Parents:  How to Help Your Teen Fight Obesity

Childhood obesity has risen in epic proportions since the 1980s.  According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 9 million children ranging in age from 5 to 19 who are at least twenty pounds over their suggested / ideal weight.

Who is at fault in this health crisis?  Most probably it’s the parents.  After all, it’s the mother who feeds the child early in life.  She shows him what an acceptable meal is.  She is responsible for giving him cookies instead of fruit, serving potatoes at every meal, and ordering take out food laden with fat and calories.  The child knows no other way of eating.

Compound a poor diet with a sedentary lifestyle, and you have a crisis waiting to happen.

Can the circle be broken?  Yes.  Once the child admits he needs help and makes a personal commitment to seek help, follow advice, stick with a program, and change his ways, success will follow.

This is not something the child can do alone, however.  He needs emotional support from his family and his peers.   If he decides to change his eating style, his parents need to make sure that the healthy food choices he needs are readily available.

Weight Loss For Teens – Tips and strategies for the entire family:

• Weight is like a helium filled balloon.  It goes up quite easily, but it takes much more effort to pull it down.
• The pounds didn’t get packed on in one weekend so no one should expect the pounds to fall off that quickly either.
• Learn to take baby steps.  Sudden major changes just don’t work.  If he has been eating three large meals a day, he isn’t going to change quickly.  He can have three meals a day but help him substitute foods slowly.
• Do not tell your 10 year old that “it’s baby fat and it will come off”.  It isn’t, and it won’t.  Certainly not without help.
• If your teen has made an effort to eat more salads and vegetables, the parents might want to reconsider filling up on burgers and fries, especially in front of him.  This behavior is not fair to anyone.
• Make it easy for your teen to stick to his commitment.   If you are still loading up the freezer and pantry with junk food, you need to make a concerted effort to buy the healthy alternatives he has agreed to eat.  If you baked a cake for dessert, make sure he has a similar low calorie frozen alternative (try Weight Watchers frozen desserts; they are excellent!).
•  Obese children more often than not are raised by obese parents.  If you, the parent, are not willing to undertake the same dieting commitment as your child, at least admit to him that you know you have a problem!  This is vital to his personal success.   (Perhaps when you see how successful he is at losing those pounds, you may even want to join him in further dieting efforts!)
• As soon as your child asks for or agrees to accept help, find a local support group for overweight children in his age group.   Socializing with children who have the same problem is critical.  Frequently, just knowing there are others like him can help him fight depression and ignore criticism from his “friends”.   Local youth centers frequently run programs for free.  Also check out local youth chapters of Weight Watchers.
• Many times some early, simple dietary changes can produce remarkable results.  For instance, if your teen has learned to eat frozen pizza every day for an after school  snack, find low fat and low calorie pizza snacks for him instead.  Johnny will be more agreeable to trying a Lean Cuisine vegetable pizza rather than forcing him to eat a plate of celery and carrot sticks!
• No matter what, he needs more exercise.   Chances are he’s not into team sports or he wouldn’t be overweight.  And, it’s not easy to get kids to a gym.  But it’s usually very easy to get them to walk the dog or take him to the park to play.   Don’t have a dog?  Run to your local humane shelter and bring one home.  Having the responsibility of a pet has shown incredible results in helping teens with almost all types of problems, including weight management and depression.  Don’t think you can afford a dog?  Stop buying all that junk food and you can easily feed the new pooch!
• Let’s face it – we all cheat on diets.  And your teen will, too.  Don’t chastise him, don’t yell, don’t make threats, and don’t insult him.  Comments such as, “No wonder you’re fat!  You can’t stop eating!” could force him to turn to food for comfort.  Actually, what I call “regulated intermittent cheating” is a successful part of any diet program.  For instance, every weekend he is allowed a few “regular” meals, or perhaps on Wednesday night he can have a “normal” dessert with the rest of the family.  Sometimes a little cheating is the best thing!

