Teenage years can be hard at the best of times, but one thing that is important no matter what stage of your life you are at is health. Therefore if you are overweight as a teenager, you should lose weight and try to become healthier while you are still young, as it is generally easier now than as an adult. An unhealthy teen is not the end of the world, perhaps you will be a bit spottier than average, and overweight, but continue with these habits to later life and you risk high cholesterol, heart disease amongst other ailments that no one desires! So you may as well start as you mean to go on, teen years are the ones where you become an adult so ensure any habits you develop are healthy ones.
What and how much should you eat?
You are young, so there is pretty much nothing you should avoid (except alcohol unless you are above the legal age of course!), however, everything you should eat should be in proportion. If you’ve had a busy day exercise wise, then a chocolate bar is perfectly fine. Problems only start to arise when you sit on the couch all day eating candy and potato chips as you are consuming far more calories than you are burning! It is important to note however, that having more calories than you are burning is not too bad in teen years as you are still growing so need them. When you are eating healthy food you can have as much as you desire, try not to have too much junk food, but don’t starve yourself when you are trying to lose weight as it will be detrimental to your health.
What cardiovascular exercise should you do?
High intensity cardio is great for losing weight; it burns a great deal of calories fast. However, you should combine this with longer cardio as health experts recommend at least 3 sessions of 30 minutes of prolonged moderate exercise per week. As an example you could do 15 minutes on the cross trainer at a medium resistance and between 9 and 12 kph; follow this by 15 minutes on a bike again at a mid level resistance going at around 80rpm. For high intensity an example you could sprint around 300 meters, followed by a 2 minute rest, then 280 meters, rest, 260 meters etc until you get down to 200 meters. This could be done back up to 300 meters if your fitness level allows; this could be done on a treadmill or a track.
Should you weight train as a teenager?
This is extremely useful in helping to build your physique to an adult’s physique from a child’s. Do not use too high weights until you are in the latter half of your teens (if you want to build muscle) as this can be dangerous on your developing bones, even going so far as stunting growth. Light weights can be helpful though, possibly superset 3 or 4 exercises as well; this means have no rest between the repetitions, this makes you work hard, and bring your heart rate up, burning calories fast.
What happens if you don’t have access to a gym?
Almost guaranteed there will be some sport at your high school, quite simply get involved with that. Soccer is a great sport for exercise, not only this but great for camaraderie. Soccer is a unisex sport, but pretty much any sport at school is going to help you lose weight. Even at lunch time people often play sports be it for fun or practice, get involved with those! If you can’t join a team at school or to supplement it, join something out of school, dance squads, soccer teams, or anything that takes your fancy. Perhaps also supplement it with the odd run around the block (providing it is safe to do so).
If you follow all these steps then you should lose weight easily. Keep active and eat healthily. Your body is altering massively during your teenage years so help it to alter for the good. As long as you do some exercise and eat relatively healthy you should lose weight, without hindering your development. Remember it is important to eat as much as you like, but go for another carrot rather than a chocolate bar! Don’t turn into a couch potato, stay active and be a runner bean!