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It is difficult to convince teenagers to do anything they do not want, but the new research shows that when it comes to losing weight, a program that lets parents out of the picture can help.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics involved 208 overweight or obese adolescents aged 12 to 17, who lived in Oregon and Washington in 2005-09. The girls were assigned to receive either usual weight loss counseling or participate in moderately intensive behavioral program who insisted on eating habits and healthy exercise. The torsion? However, most young previous weight loss studies have offered treatment to families together.
After six months, all the girls were evaluated for weight and height to calculate body mass index, or BMI; Six months later, they were measured again. At the end of the interval of one year, adolescents in the behavioral program BMIs showed only slightly lower than the average control group, they reported significantly better body image and had adopted healthier eating habits. Specifically, adolescents in behavior modification program have eaten more meals and their families, whose previous studies have shown promotes a healthier diet, eating less fast food and consumed more fruits and vegetables.
"We deliberately set up the study did not expect people to have very dramatic and rapid weight loss, but emphasizing different tools in terms of changes in diet and physical activity we thought would be easy to include in life, and that could be sustained over time, "said Lynn DeBar, senior researcher at the Kaiser Permanente center for health research and lead author of the study." We suspected these have more staying power to weight management more calorically targeted regime "
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Indeed, while the girls on the program has not lost a noticeable amount of weight, especially in comparison with other weight loss diets, DeBar said the findings are still important because they are the first to show that an approach adolescence centered on weight loss can be effective. In addition, because it does not focus on counting calories, adolescents may have been more likely to adopt behavior changes.
The behavioral program involved 90 min. group sessions that took place 16 times during the five-month period of the study, during which teenagers met with specially trained counselors to discuss how to change their eating habits and become more active physically using exergames and incorporating 15 minutes of yoga daily. The girls also spoke with advisors of body image and eating disorders around.
to change their eating habits, counsel noted the decrease portion sizes and advised teenagers eat fewer foods high in calories and more lower-calorie options such as fruits and vegetables. They also talked to teens to substitute water for sugary sodas, and the importance of eating regular meals, especially breakfast.
To encourage adolescents to exercise more, provided the program of yoga equipment and exergames such as Dance Dance Revolution, the girls could use on their own or with friends and thought that researchers they would benefit more regimented sessions at a gym.
At the beginning of the study and again six months later, the teenagers also visited their pediatricians to discuss concerns about weight. Pediatricians are trained to be more aware of weight issues and work with the girls to find the best way to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
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The control group received a packet of information about weight loss strategies, books and online materials, as well as contacts to local resources for weight management. They also met the primary care physicians in the beginning of the study to discuss lifestyle changes healthy, but these doctors are not provided with specialized training to treat weight problems of adolescents.
Overall, the behavior of the program appears to be effective to give adolescents the right tools to maintain long-term healthy weight. After six months, the girls in the program had reduced their TV and computer sedentary time of 5 hours and consumed 240 calories less per day on average, compared to the control group.
Part of the success of the program may be due to the fact that, contrary to specialized weight or clinical management programs, which are more structured and carried out limited periods of time, the program has involved pediatricians adolescents, with whom the girls have ongoing relationships. "The idea was to see if we could have a weight loss program that involved primary care providers, since the formal weight management programs have a limited time, which means people do well during the program, but then lose their improvements over time, "says DeBar." We thought that since the girls have an ongoing relationship with their pediatrician, which would allow what they do to be strengthened and sustained over a long period time." Yet there is a limit to how much control teenagers should be allowed to have on their diet because studies also show that when parents are more involved in helping children decide what to eat - including adopting the same diet and exercise changes that their children do -. young people are more likely to learn and maintain healthy eating habits
Alice Park is a writer at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @aliceparkny. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
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