their behavior from their parents. In other words, your eating habits and attitudes concerning food have had an impression on your teenager’s size. While there may be some truth to that, worrying is likely not going to mend the issue. You can’t alter what you have (or haven’t) done up to now, however you can change what you do from now forward.
Kids Weight Loss Camps: Is This a Viable Solution?
Whether or not you look at solutions like kids weight loss camps or a special diet/weight loss program geared specifically toward obese teenage boys, things will work out better if the entire family makes the necessary changes. Substitute unhealthy foods for healthier ones, give positive feedback daily to your son, & come up with creative things like online support groups, or visiting the gym as a family & having contests, etc.
An added factor to consider is that different age groups have diverse calorie requirements. For example, kids generally don’t require over 1,600 calories per day. But, one of the groups that needs the most is teen boys; based on their activity levels they need as much as 2,800 calories. That is a huge amount of calories! Since they require so many calories, it might be challenging to reduce the amount they eat. In a way, they’re eating machines. Still they shouldn’t just eat anything they want.
Have a Plan of Attack: Create a Visual Chart
Creating a guideline, or eating chart, can be a useful start. Go by a strict nutritional guideline and you should do ok. Choose a variety of foods, to make sure there are lots of vitamins and nutritional value. Aim for foods that are as close to their natural condition as possible; including some raw foods in the diet is wise. Still, it can be good to splurge from time to time.
Doctors Visits: More Good Reasons to Consult
An additional reason that a trip to the doctor is a wise idea is due to hormones. Because this is a critical time when hormonal changes may be occurring, you & your son need to keep abreast of any changes. The physician can perform assessments to see if the extra weight is a result of hormonal changes, or if there are other factors in play. Be sure to be straightforward with your doctor.
Teen Weight & Food Fitness: Activity is Vitally Important
The other aspect of weight loss for overweight teen boys is activity. The only way for a person to shed pounds is to burn excess calories. (I’ve included a Teen Weight Loss guide if you’re interested). And since teen boys need a lot of calories to remain fit, exercise becomes an even more important part of the equation. No matter what strategy you go with, have an element that reduces calories, plus an element which burns calories.
That’s the solution to losing weight. Support your teen to be energetic. Maybe he’d like to consider martial arts. However, if he is addicted to console games then buy one of those console games that at least requires him to get up and around & move – Nintendo Wii or Xbox kinect. And have your teen take your dog for a walk, go for a bicycle ride or perhaps a picnic in the park on the weekend.
For extra articles on teenage obesity visit Teen Obesity Issue OR 9 Kid Foods to Avoid
Further Resources for Teens at Risk:
Determining Your Teenager’s Proper Weight – Kids at Risk (Kids Worried They’re Too Fat or Too Skinny/BMI)
Info on Kids Weight Loss Camps *More on Teen Weight Loss
