Putting Sister On Diet!!!

[Open Palm]

Okay, my 13 year old sister 5'4 170lbs came to me and wants to lose her fat. Shes been battling it for a while now and I think she really wants to buckle down and do it. I was going to put her on a 1,500 calorie diet using 40/40/20, plus light weight training 3 times a week, and cardo 3 times a week as well. I was wondering if you guys had any better ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

[magnumfreak]

Cals. are too low. Ease her into the lifting weights and cardio. If you start out at a full run she will never keep up. Maybe start with two days of lifting (upper body and lower body) and one day of cardio for the first couple of weeks. Then slowly add additional days. If she has never really exercised in her life she will be really sore and will need some time to recover.

[vb1175]

I don't know that the calories are necessarily too low. She's not a 6'8 man. I honestly don't know how many calories and/or what nutrients a 13-year-old girl in early puberty should get, though. Make sure you do your research before advising her, if you haven't already done so. Her needs aren't the same as an adult male.

[NDNBuilding]

I don't know that the calories are necessarily too low. She's not a 6'8 man. I honestly don't know how many calories and/or what nutrients a 13-year-old girl in early puberty should get, though. Make sure you do your research before advising her, if you haven't already done so. Her needs aren't the same as an adult male.

Her needs are to support the weight she carries around. Most 13 year old girls don't carry around 170 pounds of weight.

[vb1175]

true, and based on a couple of calorie calculators I looked at 1400-1700 calories would be recommended at that height, weight and age for weight loss. Females need far fewer calories than males, and then you throw the fact that she's 13-years-old into the mix and it changes it even more. I really don't think many people on this board have much knowledge of the needs of an early teen, particularly a girl. I know I don't, which is why I recommended that he do his research.

[Locarius]

Figure out how many cals she currently consumes and subtract from there.

[DJohnson]

Just make sure she's eating really clean, nutritious foods. I think 1700 calories should be minimum as well if she's going to be at all active (and she is with lifting/cardio).

[magnumfreak]

true, and based on a couple of calorie calculators I looked at 1400-1700 calories would be recommended at that height, weight and age for weight loss. Females need far fewer calories than males, and then you throw the fact that she's 13-years-old into the mix and it changes it even more. I really don't think many people on this board have much knowledge of the needs of an early teen, particularly a girl. I know I don't, which is why I recommended that he do his research.

If she is working out lifting weights 3 times a week and cardio 3 times a week she needs to up the cals. I know she isn't 6'8". If she was sedintary, then I agree 1400-1700 would be ok. Too many people try to starve themselves healthy. Long term it is not the way to go. Most people forget to factor in activity levels when computing calorie requirements.

[Open Palm]

Hmmmm, okay. Well then I'll go more around the 1700 range I guess. I follow a more bodybuilding diet, so im really not sure what I should have her eat. Any suggestions on that? I was just thinking lots of good whole, natural foods.

[StrongEnough?]

Hmmmm, okay. Well then I'll go more around the 1700 range I guess. I follow a more bodybuilding diet, so im really not sure what I should have her eat. Any suggestions on that? I was just thinking lots of good whole, natural foods.

Support! At that age, kids want to have fun, not eat what we here eat. I think it's great, and I rep you for helping your sister. I see so many of the youth today not only over weight, but getting completely obese. I then look at the parents and know why. I'm not saying this is the case, and it isn't always the case, but you need to inform your parents as well that what she is going through isn't going to be easy, and their support as well is needed.

[nithos]

I was just thinking lots of good whole, natural foods.

How is this different from a "bodybuilding" diet?

[Colin Gilbert]

Ease her into it... It takes 6 weeks to kick a habit, and given her weight, she's definitely addicted to food.

Don't give her too much **** if she breaks down and overeats.

Even if she wants to jump into the exercising with full enthusiasm, limit the number of sessions because she'll get bored and stop soon after. 3 days cardio and 3 days weight training, though great, will soon get old for a beginner.

[StrongEnough?]

Another I would tell her to do is to look into a sport. Soccer, Basket ball, volley ball, even swimming would be great! She could use those as her cardio, and it would be fun.

[nithos]

Ease her into it... It takes 6 weeks to kick a habit, and given her weight, she's definitely addicted to food.

Ummm, 5'4 170 isn't HUGE. But it is probably overweight for a tween...

