How to lose weight for 12-year-old children: nutritional features, optimal physical activity for a teenager

Childhood obesity is a problem of our time. Teenagers lead an incorrect lifestyle: they spend half the day at a desk at school, and the remaining half of the day they sit at the computer at home. This leads to many chronic diseases by the age of fifteen. Osteochondrosis, scoliosis, muscular dystrophy, thick fat layer, obesity of varying degrees. All these diseases are visible to the naked eye, and their cause lies precisely in an incorrect lifestyle. Fat girls are now not even ridiculed among schoolchildren. There are too many obese teenagers, it is now the norm. From this article you will learn how to lose weight for children under 12 years old quickly and effectively.

Obesity in adolescents

Overweight teenagers are characterized not only by physical ailments, but also by psychological problems. Low self-esteem, problems with studying, unsuccessful attempts to lose weight.

Fat girls often tend to torture themselves with diets, this is the cause of exhaustion, anorexia and suppression of reproductive functions. Due to malnutrition, many of them do not begin menstruation, while they never achieve the coveted anorexic look and continue to look plump. The question of how to lose weight for 12-year-old children becomes the most important thing in their lives.

Parents often send boys to the gym and martial arts. As a result, the understanding comes that it will not be possible to cope with the workload in parallel with the school curriculum and achieve quick results. In some cases, it comes to fat burners and steroids. As a result, physical health by the age of sixteen leaves much to be desired.

Overweight and morbid obesity are not equivalent concepts. Obesity is excess weight by 15-20% of normal. But even a slight excess of weight can cause various diseases and psychological problems.

The fattest boy

This Chinese boy was born weighing only 2.5 kilograms. But almost immediately after birth, he began to actively gain weight. Lu Hao's parents were in disbelief as they watched their son grow rapidly. When the baby began to eat adult food, the rate of weight gain increased even more.

Lu Hao - the fattest boy in China loves not only to eat, but also to sleep

Lu Hao's mother is truly worried. In addition to the child’s existing and future health problems, she cannot pick him up or sit him on her lap. At 4 years old, this boy weighed as much as 62 kilograms! This is four to five times more than a typical child of that age would weigh. Only his dad can lift Lu Hao, and not too often.

The reason for Lu Hao's obesity is mainly because he eats for several people. His parents say the boy can easily eat three bowls of rice and several pieces of chicken for lunch. And wash it all down with a liter of milk. Moreover, if you limit a child’s food intake, he throws a real tantrum. Lu Hao's parents tried to put him on a vegetable diet, but could not stand his loud crying and the destruction he caused by demanding a full meal.

Very fat Chinese child refuses to go on a diet

Over the past year, the child has gained as much as 22 kilograms. And all this, despite the fact that they try to do a variety of active sports with him, such as swimming and aerobics. Doctors also cannot find the true cause of Lu Hao's illness. At one time they believed that this was due to a tumor in the head, but the diagnosis was not confirmed. It must be said that the “little” Chinese needs to lose weight as soon as possible, otherwise his heart may not be able to withstand the stress.

In the meantime, the boy leads a fairly ordinary life - he attends kindergarten, plays with other children and dreams of becoming a superhero. True, he has to travel long distances on a special motorcycle with a sidecar, which his father drives. Lu Hao gets tired very quickly from walking, because his legs bear a colossal load.

Fat kids have a hard time in life

How to lose weight for a 12 year old girl

Twelve years is the age when self-esteem is formed. If a child is dissatisfied with himself for one reason or another, this will become a traumatic factor for his psyche. There are many obese children in modern schools; children no longer pay attention to this fact. But parents often exert psychological pressure by comparing the child with other, in their opinion, “beautiful” children.

To achieve a normal weight, a girl will have to work in several directions:

• psychological correction (find out why overeating occurs);
• examination by an endocrinologist (check for diabetes and hormonal abnormalities);
• visiting a nutritionist and adjusting your diet;
• choosing the right physical activity.

Family history or unhealthy eating habits

Statistics indicate the predominant diet among obese people: only about 5% of cases are due to disorders of the hormonal and endocrine systems, and hereditary diseases. The remaining 95% is unhealthy eating behavior, which, causing obesity, invites other diseases to visit, turning a person’s life into a complete ordeal.

Principles of losing weight for a teenage boy

How to lose weight for 12 year old male children? At this age, the feeling of youthful maximalism is heightened: you want to please both yourself and those around you.

Boys are prone to playing sports, but due to excess weight they are often embarrassed about their appearance. They don’t go to training because they think they will laugh at them.

