From Couch Potato to Fit Teen

“Did you know I was chunky as a teenager?” Anna asked as she talked about her youth. “Well, I guess I was more than a bit chunky, significantly overweight is a better description.”

This information took me completely by surprise. Anna has maintained a healthy weight for all the years I have known her. She continued telling me her story…

Anna’s problems started in about third grade when she began to pack on the pounds. Around that time, she developed a taste for sweets. She began to make junk food a regular part of her after-school routine. Fruit Roll-ups and Gushers were her favorites.

Growing up in God’s Church, she had become accustomed to a certain amount of teasing. So, when the fat-shaming started, it just seemed par for the course. The usual. Even expected.

But something changed for Anna in the spring when she was about age 16. She would be moving to a different town that summer, which meant a new set of friends and acquaintances awaited her. She was tired of outfits not fitting and sick of being teased.

She decided to make a major change in her life: to reach a healthy weight by the time she started at her new high school that fall.

You Could Be Anna

Anna is not her real name, but she could be you—boy or girl. In 1980, 5 percent of adolescents between 12 and 19 years of age were obese. In 2018, that had almost quadrupled to 19 percent. Health network Sutter Health revealed more, stating, “Overall, nearly one-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.” That is one in three under age 18.

The same source explained that the term overweight means “having any excess weight outside of the ideal healthy range.” Obesity means “an excessive accumulation of body fat, making someone 20 percent heavier than their ideal healthy body weight.” We will talk more about appropriate weights later in the article.

As with Anna, whether you will cultivate healthy or unhealthy habits is your choice. Will you eat a proper diet? Will you exercise? These and other decisions affect you now, and they will affect you for many years to come.

One choice we make is whether to be at a healthy weight. By adopting a few simple habits—lifestyle changes—you can reach a healthy weight and maintain it for the rest of your life. This will improve not only your physical well-being but also your attitude, performance and appearance! It will make you a good example for others.

A Defining Moment

At Pentecost before Anna’s move, she made a big decision. She said no to dessert at the Holy Day luncheon. Given Anna’s love of sweets, this surprised those around her.

Saying no was her defining moment. This was the instant she chose to fully embrace a healthier lifestyle.

Before this, Anna had done some research, talked to her parents, consulted health experts and realized it was not rocket science to lose weight and then maintain it. She had deeply examined her lifestyle and realized that, for her, the main culprit was sugar.

From that moment forward, she determined to limit sugar as much as possible. She began by avoiding desserts.

Sugar is an example of empty calories. According to livestrong.com, cutting out sweets is a tried and tested way to lose weight.

Empty calories are those that need to be used up—burned—but bring your body no nutritional value. No vitamins. No minerals. No nutrition. When you do not use these calories, your body stores them in adipose cells—fat cells—for future use. To be at a healthy weight, Anna needed to address these.

A caveat: Many teens 17 and under are still growing. If you are still getting taller, many professionals recommend avoiding weight reduction. This especially applies to children under 13.

For those still growing, experts recommend gaining weight slower or staying at the same weight while height increases. You eventually “grow into” a healthy weight. WebMD recommends talking to your healthcare provider for an accurate diagnosis.

What else did Anna do?

Important Changes

Anna had a new life awaiting her and was determined to meet her goal that summer. She had to reduce her calories for her weight to drop. Eliminating desserts was only her first step. When she ate bagels, she ate only half instead of the whole thing. She ate salads for lunch and was careful to use only tiny amounts of dressing, which usually contain a lot of sugar.

For dinner, she ate what her parents had prepared. Where she could choose, she did. She left buns off of burgers. She did not eat rolls or bread. She avoided these high-calorie items.

She stopped drinking soda and drank mostly water. She kept milk drinking to a minimum and avoided chocolate and other flavorings. Fruit drinks are mostly sugar, so she avoided those as well.

And that summer, she never, ever ate dessert.

Reducing calories is necessary for those who are overweight. Maintenance and weight loss are different, Anna pointed out. In weight loss mode, you cannot fit in desserts or sweets. You cannot fit in overeating.

WebMD recommends health as the goal, taking the focus off weight loss. This approach effectively creates permanent change. New habits form.

Anna knew that adjusting what and how much she ate was just as important as limiting her sugary drinks and increasing her water intake.

Portion Control

Developing these new habits was difficult, but Anna was resolute. She ate one plate of food at meals. Not more. She knew if she eliminated calories in desserts but added them back in other areas of her diet, she would not lose weight.

