Over on YPulse blog, a fantastic critique of a USA Today story on young girls and weight:
At first I was stunned that girls who had nutritious eating habits and worked out at least once a week gained 5.5 pounds. I was even more surprised that those who ate small portions and worked out at least five times a week still gained three pounds. How could this be? What does this mean for the rest of us who never work out and slurp double-whip mocha lattes five days a week?
Then I realized that the girls they surveyed were between junior high (14) and college (22) ages. Of course they're gaining weight, they're going through puberty! Their bodies are changing from little girl to grown-up. We should be alarmed if they aren't gaining weight, because that would mean they aren't going through the proper stages of adolescence.The article says that "most of the older girls had reached their full maturity and their weight gain was more likely to be unhealthy." I'm not a doctor, but even at 18, 19 and 20, it seems like girls could still be growing. That means that maybe 10% were close to full maturity.
