Teen Weight Loss Tips & Programs

Your teen can successfully shed weight with family support and positive reinforcement. Since their bodies are changing and still growing, teens need to eat nutritionally, but also need to avoid drastic calorie restriction. Partner a healthy weight management program with a regular exercise routine, and your teen's confidence will soar as she loses weight.

Commit to Weight Loss

• Healthy eating habits and exercise are lifelong commitments and are not to be abandoned once the weight loss goal is achieved. Be sure your teen is ready and wants to commit to weight loss.

  If you or other family members are interested in losing weight, make it a family commitment. Hold a family meeting and create a healthy eating and exercise plan that everyone can agree upon. Agree on foods that are off limits for the house. Decide on how to hold family members accountable if they bring in "bad" food. For example, if someone falls off the diet wagon they could do 10 push-ups or run a mile. Find something challenging, but not impossible to do as penance.

Find the Right Program

• Not all weight loss programs fulfill the needs of every teen. Subscribe to a program that teaches a healthy eating lifestyle instead of a fast weight-loss plan. By teaching your teen how to live a healthy lifestyle, he will enjoy weight loss as well as receive lifestyle education tools that can be used for a lifetime.

  So many plans. So many choices. How to decide which one is right for your teen? Discuss what motivates your teen and uncover his specific weight-loss goals. How much weight does he want to lose and what is his long-term weight-loss goal? In which environment does your teen function best and feel most confident?

  Programs such as Weight Watchers allow the teen to monitor his food intake in a group setting. Teens attend weekly meetings and weight check-ins. This program also teaches teens how to make healthy food choices and advocates regular exercise.

  Online weight-loss programs such as Spark Teens and Slim Kids assist teens in a virtual world that offer weight loss tracking tools, menu plans and diet tips.

  Many teens find success by attending weight-loss camps, geared toward working with the teen on a variety of issues in addition to weight loss and healthy eating. Many camps offer group-therapy sessions and nutrition classes to help teens get to the root of their weight gain and learn that they can make changes to become healthier.

  Bariatric surgery has become an option in the past few years. Because of eminent health threats, some teens are going under the knife to shed weight. Most bariatric programs require rigorous therapy sessions and nutrition classes before performing surgery. Patients are also closely monitored for months and years after surgery to ensure that the teens have made a lifestyle change and haven't fallen back into old habits.