I have a 13 1/2-year-old daughter, 62 inches tall, 133 pounds. How does she stack up?
I tried using your Healthy Body Calculator® for my daughter, but the calculator said that it is only good for age 18 or older. She seems ok, height / weight-wise, but she seems to eat often. She doesn’t appear to have large thighs or much apparent fat, so it could be fine. What do you think? You have an excellent website! Thanks and keep up the great work!
Have you tried my Healthy Kid Calculator®? I ran her data through the calculator. Her healthy weight range is 100 – 140 pounds and her BMI is 24 with a healthy range of 16 – 25 for her age. She’s fine, but what does she think?
Considering her age, is she asking about her thighs or yours? Teenage girls are very sensitive about their weight and physical appearance so unless she is getting too thin, this is a hands-off subject for parents, especially dads. Hope you don’t mind my directness about this, but it may help you avoid a power struggle or worse yet a negative body image.
Your daughter should be eating often (3 meals and 2 – 3 snacks) as she is entering a growth period and she will reach 90% of her adult height by 15. If she diets now or restricts certain foods, she may not grow as tall as she is genetically programmed or may not deposit enough calcium in her bones.
What you can do is encourage her to have a strong, healthy body which is the best message a teen girl can hear. Encourage her to exercise and try exercising together. Great dad-daughter time. Whoever grocery shops can structure a healthy food environment by limiting high fat, sweet foods (empty calorie foods – low in vitamins and minerals on the food label is a clue). Also, she needs to start expressing her adolescent independence and one way to do that is with food so ask for her participation in choosing foods and menus. Support her efforts so her choices at home are only healthy.
