Is it bad to diet/lose weight when your body is maturing and growing?
I’m 15 years old, 5’7 and 150 pounds and I want to lose weight, 10 pounds at least but will it stunt my growth? I really want to get taller but I also want to lose weight. My parents say that dieting when you’re on your stages of growing up is not really a good idea because your body will not receive enough nutrients to grow. Is it true?
August 11th, 2010 at 8:00 am
To be honest, if you feel your at an unhealthy weight, and unhappy with your body, you should give it a go, as long as your getting key nutrients you should be fine 😉
xxx
hope this helps
August 11th, 2010 at 8:16 am
You are still growing. Every body is different and unique. I am not sure if you are a male or female. But, losing weight should not be as a priority-instead eating healthy and right. Avoid (or at least minimize)eating too much sugar, fried items (especially chips, french fries).
You body still may be maturing. Regular calisthenics are still effective-regardless of age. Try push ups, squats with your hand behind your head (most fitness experts call this ‘prisoner squats’), lunges (make sure your knees do not go past your foot, burpees (google this exercise..it is very effective).
Good luck..and be patient with your maturing body.
August 11th, 2010 at 8:33 am
Hey- I’m 15 years old, 5’8, and 140 pounds. I go to 2 gyms 5 times a week or more. Yes, going all-out on dieting isn’t good on a growing teenager. Growing kids need all the nutrients they can get; a diet will cancel out all of that and will actually put on weight instead of losing. Active teenagers have high metabolisms, or how fast your body burns off the food you eat, which lets them eat almost anything they want. Unfortunately, many teens don’t have high metabolism (like me) and as you grow older your metabolism tends to slow down as well.
My suggestion; your parents are right. The thing is, you don’t have to diet to lose weight! Look at what your eating- is it fast food? Soda? Maybe Mac-N-Cheese? STOP! By completely eliminating those kinds of foods, you’ll be dropping the pounds. Just remember, you need to exercise. Go on jogs, play basketball, sprint as fast as you can.
Confused yet? What I’m saying is just watch what you eat AND how much you eat. Apply that with a hard workout atleast 3 times a week. If you just do this, you’ll be losing about 1 pound per week, maybe even more if you push yourself harder! You are not going to lose anything if you keep eating “crappy” foods. Find fruit and vegetables that you like and snack on them. You’ll lose weight without going on a diet. 90% OF LOSING WEIGHT IS CHANGING YOUR DIET.
If you have any more questions, just send me an e-mail. I’d be more than happy to answer you.
August 11th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Losing excess weight is always good and, as long as you eat a balance diet, it will not stunt your growth. To lose weight here’s an advice:
Don’t skip breakfast. Eating a healthy breakfast would jump-start your day, give you energy and can help you eat in moderation at lunch and dinner. A high-fiber, low-fat breakfast may make a major contribution to a total reduced food intake for the day.
Losing weight is simply a matter of limiting calories consumed and burning off more calories with exercise and daily activities. To lose weight, it helps to know how many calories you are consuming in a day.
Also, eating “Negative Calorie Foods” is great way to lose weight.
Check out http://loseweightsite.net It has an article on “Negative Calorie Foods”
To monitor your calorie consumption and daily activity, http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov
August 11th, 2010 at 10:20 am
The best way to lose weight fast and effectively:
Burn more calories then you consume
Go back to You: On a Diet
Eat Fruit
Vegetable
Cardio Workout
Consume foods with fiber
Consume filling foods
Interval Training
Strenght Training
August 11th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Losing weight in a healthy way will not stunt your growth. Weight loss is an overall process and there are no magic answers. Pay no attention to weight loss supplements and pills and all the latest fads. You need to think about many factors but most of them are related to issues we’ve known about for a very long time. There are many sensible things you can do that will make a tremendous difference over the long term if you need to lose weight. It can be done in a healthy way. This is what has worked for me.
Keeping a food journal really does help. It will give you a much better sense of how much you are eating, and when, and why.
Make a few additional small changes – walk everywhere, always use stairs instead of elevators, walk on escalators, get up and move around at least once an hour if your work or your life in general is sedentary, walk every day, use a pedometer. Walking 10,000 steps a day is a really good idea. Build up to a long brisk walk everyday, or most days. Be more active and watch less TV and spend less time on the computer. Buy one piece of exercise equipment to have at home and be strict with yourself about using it. Sometimes you can find mini-steppers or exercise bikes at second hand stores and thrift stores for just a few dollars.
Start a weight lifting routine. Join a gym. Possibly you can find one that has someone who specializes in weight lifting programs for beginners. Weight lifting will increase your metabolism as well as improve posture and appearance overall. Even if you can’t get to the gym you can work out at home using things around the house. Invest in a good weight training book. The Dummies series actually has a good one.
In terms of diet, cut out or reduce things like junk food, pop, fat, fast food. Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, fish. Particularly if you choose a vegetarian lifestyle include natural peanut butter, hummus, dried fruit and nuts. Pay close attention to getting the nutrients your body needs to be healthy.
Make your portion sizes smaller. Use a smaller plate – in our society we have become accustomed to thinking that we need a large plate of food at every meal, and we don’t. About quarter of your plate of food should be protein and at least half of it should be veggies.
Learn to count calories. At your current weight and activity level, you may possibly need about 2000 calories or more to maintain your current weight. So you will lose weight at a reasonable and healthy rate if you cut back to about 1600 or 1700 calories a day.
Eat small amounts frequently, rather than three large meals. Never skip breakfast. Include some protein in your breakfast. It will help get you through the day.
Drink plenty of water, at least 8 big glasses of water a day, and more if it is very hot, if you sweat a lot, or if you are exercising intensely, and eliminate fruit juices. Fruit juices have too many calories, so get your vitamins from fresh fruit, not the juice. You will begin to see changes in your body.
Vary your routines. Don’t eat the same number of calories every day (vary your calories from 1400 a day to 1900 or 2000 some days), eat a variety of foods, and do different kinds and amounts of exercise. You will lose weight much more efficiently if you mix things up from time to time so that your body doesn’t adjust to any one routine.
An area that many people overlook is getting enough sleep. You are much more likely to overeat or to binge eat if you are tired and not well rested, so get enough sleep.
Check out websites about nutrition, exercise, weight training, etc. Here are a few helpful links.
http://www.nutrawatch.com/
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/
http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_eating_diet.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Lose-Weight-the-Healthy-Way
http://weightloss.about.com/cs/fitness/a/aa011503a.htm
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/no-weight-workout?page=4