How to lose weight for teenage girls. A complete guide with tips

Lose weight and surprise your friends with your transformation.
Follow our exclusive weight loss tips, healthy diet, and workout routine for teenage girls-all backed by science and recommended by nutritionists.

Being an overweight teenage girl can be hard. You miss out so much on school and life. Be it sports, health, fitness, class presentations, socializing, or dating. Being overweight as a teenager can shatter your confidence and, you might feel anxious or depressed. Don’t worry; you aren’t alone.

The good news is that your body’s metabolism is fast at this age, and you lose weight easily. The only key is to follow the right path with consistency and determination. Avoid being harsh on yourself.

Here we tell you exactly what to do and what to avoid to get into shape.

The best diet for teenage girls to lose weight:

 Internet is full of rubbish diets and recipes. Celebrities storm their social media with quick diet fixes. You must have heard about some of these: banana diet, detox diet, fasting, keto, low-carb, liquid diet. What if we tell you it’s all a market scam only to get money and views.

Any diet deficit in calories will make you lose weight but, little do you know that all weight comes back once you are off the diet. Fad diets can even make you nutrient deficient. Thus they cause more harm than good to your body. If you are conscious about your health, we advise staying away from fad diets or any diet excluding major food groups.

So what is the best diet? The best diet for teenage girls is a healthy diet with all the food groups included. A healthy diet has the right proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, healthy fats, fiber, micronutrients, and minerals.

Follow the Food Pyramid

• The food pyramid is a pictorial representation of portions of food you need from different food groups.

According to the food pyramid,  green vegetables should have the biggest serving on your plate. Next comes complex carbohydrates, tubers, proteins, fruits and, healthy fats. You should be following these guidelines to make your plate healthy:

• Have at least a plateful serving of vegetables each day. You can eat all vegetables except potatoes. Eat vegetables as salads or use them in your sandwiches, curry, etc. Vegetables provide you with essential vitamins and minerals. They are packed with fiber that keeps you full for a long time.
• Tip: Add vegetables to each meal. Eating a side salad or just tossing some frozen veggies with olive oil, Italian herbs or, butter could be a great choice.
• Take six servings of carbohydrates each day. Only eat complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are the least processed. Brown rice, whole wheat, quinoa oats, barley, potato sourdough bread, multi-grain bread are some great choices to start with. Avoid white flour and items made out of it at all costs.
• Carbohydrates must make 50% of your daily food intake. Carbs provide energy to the body. Don’t pursue low-carb diet trends. Your body is in A growing phase and undergoing hormonal changes. Depriving yourself of carbs can halt your growth.
• Tip: Take only two servings of carbohydrates at a time. Overloading of carbs is easy and can lead to drastic weight gain.
• Have 3 to 7 servings of protein each day. Add meat, chicken, fish, salmon, yogurt, tofu, cheese, lentils, chickpeas to your diet. I prefer grilled, lean meat as your protein source.
• Have three servings of healthy fats each day. 1 serving equals 1 tsp for butter, oil, ghee. Avoid margarine and lard. Indulge in a small quantity of nuts, walnuts, peanuts, peanut butter, almond butter into your diet as a healthy fat source.

Healthy Plate Method:

Your plate should look like this at most of the meals. 50% vegetables and fruits, 25% Complex carbs, 25% protein, fats and, nuts sparingly; all this makes the healthy plate. It will keep you full and energetic till the next meal. Aim for your meals like this.

Avoid Junk and Processed Food:

Grabbing a chips bag when you are hungry or ordering a pizza over the phone might be the easiest way to wipe your hunger, but you can never lose weight this way. You need to minimize your McDonalds drive thus or KFC fried chickens. Most of this food is packed with trans fats, unhealthy ingredients, and is super caloric rich.

Chips, chocolates, cookies, sodas are empty calories. They make you gain weight like crazy. You feel hungry after eating a bag of chips though you eat 400-500 calories. That food can’t make you feel full. Eliminate processed junk food from your diet and opt for healthy snack options like air-popped popcorn, nuts and, fruits.

 Eliminate added sugar and sugary beverages:

Sugar is a white poison that halts your weight loss. We eat and drink so much hidden sugar each day without even realizing it. Bottled fruit juices, fruit jams, marmalades, jellies, bakery items, white flour, coffee, tea are all full of added sugars. Say no to sugar. Use plant stevia as an alternative for sugar.

Leaving sugar can be hard at first, but it would be easy once you overcome the initial stage. Your sugar cravings will die themselves soon. You can still enjoy occasional treats but keep it rare only.

Record what you eat:

One reason why you might not be losing weight is underestimating your calories. It is advisable to record everything you eat. For this, you do not need to write everything on paper and search for their calories on google. It is hard, right? Download calories recording applications on the phone. One of our favorites is “My Fitness Pal” This app allows you to record your daily intake along with macro and calorie count.

Just sit back and enter what you eat on this app; you will soon realize how many calories you were consuming without even realizing. This results in mindful eating.

Don’t eat less than 1000 calories:

Anything less than 800 calories is considered starvation. You must eat 1000 to 2000 calories each day according to your activity level and age. We recommend eating 1500 calories daily.
Try out our calorie calculator and take a look at your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and aim to eat 300 to 500 calories less than your TDEE. Within a month you’ll start to see amazing results.

