Overeating in a nation that makes it easy for teens to overeat — and be overweight–doesn’t always mean that one has an eating disorder.
Now keep in mind that in a culture where fast-food restaurants, bakeries, donut shops, bagel shops and burrito stands are there at every turn, it’s easy to overeat junk food. It’s THERE.
You can smell the aroma wafting through the air at the mall. You follow the aroma of the cinnamon rolls or giant soft pretzels.
And it all just tastes SO good!
But there comes a point where the situation may go beyond filling a hungry stomach with fabulous tasting foods.
The eating continues well-past satiation, and is triggered by circumstances such as boredom, stress, anxiety and depression.
Weight Loss through Exercise for Overweight Teen Girls
Exercise is good for every body. But like eating, exercise should never be done mindlessly. It should have a tactical approach.
The No. 1 reason for exercising should be for fitness and health. But if you want to lose weight, it’s perfectly okay to have fat loss in mind when working out.
Nevertheless, two hours jogging around the neighborhood in the name of losing weight is NOT the answer.
Strength Training
A teen girl is not too young to start lifting weights. And you are never “too fat” to lift weights. And lifting weights will NOT make you bigger!
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Which might make you bigger? Picking up dumbbells or picking up donuts?
Never believe for a second that working out with weights will increase your size.
Just remember this: If you feel bad about your body, it’ll be rather difficult to continue feeling this way once you’ve trained your body to lift heavy things and find that you can shovel snow or haul out the garbage effortlessly.
Aerobics
As a former personal trainer, I recommend high intensity interval training. This solves the problem of time investment and minimizes obsession.
Just 20 minutes of HIIT will burn more fat than two hours of slow paced cardio.
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Plus, since HIIT can be done in only 20 minutes, after which you’ll feel spent, you’ll less likely become obsessed with it.
Whereas paced cardio can be done for three hours straight – making it easier to become obsessed with. Here are instructions on how to do HIIT.
Overweight in Teens: Don’t Wait till It Gets Worse
Addressing weight concerns now does not mean a breach of body positivity.
Rather, it’s about preventing type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and other obesity related issues (e.g., difficulty conceiving) down the road during adulthood.
As a teen, you can still feel positive about your body (which is easier to do when you can lift heavy barbells) while working on losing surplus weight in a safe and realistic way.
Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified through the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness she trained women and men of all ages for fat loss, muscle building, fitness and improved health.
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