How American Teens View Their Overweight Bodies

According to the 2001 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 13.6 percent of American students were at risk of becoming overweight and 10.5 percent were overweight. Male students were more likely to be overweight or at greater risk of becoming overweight than female students. African-American and Latino students were more likely to be overweight or at risk of becoming overweight than Caucasian students.

The survey also found that students' perceptions of their weight didn't always match reality. Nationwide, 29.2 percent of all students thought they were overweight, with female students (34.9 percent) significantly more likely to consider themselves overweight than male students (23.3 percent).

High school students aren't as overweight as they think, according to the 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The survey considered students at or above the 85th percentile but less than the 95th percentile on the BMI chart as "at risk for becoming overweight." Students who were above the 95th percentile on the BMI chart were considered "overweight."

My Life with 20 Extra Pounds

I hear the whispered comments and my face burns. Then someone does something mean at lunch like grabbing my chips and saying, "You don't need those." I have to go searching through my purse as if I'll die if I don't find a pen right then, just so no one sees the tears in my eyes.

If you didn't know me, you'd read this and assume I'm a big fat slob who sits alone in the cafeteria with no friends and no social life. Actually, you're wrong. I'm not the most popular girl in school, but I have a large group of friends and a small group of close friends and really shouldn't complain at all about my high school experience.

The whispered comments that make my face burn are not meant in a mean way. The comments come from friends who feel bad when something comes up that makes it obvious that I'm 20 pounds overweight and they aren't. Like when our service club plans a car wash and I'm the only one not wearing a bikini top. The "mean" comments about the chips are just people joking, the same way they joke around with the skinny girls. They just want some chips, but I'm a little oversensitive about comments like those.

I'd love nothing more than to lose weight, but I just don't have the will power. I know I really don't need those chips. My mom does the grocery shopping and when there's junk food around the house, I have a hard time not eating it.

Last week I went to the doctor for a physical. I was nervous and definitely expecting a lecture about my weight. To my surprise, the doctor seemed to understand how I felt. She said that I would be healthier if I lost weight and gave me a plan for increasing my exercise and changing my eating habits. She told me not to go on a diet, but just change my habits. She said that all I had to do was lose 10 pounds to be in a healthy weight range.

When I walked out of the office, my mother was waiting for me. At home, we talked about the things the doctor told me about what to eat and what not to eat. My mother promised to try and follow the guidelines the doctor had laid out. As It turns out, she'd been told the same thing during her physical.