Nine Top Tips for Teen Athlete Weight Loss

Teen athlete weight loss is complex. 

There are so many reasons why someone might not have the ideal body composition for their sport: genetics, epigenetics, gut microbiota, circadian rhythms, relationship to food, coping skills, environment, stress, access to food, and dozens more.  It’s even more complex when you’re talking about teenage athletes that are in a precarious hormonal state.

Here are some things to consider if you think your athlete needs to reduce body fat.

1. Check the athlete’s placement on a CDC growth chart, usable through age 20.
   • If the athlete is <85% of BMI percentile, they’re within a normal BMI range. 85-95% is considered overweight.  >95% is considered obese.

2. Figure out what Tanner Stage the athlete is in, which tells you where they are in the developmental process of puberty
   • Growth for height ends in teens with Tanner Stage 5, which is on average age 16 for girls and age 17 for boys. In earlier Tanner Stages, trying to lose weight could impact adult height and bone development.
     

     

3. Determine exactly what you mean by “need to lose weight.”
   • Advice for kids (pre-puberty) is usually that they should “grow into their weight,” that is, as they increase in height, the weight should stay the same until they’re at a normal BMI. For teens below Tanner Stage 5, this might be a legitimate goal.  It doesn’t require weight loss so much as a normalization of eating patterns.
   • If the teen in question is truly obese, get real, legitimate medical help. Obesity is a tremendously complex chronic disease.  Bypass the fad diets and go straight to someone who can provide useful therapies.
   • A good dietitian skilled with weight loss can help, as can physicians certified in obesity medicine.

4. Consider the strong genetic component in obesity.
   • If the parents and family are not at ideal weight, it might be more difficult for the athlete to get to ideal weight.

5. Parents and Coaches: Set realistic goals.
   • Avoid fad diets, especially if you’re in a weight-class sport!The primary goal should be to not gain weight.  The next goal should be gradual weight loss, not extreme weight loss.  Also, and this is essential, set process goals, not outcome goals.  Don’t just measure weight change on the scale, but go with the intangibles: energy during practice, how the uniform fits, eating behaviors, things that can improve the scale number but don’t leave the athlete focused exclusively on that number.
   • Please don’t cause body image issues in the athlete. Avoid comments about how the athlete looks. Shame does not improve weight loss.

6. Help the athlete learn skills to back up the weight loss.
   • This is much more effective in the long-term than a crash diet.Work on healthy habits, self-regulation, coping skills and cooking skills.

7. Ensure that the home environment supports weight loss.
   • Healthy foods should be available and the household should be encouraging. It’s very hard to lose weight when there are cookies and candy available all the time and the very people telling one to lose weight are eating a bag of chips in front of the TV.

8. Encourage normal eating patterns in your teen.
   • The basics are to not skip meals, get protein and fruit and/or veggies at every meal, drink water over soda and watch portion sizes. Being an athlete doesn’t give free license to eat until they’re stuffed.  Being a teen doesn’t mean that the extra sleep they require can allow them to skip meals.

9. Calorie intake should vary from day to day to match exercise.
   • This ensures that the athlete is not overeating on sedentary or recovery days or underfueling on long practice days.

Be patient.  Sustainable weight loss takes time.

If an athlete is trying to build muscle at the same time, there’s even more to keep on top of. Expect some crabbiness and most of all, encourage a healthy body image by talking about all the beautiful things the human body can do!

Need more information about weight loss?  Check out my blog on determining if weight loss is a good idea or not here.  Or this one on Choice Architecture, manipulating your environment so you see the healthy foods first.  It’s a great way to use your home ground to keep you healthy and performing at the top of your game! Or maybe you think you or your young athlete is struggling with their overall approach to food and fueling. Find resources for those struggling with body image. Or check out this article on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. Hint: it’s not good! 

Need help with the actual weight loss process?  I don’t have a set program for that, since every athlete is so different.  But my Nutrition Coaching is extremely helpful with goal setting, self-efficacy and accountability, regardless of age!