Each food on her plate was one serving. She researched what a recommended serving size was and was not. She did not allow herself to have large servings—as these are really more than one serving anyway.

She tremendously reduced snacking throughout the day, including no snacks after meals. When she snacked, she chose satiating low-calorie vegetables or nuts.

Anna was careful to get temptations out of the house. Eliminating her easy snack foods helped a lot. She strove to only eat at mealtime. She sought help from her family.

During that first summer of weight control, she did not cheat on her diet. Today, she remains adamant: “Cheating prolongs the entire process of getting to a healthy weight. You pay for it. So do not cheat. At all.” She says we do not need to live in weight-loss mode for the rest of our lives. But there is no quick fix.

Regardless of how diet and calories are controlled, your weight depends on how much you eat. Realize that 3,500 calories per week equals about one pound of weight. So if you eat 500 calories more than what you need per day, you will gain a pound. Eat 500 calories less, you will lose a pound.

Get Moving

Anna disliked running. But one way or another, she ran one mile every day each week except the Sabbath. If she could not run outside, she used a treadmill. She liked bicycling, so she did that as much as she could.

She did not consider herself athletic, nor did she have much ability to participate in organized sports. Yet, even after reaching a healthy weight, she wanted to stay that way. She enrolled in an elective class of Physical Education—during her senior year of high school!—because she was determined.

You can be determined too. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that teens get one hour of physical activity daily. You do not have to tackle it all at once, however! Include physical activity in your routine. Walk where you can. Take dance classes or participate in a sport you enjoy.

Not a Competition

While Anna recounted her story, she emphasized that we should remember that everyone is different. We all have different heights and body types, which changes how much we should weigh.

She decided her end goal was that she would look like herself. Period. Not someone else’s definition of “fit” or “skinny.” But she did not know what she would look like at a healthy weight. She did not know how she would feel either.

Anna did not focus on outward appearance to help set a healthy weight goal. Instead, she used BMI (Body Mass Index). This gave her a weight range to shoot for that took her height into account. BMI gave her an objective goal rather than popular outward beauty standards.

The CDC has an online Child and Teen BMI Calculator. Google “BMI Percentile Calculator for Child and Teen” to calculate yours. Remember, the CDC recommends seeking advice on your healthy weight from your healthcare provider.

One note of caution is that BMI is a range. BMI can be too low or too high. If your BMI is low and under the healthy range, it is just as important to talk to your parents and healthcare provider as if your BMI is above the healthy range.

Some look at BMI and do not believe it is an accurate way to set a healthy weight. They disregard it as unattainable. Anna addressed this attitude: “Not believing BMI is just an excuse for not addressing the unhealthy problem of too much weight.”

Consistency, Not Perfection

Throughout her weight loss journey, Anna was not perfect, but she consistently made intelligent choices about her eating and exercise. When she made mistakes or slip-ups, she simply accepted them, determined to do better and moved on.

As a teen, she also realized other people, such as parents, make choices about what you can eat. They sometimes even decide when you eat. Part of being a teen is accepting that.

So although Anna’s diet was not entirely in her control, she made healthy choices where she could. She avoided temptations. For her, vending machines were horribly tempting—she avoided them. French fries were a particular vice—she stayed away from them. Processed foods were also very alluring for her—she gave them up. Bye-bye, instant mashed potatoes!

Keep Going!

Anna met her goal by the end of the summer. She started fresh: New friends and a new body. Her clothes fit!

After her weight loss, she was excited that she could keep up in gym class and found out she was a lot more athletic than she thought. She still dressed modestly, but the fat-shaming and teasing disappeared. She felt better, more vibrant and more alert.

She remains fit and healthy today. She is tired only when it is time to go to sleep. She has increased energy.

Anna says consistency is the key to maintaining her healthy weight. Even today, she only rarely has dessert—once or twice a month. She makes sure to savor these occasional treats.

She has learned to use clothes as a marker rather than weighing herself. If the way her clothes fit means weight is creeping back on, she takes quick action! Losing 10 or 20 pounds is easier and simpler than 30 or 40, so she has learned to watch and keep the weight from creeping back on again.

She occasionally measures her weight and is determined to never again let her BMI rise to an unhealthy number!

You can be Anna. Talk to your parents and a health professional. Do your own research. Read God’s Principles of Healthful Living.

Then put your weight loss plan into action. Not only will you look and feel better, but you will also be healthier!