To ask what a healthy teenaged girl's diet looks like

[Fishandchipstwice]

I have always struggled with my weight - I am losing weight now with an incredibly restrictive diet with the help of the GP - 2 stone to go!

I am determined that my daughter will not go the same way I did. She is currently 15 and is within the healthy BMI, although on the 70th percentile. Her diet is currently OK but she has expressed an interest to lose a bit of weight and I want to support her in this.

She would like to lose a stone. She is active and on the go lots.

She currently eats

• sugary cereal for breakfast so we are going to swap it for a low sugar version which is portion controlled


• A cheese wrap, crisps, carrot sticks, an apple and a box of raisins for lunch. She is going to get rid of the crisps but is wondering if she should forego any carbs at lunchtime.


• for tea we eat fairly healthy meals but need to look at portion size.


• She has one sweet treat a day (such as a mini chocolate bar) which she is reducing to one a week.


• She only drinks water unless it is a special occasion.

Does this sound OK? I have had such an awful relationship with food that I struggle to recognise what is 'normal'. Any advice gratefully received - thanks

*appealing, not appearing!

Completely agree with @underneaththeash , anything else is bonkers imo.

The way you’ve written the OP, as if it could ever be that simple and dispassionate for a teenager??!!! Suffice to say it won’t be, you’ll be kickstarting a cycle of binging and guilt.

does she wear a fit bit or similiar? her diet for a teenager seems fine (I have3) but they are very active. I would look at upping activity. just walking/steps. this might surprise you. active is 15/20k steps every day

Please be careful, this is how eating disorders can start (I know from experience). This sounds restrictive and I'd be very nervous of cutting out carbs or restricting portion sizes. Rather than cut things out, why not try instead increasing healthy foods instead? Experiment with different foods, cook/bake together from recipe books.

At 15 help her to focus on the things she should be having not those she shouldn't. So is she getting a minimum of 5 portions of veg (+fruit) daily? Is she meeting her daily recommended calcium requirements, iron requirements, does she drink a minimum 2l of water a day. Does she get enough omega 3? If she hits these targets she is likely to have a healthy balanced diet anyway.

Lots of reasons to worry here.

How has she arrived at “I need to lose a stone”? Where has that number come from?

If she's not overweight, don't encourage her to diet.

All of us can eat healthier with more fruit and veg and less processed food.

The best thing you can do with her is cook nutritious meals focussing on getting at least five a day. Being active is brilliant for both physical and mental health

This really shouldn’t be about a teenage girl cutting carbs and reducing mini chocolate bars to one a week.

I’ve had a lifetime of weight issues because my mum encouraged me asking to diet when I was actually a perfectly healthy weight. If I’d never started that first ‘diet’ I genuinely believe my relationship with food would be much better

what I really wanted her to do was tell me I was perfect and healthy and good enough just as I was.

I have a 14 year old daughter with an eating disorder which all started because she was trying to make ‘healthy’ choices over her food and it spiralled out of control. It’s been the most difficult few months supporting her through this and we are a long way from being out of the woods yet.

Teenagers need calories- and they particularly need fats- as their bodies and brains grow and develop. Encouraging any kind of restriction is madness in kids of this age- don’t go there! Once an energy deficit occurs, disordered and restrictive eating/anorexia/binge eating can develop very quickly in kids with a genetic propensity- and you don’t know if your child will be the one with that propensity. Eating disorders are a neurobiological response to restriction. Do not take the risk!

Family meals, no judgements about food and bad foods, and decent activity, even if it is a simple walk is what she needs. No talk of diets or restricting at all.

Start 'em young eh. Set her up for an entire lifetime of worrying about food and calories and body size. What a wonderful idea.

DD is 17, started to change her diet and work out about 18 months ago after gaining weight due to pandemic and being generally unhappy.

She generally eats:

Breakfast: Overnight oats made with fat free Greek yoghurt, fresh fruit and a scoop of protein powder

Lunch: A small portion of stir fry or pasta (eg half a sliced chicken breast, big handful or veg, sauce/seasoning and weighs her portion of rice, pasta or wholewheat noodles), plus an apple and a high protein cereal bar type thing

Dinner: Whatever I'm cooking...spag bol, veggie curry, enchiladas...sensible ingredients and portions as I'm trying to improve my own diet/fitness atm.

She works on a calorie deficit basis, which I'm not entirely sure would be the best approach at 15, but it does mean she factors in exercise and doesn't have to completely cut out any food groups.

I think the biggest things for her have been regular exercise (HIIT and strength training), less sugar and more protein.

Oh...and she doesn't weigh herself.

She goes on body analysis scales and talks through the results with a trainer at the gym about 3x a year and that's it.

I've also found this a really helpful approach and have just binned our scales!

