Do You Lose Weight When You Become a Teenager?

The teenage years are every person’s transformational phase to adulthood. Boys and girls usually experience a barrage of physical and emotional changes, and most wonder if losing weight is one. The question is do you lose weight when you become a teenager?

The Healthy Children Organization claims that your body fat usually stays relatively stable during puberty, and you won’t naturally gain or lose it. However, some lifestyle habits can make you gain or lose weight during your teen years, making it challenging to maintain healthy levels.

We dig into the truth to help you understand whether or not you may lose weight during puberty or when you become a teenager.

Do you get skinnier during puberty?

Understanding what happens with your weight when you become a teenager can be confusing. A quick internet search can whack you with conflicting takes on whether you gain weight or lose it during your teen years. However, we want to settle it all here with you.

Teens in their puberty usually experience a vast array of hormonal changes. That invites numerous body changes and landmark transformations that shape them into adults. While some teens might experience these changes earlier, others may enter puberty later. So do they gain weight or lose it? That depends.

We trust the Healthy Children Organization [1], backed by 67,000 pediatricians, to help teens attain optimal mental, physical, and social health in children to offer a more precise take on this issue.

Your body fat usually remains relatively similar throughout your teens. However, there exists a little nuance between boys and girls in their teens, and the marginal rate of fat increase may be apparent in the latter. Girls may have more fat cells around their thighs and breasts, although that doesn’t usually constitute weight gain.

It’s a typical body transformation that happens when they get into puberty. To settle it, you won’t naturally gain any weight, and neither will you lose it when you become a teenager. However, some habits can be behind you in gaining or losing weight.

Do You Gain Weight When You Become a Teenager?

You don’t naturally gain or lose weight when you become a teenager. However, some lifestyle habits can transform your weight either way. Remember that most teenagers become obese out of nowhere and associate that with puberty.

For the few others, the opposite usually happens, making most teens fail to decide whether they naturally gain or lose weight or if it happens out of their lifestyle habits. Also read: How Do You Politely Talk To Someone Who Need To Lose Weight?

Most teens (especially boys) get more muscle definition, and the bodies need a lot of energy to actively divide cells. That means they may need sufficient energy and can feel constantly hungry. They tend to eat more than they should, which contributes to obesity due to high-calorie intake.

While girls may not need much energy, they may resort to foods that barely add value but increase their weight to unhealthy levels. For that, it’s always best to have your lifestyle and check your habits to maintain a healthy weight.

How Do You Maintain a Healthy Weight as a Teenager?

The modern times may have been a blessing and an enabler of contemporary living. However, it’s best to understand that gaining weight due to these habits can be way easier than losing it, and you can quickly become more obese than you imagined. Therefore, here are the best ways to help you maintain a healthy weight as a teenager.

• Ask for Support from Your Family

Your family can play significant in maintaining a healthy weight as a teenager. Your parents can be handy in guiding you better, and you can leverage their experiences about achieving a healthy weight.

Your parents understand all the tricks you can use to lose weight and can even sign you up for a class that helps teens manage their weight.

While your parent’s guidance can be handy, other people around you and your fellow teens with a healthy weight maintenance regimen can help you. That should ensure that you don’t fall into the traps that lead you to become more obese.

• Stop Eating When You Feel Like Your Stomach Is Full

If you think that your weight is becoming a nuisance and are gaining it rapidly, it could be that you’re taking more than your body can metabolize. Most boys’ appetites spike during this time due to higher energy demands. And while the body requires more of it, it acts as a pitfall trap to overeating.

Girls aren’t exempted either and can significantly gain weight due to eating more than their bodies need. Their actively dividing cells, hormone imbalances and growth can also coerce them into eating more food. This food usually gets stored as fat, contributing to obesity. Therefore, it’s best always to stop eating when you feel full.

• Watch What You Drink

Some drinks – especially sugary and fizzy types – contain unhealthy calories. The scary part is that naïve teenagers like them the most and will stop at nothing as long as they get the gratification that comes with it. While it can be seemingly impossible to drop them all at once, minimizing the intake can go a long way.

You can substitute these drinks with water or natural fruit juices. You can also resort to taking fruits whenever the urge to take these unhealthy drinks kicks in. that way, maintaining a healthy weight is possible, and you won’t have to deal with excess fat deposits on your body.

• Avoid Fad Diets

Fad diets can promise you heaven when maintaining a healthy weight. However, they might be why you struggle with weight gain (or loss) without knowing. Fad diets can seemingly be promising by offering a solution to maintaining a healthy weight. And frankly, you aren’t at fault, as some medical professionals may suggest to you.

While we don’t fault professionals for not paying proper attention, we feel like fad diets are restrictive and can be the reason you gain weight. They miss out on the essential nutrients that your body needs. Also read: How to lose weight on your arm and shoulders

Moreover, they aren’t as sustainable as you may think. If possible, please avoid them and turn to take all-inclusive foods to supplement your body with all nutrients needed for a sustained, healthy weight.

• Avoid Snacking and Watching Too Much TV

The teenage years open a world of curiosity in teens, making them more intrigued with what’s happening around them. If that’s your case, you may notice that you’re becoming more attracted to the TV and can spend hours on end watching your favorite shows.

Please note that spending some time in front of your TV is okay. However, you’re more likely to snack on chips and fries while doing so excessively. That can quickly lead to weight gain.

Conclusion

You neither gain nor lose weight when you’re a teenager – at least not naturally. However, your body may undergo transformational changes that alter your weight. Boys tend to have more defined and marginally puffed muscles, while girls will notice more fat around their breasts and thighs. These changes don’t usually constitute weight gain or contribute to weight loss. However, a few habits can be the reason you gain or lose weight in your teen years, which you can rectify and maintain your healthy weight.

Medical Discalimer: The information provided here On Geeks Health website is for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. If you have or suspect a medical problem, promptly contact your healthcare provider. Reliance on any information in this response is solely at your own risk.