Zap Fat Fast

Your cousin’s wedding is a few weeks away.  Your high school reunion is emerging and you want to stare your old high school rival in the face and let her know that you reign. You have a hot date with a long awaited lover in a few days.  Whatever your scenario is, you need to lose weight and you need to lose it fast.  You have no time to do a billion crunches to see little results.  You want to wake up one day and have that last bit of fat that seems to be attached to you like a leech holding on for dear  life until he can get the last ounce of  blood , gone.     Well what if I told you there was quick and effective ways of losing weight that will have you ready to bust out your bikini even when there’s six feet of snow on the ground.  There are a few factors that will help you reach your goal weight in no time.

Decision

The great news is that you don’t have a lot of weight to lose.  Even though it’s a little bit of weight it may feel like the hardest challenge of your life make those last few pounds vanish into thin air.   The first step to achieving your goal is making the decision that you are serious this time.  You are not going to say “I’ll start next week.  “I can’t quit cold turkey”.  You should not use these excuses or any other lame excuses that will leave you a few steps further away from your goal.

Determination

The next step is determination. You are determined to get this weight off no matter how hard and strenuous it may be.  Losing weight fast will take only a few weeks, but those few weeks of hard work will transition into a lifetime of optimum health.

Commitment 

You need to make a commitment just like how you get up at 6:00am every morning and get your sugar filled mocha from starbucks. I am pretty sure you can make a commitment depending on your goal and your time frame. Be active, even if it is for 10 minutes, because the last time I checked 10 was better than 0.

Discipline

There are a number of ways that you can lose a considerable amount of weight in a short period of time. You have to be disciplined, motivated and focused to know that you will reach your goal.  Diet and exercise has always been the rule of thumb for a steady and healthy weight loss plan.  Invest in a food Journal; Plan your meals, Schedule in exercise like you would a regular doctors or business appointment. However, if you need to shed pounds fast check out these popular diets.

Diet

The Grapefruit Diet–  When you are on the grapefruit diet the rules are simple  eat   ½  a grapefruit before every meal or if you don’t have time to cut one, just guzzle down some unsweetened  grapefruit juice before every meal.

Breakfast- ½ grapefruit with 2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon

Lunch ½ grapefruit with salad and any type of dressing your heart desires with meat any style that you like

Dinner ½ grapefruit with salad or vegetables and meat any style

Bedtime:   A glass of skim milk or tomato juice.

The grapefruit diet claims that you will lose a pound a day if you follow these instructions step by step.  The benefit of the grapefruit diet is that it blocks the amount of fat you eat and shrinks your stomach before every meal causing you to feel more satisfied and not over eat.  This diet is not recommended to go past 2 weeks, since the caloric intake is about 800-1200 calories per day.    It is wise to consume at least 1200 calories per day.  If you consume any less than 1200 calories your body will go into starvation mode and actually hold on to fat so you can survive.

Detox Diets– Detox diets are not really diets.  Detoxing is used to clean out the liver and colon so you can get out the harmful and dreadful toxins in your body.  As a result of cleansing the system people are realizing that they can lose weight and inches as well.  Detox diets are a very controversial subject due to the fact of no food intake may cause certain illnesses and lead to malnutrition. Detox followers believe that detoxing gives your digestive system a break from chewing and breaking down foods and will help restore your digestive track therefore promoting better health.

Master Cleanse- is a popular diet that should be followed for 10 days.  Absolutely no eating.  You will consume nothing but the “special lemonade” which is made of lemons, cayenne pepper and maple syrup.  The results will have you feeling cleaner, lighter and full of energy.  No exercise is required on this diet due to the lack of calorie consumption.  You can lose 10 pounds in 10 days or a pound a day depending on how well your body reacts to this strict diet.

Juicing- This is a more effective way of getting the weight off and providing good nutrients to your body.  Juicing natural fruits and vegetable along with drinking soups and teas will have you feeling lighter in a matter of days.  For a powerful juicing experience colonics and enemas are able to assist in cleansing out your colon so you can absorb nutrients better thus creating an exceptional amount of weight lost in a matter of days.  Some people can lose up to 7-10 pounds in their first week of juicing.

