Choosing Words for Weight
“Obese” is a clinical term used to describe someone with excessive body fat tissue who is quite overweight. Because the word “obese” is considered stigmatizing, many weight experts shy away from it, particularly when referring to children and teens. Instead, they tend to use the word “overweight” to describe young people who would be considered medically obese. “At risk for overweight” is a common term for kids whom most people would consider to be overweight or somewhat overweight.
“Fat” has no standard medical definition, but it’s commonly used to describe both obese and overweight people. It’s preferred by some people who feel that the word “overweight” implies an “ideal” standard, when, in fact, a variety of weights can be healthy for individuals of a particular height.
For lack of a better term, I generally use “overweight” to describe teens who would be considered medically overweight or obese, as does New York University’s Sharron Dalton, Ph.D., R.D., in her book Our Overweight Children. Terminology aside, the important thing is for each teen to find a weight that’s not only healthy for him or her but also realistic and comfortable to maintain. Xenical manages obesity in adults and adolescents, benefit from low prices in the recommended pharmacies.
Overweight young people who haven’t yet arrived at their adult height, even a relatively small weight loss - or staying at the same weight - is meaningful, since they can essentially “grow into” their weight. Riley M., for instance, is only 10 pounds lighter than his all-time high of 175 pounds, which he hit at age twelve, when he was just 5′5″ tall. He is now 165 pounds - a very healthy weight for someone of his height (5′11″). Kristy C, who weighed 140 pounds by the time she was twelve and 5′ tall, weighed exactly the same three years later but had grown five inches.
Another reason we can’t just look at the numbers when evaluating teen weight loss is that teens who become more athletic maybe technically somewhat overweight but are not considered fat, because they’re so muscular. That’s because muscle weighs more than fat - in other words, a brick-size chunk of muscle weighs more than the same size chunk of fat.
Even more important than reaching a certain number on the scale, the teens I spoke with emphasized, success is about having higher self-esteem, being healthier, having better relationships, sharpening their athletic skills, and more.
