Ep 37 . The 17 motivations for weight loss in teens

In this episode  I discuss why teenagers decide to get to a healthier weight and how we, as caretakers and supporters, can help maintain that flame of motivation. We're not just talking about health; we're addressing the spectrum of desires from seeking peer acceptance to gearing up for significant life events.

Listen to learn the 17 distinct motivations driving teens toward a healthier lifestyle.

Details of the research manuscript that gave the answer to this question:

Motivations for weight loss in adolescents with overweight and obesity: a systematic review. David Franciole Oliveira Silva1, Karine Cavalcanti Maurício Sena-Evangelista2, Clélia Oliveira Lyra2, Lucia Fátima Campos Pedrosa2, Ricardo Fernando Arrais3 and Severina Carla Vieira Cunha Lima2

I’m Dr. Jenny Gourgari—pediatric endocrinologist, certified in obesity medicine and a health coach.
After helping hundreds of teens struggling with their weight and hormones, I’ve created a whole new path by doing what most programs miss: balance puberty hormones naturally and create habits that actually last.

Here's what makes this different:
✅ No dieting. No calorie counting. No shame.
✅ No more food fights between parents and teens.
✅ No weight obsession—just healthy habits
✅ Real science behind how puberty hormones affect weight
✅ A safe, supportive approach that prevents eating disorders

Because when teens understand their hormones and get the right support, they don’t just lose weight—they gain strength, energy, confidence, and freedom!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
This is the Lifestyle and Weight Loss for Teens
podcast.
If you're a mom and want tohelp your child who is
struggling to lose weight, youare in the right place.
If you are looking for healthylifestyle tips, dr Gorgery is
here to help you understand thescience around safe weight loss
in teens and children, becausewhat works for adult weight loss
is not always the best forchildren.

(00:29):
This podcast is for educationalpurposes only.
Dr Gorgory does not providemedical, psychological or
nutrition therapy advice.
You should not use thisinformation to diagnose or treat
any health problems withoutconsulting your own medical
practitioner and now your host,dr Jenny Gorgary.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Hello, hello, welcome to another episode of the
Lifestyle and Weight Loss forTeens podcast.
This is Dr Jenny Gorgary, andtoday I will be talking about
how to stay motivated to loseweight as a teenager.
So I know we all try to be in ahealthy weight, especially in
the beginning of the year, andas the months go by and as we

(01:17):
try to get in shape and get to ahealthier weight, our
motivation kind of goes down.
So I thought it would beimportant to talk about what is
it that motivates teenagers ingeneral to want to be in a
healthier weight and thendiscuss a few strategies that

(01:40):
can help keep that motivationhigh.
That can help keep thatmotivation high.
So there was actually a researchstudy that was done that looked
at the different motivationsfor weight loss in teenagers.
It was published in BMCPediatrics in 2018.
The title of the manuscript isMotivations for Weight Loss in

(02:02):
Adolescents with Overweight andObesity a Systematic Review.
So what the researchers did isthey searched in the scientific
database, they tried to findother studies that looked at
motivation for weight loss inteenagers and they analyzed the

(02:24):
data and they try to group theminto different categories and
try to identify what is it thatmotivates teenagers to want to
get into a healthier weight.
So they came up with 17different motivations among
teenagers, so let's just diveinto them.

(02:45):
The first one, and the one thatthey found in most studies that
evaluated this topic, was thedesire to be healthier.
Number two appearance reasons,like they wanted to look more
beautiful.
Number three they wanted toimprove their self-esteem more

(03:06):
beautiful.
Number three they wanted toimprove their self-esteem.
Number four they wanted toavoid bullying.
Number five they wanted to behealthier.
Number six to be in betterfitness and shape.
Number seven to have peeracceptance and greater social
integration.
Number eight to fit into normalsize or more elegant clothing.

(03:26):
Number nine being moreattractive to the opposite sex.
Number 10, doing things forenjoyment.
Number 11, facing major changesin life.
Number 12, personal motivation.
Number 13, celebrating the 15thbirthday.

