If obesity is a concern to adults, this is more so in the case of overweight and obese teens. An alarming 25% of children in the US are overweight or at risk of being overweight, and this number is steadily increasing every year. Today, this translates to more than 12.3 children and teens who weight more than their ideal weight and we are put in a serious position of evaluating and reconsidering of eating habits and lifestyle.

Being overweight or obese for teens has severe repercussions, on health, emotional and social aspects of their lives. They need to deal with emotional abuse, social isolation, bullying and teasing, and other psychosocial behaviors everyday from other people. Weight problems affect one's self-esteem, popularity and the ability to get dates - these are issues which are important in a teenager's life.

These issues drive home the need to start making healthier food choices and a more active lifestyle - the perfect combination to a safe and effective weight loss. It is not recommended to resort to diets unless recommended and supervised by a health professional and this is usually for people who are severely obese. Any weight loss diet which requires a drastic reduction in calorie intake is considered unhealthy and more likely, dangerous as well. If there is one thing common to all effective and safe weight loss and weight maintenance program is that there is no easy and quick way of losing those excess pounds. You have to eat right, exercise regularly, and make healthy lifestyle decisions.

Once a teenager has made the decision and commitment to lose weight for real, everyone should help out and be supportive. If it's frustrating for an adult to embark on a weight loss journey and come up with discouraging results, this is a heart-breaking situation for a teenager so that parents, close friends even teachers need to be understanding and supportive of the emotional trauma he or she is experiencing.

One way to do this is to have a weight loss-friendly pantry and to stack the fridge with healthy stuff. It would also help to impose TV hours and computer hours. There have been studies linking TV hours and weight gain due to the big possibility of mindless eating and the time is spent in front of the TV or computer rather than on physical activities. You should also make weight loss and healthy lifestyle a family affair since this decision will benefit everyone. It would also be easier for someone who is on a weight loss diet if his or her family are showing their support and not alienating or isolating him of her from the rest of the family.

The family has been proven to have a huge impact on one's eating habits and therefore, the family is a vital aspect of weight loss. Studies have shown that parents who live healthy pass on this health conscious mindset to their children. Parents should be involved in helping their kids achieve a safe weight loss and a long term effective weight maintenance program.

Again, remember that weight loss is a long process and not one which has a shortcut. So be ready for the long haul and be prepared to overcome some pretty tough challenges along the way because it's going to be one heck of a journey. And for the parents, be there for your kids, it's going to make a big difference.