help

im asking you lovely people who are very helpful, my 15 year daughter needs to lose weight I need to know how many calories she should have?????

[Anna999]

It is dependent on how over weight she is (use a bmi calculator to work out her bmi and what her healthy weight range is) you have to be careful restricting calories for children as they are still growing and developing, especially girls of her age. I think it's probably around 1600-1800. The best advice is to choose healthy options. Breakfast is important, porridge is a really good one if she likes it, if not something like weetabix or branflakes? Give her lots of veg/salad with each meal so she fills up on the nutritional stuff which is naturally low cal, try and give her a palm size portion of lean protein with each meal (fish/chicken/turkey) avoid white carbs like pasta and potato, so stick to brown rice, sweet potato, wholemeal bread. Make sure your cupboards are not full of crap that she can raid, avoid fruit juices/fizzy drinks/sweets, all the usual culprits, and keep lots of fruit in for her to snack on, and/or something like carrot sticks and hummus. If she is significantly overweight, and you are not seeing a loss of approx 1-2lb a week with these changes, you could go to the gp for advice, I'm pretty sure children can get referrals to a dietician for obesity and they can help you develop meal plans etc. Sorry for the long post, I hope it helps! 🌸

[Hidden in reply to Anna999]

Thank you! don't be sorry about long reply I need all the help I can get! and that is a massive help Thank you x

[Anna999 in reply to Hidden]

You're welcome, everyone is friendly and helpful on this forum so don't hesitate to ask questions, it's great that you are being so supportive of your daughter and trying to help her with her weight loss, she may resent it at times but it will be worth it for her health and happiness! Good luck! 🌸

[Hidden in reply to Anna999]

Thank you again! and yes your right she does resent it at times! its an uphill struggle x

[Anna999 in reply to Hidden]

I'm sure! But she appreciates it really! I also had another thought, you could maybe start exercising with her? You could do something like couch to 5k together? It's an NHS podcast that helps you to learn to run/jog 🌸

[Hidden in reply to Anna999]

we do exercise togather and have for a year now! she is only a little over weight maybe 1stone. she is unhappy with herself which is very sad. she is a big bone girl and all her friends are so thin which makes her feel worse x

[fibronfedup]

Im not sure, best thing you can do is call 111 and get medical advice or speak to your gp, as children are still growing they need the nutrients really and i wouldnt want to advise you wrongly. Til you can get medical advice, try lowering her junk intake and increasing her veg and exercise. Hope you find the info you need

[Hidden in reply to fibronfedup]

Thanks

[Windswept1]

nhs.uk/livewell/loseweight/...

If you go to the BMI calculator on this link and put in the information, you can also get advice specifically related to teenagers.

[Hidden in reply to Windswept1]

Thank you

[Hidden]

Thank you for your help, I will take a look