Water

Drink plenty of water; you should drink half of your body weight or at least a gallon if you are engaging in moderate and daily exercise.   Water helps you burn calories and acts as a natural appetite suppressant by keeping you full.  Drink water sporadically throughout the day.  If you can’t handle the taste of water spice it up with some lemon.  Lemon acts as a natural laxative to help clean out your digestive tract.

Exercise

Be active, dieting alone can help you lose weight but if you are really serious about losing weight,  get those buns to the gym and start lifting weights and doing some cardio.   Lifting Weights!!!  Yes that is what I said, don’t worry ladies you won’t look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a bikini, unless you want to.   Building muscle helps you burn more calories; even though muscle weighs more than fat it burns up to 10x more calories than fat does alone.   So a proven plan of strength training 3 or 4 times a week will have you become the envy of Richard Simmons.     Do some cardio work run on the treadmill, go roller skating, ride a bicycle any activity that will get your heart rate up and pumping that will help you blast that fat away.  Always challenge your body; you are stronger than you think you are.  Putting your body through strenuous but not dangerous exercise will actually shock your body making it turn into the ultimate fat burning machine.

Even though you have a major event coming up and you want to lose weight fast, you have to remember that patience is a virtue.  As the old saying goes ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day” I know that is a cliché but that is the best way to describe healthy and accurate weight loss.   Losing weight rapidly can cause many side effects such as dehydration, fatigue, malnutrition and loss of vital minerals and vitamins that your body needs to function properly.    Also losing weight fast can cause the weight gain to come back twice as fast as you lost it and even more added fat this time.  Many people don’t have an understanding of balanced healthy meals, so once they complete their fad diet they think they can go back to their old unhealthy habits.

The healthiest way to lose weight is at a slow and moderate pace.  It is recommended that you should lose no more than 2 pound s a week.  Don’t follow quick fad diets that will leave you feeling deprived and an enemy of your own body.  Find foods that are right for you and eat in moderation.  Learn how to read nutrition labels and calculate right portion sizes.  Eat diets that are composed of healthy fats, high fiber and high protein.   Healthy fats can assist in helping you burn fat faster.  Fiber keeps you feeling fuller longer.  Protein gives you a sense of satiety as well as builds lean muscle mass.   You should eat every 2-3 hours to keep your body fueled with energy thus creating a faster metabolism.

Don’t be fooled by a scale instead measure your success in how well your clothes fit and invest in a tape measure so you can see how many inches you lost.

Quick weight loss may cause more harm than good to your health.  Before you start any weight loss plan you should consult with your doctor to see what weight loss plan best fits your needs.

Help with Weight Loss: How to Keep on Track When You want to Give Up

Deciding to lose weight is always the easy part, sticking it out or even getting started is the hard part. However, if you really want to lose some weight it is possible, and it doesn’t even call for drastic changes on your part, especially if you set small, manageable goals.

Help with Weight Loss: What Not to Do

Four basic things that make losing weight seem like a burden are:

1. Setting big goals: Don’t set out to lose 2 or 3 pounds per week, try losing 1 pound and then adjust when you have done that. Once you reach your target you will be motivated to do better.

2. Being unrealistic: Do not promise to go to the gym five days per week when you know that you can only do so for two days. Be realistic and endeavor to do something that you can truly juggle with your busy lifestyle, such as walking up a flight of stairs or walking on the weekend for 30 minutes. Setting unrealistic expectations will derail any weight loss effort before you even get started.

3. Going on a diet: Funny enough, many weight loss trains get derailed simply because of the use of the word diet or actually going on a diet. Don’t do it, make a conscious decision to eat properly.

4. Doing it for someone else, instead of yourself: If your main reason for losing weight is to please someone else you are almost surely doomed from the get go.

So How Do You Lose Weight and Keep It Off?

For most of us, losing the weight, hard as it may be is the easy part, keeping it off is another story. Truth be told, the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to make smart lifestyle changes. Nothing drastic is needed, simply start by slowly eliminating the foods that make you put on weight. Again start small; if you normally use 3 spoonfuls of sugar in your coffee, cut it to two and then one and eventually you may find that you can cut out sugar all together.

