Diet Pills for Teens

This is in response to a 13 year old who wanted to know if she should take diet pills to lose weight because she can't seem to any other way.

Short answer:
Do not take pills to lose weight. I don't believe pills are the answer for ANYONE but especially not when our bodies are still developing and changing...which they are, even if we have reached our full height.

If you have been following my blog at all, you know that there is a longer answer to this question...I always have a longer answer ;-)

The longer answer:
I had trouble losing weight at 13 too...even though I was very active. I rode my bicycle and swam competitively...but I never could seem to be "thin"...my best friend was and she ate terribly and didn't exercise nearly as much. It was so frustrating!

At 13 it is hard to appreciate the differences in our bodies...but as an adult I have come to appreciate that those differences are part of what makes the world (and people) so interesting!

Sometimes we THINK we need to lose weight and we don't...it may be that we are heavier than our friends because of our body structure--our muscles and our bones. Other times we aren't "skinny" and so we think we should lose weight to match some image in our head of what the ideal body looks like. It might just be that we are already at the right weight for us...even if that is a few pounds more than charts say we should be.

Without knowing your situation more it is hard to say if you actually need to lose weight or not...but if you think you do then I know you are pretty unhappy with your body right now no matter what anyone else says.

Please do NOT take pills as tempting as it may be. There is no magic pill that will have you lose weight in a healthy, permanent way.

The best way to have a healthy body is to start by working on your mind...it is important that we learn to love ourselves--our bodies, our abilities, everything. That doesn't mean that we can't strive to be better! It does mean that we deserve to respect ourselves and stop being so critical. Love is where it all starts.

If someone had told me that when I was 13 I would have been like, "what's to love?...I'm fat, my nose is too big, I'm not smart like my brother"...on and on. You know what? Just about every teenager I have ever met has thoughts like that...even the popular ones, the really cute ones.

I'll let you in on a secret...many adults still struggle with these thoughts, too!

I know it is a challenge just being 13...maybe knowing that you aren't alone in this journey will help. I believe you have a wonderful opportunity to learn some positive thinking patterns that will help you NOW and for the rest of your life!

When we truly love ourselves we naturally begin to take better care of ourselves...and then we physically feel better and we create this wonderful loop of health!

In my personal experience...the more I "dieted" the harder it was for me to lose weight. I couldn't keep it up...I couldn't drop enough calories or work out enough to be the same size as my best friend. I didn't get that it was physically impossible--so I just got more and more frustrated. In the end I wound up ADDING weight instead of losing weight. I ate out of frustration and then hated myself more for eating. I set myself up for failure--big time!

That was a long time ago...long before the movie "The Secret"...before books about positive thinking were common. Loving yourself was considered vanity back then...it wasn't understood that self-respect and valuing yourself were (and are) important parts of mental AND physical health.

I encourage you to talk to other people who can support you in believing in yourself. I have several suggestions in the side bar that are great tools...I really like "You Can Heal Your Life"...it isn't just for people with a specific physical illness...it can help all of us to live better, healthier lives. You really can lose weight through positive thinking (presuming that you have weight to lose, of course!) Along the way to achieving the perfect body for you, when you learn to love and accept yourself you will find that life is a much more fun and beautiful place to be...and that is a great thing to learn at any age!

You deserve all the best! Please keep in touch...I'd love to hear about your progress--your successes and challenges. Know that you are loved and that you are a beautiful person--just the way you are right now!