Being a teenager comes with a lot of ups and downs. Most teenagers, if not all, have to deal with finding their own voice, co-existing with their parents/siblings, peer pressure, and a lot of surprising hormonal changes in their bodies. So it is not surprising that one in every four teens are obese.
There are a lot of health complications that can arise from teenagehood obesity. Some of them are
- Sleep disorders
- Asthma
- Metabolic syndrome
- Type 2 diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Bone fracture
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, etc.
In addition to all that, overweight in teenagers can cause some psychological issues like
- Depression
- Low self-esteem
- Anxiety
- Poor social skills
- Aggressiveness, etc.
All of these are more than enough reasons to make sure your body weight is in check as a teen.
So, having said all that, now over to what specific steps you can take to lose weight if you’re one of over 13 million obese teenagers in the US or like them.
1. Drink plenty of water and low-calorie fluids
Water has proven to be resourceful for anyone at all that wants to lose weight. Taking at least 3 liters of water every day can cause you to lose weight because of the following reasons.
- It increases metabolism in the body thereby increasing the number of calories you burn
- Drinking water before meals can help you to eat less by reducing your appetite
- Taking water in place of calorie-free drinks reduces your calorie intake and the risk of weight gain drastically
2. Do not skip meals
It is hard to understand why you should not skip meals if you really want to lose weight. Like, the less you eat, the more you lose weight; right? Well, the answer to that is “yes” and “no”.
According to experts, skipping meals in a bid to lose weight will give you hunger pangs which will increase your appetite and make you want to binge as much as possible the next time you come across food. So this is counterproductive. On the other hand, if you manage to go through the hunger pangs without eating too much later, you’ll develop health complications. So, you see, whatever you do, do not skip meals.
Now that you know not to skip meals, you should also know that what you eat matters a lot. Cut down on high-calorie foods, eat more protein and fibers, cut out processed food as much as you can; just try to eat as clean as possible generally.
3. Avoid eating late at night
Eating late at night is not good for your health or your weight in particular. It is usually advised to finish your dinner as early as possible; say 5 pm. If worse comes to worst and you were not able to take dinner on time, try to make it before 8 pm; nothing more.
This sounds kind of hard, like a punishment or something.
Come to think of it, is it possible for one to eat dinner as early as 5 pm and stay put without eating anything else until breakfast (although that would be great)? Hardly! And, no, you don’t have to suffer and starve like that. If you feel hungry at night, you can take a cup of tea or iced fresh juice. Frozen yogurt is a great option too.
4. Cut down on unhealthy snacks and processed foods
Snacks are very delicious you’ll agree, but careless snacking or synthesized food products are very unhealthy. You’re going to need to exercise some discipline, in this case, to help you stay away from unhealthy snacks. Because unhealthy snacks and processed foods are not good for you. They contain unhealthy saturated fats and sugars that can lead to weight gain if not controlled.
Try as much as you can to reduce your snacks and processed food intake. Better still, you can cut them off entirely and replace them with healthier snacks. Some examples of great tasting healthy snacks are
- Nuts like almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pecans
- Fruits like tart cherries, bananas, oranges
- Protein Smoothie
- Crackers
- Yogurt, etc.
These are better and healthier options compared to processed foods and snacks. They are tasty, won’t cause you to gain weight, and will have you filled after just a few bites.
5. Announce your weight loss journey
If you wish to lose weight, you can do it with some support from the people around you. Announcing that you want to lose weight is one way you can get that support. You can announce this to anyone that’s close to you; your family, friends, colleagues, etc. You can also ask for their support in one way or the other. For instance, you can ask your mother to buy fresh fruits for you to binge on at night when you get hungry instead of processed snacks and foods.
You can even take it the extra mile and announce it to the world through the internet if you don’t mind. But if you’re not strong enough to take criticisms or if you’re gullible, then maybe you should keep it to yourself and people that are supportive and closest to you. You can actually inspire someone by doing this. You never can tell.
6. Stop eating when you’re full
Do you pay attention to your food and your body while you eat? If not, you need to start doing that. Always take note of when you’re comfortably full and stop immediately. You can also apply the following tips to make sure you’re not overfeeding yourself.
- Eat as slowly as possible. This will signal your brain that you’re full before you have the chance to eat more than necessary
- Drink two glasses of water just before your meals
- Do not eat when you’re emotionally unstable
- Say no to second servings
It’s really not hard to achieve this with the tips listed above. Do this persistently and you’ll lose weight over time.
7. Stay as active as possible
In this present age, a lot of teenagers want to sit on their behind a lot in front of the computers rather than go out and do something real with their time. If you’re one of such teenagers, then you need to get moving. Do something active; walk your dog more often, exercise, jog up and down the stairs a couple of time before you shower, or you can even take a stroll past your crush’s house.
If you stay very active, you might realize you may not really need to cut down on calories because you’ll be burning a lot of them during the day.
So, there you go on how to get your groove body back. And make sure you don’t go back to your old unhealthy habits to avoid gaining weight again. The earlier you make this your lifestyle, the healthier, stronger, and more appealing you’ll look.
