Fitness standard for 17 year olds?

[cabinetbureau]

Is there a set of measures that can be used to assess fitness/physical capability for an older teenage? Not like a bleep test necessarily but, can they walk at moderate pace for 30 mins?

or any recommended quantities of daily activities?

My 17 year old is overweight and barely moves and I am so worried they are disabling themselves gradually. Attendance at college/grades are middling, work 2x 2 hours shifts a week and I am v anxious they will not be able to cope with further study or work when they finish this time next year. Doctor and blood test reveal iron and vitamin D deficiency so they are taking tablets but I fear it won’t help with energy levels muchif they are so sedentary.

Social life is yapping on video calls or hanging out at each others houses ( all within half a mile). Friends’ parents often give lifts which I think isn’t helping

I would throw money at this if she would engage with a conversation about gym but she just won’t. It’s so upsetting

I think this is much more a food/diet issue than an exercise/movement one.

I care less that she is overweight and more that she has no stamina whatsoever though. I’d love her to eat less
junk but I can’t make her change all
her unhealthy habits in one go I imagine

I can see why your worried op. Alot of people who are overweight have a binge eating disorder, dd may or may have this.

I’d suggest a Fitbit or Apple Watch with an aim of hitting 10000 steps. There is something about seeing it in black and white that is more meaningful than just moving. Is she in education still? I know we are in holiday period now but if she tracked steps in a usual school/college day she may buy in to small changes to up her step count. It’s mostly about finding the motivation to start.

BED is a serious mental health disorder with strict diagnostic criteria.
From what OP has said it doesn’t sound like her DD is displaying those behaviours.

I don’t think she is binge eating disorder, but maybe odd binges sometimes. She eats healthy meals I prepare but also junk as well. As I said, I am not making this about her weight but more about the health risks of constant inactivity. She doesn’t know she is unfit (well she does, due to my conversations) because she never tests herself. She can walk 7 mins to school, sit still all day and walk 7 mins home to sit still again without issue. To her, that is fine because all her friends are the same. She knows she is fat and doesn’t care. She wears figure hugging stuff I wouldn’t wear at a size 12/14.

I would like to avoid this being about her weight. Some women I train with are extremely heavy but able to exercise for hours/play demanding contact sport for some time/ hold down full time jobs on their feet. Like I said, my worry is about her future health, and how to encourage her without her feeling nagged and hassled over what, to her, is completely unimportant. She scared me on a day out by not coping beyond 30 minutes and wanting to go home. To her, being tired after half an hour is normal and I would like to help her see it’s not normal and is dangerous

Im aware what BED is. Im just saying its something to be aware of im not diagnosing online.

I think unfortunately whilst she has the friendship group she has it may be tricky for her to see what is "normal". This may be controversial but I do know of some groups of teens (always girls) where being bigger and sedentary is actually their preferred lifestyle you could almost say it is their goal. Maybe when she leaves college and has a wider network of people she associates with and activities she wants to participate in she may come to the realisation herself.

I asked her about gym and she said she will consider it but completely ruled out what I considered the best option because “a TikToker goes there with meta glasses” which is a whole other headfuck I didn’t need today. We have agreed I will buy her a gym outfit and we will get signed up and to our first session by next Friday once my car is fixed (gym is some distance). I will
aim to get her there twice a week and am going to switch my gym to the one she is ok with to help her settle. I hope she will begin to see there are other ways to be and might influence her friends to try too

thanks for supportive responses.

You look like a regular size 10 ish woman, not overweight and not underweight.

Wrong thread?