are meant to be different, and just becauseyou’re developing faster than your friend is or slower than
your older sister did, it doesn’t mean there is anything
wrong with you. Girls can grow tall before they gain
weight, or they can gain weight before they grow tall.
In most cases, in order to grow into a taller, healthy
teenager, you need to gain weight. And to gain weight,
you need to increase the amount of food you eat. That’s
because it takes a lot of energy for your body to stretch
and grow, and food provides this fuel. Sometimes girls are
nervous about gaining weight, thinking that it means they
are becoming overweight and unhealthy. But the truth is
that healthy weight gain is normal and important.
Good Growing
Your doctor will weigh and measure you each year and
will let you know whether you are gaining at the right
pace for you. To do this, your doctor will use a mathemat-
ical equation called body mass index, or BMI, which bases your weight on your height.
You don’t need to worry about doing the math; that’s the
doctor’s job. The most important lesson is to know that
when it comes to your weight, you’re not alone. If your
doctor has concerns—if your weight is too low or too
high—then you will work together with your doctor
and your parents to make a healthy plan. It’s usually
not necessary to check your weight at home, and for
this reason most doctors recommend that families get
rid of their scales.
Reaching New Heights
Get ready to grow!
Ready, Set, Grow!
Since toddler age, you’ve grown about two inches every
year. But at some point, usually around age 9 or 10,
you’ll enter a growth spurt and grow faster than ever
before. The average girl grows three and a half inches per
year during this time. And whether it happens earlier or
later during puberty (the time when the body begins to develop and change), it almost always lasts about two to three years.
But your body may grow in unpredictable ways. You could
grow fast when you’re young, and then stop growing
before other girls even begin their growth spurts, making
you the tallest girl in elementary school but one of the
shorter girls in high school. Or maybe you’ll have your
growth spurt much later, surprising friends in high school
by becoming a tall teenager when you started out on the
small side. Girls can start tall and stay tall or start small
and stay small, too.
How Will You Measure Up?
Only time will tell how tall you’ll be, but with a bit of
math you can try to predict your future. To do so, take
your dad’s height in inches and subtract five (that’s how
tall he might have been if he had been a girl). Then add
your mom’s height in inches and divide the total number
by two. This is your mid-parental height. Body height isn’t
an exact science, so there is a pretty good chance that
you will be around that height, give or take two inches—
but no guarantee.
(Note: The math is different for boys. If you were trying to predict your brother’s
height, for example, you would add five inches to your mom’s height and then
add that number to your dad’s height and divide by two.)
Sample equation:
If your mom is 5′3″
and your dad is 5′10″,
then you would do
the following math:
5′3″ = 63″; 5′10″ = 70″
70
– 5
65″
65
+63
128″
128
÷ 2
64″
64″ = 5′4″, your estimated
height, give or take 2″.
Taller Than the Boys
Have you ever wondered why many sixth-grade girls are
taller than the boys in their class? It’s because lots of the
girls have been in their growth spurts for a year or two,
and most of the boys have a few years to go. Boys tend
to start their growth spurts around age 11 or 12, and they
usually grow fastest when they are about 13 or even older.
Ouch!