The norms for the weight and height of children 12 years old are quite vague. At this age, personal physiological characteristics already appear: some are short, some are tall. Some people have an asthenic constitutional type, while others have a hypersthenic type. The medical norm is considered to be height from 143 to 155 cm, weight - from 34 to 45 kg.

The role of food in human daily life

Eating food is one of the basic (primary) needs of a person. When studying in detail the daily life of people of different nationalities, it is striking that even the time in the day is divided into: “before lunch” and “after lunch” (especially in European countries). In addition to naturally maintaining energy in the body, food carries other equally important functions:

• Communication (conversations during meals, meetings in cafes, pizzerias, restaurants, the primary goal of which is pleasant communication combined with eating).
• Ritualism and emphasizing national identity (various national cuisines, as well as the presence of certain holiday dishes for each nation).
• Relaxation and enjoyment from eating your favorite foods (food preferences change from person to person, depending on age, but candy and ice cream will never be as tasty as in childhood). It has been noticed that this particular function is hypertrophied in fat teenagers.
• Self-affirmation and satisfaction of aesthetic needs (food has always had these functions at all times, regardless of whether a person notices them or not).
• Curbing negative emotions and compensation (a historically justified function of food consumption, which often leads to obesity and the appearance of concomitant diseases).

Chronic overeating, leading to obesity, indicates problems with body image formation. Therefore, when solving the problems of fat teenagers, one cannot do without the help of a psychotherapist.

Sample menu for a week for losing weight for a teenager

The basic principle of weight loss is to burn more calories than you get from food. It is necessary to avoid high-calorie foods.

Diet for children 12 years old for weight loss (weekly menu):

1. Monday. For breakfast, eat an omelet of two eggs with milk and vegetables. For dessert - a few loaves of bread with jam and a glass of compote. Snack - a banana or a handful of nuts. Lunch must include a bowl of soup or borscht. In the summer you can eat okroshka or cabbage soup. For the second course - goulash made from turkey, rabbit and chicken. For dinner - fish cutlets or grilled fish fillet. As a side dish - your favorite vegetables. Don't eat bread at dinner.
2. Tuesday. The first meal is oatmeal with dried fruits. Snack: bread and fruit. Lunch - a plate of soup or borscht, meat goulash. For dinner - cutlets with pasta or buckwheat porridge. A glass of milk.
3. Breakfast - fermented baked milk with a bun. For lunch - a liquid dish, for the second - a vegetable side dish and meat cutlets. Snack - nuts, milkshake, homemade crackers, bagels. For dinner - grilled fish fillet or baked in the oven.
4. Thursday - repeat the menu for Monday.
5. Friday. For breakfast - muesli. Snack - banana, apple, handful of peanuts or almonds. Lunch - a plate of soup or borscht, meat goulash with mashed potatoes. Dinner: homemade croutons or fish cutlets.
6. Saturday and Sunday are days when you can treat yourself in terms of food. Stick to the same diet as during the week. But at the same time, you can afford a couple of slices of pizza, or one burger, or a portion of your favorite ice cream.

Diet for a 12 year old girl

If you follow certain dietary rules, even a simple diet for a 12-year-old child at home will give quick results. The following recommendations will help you lose weight and achieve the desired effect:

1. Avoid junk food: chips, crackers, candy, fast food, baked goods.
2. Add more fresh vegetables, fruits, and berries to your diet.
3. For cooking, use a minimum of oil, avoid fried and fatty foods.
4. Drink at least 2 liters of water per day.
5. For breakfast, eat nourishing and healthy foods: buckwheat, oatmeal, rice or other porridge (excluding semolina), fruit juice.
6. For lunch, cook vegetables, meat, fish, and cereals.
7. Fermented milk products and fruits are suitable for dinner.
8. To lose weight, eat frequently, avoid overeating, and follow a diet.
9. Make healthy snacks: fruits, vegetables, nuts, yogurts, etc.

Don't expect instant results. Not a single nutritionist will give recommendations on how to lose weight in a week or two for a 12-year-old girl. An integrated approach is important. A healthy diet combined with physical activity will certainly give results, even if not immediately. For growing girls, weight may even stay the same, while height increases. The result will be a thin waist and slender legs. For tall chubby women, it is important to force your body to slowly lose pounds. In this case, you will be able to lose weight without harm to your health.

Swimming for a child

Proper nutrition must be combined with proper physical activity. How can a 12 year old girl lose weight without self-torture? Give her a pool pass. Boys will find such a load boring; they prefer martial arts and the gym.

Under the supervision of a swimming coach, a girl can master various techniques. They have a positive effect on the spine and straighten posture. Swimming has virtually no contraindications. In any case, before the first training session in the pool, children are examined by a sports doctor and given valuable recommendations on the level of load.

