Study: Overweight Teens Actually Consume Fewer Calories

Physical activity may be more important than diet during teen years

Overweight teens actually eat fewer calories daily on average than their trimmer counterparts, a new study finds.

Among 12- to 14-year-old girls in the study, girls who were very obese ate about 300 fewer calories on average daily than obese girls, and obese girls consumed 110 fewer calories daily than healthy-weight girls.

When the researchers looked at calories consumed by 15- to 17-year old boys, they found that obese boys ate about 220 fewer calories a day than boys who were overweight (but not obese). And overweight boys consumed about 375 fewer calories than healthy-weight boys, the study showed.