If you think low calories will make you lose weight fast, you need to rethink because this is not how things work. Calories less than a certain amount put your body into starvation mode and slows down the metabolism. In starvation mode, the body preserves fat to survive.

Begin with small steps:

Taking charge of your health is the biggest life-changing step you are going to take. But don’t overburden yourself with this. Making one change at a time can go a long way. These steps will turn into habits and become your lifestyle.

Begin with leaving junk food and sugary drinks. Add in more vegetables to the daily diet and slowly progress to a healthy diet. Moderation is the key here.

Stay Hydrated:

Hydration is important for losing weight. Water flushes out toxins and harmful substances from the body in the urine. Try to refrain from drinking anything but water and black coffee. Water is the best when it comes to hydration; it keeps your skin healthy, clear, and zit-free!

Drinking only water means that you would not drink any sugary drinks or energy drinks packed with sugar, which usually contain up to 800 calories per drink. Can you see: almost half your daily calories in one drink? Water is healthy for your body, tastes heavenly, and it’s an essential part of your weight loss journey.

Here’s a pro tip: If you find yourself consistently hungry after every meal: try drinking a glass of water or unsweetened green tea before every meal. It’ll help you fill up, and it’s also calorie-free.

Best Workout Routine For Teenage Girls:

Incorporating some physical activity into your daily routine boosts your weight loss and increases your stamina. Here we discuss some effective workout routine for teenage girls:

1. Move More, Sit Less:

The first thing you need to do is increase your NEAT. NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis. NEAT is the energy expenditure during the chores we do apart from exercise. It includes sleeping, walking to work, typing, writing, speaking, standing.

Increasing your energy expenditure by making small changes can burn more calories. Don’t be a couch potato anymore. Opt for standing instead of sitting. Do house chores. Just arrange your cupboard, cycle instead of driving, use a standing desk in place of the sitting desk. These small changes can increase your NEAT and contribute to more calorie burn.

2. Go For a walk:

If you are completely clueless about how to lose weight, go on a walk. The walk is great in many ways. It will help you burn calories and build your pace, and you can progress to jogging slowly.

Start with a walk of half-hour. Aim for 4000 steps if you are a complete beginner. Increase your steps by 500 days until you reach 10,000 steps. Install a steps tracker on your phone or wear a smartwatch that records your actions. Find ways and excuses to increase your steps. A little effort will go a long way.

3. Play a sport that burns calories:

   

Sports are great for losing weight fast because it gives you that extra push. If you are new to sports and have never played anything in the past, please don’t hesitate. It’s not about winning the game or getting skilled. Just find a group of girls doing some activity that you’re interested in, and ask if you can join their club. Here are some activities that are big-time calorie burners:

• Badminton: This sport is the easiest, and you will learn it with much less effort. This sport involves so much jumping and running that it is excellent cardio ( exercises that increase heart rate) to burn calories. An hour of badminton game burns almost 400 calories.
• Basketball: Basketball requires you to run up and down on the basketball court. The average female playing basketball for an hour burns almost 720 calories.

• Boxing: Boxing burns tons of calories. It is a strenuous sport where you are not just staring but continually moving your hands and changing positions. One hour of boxing burns 600 to 800 calories depending on your weight.

Grocery list for teenage girls:

If you are looking to lose weight without exercise or a mom looking for ways for her teenage daughter to lose weight, go for this pantry list. It includes all the essential groceries that you will need to prepare meals. We suggest subway, grilled burgers, sandwiches, thin-crust pizzas, zero sodas, salads, barbecued meat, and soups for take-outs and dine-outs.

Here is a sample grocery list:

• Chicken
• Grass-fed beef
• Sausages
• Mutton
• Salmon
• Tuna
• Whitefish
• Shrimps
• Eggs
• Lentils
• Beans
• Chickpeas

• Steel-cut oats
• Multi-grain bread
• Whole wheat bread
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Whole wheat buns
• Whole wheat pasta

• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Grass-fed butter
• Peanut butter
• Almond butter
• Avocado

• Soy sauce
• Vinegar
• Worcestershire sauce
• Non-sweetened mayonnaise
• Non-sweetened ranch sauce
• Mustard sauce

• Skimmed milk
• Cream
• Cottage cheese
• Mozzarella cheese
• Cream cheese
• Popcorn
• Mushrooms
• Protein bars
• Wheat crackers
• Granola bars
• All fruit, dry fruits in moderation.
• All fresh and frozen vegetables as much you want except potato.

The Bottom Line:

Losing weight as a teenage girl only requires determination, consistency, and a healthy relationship with food. At this age, the body is undergoing hormonal changes and rapid growth. Limiting certain food groups can halt growth.

It is important to understand different food groups and Follow the food pyramid while filling your plate for losing weight. Use the healthy plate method. 50% of your plate should be covered with veggies—25% with complex carbs and 25% with protein. Most of your meals should be like this if not all.

Move more and sit less. Introduce a good physical activity in your life to lose weight. The best exercises are walk, yoga, and any sports.

Love yourself and your body but be ready to slay the new you after these summer vacations.