teen trouble

by Adrija
(India)

hi.

I am a sixteen year old girl and i've been gaining a whole lot of weight in the past two years.

My current weight is around 65kgs and my height is 5'1/2"

My question is what should be my ideal weight and how should i achieve it?

what types of food habits will i have to inculcate in order to get rid of those extra kilos?

yours sincerely,

troubled teen

From Cindy:

Hi Adrija:

Thanks for writing...There are a lot of different ways to think about a person's ideal body weight. Some people would consider it to be the weight that was directly proportional to a person's height, so that you wouldn't have people who are short and fat or tall and thin...

A 'better' way to think about a person's ideal body weight is as what is a 'healthy' weight for their age and height using their body mass index.

Please keep in mind that many factors go into determining if someone is 'healthy' and that this is just one tool. You and your parents could talk to your Doctor about your concerns.

A 16 year old (female) child who is 143 (65kg) pounds and is 5 feet and 0.5 inches tall has a body mass index of 27.5, which is at the 93th percentile, and would indicate that you are at risk of becoming overweight.

Your ideal body weight would be at a BMI at the 85th percentile or below, and so would be about 128 pounds.

That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to lose 15 pounds. As you get older and taller, assuming you are still growing, you may thin out some.

Teenagers in this Country (Canada), especially girls, will tend not to make time for breakfast, thinking that this will save some calories and therefore keep them or make them slimmer.

Not So! Skipping breakfast is a bad thing to do as your metabolism will slow down and hunger, later in the day will cause you to eat more and with teens, it usually means junk food. That doesn't even address the issue of the loss of mental concentration due to the lack of energy caused by going hungry.

There are a hundred other tips I could give you regarding your diet, but the information is available elsewhere on this site and on countless other websites.

Lastly, it isn't just eating habits that will determine your weight and health. You also require regular exercise. Walking, running, sports etc... Keep yourself active!

All the best,
Cindy