What would a goal weight be for dd?

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Posting for traffic. Dd is 16 and 5'2. She is quite overweight. She is committed to losing weight and being healthier (starting tomorrow). I have little experience helping teenagers with weight loss and was wondering 1) if anyone has been through this and has any tips for me and 2) what a good goal weight would look like for a 5'2 16 year old girl?

Also, I know eating disorders are prevalent with young people so I will be keeping a close eye on dd and making sure she is being healthy. This is 100% her decision and she just wants me to support her.

I'm 5'2 and comfortable around 9 stones, I am a naturally curvy figure so hips, boobs and bum but slin at this weight. This gives me a bmi of around 23. At 8 stone I would be too skinny.

Glittter Bloody hell. 55kg? Max? Very certain of yourself?

In kg, the healthy BMI range according to the NHS is 45kg to 62.3 kg. That's BMI 18.5-25, there.

Your range of weights, by comparison, is the window between BMI 20.1 and BMI 22.1. That's not a lot of allowance for natural human variation, is it?!

Maybe this is a bad idea, but what about a fitbit?

I've had mine for 2 weeks and I've lost 10lbs already. I am 5ft 9 and 2-3 stone overweight. I am finding it so helpful to log my meals and activity. I am an emotional eater. I get anxious if I feel hungry. I have been loosely following the blood sugar diet and it has been great.

Today, for example, I have had,

2 boiled eggs for breakfast

Greek yoghurt with seeds and berries

Handful of almonds

Pork and pineapple kebabs with mixed grains and salad

2 squares of sea salt chocolate

Tea and coffee and a diet Pepsi.

That's about 1400 calories.

All I've done is try to meet my targets every day, which involves climbing 20 flights of stairs, taking 10,000 steps, 60 minutes of activity and 8 hours sleep. It also reminds me to move every hour. I have it set to lose 2lbs a week.

Maybe it would help your daughter to think about the choices she is making but without sticking to a diet or strict regime. She will see that she can have a treat but she will need to walk a bit longer for example, or she will see how much sugar she is having in her drinks or snacks.

Maybe by being more aware, she will find it easier to take control.

Don't let her go too low fat, especially in puberty, girls need fat for hormone production. I'd suggest meals based around veg, protein and healthy fats. Comppex carbs. No sugar.
You want her to find a way of eating that she can carry on for life rather than go on a diet, otherwise she will fall into the trap of dieting on and off for life like many of us have!

Agree about making it about healthy eating not weight at her age, and something for the whole family to get involved in. In our Tesco they had a free magazine with loads of recipes - it was a healthy eating edition - would maybe have some ideas for you. Also, how about getting some smaller dinner plates? I have cut down my portions by about a third since doing this.

Have a look at the no S diet. It is very simple, does not require obsessing about numbers on the scales and is all about moderation. I have been doing it since October and feel my relationship with food is so much healthier and I hardly think about it.

Nothing extreme just good old fashioned common sense, so fine for a teenager. You track days on habit rather than weight lost which is within your control.

Agree no target weight just as ncourage good diet and exercise

I am 5ft 2. I have weighed a variety of weights in my life. I find 10 st 3 lb roughly a good weight to maintain. It is an average size 12 . I did get to around 9st for my wedding but that was bloody hard work and gruelling phys sessions. She needs a weight goal that is actually achievable.

Please don't set a target weight-wise. As PP said it can lead to lifelong issues with food/weight/body image especially when weight is lost and people start saying how amazing you look (as if not good enough before type thing).

She'll know she's lost weight by her clothes. If she loses significant weight, she'll need a whole new wardrobe.

FGS, all the people fixated on 8 stone. yes, it would be a good weight for many teens that height, but not if MH and ED are a worry. In that case, eating good, healthy food and not too much of it, pppplus getting some useful exercise are the primary goal, for the forseeable.

And no S diet is a great idea because that encourages healthy eating habits.

As pp's have said don't focus on her weight focus more on healthy eating and exercise join a gym together and find classes that you can do together to keep each other motivate cook healthy meals with her that will help to give her a good idea of what to eat and what not to eat and it gives her a great life long skill.

Don't pick a target weight for her. Encourage healthy eating at home by all means, don't buy crisps/chocolate/biscuits/stop baking. Ultimately at her age it's up to her.
Support her in any sport she wants to do, boost her self esteem, be there for her when she has exams, treat her to grown up fun things like a manicure/haircut/eyebrows whatever she likes to make her feel good about being her.

BMI ranges are a little different for children (it's based on gender, age, and height) although the calculation is the same. 130 lb would put her in the 79th percentile for her age, height, and gender which is just in the normal range (up to 85th percentile is normal for children and adolescents).

I want to suggest about 110 lbs. Which is close to 8 stone.

In 1970s, For women, We worked on a rule of 100lbs at 5' tall & 5 lbs for each 5 inches thereafter.

I'd work on reaching BMI =24 as a initial goal & if she can reach that, then reconsider if she'd like to be any trimmer. Main goal is to change unhelpful eating habits (can be a mammoth task in itself), & make sure there's regular exercise.

Hi everyone. Thanks for your replies. She's been on the 70 th centile since she was a baby but she's put on the weight the last couple of years. She doesn't want to be thin, just not as overweight and wants to feel more confident and healthy about herself. She's got quite a stocky build so I think 8 stone would be a bit low. I'm going to take your advice and forget about weight for a bit, and focus on health. We usually eat freezer food and ready sauces with pasta, and she snacks a lot. She's thinking of taking this lunch to school: Wholemeal sandwich, apple, almonds. Is that OK?