I'm down a dress size in 3 months, and she's gone from an 18 to a 10-12 since last January, but more inportant is happy and has a healthy relationship wealth food.

At 15 she is probably still growing, and she is using her brain at school. She needs those calories.
She doesn't need to lose a stone, and she shouldn't be cutting entire food groups from her diet.
Eat a balanced diet - a little if everything, including sweet treats.
Make sure she keeps active.

This thread is quite sad as your DD shouldn’t be worrying about her weight at all at 15 and I find it odd that you know what percentile she is on at this age.

I had food issues my whole life. To combat this I have never once (not a single time) mentioned my weight or any kind of unhappiness with how I look in front of my DD. My DD never sees me dislike my body. I faked body confidence in front of her since she was born. My DD only ever gets compliments from me and if we talk about eating healthy it’s always only about getting in vitamins and a bit of everything for fuel. I occasionally remind her that sugar hates teeth.

So far it’s worked. She’s not got any body hang ups. Has great self esteem and she doesn’t stress over what she eats. She has a hobby that involves exercise and feels good about how she looks.

If I was you I’d promote health over losing weight. Try not to worry about the exact meal plan. Just eat as healthily as you can and promote that side to your DD rather than focusing on dieting to lose weight.

Hi OP I see that you are just trying to 'help' your DD but as others have said dieting at 15 is so dangerous. My DD (14) is a year into recovery from anorexia and it has been a very tough time. It all started in lock down with her wanting to stay fit and eat more healthily. Loosing weight was never mentioned by me or her. So altho others have suggested healthy eating and more exercise being encouraged I do not really agree.
I would love to go back to those days and shake myself out of encouraging her exercise (how we all loved Joe Wicks) and her making 'health' food choices. Before we knew where we were hospital was being threatened.
Teens need a lot of calories. To fuel development, kick start and keep puberty going, growing and all that school work. The brain needs a lot of calories!
Please no food restriction, no food group banning. Make sure ALL food is considered good food. Watch her exercise levels and ensure she eats accordingly. I cannot say how quickly my DD deteriorated. The weight can fall off so fast and then you are stuck in a hole.

If your dd is a healthy weight she doesn’t need to lose a stone.

tbh her diet seems fine as it is and restricting it more seems pretty joyless. Just encourage her to be active and to be confident in her own skin. She doesn’t sound like she needs to loose weight, so I wouldn’t be “helping” her to restrict her diet.

Good idea to reduce the chocolate, has no real health benefits

When DD feels like she needs to be ‘healthier’ (we don’t say loosing weight as she is a healthy weight and I feel it adds pressure, sometimes she just feels like she’s been eating too much junk food and needs to loose a few lbs.)
she just cuts out additional sugar and salt and eats more veg,
so she’d swap sugary cereal for a healthier whole grain option, swap the crisps for either a baked crisp option or some extra veggies, cut out chocolate and sweets and eat more veg and salads with meals.

Definitely do not have her cut carbs,
she needs to be eating more veggies and less sugar if she wants to be healthier.
she does not need to be on a diet if she is already a healthy weight.

This will turn into a bunfight but if she keeps her carbs, protein and veg up and cuts out crisps and chocolate then I don’t see an issue. She’s old enough to do a diet/fitness

Your Going to give her issues, leave her alone tell her she’s amazing and doesn’t need to lose weight she’s 15. She should be choosing what she eats ? I moved out at 15 I didn’t have my mum cooking for me or telling me what to eat.

Please don't encourage your daughter who is a normal weight to go on a diet. My mum was similarly concerned about my teenage weight gain and encouraged me to diet which lead to years of anorexia and bulimia which only ended when I was 26. I was never overweight and if I carried on eating the way I was I would have been fine. Also bluntly diets don't work so all you are doing is setting her up to mess up her metabolism.

I agree with the other comments, I imagine this thread is hard for you to read and I hope you aren't too upset but in supporting a healthy weight child to lose a stone you run the risk of passing a lifetime of dieting and worrying about her body image to her. It sounds like you're projecting your own experience of being an overweight teen and no adult support onto this situation and I totally understand that and I mean this with absolute kindness, supporting your daughter to lose weight she doesn't need to can put her on the same pathway as you with body and weight issues all her life. I hope you're ok after reading this because it can be very hard to realise that in trying to make your child feel better, you might be repeating a toxic cycle and do the opposite.

Please don't cut carbs out of a growing girl's diet, even if it is just for a meal. She still needs them for healthy development. And also not a great idea for her to start embedding the idea that carbs make people fat - a far too common idea on MN.

Portion control is fine if she is getting the nutrition she needs but get the help of a dietitian to get a helpful, professionally qualified idea of what a good portion size is.

I was going to say. Also, raisins eaten on their own are probably bad for the teeth.