Healthy weight management for teens

The core of healthy weight management for teenagers has never been rapid weight loss or strict abstinence from high-sugar and high-fat foods, nor can it directly copy adult programs such as caloric deficit, ketosis, fasting, etc. Instead, it should help children establish long-term living habits that suit their own metabolic levels while ensuring that core growth needs such as height, secondary sexual characteristics, and brain development are not affected, and ultimately stabilize the weight within the reasonable growth range corresponding to age and height.

I encountered this example at the pediatric nutrition clinic last week: Duoduo, a 13-year-old girl, was in the first grade of junior high school. Her mother thought her legs were thick and her belly was protruding, so she signed up for an online student fat-reduction camp behind her back. The food she was asked to eat every day was not even a fist-sized bowl, and she had to follow the instructions. After doing high-intensity aerobics for an hour, I lost 6 pounds in half a month. When I measured my bone age, I found that my growth rate was half slower than last month. My period was delayed by about ten days. My child was always sleepy in class, and even his ranking in the last monthly exam dropped by more than 20 places.

I have been doing pediatric nutrition for almost 8 years, and I have seen too many parents who make mistakes like this. Essentially, they apply adult weight logic to children who are growing up. Think about it, growth and development in adolescence is like building a tall building. You have to provide enough reinforced concrete materials first, and you cannot cut corners just to make the building look slimmer. In the end, the building is crooked and the gain outweighs the gain.

There are actually two mainstream ideas in the industry regarding adolescent weight management. There is no absolute right or wrong, but the applicable situations are different.

Most doctors who practice clinical nutrition will first put aside "weight figures" and first look at the child's growth curve: as long as the weight is within the 3% to 97% range of the growth percentile for the corresponding age and gender, even if it is a few pounds heavier than the children in the same class, as long as the bone age, hormone levels, and nutrient indicators are normal, there is no need to deliberately lose weight, and it will naturally grow evenly as the height grows. We generally recommend that parents adjust their diet first: for example, ensure 300 to 500ml of pure milk, 1 egg, and at least 50 grams of red meat every day. The grains do not need to be replaced with brown rice. White rice mixed with 1/3 of oats or corn grits is enough. After all, children have to think hard in class. Eating too many whole grains will not only make them unable to swallow, but may also affect the absorption of iron. Adolescent girls are already prone to anemia, so there is no need to take this risk. There is no need to completely ban snacks. Replace the potato chips and carbonated drinks stored at home with plain nuts and fresh-cut fruits. Occasionally, the children want to eat fried chicken and milk tea. Eating it once a week will not have any impact at all. On the contrary, it is much better than not allowing them to eat at all and secretly saving money to buy three-no foods at the school gate.

It is different from the idea of ​​​​the clinical nutrition school. When my friends who work on youth physical fitness talk to me, they prefer to lower the threshold of "exercise" to the lowest level first. They have come into contact with too many children who are forced by their parents to run 3 kilometers, sign up for weight loss classes, and end up completely rejecting exercise. Many times, children gain weight not because they eat too much, but because they sit for too long and have weak cores. They gasp after taking even two steps and naturally prefer to stay in their seats, forming a vicious cycle. Previously, they picked up a 14-year-old boy who usually stayed at home and played games. His weight was 15 pounds over the standard for his age. His parents forced him to run, but he would rather pretend to be sick at home. Later, the coach directly gave him a body-building boxing game. He played it for 20 minutes every day after finishing his homework. He didn’t have to go out or compete with others. After playing for two months, he didn’t gain weight. He grew 3 centimeters taller. His rounded shoulders and hunched back were also much better. Now he even takes the initiative to invite his classmates to play ball on weekends.

It’s also interesting to say that the debate over whether teenagers should use a low GI diet to control their weight has not stopped in the past two years. Those who support believe that low-GI foods raise blood sugar slowly, making children less likely to be hungry and reducing the frequency of snacking. ； The opposing side believes that teenagers have a much higher demand for carbohydrates than adults, and blindly limiting refined carbohydrates will affect the brain's energy supply, causing inattention in class and delaying learning. My own experience is that you don’t have to go to extremes. For example, it’s better to give your children whole-wheat bread and milk in the morning than sweet bread. It’s okay to eat white rice as normal at noon. If you don’t eat brown rice every time, it will make your children feel like they are being tortured.

If there are any minefields that must not be touched, the first thing is not to weigh your children every day, let alone say "you are too fat and need to lose weight" in front of the children. I have treated several cases of adolescent children with eating disorders. At first, the parents talked about their weight every day, but in the end they either vomited after eating, or secretly overeated to induce vomiting, which is much more difficult to control than being overweight. Also, don’t believe in the “students lose 10 pounds in a month” folk remedies. The weight of adolescents fluctuates greatly, and it is more reliable to look at the changes in cycles of six months to one year. If you really think there is a problem with your child’s weight, go to the pediatric nutrition department of a regular hospital to register for an appointment and have your bone age and nutrient levels measured. It is much better than blindly following online tutorials and trial and error.

After all, every child’s physique, eating habits, and exercise preferences are different. How can there be any standard answer to weight management that is universally applicable? As parents, we are nothing more than helping our children develop comfortable habits that they can stick to for a long time. We can’t let our children go without snacks for the rest of their lives and force themselves to run every day, right? After all, a healthy body should be able to enjoy delicious food and exercise freely.