Calorie Counting In Teenagers

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ferderickt911
ferderickt911 Posts: 38 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Is it bad to count calories for teenagers? Im just curious well thanks

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  • eugenia94102
    eugenia94102 Posts: 126 Member
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    It depends. From a physiological point of view from 17 on most teenagers are considered "young adults" - but they can have psychological sensitivities that tend to not be present at 24 yo, the other end of the "young adult" spectrum. If you have a specific person in mind you should consult a health care professional.
  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
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    I think it would depend on what part of the teenager you are talking about.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I'm not a fan of it. It can very easily turn into obsessive behavior and teenagers already have enough going on in their developing brains/bodies without adding more stress. If the issue is trying to lose weight, I have no problem with a teenager keeping a log of what is eaten for a couple of weeks and then making a few smart reductions in what is eaten, along with being active. I'd even say that looking at serving sizes on packages is fine, to get an idea of how much a serving is. But weighing/measuring/counting, nope.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    You might want to check out sparkteens.com - I don't know exactly what they do over there but its designed especially for teens with a focus on nutrition and health - the regular spark site is similar to MFP
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    edited January 2017
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    .
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    My daughter counted calories as a teen because she played soccer and ran cross country. She, her coaches and I wanted to make sure that she ate enough to fuel all of that activity. It wasn't for weight loss and the athletic training staff at her school gave her good advice on what to eat for recovery.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Again, it depends on the teen and also what the goal of the calorie counting is. A teen who is really overweight may benefit by getting an idea of what the goals are. Or a teen who needs a nutritional workup for sports, health, or the like.

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