But I agree with the start one thing at a time.
Week 1 - Lift
Week 3 - Diet phase 1 (avoid junk food)
Week 5 - Cardio
Week 8 - Diet phase 2 (nutritional timing)

[jehst]

she should join the swim team or play soccer or something. i havent seen many overweight swimmers or soccer players. at that age, strict dieting and workout was like impossible, at least for me.

[Linkinlog]

^^^^ It would greatly help if she was involved in a sport. I was fat (12 years old) and started playing tennis competetively. The weight melted off of me. She will find it much more fun to practice a sport for an hour or two then walk on a treadmill for 45 minutes.

[HYP3R]

Another fun thing that she could get involved in is DDR (Dance Revolution) X box or Playstation. My daughter loves this. Heck even my wife at age 32 loves playing with that thing. It will get her active and I think they even have a calorie count on there. I know the calorie count on that game isn't too accurate but it might get motivated

[jehst]

Another fun thing that she could get involved in is DDR (Dance Revolution) X box or Playstation. My daughter loves this. Heck even my wife at age 32 loves playing with that thing. It will get her active and I think they even have a calorie count on there. I know the calorie count on that game isn't too accurate but it might get motivated

ya, maybe if you want her to start hanging out with pimplefaced retards. jk (or am I)

[amjzzz]

Don't starve her during puberty pls. You want her to grow to full height. I really have no idea what she would have to eat, all I know is I would eat a full frozen pizza everyday after school about 1.5 hours before dinner and I was rail thin in high school.

[Fit4Fun]

A load of great suggestions!
I absolutely agree that 1700 is the way to go, especially considering her age, her new activity level and the quality of the food she will be consuming from now on.
Doing sport is a great advice! Ask her what she likes and don't push it with your insights. Then it's necessary to motivate her to perform outstandingly in that sport (this is when cardio and weights will make so much more sense to her).
Make the whole experience fun and pleasurable to her.

Concerning the diet--bodybuilding diet is rather strict in a sense that it's conventionally too technical (eat so, at this moment and don't eat anything else that's not on the list if you're cutting). This is why, make sure she learns to like other things than the most fattening sorts of food: i.e. dried fruit, youghurts that have no sugar, jams without sugar, wholegrain cookie if she must have one. In other words clean it out for her. Again, gradually. You don't want to frustrate her--she didn't get overweight overnight and just as slowly she needs to begin to like the new lifestyle that, oh, by the way, creates you a body of your dreams. :-)

Be kind and motivating!
Good luck!
:-)

[Dokstarr]

I really can't visualize in my head how heavy that would make her. But I guess the first step for someone her age is to just get her moving and have her eat healthy food.

I'm guessing she eats the average caf that teens eat today. Burger and Fries for lunch daily, pizza, etc etc. Try to figure out how many cals a day she eats. If she eats a crappy lunch, dinner, snacks in between, drinks lots of soda she could be easily consuming 4000 cals a day.

I would recommed just having her cut out all that crap, and maybe join a sport or something else along those lines. Save the diet for later. I don't think it would be the best idea for someone so young.

[Train817]

1700 also sounds right to me. Might want to do it incrementally as others have suggested, but try starting with wholesome foods first (unlimited quantity) for a week to get her off the junk cravings (or the intital phase). After that exercise portion control. Make sure you put a refeed day in there too though, during the teenage years it's especially important for energy.

[quest55720]

Don't starve her during puberty pls. You want her to grow to full height. I really have no idea what she would have to eat, all I know is I would eat a full frozen pizza everyday after school about 1.5 hours before dinner and I was rail thin in high school.

I could not agree more I would think twice about any diet. At that age I would consult a profesional about diet and calories. I would start her off on excersize first. You never know maybe some cardio and lifting is all she needs to get back on track. I am not sure if 13 is mature enough to change thier lifestyle. It is not dieting it is a lifestyle change you don't want this to be the start of her yo-yoing in weight her entire life.

These threads scare me big time because you can really screw up someone if they take the wrong advice during puberty.

[Open Palm]

Mmm, im trying to get her involved in basketball with her middleschool, but she is obsessed with horses and it would conflict with her lessons... ive tried to get her to play sports, but she wont give up horseback riding. So cardio and weights are the only other option