Listen up, Parents, Teens and Doctors! Sometimes, I crack myself up. Do you do that? I hope so. Take your work seriously, but not yourself is my philosophy. Life is meant to be fun. Is easeful a word? It should be if it isn’t. I'm helping you take something that is very difficult, meaning having a conversation with your teen about weight, and create a more easeful approach. It will never be easy, but you can start to reject diet culture and thinking and getting out trying to fix or solve your teen and making your teen's weight mean anything about their success or happiness or anything about you as a parent.

I'm coaching you to go from the "how" or compliance coaching to the "why" or compassion coaching. Believe me, I have intentionally, worked on my relationship with my teens, as a massive action goal in my life. I've created a softer, kinder, and more compassionate relational approach by pausing before I go down the well-trodded, fix and solve, control, transactional approach I was stuck in. Once my life and well-being coach, helped me realize I don't cause and I don't control much, and how to set boundaries, I started to change. When you change, your teen changes. It's very cool, is completely imperfect, takes daily intentional practice and habit building, and is more worth it than any goal I have ever achieved. Weight loss, schmeight loss. Who cares if I got to my weight loss goal, if my daughter didn't trust me to show up as a loving supportive Mom who stayed out of emotional reactivity and control?

I know. I know. You have really good intentions and just want what's best for your teen. Me too. It's just that we don't always know what's best for our teen and when we stay in fix and control mode, our teens don't build the necessary skills to create self-trust and figure it out on their own. We really believe we can prevent our teens from suffering in life and that when things are going well for our teen, that's because of us and our parenting. Again, not true. It's almost laughable.

I decided instead of being one of those doctors and I’ve been this doctor in the past, who just doles out bullet point recommendations focused on the how, I will actually be super helpful.

Things have changed with the pandemic and by changing, I mean things have gotten worse, our health, and all areas of our health is what I’m talking about.

So, let’s have a conversation with our teens about healthy weight. I recently had a parent commenter on my TikTok post where I was super vulnerable about how doctors have gotten much of this wrong when it comes to addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Mom said she feels stuck and worried about her 12 year-old daughter who is really struggling with her weight and body image. “I’m worried if I bring it up I will cause harm and if I don’t do anything to help her, it will get worse and she will suffer in silence.”

To me, this sounds like she is thinking in two extremes and the answer for how to be helpful is my whole philosophy “Let’s meet in the middle”. It is possible to reject diet culture, cultivate body positivity and help our teens find self-love superpower to reach their health and life goals. Mom, you are never stuck.

Our first task, is to recognize our teens are unbroken. There is nothing to fix or solve. Their weight is not a problem and is not a reflection on us as parents. Breathe. It’s okay.

Next, let’s reject diet culture’s big fat lie that happiness is outside of us, that happiness, success or superiority is a measure on a scale. I was just coaching one of the IME Community teen members on this. Andrea said, she watches TikTok’s of young women who have lost a lot of weight and they show the before and they are happy with friends and having fun and now, after losing weight, have a lot of loose skin, and feel duped by diet culture because they don’t feel different. I coached on why this is happening and why IME Community is so important, now more than ever. The problem is not the TikToker. The problem is diet culture’s big fat lie that conditions us to put our happiness on the external, that a measure on the scale will make us feel a certain way.

This is where my trifecta for transformation comes in and why and how I created IME Community. I coach teens to fully reject diet culture, starting with recognizing its harms and how it’s a failure. Sure, diets work in the short term. We believe that once we get to that point or weight, then our pain is relieved. That’s not true.

So, listen up to this, sometimes cringey acting I'm doing in this video and podcast. I hope it's helpful. If you're a teen or parent of a teen, age 12 to 18, don't forget to go to imecommunity.com and Join the IME member Community where self-love is your superpower to achieve your life and weight goals and make your mark in the world!

