Weight Loss Tips for Teens by Sofia L.

Being a teen and being overweight can be a living hell. In a society that already stereotypes obesity, being in high school can be torture because your peers have the ability to be just plain mean. Your extra weight can make you feel like an outsider, un-attractive, and just not happy in your own skin. You want to lose weight, but Trying to do so on your own can not only be confusing but dangerous as well.So here are a few tips I put together to help you on your quest of getting in shape and getting healthier.
Stop right there and check with your Doctor-You really want to lose weight, check with your doctor- Your doctor will know best, and still being a minor I strongly urge you to meet with them before beginning any weight loss plan. Not only can your doctor suggest how much weight you should lose, they can also refer you to a nutritionist, who can help you set up your own personalized diet. And, depending on your health care plan, you can get reimbursed for joining a group such as Weight Watchers, and even for a gym membership.

But if for whatever reason you cannot or do not want to contact your doctor, here is how to go about losing weight on your own.

-First, check your BMI (Body Mass Index)- I use http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/. It is really easy, you simply just plug your height and weight into the machine, and you have your BMI. A healthy BMI is anywhere between 18.5 and 24.9. If you are in (or below) the healthy range, I would not suggest losing weight-especially since you are still growing. If you are feeling out of shape try joining an after school sport, and trying not to eat junk food. Not only will eating healthy and exercising make you feel better, it will give you a mood boost.

Side Note: if you are in a healthy weight range and still feel like you are overweight, try confiding in a counselor or another adult you trust. Being obsessed with your weight can very easily turn into a dangerous eating disorder.

Healthy Eating Tips For All!

-Cut out the soda and other sugary drinks, as Americans we consume an average of 1/3 of our daily calories in beverages alone! To lose one pound you need a deficit of 3,500 calories. Just by changing calorie and sugar packed drinks for good ol' water you can lose a pound a week easily!

-If you are looking to lose weight, aim for 2-3 lbs a week, max. The slower you lose the weight, the less likely it will be to come back.

-As a teen you should not be getting any less than 1,800 calories a day, remember you're still growing and your body needs more calories.

-Back to the topic of water, try drinking it iced cold, and MORE than eight 8-oz glasses a day. When you drink ICED cold water, your body needs to warm it up to body temperature to digest it. By doing this, your body is burning calories, and not consuming any since water has no caloric content. Pretty cool huh? Most people can lose at least ten pounds just by doing this.

-Don't Take Diet Pills!- But you should be taking a multi-vitamin. Centrum is one of the top vitamins promoted by doctors, and One-A-Day even has a line of Vitamins just for teens.

-Try eating 5-6 mini-meals a day- if you are constantly eating, and you never get overly hungry, you will be less likely to crave and indulge in junk food. Try to always keep an apple, a yogurt, or a bag of trail mix with you for when you get hungry.

Likely Page Break -Eat from ALL the food groups- ideally, your plate should be ½ vegetables, ¼ carbohydrates, and ¼ protein. Also, try to eat foods high in fiber, they make you feel fuller. Try having oatmeal for breakfast, a sandwich on multi-grain bread for lunch, and rice & beans for dinner. You will feel so satisfied by these foods you will end up eating less without even trying!

-Get up, and Go- Exercise is key to losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight. And, exercise does NOT have to be running. Try walking places with your friends instead of having your parents drive you. Take a kick boxing class, or a Salsa class. And if you want to learn exercises on your own time, try getting a Pilates tape, or a book that will teach you resistance training. Most importantly, if you are exercising at a high intensity, three times a week is all you really need. But, make a point to be moderately active every day.

Good luck to all, don't be frustrated, because it really can be easy to get in shape!

Long-Term Weight Loss

Long-term weight loss is not an easy goal to achieve. Before you get started on a weight loss program, consider the following tips. They should help you reach your goal of obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight.

Set the Right Weight Loss Goals
Setting effective weight loss goals is an important first step. Most people trying to lose weight focus on just that one goal: weight loss. However, the most productive areas to focus on are the dietary and exercise changes that will lead to long-term weight control. Successful weight managers are those who select two or three goals at a time that they are willing to take on.

Keep in mind that effective weight loss goals are specific, attainable, and forgiving. For example, "exercise more" is a wonderful goal, but it's not specific. "Walk five miles everyday" is specific and measurable, but is it attainable if you're just starting out? "Walk 30 minutes every day" is more attainable, but what happens if you're held up at work one day and there's a thunderstorm during your walking time another day? "Walk 30 minutes, five days each week" is specific, attainable, and forgiving.

Reward Weight Loss Success (But Not With Food!)
Rewards that you can control can be used to encourage you to attain your weight loss goals, especially those that have been difficult for you to reach.

An effective reward is something that is desirable, timely, and contingent on meeting your goal. Rewards may include treating yourself to a movie or music CD or taking an afternoon off from work or just an hour of quiet time away from family. Keep in mind that numerous small rewards, delivered for meeting smaller goals, are more effective than bigger rewards, requiring a long, difficult effort.

Balance Your (Food) Checkbook
This means that you should monitor your lifestyle by observing and recording some aspect of your eating and exercising behaviors, such as how many calories you eat in a day, how many servings of fruits and vegetables you eat per day, how often and for how long you exercise, etc., or an outcome of these behaviors, such as weight.

Doing this can really help you determine how you are doing and what you need to do to meet your weight loss goals.

Avoid Eating and Food Triggers
Identify those social and environmental cues that tend to encourage undesired eating, and then work to change those cues. For example, you may learn that you're more likely to overeat while watching television, or whenever treats are on display by the office coffee pot.

Then work to sever the association of eating with the cue (don't eat while watching television), avoid or eliminate the cue (leave coffee room immediately after pouring coffee). In general, visible and accessible food items are often cues for unplanned eating.

Get the (Fullness) Message
Changing the way you go about eating can make it easier to eat less and lose weight without feeling deprived. It takes 15 or more minutes for your brain to get the message you've been fed. So slow down the rate that you eat food. That will allow satiety (fullness) signals to begin to develop by the end of the meal. Eating lots of vegetables or fruit can also make you feel fuller. Another trick is to use smaller plates so that moderate portions do not appear smaller. In addition, changing your eating schedule, or setting one, can help you reach your goal, especially if you tend to skip, or delay, meals and overeat later.



WebMD Medical Reference
Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on January 09, 2009

What Foods Make Only Your Butt Bigger - Make Your Butt Bigger With These Foods

There are a lot of foods that will make only your butt bigger. You're probably not sure what you should be eating. Which is why you're wondering, "what foods make only your butt bigger". So, what I'm going to do is share with you some foods that you should eat that will make your butt bigger.

That way, you'll know what you should be eating to get a sexy booty.

The foods that you should eat are:

1. Proteins. This consists of eating foods like chicken breast, turkey, lean beef, fish, soy protein, protein drinks, and other lean meats. You should consume a good amount of protein if you want to make your butt bigger.

2. Complex carbs. This is another food that will make only your butt bigger. Some of the complex carbs that you should eat are sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pastas, brown rice, and oatmeal just to name a few. These carbs will help keep you lean and help you get a bigger booty.

And to be honest, this is something that most women don't know, who are asking them self "what foods make only your butt bigger".

3. Fruits and veggies. Eating fruits and veggies will also help make only your butt bigger. Make sure you eat plenty of them. A few that you should definitely eat are apples, bananas, salads, broccoli, and green beans.

Along with eating these foods, make sure you exercise as well. It'll help you keep your tummy lean and will help you get a bigger butt faster. Some of the exercises that you should do includes squats, lunges, step-ups, pilates, and jogging on a treadmill. You should exercise at least 3 times a week.

These are some foods that make only your butt bigger. If you really want to make your butt bigger using techniques that are guaranteed to work, click here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Farrah_M._Smith

Low Carb Diet Food List

You may need to make a low carb diet food list, there are lots of delicious as well as nice foods for low carb diets that you can add. Eating the food that you prefer can make your weight loss fun and delightful. Although, you should be certain that your list of foods should contain a variety of food that can assist you to reach your purpose in the diet you are sticking to.

Chicken is certainly the top choice of food for a lower carb diet, as it is particularly low in carbohydrates and also low in calories. It is certainly a good option to add to your low carb diet food list. Fish is also savoury and makes ideal diet food, as the majority of fish fillets have about twenty-two grams of protein for three 1/2 oz.

When making your low carb diet food list, first of all you have to select kinds of meal that you would like to eat whilst you are on your diet. But, there are hundreds of the diet foods that you can choose but these are some wonderful concepts that you may want to know.

One thing to avoid is unprocessed and non manufactured food, as recommended by the Atkins diet. However this has been that causes to weight reduction and health transformations. For optimum health it's best to eat purely natural and fresh food.

To understand this better and to completely get the lower carb food labels, you must know the total carb content of the food you are consuming. Total carb content is derived from subtracting the amount of fiber and sugar from the total carbs. This is because many of the low carb food manufacturers state that fiber, while in technical terms a carbohydrate, is not absorbed by the body, and therefore must not be measured as carbohydrate. Consider this fact when creating your low carb diet food list.

Lose 20 Pounds In 30 Days - Just Check Out Our Low Carb Diet Plan For All The Information - http://www.thintony.com/lowcarbdietplan/


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_A_Newton

BUILDING A LOWER-FAT DIET

The latest edition of the Dietry Guidelines includes seven practical principles that form the foundation of a healthydiet. In aaddition to advising people to eat a variety of foods, the guidelines emphasize the importance of choosing foods low in fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. Recommendations focus on keeping calories from fat to about 30 percents or less of daily total calories. That dosen't mean every single food must be low in fat. You can balance high-fat and low-fat selection over the course of a day or days and still end up eithin the 30 pecent guideline.

Here a variety of foods

1. Eat a veriety f foods
2. Maintain healthy weight
3. Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol
4. Choose a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits and grain products
5. Use sugars only in moderation
6. Use salt and sodium only in moderation
7. If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation

Of course, achieving the right balance requires some knowledge of the fat content of foods. In the USDA's new Food Guide Pyramid, experts break foods into six categories and talk about how to zero in on the leanest selection from each group. The six food groups are

a) bread, cereal, rice and pasta
b) vegetable
c) fruit
d) meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts
e) milk yogurt and cheese
f) fats, oils and sweets