Teen Obesity

When I was a teenager I faced obesity myself. Going through high school was the hardest thing ever. I weighed over two hundred pounds and I was constantly getting bullied and made fun of. When I was at home all I did sit around watch TV, play video games, and eat constantly. I never thought of going outside and doing physical fitness. Well one day I was lying in my bed and I was thinking about what I was doing to myself and how one day I could possibly not be here anymore if I keep doing what I am doing. My senior year of high school was a big change in my life. I lost over seventy pounds and I felt great about myself. Teenage obesity is getting worse over the years in America. The growth rates of teen obesity increasing are stunning. The reasons why teens are becoming obese are because of less activity or inactivity, excess TV watching, and fast food restaurants. First cause of teen obesity is less activity or inactivity of teenagers. Teenagers are more likely to become obese if they do not perform any activity at all or they are not doing enough activity to burn off calories and carbohydrates that cause fat build up in the body. Many television studies show that teenagers who have television sets in their bedrooms tend to watch TV more which can lead to inactivity†. (Teenage Obesity pg. 1) In order to prevent teens from becoming obese they must stay involved in some type of activity like sports, running, walking, bike riding, swimming, and etc†¦ these activities must be done every day or at least five times a week. Also parents can be a big cause of teen obesity. The reason why is because lots of parents don’t care about their children doing activities. If parents were raised doing whatever they wanted to do then more than likely their children are going to be raised the same way. Some parents are suffering from obesity themselves so this shows that their children are looking at their parents as being lazy and the children think they can do the same thing which leads the children to inactivity. Second cause of teen obesity is excess TV watching. TV watching is the main cause of teen obesity. The reason being is because teens tend to get addicted to TV shows and video games which leads them to become couch potato’s. Couch potato’s are caused by teens who sit, immobile, watching a screen instead of playing sports. A second view ties TV watching to eating, either through a barrage of ads or because teens snack while watching†. (ScienceDaily Pg. 1) â€Å"25% shows that television watching causes teens to snack largely on junk food because of food commercials that intimidate teens†. (ScienceDaily Pg. 1) Teen agers that sit on the couch and watch TV for excess amounts of hours causes the body to build up excess fat because there is nothing being burned off. Not only is TV causing teens to be overweight but video games are another big factor in teen obesity. â€Å"Children with higher weight status spent moderate amounts of time playing electronic video games†. (ScienceDaily Pg. 1) Video games become so addicting to teens that right when they get home from school they head straight to the couch to play. This causes teens to become lazy and obese. Final cause of teen obesity is Fast food restaurants. Fast food restaurants are a leading cause to teenage obesity. The reason why is because teens have no clue what they are ordering or if what they are eating is healthy for you or not. Also lots of teens are lazy to eat something from home, so they head out to a fast food restaurant where they can eat a lot of food for cheap money. Parents are a big reason for this because when parents have to work during the day they get tired and when they get home there too lazy to cook anything for their children so they take them out to dinner for fast food because again it’s cheap. Fast food contains high saturated fats and calories. Fast foods are packed with high amounts of sugar, carbohydrates, oil etc. Even small amount of fast food can increase your calorie intake considerably. †(YgoY Pg. 1) All of these lead to obesity. Another reason that fast food causes teens to be obese is because it is very addicting. It’s addicting because of the taste, advertisements, and it’s cheap to buy. â€Å"According to research, teenagers who eat fast food two times a week their obesity risk increases by 50%†. YgoY Pg. 1) Fast food eating leads teens from eating fruits and vegetables because of the addiction to the taste of fast food which cause obesity to rise in teens. In conclusion teen obesity is rising every year in America. The only way to stop this from rising is on the parents and on how they should raise their kids and to show them the right way not the wrong. I main causes of teen obesity are inactivity or less activity, excess TV watching, and fast food restaurants.