If your son is obese or heading that way you should be looking at diet plans for overweight teenage boys.

Studies show that kids learn from their parents and that includes their eating habits. So if your children are suffering from weight problems, perhaps the whole household could do with remodeling! We know that you need to combine healthy eating and moderate exercise in order to become slimmer and more toned.

Before you do anything, try not to make a big deal of your son's issue. Teenagers are self conscious enough and you do not want him to feel worse than he probably already does. All those hormones raging around are difficult enough to deal with never mind overanxious parents. I am not suggesting you ignore the problem, quite the opposite. Just don't tell him that he needs to lose lots of weight.

The first thing you need to do is take your son for a full medical checkup. This is to ensure that there is no underlying condition causing his weight gain. Also if he is obese, you should follow your doctor's advice with regard to suitable activities as well as a recommended calorie intake and suitable weight loss program.

Eating is a pleasant activity and food is there to be enjoyed and this is the attitude we need to adopt in our homes. As soon as you start banning particular items, you are almost guaranteed that your child will want them. Instead, we need to re-educate them gently into the ways of healthy eating. Mention the word diet and you will probably have a rebellion on your hands. So don't mention low calorie or low fat, but just gradually swop the obvious items. For example if they like cottage cheese, get the one made with skimmed milk and use low fat mayonnaise.

You can reduce your child's calorie intake subtly so that they may not even notice. For example, try slightly reducing the size of their meals. If they love pizza or curry, make your own at home. You can reduce the fat and salt content thereby helping them to lose pounds. Encourage them to eat more fruit and vegetables. Ok so that last one may not be easy but there are ways around everything. Think of how you used to mask vegetables when they were toddlers i.e. in soups, blended into tomato sauces etc.

Review their overall level of activity. It may be that your teenager already has a healthy diet but just doesn't work out enough. Try encouraging him to take up extra activities such as ball games, swimming, running etc. While he might not want to go out walking, he could be interested in golf.

Be careful with the type of exercise program you choose. The American Academy of Pediatrics say children shouldn't try to lift heavy weights, power lifting or bodybuilding until they have stopped growing. Boys can continue to grow until they are 18 or more.

Diet plans for overweight teenage boys are similar to those for the rest of us. It is not rocket science just healthy eating combined with regular exercise.

If you are looking to lose excess weight, you may be tempted to try the hospital three day diet. It has become popular as it can result in the loss of ten pounds in three days. It allegedly got its name from a hospital using it on cardiac patients who needed to lose weight before they had surgery.

With this eating plan, you have to follow very specific rules and cannot swop different foods. You should also drink plenty of water. Some people have said that you can replace the water with diet soda but personally I think this defeats the object of the exercise. Diet drinks contain hidden calories and ingredients that are not good for a healthy body so are best avoided. Not only that but carbonated liquids have been linked to cellulite.

You have a set menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The idea is that you follow the plan for three days, and then eat normally and if you wish to slim down further, you start the regime again. Most of the weight you lose happens as the daily calorie intake is capped at circa 1000.

This is the first problem as the World Health Organization recommends that you eat at least 1200 but preferably between 1400 and 1500 a day unless you are under medical supervision. Ideally you shouldn't diet below your own basal metabolic rate. This is the rate at which your body burns energy when you aren't doing anything. For most people this is around the 1500 calorie level. Your body may decide that you are being starved and thus reduce your metabolism rate making it harder to shift those pounds.

The WHO also suggest that you shouldn't lose more than 1-2lbs per week. Obviously the hospital three day diet is aimed at losing 10 pounds or more so you can see why people in the medical profession are concerned about the popularity of this plan.

There are other drawbacks with this regime. For a start, you should like tuna as it is one of the main foods. You can also eat grapefruit, some cheese, crackers and eggs. Unusually bread is not forbidden as it is on similar plans.

You are very likely to feel hungry and miserable so I wouldn't start until you are away from work. Your family may want you to be away from them too if the starvation makes you miserable! To be honest, there are better ways to achieve a slimmer toned you.

Eating less food is a great start but do it gradually and your body and mind are less likely to notice. Eat regular small meals to increase your metabolism rate. Drink some green tea and grapefruit juice as both contain fat busting enzymes to help speed up the process. Taking more exercise will increase the amount of energy you consume helping the pounds to fall off.

Fad diets like the hospital three day diet are best avoided. Most of the weight you lose will be regained as you haven't retrained your body into accepting a new healthy eating regime.