It’s a wonderful thing when parents are concerned about their children’s weight, but when it comes to weight loss for teenage girls, moms and dads are often hesitant about taking the first steps. They are well aware that weight loss for teenaged girls is is a tricky issue that needs careful handling.
On the one hand, it’s distressing to see teenage girls suffering a loss of self-esteem and perhaps health problems because of their weight. On the other, it’s important not to make weight seem more important than it really is in terms of how we judge and are judged.
Teenage girls are already under fire on this front from what they see in the media – endless images that suggest popularity and skinny are necessary partners. And as parents know too well, weight loss can become a dangerous, even life-threatening obsession for teenage girls.
So how do you approach the issue of weight loss with teenage girls?
This will depend partly on how your teenage girl herself feels about her weight.
If she is unhappy with her weight a teenage girl will most likely be taking one of two roads – giving up on herself and making the problem worse, or ready to hear how you can help with weight loss. Either way, reinforcement regarding how special she is – “just as she is” – combined with some simple tips for encouraging weight loss in teenage girls will be a great start towards positive change.
If your teenage girl is oblivious to the problem, perhaps because she is very popular or has many similarly-sized friends, approaching the issue of weight loss is going to be more difficult. Why burst her bubble? A key reason will be your concerns about the effect of being overweight on your teen’s short and long-term health, and their ability to pursue any interest they choose in life. The best approach in this case will be a sideways one where, for example, the focus is not on weight loss for your teenage girl but on a shared family effort to enjoy a healthier lifestyle.
Of course whatever approach you take, weight loss needs a change in diet.
Diet plans for teenagers need to be chosen with care. Teenagers need a safe and healthy balanced diet plan to support not just their physical growth but chemical balances already challenged by adolescence. There’s also the problem that teenage girls can be notoriously stubborn about what they will and won’t eat. Sometimes this is exactly what’s causing the problem – too much of the wrong thing. You’ll need to find a diet plan that offers plenty of choice and variety with as few restrictions as possible so that there’s sure to be something they like!
If this sounds like quite a tall order, we recommend you check out Fat Loss 4 Idiots – the Idiot Proof Diet Plan. In a nutshell, the Idiot Proof Diet is healthy, super-simple diet plan suitable for teenagers and everyone else in the family too. Also known as the Diet for Dummies, there are two elements to the diet – an Online Diet Plan Generator for fast weight loss and a Diet Handbook for the slow and steady approach.
What makes the Idiot Proof Diet particularly good for impatient and picky teenagers is that there is no calorie counting or portion control, and few restrictions on what you can eat. Teens can use the Diet Plan Generator to create their own 11 day menu plans made up of the foods they like best. The handbook contains simple guidelines that they can print out, and the whole package is cheerful and up beat about the business of losing weight. And because it’s so easy to stick to, it’s easy for teens to lose weight rather than lose heart.
Finally, many mom’s who started the Idiot Proof Diet for themselves, have written to tell us their teenage girls have adopted “mom’s diet”. So, take a moment to check it out – a safe, easy and healthy weight loss plan for your teenage girls. To check out all your options, details of many more diet plans are available in the Weight Loss Programs category.
This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie
