How to Help a Teenager Gain Weight

A teenager's low body weight can lead to severe health consequences into adulthood. While most weight-control issues stem from being overweight, underweight teenagers also have difficult problems to overcome. Whether due to psychological causes or purely metabolic reasons, a low body weight must be addressed immediately and aggressively to prevent further decline and avoid several complications, including infertility, osteoporosis and malnutrition. (See References 1 and 2) Critical to the success of helping a teenager gain weight is determining the original cause of the problem so that you can determine the proper course of action.

Instructions

• 1

  Input the teenager's age, gender, height and weight into the BMI calculator at the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (see Resources) to calculate his body mass index (BMI). If the results show weight in the normal range, do not attempt to help the teenager gain weight. If the teenager's BMI is below 18.5, it's time to seek professional help.

• 2

  Make an appointment with the teenager's primary doctor to determine if the cause of the low weight is physiological and not due to some other mental health problem such as stress, anorexia nervosa or bulimia. If the problem is physiological in nature, the doctor may refer the teenager to a specialist to determine if the weight loss is nutritional, metabolic or due to some other infectious disease.

• 3

  Set an appointment with a licensed nutritionist if the low weight is determined to be the result of poor nutrition. The nutritionist can recommend specific changes to the teenager's diet. These may include: meals based on more starchy carbohydrates like potatoes and pasta, adding more dairy products, adding calorie-rich but healthy foods like peanut butter as a daily snack, eating healthy unsaturated fats such as avocados and consuming larger portions of fruits and vegetables with each meal.

• 4

  Consult a personal trainer in addition to the nutritionist if the teen's low body weight is simply a natural metabolic state. Weight training is particularly helpful in building lean muscle mass, which will add bulk and body weight. A personal trainer can recommend the proper techniques for building muscle mass and not losing weight because of the extra calorie expenditure.

• 5

  Seek professional advice from a licensed psychologist who specializes in stress and eating disorders if the teenager's low body weight is determined to be psychological in nature. The importance of completing this task in a timely manner cannot be overstated. Eating disorders account for the highest rates of mortality among all mental illnesses. Severe cases may require admittance to an inpatient facility to provide the proper psychological care and help the teenager gain enough weight to become healthier both inside and out.