Sections for weight loss for teenagers

Today, in all major cities, there are many studios where kids can study. Everyone will find activities to their liking: dancing, aerobics, stretching, even CrossFit for children. For boys there are martial arts sections: tai-bo, karate, Thai boxing. These are optimal sports for children 12 years old, unless there are medical contraindications.

But such sections are not so safe. First, consult with your therapist to see if your child has any contraindications for such physical exercise. If you are seriously obese, jumping and athletics are prohibited, as they often cause knee injuries.

Social pressure on children’s personality development

Psychosocial factors play an important role in the emergence of a large number of overweight adolescents. Justifications for excess weight have existed at all times, for example, “there must be a lot of good people,” “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” or the attitude of most breastfeeding mothers, “you need to eat a lot to become big and strong.” So it turns out that incorrect (or unhealthy) social attitudes are to blame for obesity, and recovery is possible only by abandoning them.

Is it worth going to the gym?

Teenagers often rush to the gym: they want to do weightlifting. Exercising with barbells and dumbbells under the age of 16 can be dangerous. Yes, they allow you to build muscle mass and burn subcutaneous fat as much as possible. But in children, the endocrine system has not yet been formed; sex hormones (testosterone, estrogen, progesterone) are just beginning to be produced. And if you interfere with this cycle with serious training and taking medications, then in the future you will need serious money for consultations with a sports endocrinologist.

It’s better not to rush for records yet, but to learn the correct exercise technique (squats, deadlifts, various presses). In this case, you can use the most minimal weights - even such activities will be useful, and the weight will gradually begin to decrease.

How to lose weight for a 14-year-old teenager: girls and boys, as well as their parents

Only an experienced specialist can provide correct, competent disposal of excess kilograms. If the problem has not grown to universal proportions, you can try to cope on your own, but here you need the right approach. Limiting a child’s food without explanation is not the best way out of the situation. Most likely, he will not understand and will not accept such care, therefore he will resist in every possible way.

Trusting relationships and no unauthorized diets

Support and understanding during this period are very important for teenagers. It’s good if the mother helps the girl, and the father helps the boy. It is the parents who must pay due attention so as not to aggravate the problem. Older brothers and sisters usually make good helpers. But younger ones can also play their role: give the teenager the task of monitoring their healthy lifestyle.

The main thing is to avoid taking too drastic actions. You should immediately discard the use of various diets seen on TV or found on pages on the Internet. If Petya or Tanya became models after a week on the same water, then this is a deliberate lie that can cause serious harm to a growing body.

A hunger strike is not a solution. All it can bring is much more dangerous problems than a few extra pounds. After all, the body will not receive the trace elements, minerals, and vitamins it needs. It is necessary to ensure that the teenager does not follow such diets secretly. After completing them, there usually follows a period when the teenager eats everything in far from moderate quantities, which reduces the previously achieved result to zero. Severe fasting can lead to anorexia (hyperlink), and regular “raids” on the refrigerator can lead to bulimia (hyperlink). Neither one nor the other bodes well for the future.

Balanced diet

Prohibited Products

To quickly lose weight for a teenager at home, you don’t need to completely give up food. Some restrictions will still have to be made.

• Fast food should be completely excluded from the diet. Even if the teenager adores him, he will have to endure it. Parents should explain that by choosing hot dogs and hamburgers, he should at the same time say goodbye to his slim figure, and at the same time his health, forever.
• Soda cannot be consumed in any form. It doesn't matter if it's sweet or just mineral. It is optimal to switch to other drinks, for example, green or black tea, juices.
• Cakes, pastries, buns, pies, milk chocolate, candies and other “goodies” are allowed only on holidays, and even then in minute quantities.
• It is also better to postpone sausages, sausages and other sausages until better times. Even adults watching their weight are strictly not recommended to eat them. They have a high salt content (retains moisture), as well as fat, which easily accumulates on the stomach and sides.

It is best when the whole family, and not just the teenager, switches to proper, healthy nutrition. Even if the parents are not overweight, they should support the child and show that they are also ready to take part in his weight stabilization program.

Recommended food

Proper nutrition, contrary to misconceptions, can be tasty. It is not necessary to choke on oatmeal and water in the morning, although its benefits are difficult to underestimate. Recommendations from nutritionists will help make life enjoyable.

• Diversify your diet with plenty of vegetables. Zucchini, beans, beets, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, carrots, pumpkin, asparagus - it’s easy to prepare many different healthy dishes from all of this.
• Sweets can be replaced with fruits. Only in the vastness of Russia can you find apples, pears, plums, cherries, persimmons, cherry plums and much more. Do not forget about citrus fruits, as well as exotic fruits.
• Introduce steamed dishes into your diet. They are useful and easily absorbed by the body.
• It is advisable to minimize sugar consumption. It can be replaced with an herb called stevia.