Self-love superpower,

Dr. Karla, ActivistMD

 

Listen up, Parents, Teens and Doctors! Sometimes, I crack myself up. Do you do that? I hope so. Take your work seriously, but not yourself is my philosophy. Life is meant to be fun. Is easeful a word? It should be if it isn&rsquo;t. I'm helping you take something that is very difficult, meaning having a conversation with your teen about weight, and create a more easeful approach. It will never be easy, but you can start to reject diet culture and thinking and getting out trying to fix or solve your teen and making your teen's weight mean anything about their success or happiness or anything about you as a parent.
I'm coaching you to go from the "how" or compliance coaching to the "why" or compassion coaching. Believe me, I have intentionally, worked on my relationship with my teens, as a massive action goal in my life. I've created a softer, kinder, and more compassionate relational approach by pausing before I go down the well-trodded, fix and solve, control, transactional approach I was stuck in. Once my life and well-being coach, helped me realize I don't cause and I don't control much, and how to set boundaries, I started to change. When you change, your teen changes. It's very cool, is completely imperfect, takes daily intentional practice and habit building, and is more worth it than any goal I have ever achieved. Weight loss, schmeight loss. Who cares if I got to my weight loss goal, if my daughter didn't trust me to show up as a loving supportive Mom who stayed out of emotional reactivity and control?
I know. I know. You have really good intentions and just want what's best for your teen. Me too. It's just that we don't always know what's best for our teen and when we stay in fix and control mode, our teens don't build the necessary skills to create self-trust and figure it out on their own. We really believe we can prevent our teens from suffering in life and that when things are going well for our teen, that's because of us and our parenting. Again, not true. It's almost laughable.
I decided instead of being one of those doctors and I&rsquo;ve been this doctor in the past, who just doles out bullet point recommendations focused on the how, I will actually be super helpful.
Things have changed with the pandemic and by changing, I mean things have gotten worse, our health, and all areas of our health is what I&rsquo;m talking about.
So, let&rsquo;s have a conversation with our teens about healthy weight. I recently had a parent commenter on my TikTok post where I was super vulnerable about how doctors have gotten much of this wrong when it comes to addressing the childhood obesity epidemic. Mom said she feels stuck and worried about her 12 year-old daughter who is really struggling with her weight and body image. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m worried if I bring it up I will cause harm and if I don&rsquo;t do anything to help her, it will get worse and she will suffer in silence.&rdquo;
To me, this sounds like she is thinking in two extremes and the answer for how to be helpful is my whole philosophy &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s meet in the middle&rdquo;. It is possible to reject diet culture, cultivate body positivity and help our teens find self-love superpower to reach their health and life goals. Mom, you are never stuck.
Our first task, is to recognize our teens are unbroken. There is nothing to fix or solve. Their weight is not a problem and is not a reflection on us as parents. Breathe. It&rsquo;s okay.
Next, let&rsquo;s reject diet culture&rsquo;s big fat lie that happiness is outside of us, that happiness, success or superiority is a measure on a scale. I was just coaching one of the IME Community teen members on this. Andrea said, she watches TikTok&rsquo;s of young women who have lost a lot of weight and they show the before and they are happy with friends and having fun and now, after losing weight, have a lot of loose skin, and feel duped by diet culture because they don&rsquo;t feel different. I coached on why this is happening and why IME Community is so important, now more than ever. The problem is not the TikToker. The problem is diet culture&rsquo;s big fat lie that conditions us to put our happiness on the external, that a measure on the scale will make us feel a certain way.
This is where my trifecta for transformation comes in and why and how I created IME Community. I coach teens to fully reject diet culture, starting with recognizing its harms and how it&rsquo;s a failure. Sure, diets work in the short term. We believe that once we get to that point or weight, then our pain is relieved. That&rsquo;s not true.
So, listen up to this, sometimes cringey acting I'm doing in this video and podcast. I hope it's helpful. If you're a teen or parent of a teen, age 12 to 18, don't forget to go to imecommunity.com and Join the IME member Community where self-love is your superpower to achieve your life and weight goals and make your mark in the world!
Self-love superpower,
Dr. Karla, ActivistMD
&nbsp;

Welcome to the IME Community podcast for teens, parents and doctors.  IME Community, powered by Dr.Karla, ActivistMD is where self-love is your superpower to achieve your weight and life goals and make your mark in the world!

Welcome to the IME Community podcast for teens, parents and doctors. &nbsp;IME Community, powered by Dr.Karla, ActivistMD is where self-love is your superpower to achieve your weight and life goals and make your mark in the world!

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