Teenagers and breakfast

mom2kpr

aggelikik wrote: »

mom2kpr wrote: »

I know that breakfast for adults is not important. I personally am not a breakfast eater. But what about teenagers? My 13 yr old daughter want to lose about 12 lbs. Looking at what she eats during the day & the fact that she is not a big breakfast eater either, I'm wondering if she could cut back on breakfast. I'm thinking that as a growing girl & that she gets up at 6:30 and lunch isn't until 12:30, that she should eat something in the morning. She is allowed to bring a snack & eat it when she's ready between classes. Thanks.

A 13 year old with a goal to lose 12 lbs sounds scary to me. Unless she is obese, and she is following a plan by her pediatrician on how to lose a specific amount of weight, the whole post screams of negative body image issues. Can you talk to a specialist and come up with a balanced meal plan that covers a teenager's need and let's her reach a healthy weight? Teaching her to skip meals to lose X lbs, it is only setting her up for lots of trouble with food in the next years.

She's not obese, but she is a little overweight. A 12 lb loss would put her in the middle of her weight range. She's 13, she has poor body image. I don't know too many teenager girls that have positive body image. Also, I'm not teaching her to skip meals. She naturally is not a big breakfast eater. On weekends & summer when she sleeps until 10:30 she rarely eats until noon. I am making sre she eats healthy and does not undereat. We set up a sparkteen acct for her.

tomatoey

Aw, man, 13 with a body image problem? Noooo don't put her on a diet. Get her into a martial arts class.

mom2kpr

segacs wrote: »

Also, I'd suggest doing the best you can as a parent to help her develop a healthy body image. 13 is a tough age for a lot of teenage girls. Puberty hits and you start feeling insecure and uncomfortable in your own skin. Maybe you gain a bit of weight, which is normal at that stage. Maybe you're thinking about what your friends are going to think, or worried about what the boys in your class will think. The media projects a lot of unhelpful images. Most studies show a sharp drop in self-confidence among girls of that age. Eating disorders are, unfortunately, abundantly common.

Emphasizing healthy eating instead of calorie-counting or weight loss at this age could make a huge difference to her. Show her how to eat enough to fuel her body, help her focus on her goals (exercise, sports, things she dreams of doing in life) and help her reshape her ideal from "skinny" to "strong".

Good luck!

Thanks. This is exactly what I'm trying to do. She is active in sports and likes to bike and go to the Y in the summer. We are working together to keep her strong and healthy.

Liftng4Lis

My daughter is 15 and rarely eats breakfast, but she does bring a morning snack. This is a very sensitive age for young ladies and I agree with Segacs. So much, try to help her develop a healthy relationship with food.

LKArgh

mom2kpr wrote: »

aggelikik wrote: »

mom2kpr wrote: »

I know that breakfast for adults is not important. I personally am not a breakfast eater. But what about teenagers? My 13 yr old daughter want to lose about 12 lbs. Looking at what she eats during the day & the fact that she is not a big breakfast eater either, I'm wondering if she could cut back on breakfast. I'm thinking that as a growing girl & that she gets up at 6:30 and lunch isn't until 12:30, that she should eat something in the morning. She is allowed to bring a snack & eat it when she's ready between classes. Thanks.

A 13 year old with a goal to lose 12 lbs sounds scary to me. Unless she is obese, and she is following a plan by her pediatrician on how to lose a specific amount of weight, the whole post screams of negative body image issues. Can you talk to a specialist and come up with a balanced meal plan that covers a teenager's need and let's her reach a healthy weight? Teaching her to skip meals to lose X lbs, it is only setting her up for lots of trouble with food in the next years.

She's not obese, but she is a little overweight. A 12 lb loss would put her in the middle of her weight range. She's 13, she has poor body image. I don't know too many teenager girls that have positive body image. Also, I'm not teaching her to skip meals. She naturally is not a big breakfast eater. On weekends & summer when she sleeps until 10:30 she rarely eats until noon. I am making sre she eats healthy and does not undereat. We set up a sparkteen acct for her.

I must say I am surprised by the bolded statement. This is not normal. I know many teens "complaining" as in fishing for compliments, but actually no, most of them do not have a negative body image, regardless of their weight. Some do, but not most. If she really does feel bad about her body, this is not normal, not even if she is overweight. Is she exercising at all? Maybe finding a class she enjoys would help her? Or changing the style of clothes she wears?