Hello, I'm a 16 year old girl and I'm struggling with my weight. Most teenage girls my age weigh about 120-140 at my age and I'm standing at 170. I just need to know if there is anyway I can lose at least 40 pounds really quick. I just want to have a fit body and to be comfortable around everyone. Thank you.

Speaking from an adult point of view - especially as I have always weighed more than the so-called "charts" claim I should at my height and bone structure - there is no really safe way to "lose at least 40 pounds really quick". It won't do any good at all to drop 40 pounds in two weeks if you spend three weeks in the hospital because you harmed your health to do so.

That being said, there are steps you can take to drop the weight safely over the next couple of months that will keep the weight off in the long run and make you feel better and healthier.

The first step is to look at your life style and what you eat. Are you having three healthy meals a day and eating healthy snacks, like carrots, celery and apples, or are you having a sugar-laden cereal for breakfast followed by cakes, cookies, candy, etc. throughout the day? Simple changes, such as eating oatmeal with fruit in it for breakfast, fruits and veggies as snacks, and drinking lots of water to flush out your system, can cause you to lose 5-10 pounds a week without compromising your health.

The next step is to look at your daily routine. Are you going out and doing things or are you sitting at home on your computer when you have free time? How much exercise do you get every day? In high school, I tipped the scales at 160 and thought I was pretty active, but when I started college and didn't have a car, I started walking wherever I needed to go. Within the first month, I dropped 10 pounds and all the fat stores that I didn't realize I had started becoming muscle. Before the end of my first semester, I had dropped two clothing sizes, but still weighed in at 150 - yet I was sheer muscle!

Finally - and this part may need a doctor to assist you - how much of your "excess" weight is actually fat? It makes a HUGE difference if someone is 120-140, but looks like a thin layer of skin draped over their bones, as opposed to 170 that is mostly muscle and nice curves. I'm 5'8" and have a very large bone structure, so although the " and have a very large bone structure, so although the " available when I was a teenager said I should weigh 120-140, I really don't look healthy at 140. (In fact, when I did hit 135 at one point in my life, my doctor compared me to photos of the Jews in the Nazi Concentration Camps.) If you can't afford to go to a doctor, check out this chart that my doctor recently directed me to and compare yourself to it rather than the other girls your age: Height and Weight Chart - height weight chart, weight height chart (http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchart.htm)

One final piece of advice as you look at your life and what you can change to get yourself at what my doctor calls "your comfortable weight" is this: Don't fret so much about your outward appearance. People who only look at the outer shell without getting to know the special person inside aren't worth the time it would take to make yourself into their ideal person, because their ideal person is probably as shallow as they are. Those who matter most in your life will be the ones who will be happy to see you come into a room because they are genuinely happy to see YOU. They are the ones who will see you taking a daily walk and will make the time to walk with you, talking and laughing, as you both get a little healthier every day. They are the ones who will still be there when you need a walker to get from the couch to the toilet, teasing about the long walks you used to take together.

Good luck with the weight loss, and no matter what happens, be happy in the skin you're in. The outer you isn't as important as the you that shines out in everything you say and do.

Thank you so much.