Girls and boys who are overweight should maintain the correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The balance should look like a 1:4:1 ratio accordingly.

You should choose slow types of carbohydrates found in cereals, legumes, grains, pears, and apples. It is advisable to eat in small portions, up to five or six times a day. At school, snacks can be provided by preparing trays of supplies in advance. It is better to avoid canteen food, although it is believed that it is healthy by default.

To make it seem like there is more food, and you can get enough of even a small portion, put it in tiny plates. In this way, you can deceive your own brain, which will think that you have eaten a lot and the feeling of hunger will go away.

Water is the basis of life

No matter how trivial it may sound, many do not understand how important this liquid is for humans. With its deficiency, hair and nails become brittle, and the skin begins to peel off. One and a half or two liters of water, including tea, juice and even soup, is something any teenager can handle without forcing himself.

You need to drink a glass of water in the morning on an empty stomach, while the body has not yet fully woken up. You can add half a teaspoon of honey and a slice of lemon to it, so the beneficial effect will be much stronger. This is indicated for small children, adolescents and adults, regardless of gender.

Activity: movement towards victory over oneself

Intensive sports activities are given to few people. There is nothing good in exhausting your body with inhuman loads, so you shouldn’t immediately start lifting a barbell or horizontal bar, not to mention running for many hours. Leave such efforts to professional athletes, and just think about what a teenager likes most. Swimming, tennis, football, dancing, cycling - any activity will do.

• Gradually teach your child to do morning exercises or exercises at other times. A few simple exercises for fifteen to twenty minutes are quite enough.
• It doesn't hurt to skip the elevator if you live in an apartment. This excellent workout will be guaranteed at least twice a day, five days a week, while walking to and from school.
• Regular cycling trips can be organized in summer, spring and autumn. In winter they are replaced with skis or skates, and in bad weather they can just go for a walk.
• It is not necessary to dance with a coach or group. All you have to do is turn on your favorite track at home and your impromptu gym is ready. New movements can be easily found on the Internet.

An enterprising person who really wants to lose weight will definitely come up with a lot of different activities that will unobtrusively force him to move, and not sit in front of the monitor all day. Even helping parents with cleaning is good daily exercise.

Three main rules for losing weight

No laziness!

Many teenagers, even realizing that they are overweight, put off exercise and proper nutrition “for later.” Every time they promise themselves and their parents that they will start on the first of the month or on Monday before it is too late. If you start the process, you can end up with not only an unaesthetic appearance, but also a real bunch of health problems. Every year they will grow, like a snowball rolling down a mountain. Therefore, it is worth throwing away laziness, starting on Wednesday or on the twenty-third, that is, as soon as you realize the problem.

Motivation or “magic kick”

Many adults, not to mention teenagers, cannot find good enough reasons to take care of themselves, their bodies, to get them in shape. Motivation is the very thing that gets you off the couch and makes you drag your bike from the ninth floor down the stairs.

You should set yourself a simple and understandable goal, and then move towards it gradually. A teenager can have a huge number of such aspirations: entering a military or sports school, being liked by peers, improving status in a team, achieving certain results.

Healthy sleep

After a hard day, the body, especially a growing one, should get quality rest. Therefore, ideally, a teenager’s sleep lasts at least eight hours. This is the key to a healthy lifestyle. You should completely stop “night vigils” on social networks or playing your favorite games, this will negatively affect your condition the next day.

A tired person is unlikely to want “activities”; exercises will be postponed until later out of habit. This should not be allowed, therefore you need to pay special attention to sleep, set aside time for it and adhere to the established regime.

Advice from endocrinologists for parents of obese teenagers

If a child has a problem with excess weight, it is necessary to undergo the following tests and studies:

• analysis for TSH and T3 (thyroid hormones);
• Ultrasound of the abdominal organs;
• consultation with a nutritionist to create an individual menu;
• Check your blood sugar levels to rule out diabetes.

How to lose weight for 12 year old children quickly and without harm to health? To do this, you will have to completely reconsider your diet and lifestyle. No doctor can put the effort into working on himself instead of the patient.

Causes of childhood obesity

Excess weight is a problem not only for adults, but also for teenagers. Before starting to lose weight, it is important to identify the reasons why the girl is overweight. It is important to address the root cause in order to lose weight. Childhood obesity can be caused by various factors:

• inactive lifestyle;
• unbalanced diet;
• metabolic disease;
• heredity or characteristics of the body;
• developmental disorders;
• imitation of adults;
• gastrointestinal diseases.

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