Thanks for all your replies!

*Freezer food and ready sauces with pasta
*
Well, there's your issue. Stop all of that. Pasta sauces are FULL of sugar, and pasta itself isn't good in large quantities (I can't eat it at all because I have PCOS and it just turns straight into sugar). More fresh food, less snacking and she'll be fine. This has to be about a new way of living and eating for your whole family, not just your DD.

Imo focusing on numbers and weight is the WORST thing you can do. I've never been happy with my weight due to the women in my family always talking about their weight, worrying about their weight, focusing on the numbers in the scales. I really can't remember ever really being taught to eat healthily, I remember my mum replacing dinner with chocolate covered wafers (calorie controlled) for herself. Teach her and your family to eat healthy food and the weight will naturally come off and she'll feel better about herself as she's eating food that will make her body and mind happier too. I cannot understand how anyone in here can possibly suggest a healthy weight for your daughter, they've never met the girl. I'm 12 stone, does that make me fat? How would you know, it's just a number. I'm not fat by the way, I'm tall, with big boobs, but someone else my height could be 12 stone and fat because they haven't got big boobs or they are naturally built with a smaller frame.

Glad you are focussing away from a target weight. As others have said, I would encourage healthier habits. As she isn't terribly overweight, the last thing she needs is to go on the starve/binge yoyo dieting roundabout.

In terms of freezer food or food without great cooking skill - it's not impossible to eat healthily- quorn sausages, jacket potato/mashed sweet potato, with heap of veg. or a fillet of frozen fish (unbreaded). Or you could get those big tubs of mixed salad without dressing from supermarket or tin of sweetcorn (and yes, you can get unsalted and unsugared if you look hard enough).

I'm 5"1 and a size 12 at my weight the BUS would probably say I'm overweight and after years of my self worth and happiness being linked to the scales. Please don't set an arbitrary number as a goal. My DP tells me I'm.beautiful every day but I never believe him as the scale doesn't say the same in my now fucked head. All I see is a fat girl staring back in the mirror, window, shiny surface or people's eyes. Healthy lifestyle much better and will make your DD feel better

I've read through the thread and haven't seen anyone else mention this (apologies if I missed it): if she's 16, is she sitting exams at the moment/soon? If so then I think that's a really bad time to start a concerted 'diet', and also perhaps a particularly risky time for weight loss to become obsessive: it's easy to focus in on your weight in an unhealthy way when you also have other anxieties in your life. It is a great time to think about healthy eating, but I'd focus on making sure she's getting all the fruit/veg and energy she needs, rather than on cutting calories.

I really disagree with a lot of people on here.

Not everyone who loses weight will become anorexic. Not everyone who sets a target weight will then reassess it down. I hit mine then reassessed it up. I don't think setting a target is necessarily wrong. Setting the wrong target for the wrong person or indeed any target for the wrong person might be wrong. But it might also be positive too

A wholewheat sandwhich, apple and almonds is a healthy lunch but won't lose her weight unless it's the right bread (and slice of bread can vary in calorie content considerably) and the almond portion is the right size (nuts are really high in calories) and it fits in with her diet/exercise balance overall. When dieting i found bread and nuts diabolical because you dont get much of them at all for your calorie count, i would have been starving and miserable on the healthy lunch you are proposing. what's a healthy diet for a marathon running will be very different than for me.

You can lose weight whatever your exercise levels. It's about balancing your food and activity levels. Just focuses on "eating healthily" and moving a little more doesn't really push this association which to my own weight loss has been critical. By just looking at whether a sandwich is healthy your are losing this association. An apple is healthy but not if that's the only thing you eat. (Conversely You can lose weight on a burger if that's the only thing you eat in a day). What's healthy to eat for a marathon runnerror is different than for me. Under fuelling your body is as bad as overfuelling. If your lucky you may hit the right balance by chance, for me is took measuring and recording everything (my fitness pal)to get there

BMI is a really poor target regardless. Most studies historically don't differentiate between outcomes at the morbidly obesee end and the just overweight. There are some suggestions the just overweight category There is research to suggest fat and fit is healthier than skinny and unfit. So if you want to not focus on targets and weight, forget food start by aiming to get fit. Youre already improving your outcomes.

For me I would use my fitness pal to get the food levels and choices right for me. Aim to get fit. Hit a target for upper range BMI. Check body fat range then decide whether I'm in the right ballpark

Also Op you know what your daughter currently eats so really its best just to cut down, e.g. If she has 2 sandwiches at lunch and a packet of crisps and a snack bar may I suggest she has one sandwich, no crisps, a piece of fruit and a snack bar. It's always best to cut back slowly then to completely cut back, get upset and feel deprived and then throw the towel in!

Hey Op. The right weight is so difficult to judge, I'm 5'1 and so is my friend but she's 8st ish and I am currently 11st however, we are not dissimilar In size. At my lightest I was 8st 7 and looked very unwell so it's not a one weight fits all situation. I agree with other posters, it's best to focus on being healthy and strong.

I don't think a target weight will make someone anorexic, but I think it is very demotivating to decide to lose x amount by x date and then find you are not keeping to schedule.

Best to cut total junk (crisps/biscuits etc) and snacking and look at cutting portion sizes. As a (mostly) former binge eater, if you eat far too much your stomach adjusts to cope with large amounts of food, so when you start eating normally again at first you feel empty. The last couple of times I fell off the wagon I actually vomited because I don't eat that way anymore. It can take a lot of will power to overcome this.