Some proven tips for losing weight and keeping it off include:

1. Eating smaller portions. It may be hard at first but as you get used to smaller portions, you will find that your stomach begins to feel full with eating less over time. If you really feel the need to eat something between meals, grab something nutritious, like a piece of fruit.  Drinking some water when you feel hungry will also help to fill you up without the calories.

An added benefit to eating less is the new found link between living longer and healthier by eating less. How’s that for motivation!

2. If you find it hard to avoid junk food, don’t stock your refrigerator or cupboard with it. That is not saying that you cannot have the occasional piece of candy, but be moderate and have these only has a means of rewarding yourself for doing well.

3. Make exercise a part of your lifestyle change: This simply means get active. Not everyone is able to or wants to go to the gym, but there are lots of other ways to get exercise. Love tennis but never got a chance to make the team? Why not give it a try as part of your healthier lifestyle? Other ways to get more exercise include walking more or starting a more physical type of hobby such as gardening.

If you have children go kick or throw a ball with them on a regular basis. Just keep moving and you will not only see the weight going, but you need not fear that it will come back.

Over time you will be surprised to find that your small changes to lose weight and keep it off have become a normal, natural part of your life.

Weight Loss Tip: How to Make a Weight Loss Plan You Can Stick To

Everyday someone across the globe makes a weight loss plan, but just as often someone loses focus and falls off the weight-loss wagon. There is a reason for this, and it’s simply that often the plans are not realistic and therefore are difficult to maintain. So how do you make a weight loss plan and stick to it? You make one that is:

1. Realistic: If your weight loss goal is unrealistic, you will eventually fail. Do you make a plan to lose 10 pounds in one month? This is an impossible task for most persons. Instead decide to that you will try to lose two pounds per week.

2. Suits your lifestyle: Make a plan that suits your lifestyle. Persons who are extremely busy should make a plan that allows exercise periods which will fit with their schedules.

3. Set a weight loss goal: Don’t just plan on losing weight, instead determine how much you plan on losing overall and how much that equates to per week. A weight loss of two pounds is easily manageable for most persons. Never beat yourself up if you fall short of your weekly goal.

4. Make it time-specific: Determine how much weight you need to lose by a specific date and aim for that. Once you have a goal and a deadline it is more likely that you will stick to the plan.

Five Tips to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

The following tips are worth remembering if you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off:

1. Drink water: Drinking the right amount of water is important for a healthy life, but also plays a role in weight loss. There are no hard and fast rules for how much water to drink, but some persons stick to the 8×8 rule of drinking eight, eight ounce glasses of water per day. Another method is to divide your weight in half and drink that amount of water in ounces per day, so if you weigh 180 pounds, you would drink 90 ounces of water daily.

If you exercise or live in a hot, dry climate, you may find that drinking additional water is necessary. Once your urine is colorless or very light yellow, then you know that your fluid intake is adequate.

If you have certain chronic illnesses or kidney disease, talk to your doctor to get advice on how much fluid to consume.

2. Change your lifestyle: If you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off, you will need to change your lifestyle habits. To make this easy, start small, for example, don’t suddenly cut your meal sizes. Start by cutting out something from your dinner menu, such as dessert or take a smaller than normal piece of cake.

3. Exercise: No matter how little calories you consume, you need to exercise if you plan on losing weight naturally. Apart from the health factor, exercising while losing weight will help to tone your body so that loose hanging skin is avoided or minimized.

Remember that fewer calories and more exercise results in increased weight loss.

4. Eat right: This means ensuring that you eat balanced meals. Be sure to include lots of vegetables and fruits in your diet plan.

5. Reward yourself: Periodically reward yourself for taking off the weight. If you love chocolate, there is no harm in having a small piece once in a while. While you are working to lose weight and remain healthy, it shouldn’t be something that stops you from enjoying life and the things that give you pleasure.

Losing weight and keeping it off is possible, millions do it – you just need to be determined and slowly change unhealthy lifestyle habits until the right way becomes a way of life.