(03:48):
14, increased mobility,practicing physical activities.
Number 15, to feel good.
Number 16, accepting oneself.
And number 17, to improve thequality of life.
Now, why is it important to know, or to at least have an idea of

(04:15):
the different types ofmotivations?
Because everything starts fromawareness and I was very happy
to see that on the top of thelist, at least in this research,
was the desire to improve thehealth is really the main

(04:35):
motivation that should be thedrive of our efforts.
Know mainly what my drive isfor wanting to educate families
and teenagers into how to get toa healthy weight is because
implications of unhealthy weightgain for the future in terms of

(04:59):
higher risk for diabetes,higher risk for obstructive
sleep apnea, high risk for highblood pressure, high risk for
fatty liver disease, high riskfor depression and anxiety, high
risk for high blood pressure,high risk for knee pain and
joint pains, high risk forgetting strokes and heart

(05:23):
attacks in the future.
So there are a lot of healthimplications that are associated
with an unhealthy weight andthis is why we are even doing
anything about it.
But of course, I understandthat teenagers may not have the
same perception of the world andmay not have the same maturity

(05:46):
as adults do and may not be ableto fully grasp it.
And that is okay and that iswhy we are here.
But that doesn't mean that notpaying attention to a motivation
for appearance reasons is notvalid.
If this is what they feel, ifthis is how they want to feel

(06:06):
better, they want to improvetheir self-esteem, they want to
be in shape, they want to havebetter performance in sports, or
these are valid and excellentmotivations.
So it is important, though, tolook at these different types of
motivation.
Or maybe, if you have ateenager and none of these

(06:28):
reasons fits into their own life, then ask them why is it
important for them?
Why are they doing it?
Why do they want to make thechanges and write it down?
Just spend five, 10 minutes,take a piece of paper and a pen
and just write down what is mymotivation, why am I doing this?

(06:51):
And put that piece of papersomewhere where you can see it.
You can put it next to his bed,you can put it in the bathroom,
you can put it as a screenshoton your phone just somewhere
where they can actually see it.
And because difficult momentswill come, when we have to
change our habits and becomesomebody who is not who we used

(07:16):
to be, and during thosedifficult times, it's important
to come back to this motivation.
It's important to know whywe're doing what we're doing.
And finally, I wanted to brieflymention also some other simple
strategies to keep up themotivation, besides what I said

(07:39):
to write it down and keeplooking at it.
Keep looking at the motivationevery day when you wake up.
Another thing is to surroundyourself with friends and family
that are supporting you in thisjourney, that they don't
increase your temptation, thatthey actually support you if

(08:00):
you're having a difficulty,instead of making it harder for
you.
So if, let's say, you're tryingto have healthier nutrition and
then all your friends eat pizzaevery day and you hang out with
them every day, it's notimpossible, but it's probably
not the best scenario for you tohelp you.

(08:23):
It's not the most, it's not thesupportive environment you're
looking for.
And another thing you could dois to track your progress.
Keep a journal, write it down,what you're doing.
Well, it may not necessarily behow much weight you lost, but,
for example, it can be that, hey, today I had three fruits and

(08:47):
yesterday I didn't have anyfruits, or the day before, like
I'm making it progress because Iam eating more fruits than what
I used to eat a month ago.
That's a huge progress.
So not focusing really on theweight, not focusing really on
the scale, but focusing on thethings that you do better today

(09:10):
than the things that you didyesterday.
So let's say you want to go to aparty, and usually when you go
to a party, you have five slicesof pizza and you're having
chips, or you are having sodasand you make a conscious
decision that when you go toparties you won't have soda,

(09:32):
you'll have water, or you willskip the pizza or you will skip
the chips, whatever it is.
Whatever it is that you decide,just set your mind on it and
track your progress andcongratulate yourself.
Congratulate the effortratulatewhy you're doing it and keep

(09:52):
looking at your motivation.
Keep looking at your inner.
Listen to your inner voicetelling you why you're doing
what you're doing, because thereality is nobody can force
anyone to make healthier choicesunless they actually themselves
have decided to make the effortfor whatever it is important to

(10:18):
them.
So if you are a parent and youhave a teenager who is trying to
get into a healthier weight, Iinvite you to start the
conversation about what is itthat makes it important, if it
is important to get to ahealthier weight and sometimes
timing is important too Maybenow is not the right time, maybe

(10:40):
they don't want to do anythingabout it, maybe they want to do
it later and, of course, by notdoing anything, oftentimes the
problem may get worse.
But just keep opening theconversation around this topic
and try to be supportive and tryto respect everyone's decision

(11:02):
and reason of why they want todo what they want to do.
That's all I had for today.
I hope this was helpful.
If you also find it helpful,please share it with your
friends and family.
And if you haven't posted areview and you're listening to
my podcast, I would reallyreally appreciate it if you can

(11:22):
post a review on your Apple,itunes or your podcast provider.
Thank you very much and I'lltalk to you soon.
Take care, bye.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, I
invite you to you soon.
Take care Bye, so they can feelhappier, more confident, less
stressed and love their bodyagain.
Visit the website atlifestyleforteenscom and click
on the Work With Me and freeresources to learn more about
this program and get free helpto start this journey right away
.
Thanks for tuning in and we'llcatch you in the next episode of

(12:05):
Lifestyle and Weight Loss forTeens Teams.