CalorieKing.com Staff
At least 30% of US children and teenagers are now considered seriously overweight – and we’re not just talking about baby fat. We’re talking about young people who are facing potentially life-long health problems as a result of their poor diets and lack of physical activity.
That gym classes are slowly being dropped from school programs while high-calorie foods are quickly being snapped up in school cafeterias is certainly not helping the problem. Today’s children and teens also battle the constant onslaught of unhealthy food advertising that bombards them at a level no previous generation has ever been exposed to. And to really add fuel to the fire, if a child or teen endeavors to lose weight, healthy guidance is usually lacking as weight-loss programs are primarily designed for adults who don’t have the same nutritional needs.
However, with support and education – particularly from parents – children and teenagers can learn to lose weight healthily and effectively.
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Special height-weight charts that allow for wide variations in growth patterns are used to determine healthy weights for growing children and teenagers. They are more complex than height-weight charts for adults and are best used in assessment by a doctor or a dietitian or an expert at a child health center.
If a child is having difficulty accepting that he or she is overweight, a dietitian can also be useful as an outside “third party”. Children tend not to always heed their parents' opinions and advice!
It is not necessary, or even advisable, for overweight children and growing teenagers to lose all their excess weight in a short period of time. Simply keeping their weight steady will effectively produce a loss of fatty tissue as they “grow into” their weight.
Keep in mind that an adolescent gains about 5 lbs for every 1 inch of growth. If an overweight adolescent can maintain a stable weight, then every 1 inch of growth is equivalent to 5 lbs of weight loss.
The following guidelines for different degrees of overweight are recommended for healthy weight loss for children and growing teens.
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