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Normal Body Weight for Teen Girls

Teenage girls often experience confusion regarding what a truly normal and healthy body weight is. While a range of numbers could be provided and labeled as "normal body weight," this would ignore many important factors in calculating healthy weight for a teenage girl. More knowledge about normal body weight can be a powerful tool in a teenage girl's efforts to live a healthy lifestyle.

  1. The Facts

    • Normal body weight for both male and female teens is inherently hard to determine. Children and teens physically develop at different rates, having varying heights and weights not just from year to year but even from month to month. To address this problem, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provide a Body Mass Index (BMI) calculator and BMI percentile to determine whether children and teens are in a normal weight range.

    Measurement

    • After inputting the information at the CDC's website, the teen's BMI is calculated automatically and then compared to the BMI's of other teens of the same age, height, and sex. These other factors are important because weight varies drastically across them. If a teen falls below the fifth percentile in weight for her group, she is considered underweight. Girls in the 85th to below the 95th percentile are considered to be overweight, while those in and above the 95th percentile and above are identified as obese.

    Considerations

    • Keep in mind that even the CDC describes BMI only as a "fairly reliable indicator of body fatness for most people," meaning that some teen girls will be wrongly categorized as underweight, overweight or obese. This is especially true with the percentile system used, as percentiles can be tipped one way or another based on the girls who were sampled for comparison. If you have any concerns over your BMI results, ask your doctor.

    Concerns

    • In 2000, a screening performed by the CDC of high school students across the U.S. revealed that 15 percent of teenage girls possibly had an eating disorder, and a frightening 25 percent of teenage girls "reported disordered eating and weight-control symptoms severe enough to warrant clinical evaluation." These startling numbers highlight the need to further educate teenage girls on normal body weight and how to maintain it with a healthy diet and exercise.

    Significance

    • In 2005, the CDC published a fact sheet that revealed that underweight and overweight individuals were found to have a higher risk of death. Being underweight for an extended period can cause infertility, osteoporosis, decreased immunity and anemia, while being overweight can put a person at risk for diabetes, heart disease and a number of other complications. Avoiding either extreme with healthy diet and exercise will ensure a healthier future for all teenage girls.

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