Are you underweight and unhappy about it?  We’ll talk about some of the reasons that many young people are underweight and what you can do if the way you look bothers you.

      Most girls between the ages of 12 and 14 and boys between the ages of 14 and 16 grow very fast.  Their bodies grow up in height but often forget to fill out.  If this is happening to you and you have told people that you’re unhappy about being skinny, they’ve probably told you to wait awhile–that pretty soon your weight will catch up with your height and you’ll look okay.

      You probably will start filling out pretty soon.  However, maybe you’re not willing to wait to see what happens.  You could be feeling very self-conscious about your body.  Our society stresses that the ideal female figure is slim but well proportioned and the ideal male is athletic looking, with broad shoulders and chest and well-proportioned arms and legs.  The further away you are from this ideal—if you’re very skinny, for example—the more “out of it” you’re made to feel.  People may joke about the way you look, which hurts. If the way you look keeps you from getting or asking for dates, or going out for sports, you may be starting to feel lonely and rejected.  If being underweight causes you personal and social problems, you may also lose interest in school.

      If you’re skinny and unhappy about it, what can you do?  Before we talk about that, let’s look at some of the reasons that people your age are underweight.  One was already mentioned—if you’re growing very quickly, your body needs all the calories that you feed it in order to grow up, and there aren’t enough calories left over to be turned into the fat your body needs to fill out.

        This may be your problem if you’re very active and don’t eat enough.  Are you always on the go, running around a lot?  Do you walk or bike to school?  Do you get less than eight to ten hours of sleep a night?  How is your appetite?  Do you snack between meals and then not feel like eating big regular meals?  What about the kinds of food you eat?

       If you’re unhappy enough about your weight problem to want to do something about it, we suggest that you see your family doctor, school nurse or your county’s Health Department for referral to your local Public Health Nurse.  He or she will check to see if you are really underweight or just thin.  If you are underweight, he can give you a weight gaining diet and some suggestions on how to change your activities so that you don’t burn up those calories you need to gain weight.

       Seeing a doctor or your school nurse is very important.  There may be a medical reason that you’re underweight.  If so, a physical will help the doctor find the cause.  An exam by a doctor is especially important if you’ve become underweight because you’re dieting and find that you can’t stop losing weight.  You may be suffering from a condition called Anorexia Nervosa. 

       One of the things you may be doing on your own to try to gain weight is to snack a lot.  This may actually worsen the problem.  If you’re drinking soda and eating packaged cupcakes, potato chips and candy bars between meals, you may not be hungry enough to eat the big meals you need at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  In addition, these snacks have almost no nutritional value—that’s why they’re called empty calories or junk food.  If you eat a lot of them and skimp on the high calorie, nutritional foods, your body isn’t going to get enough of the protein and fat it needs to grow the way you want it to grow