• Parents should encourage physical activity like walking, biking and swimming for fitness.phone teen girl image by TA Craft Photography from Fotolia.com
  
  Teens are still children, but they are at a more independent phase of their lives. This independence often results in teens making their own decisions about their activities, diet and lifestyle, whether their parents agree or not. The decisions a teen makes regarding these things can affect his fitness. Teens today are not as healthy as they were in the past--they are more obese and have more health problems--so following fitness tips is important.
  
  

Watch Less Television

• When your teen is spending time in front of the television, she is sedentary. According to Family Education, researchers at Memphis State University and the University of Tennessee discovered that a person's metabolism is slower when watching television than it is when resting--this means you burn less calories watching television than you do sleeping. Encourage teens to spend less time watching television and more time being active.
  
  

Get Physical

• The American Heart Association recommends that teenagers get their hearts pumping with aerobic exercise for 20 minutes at least three times per week. Encouraging fun physical activities--like basketball, swimming, biking, dancing, hockey, soccer, jumping rope, skating or using a trampoline--will help your teen realize physical activity doesn't have to be a chore.
  
  

Walk It Off

• Other than participating in physical activity, it is important to encourage your teen to get regular physical exertion. For instance, encourage her to walk or ride her bike to places that are close by. Have your teen walk the dog, or take a family walk together at night. Even encouraging walking around the mall or to school can help increase your teen's fitness level.
  
  

Eat Right

• Balanced nutrition is essential to teen fitness. Fatty, calorie rich foods will cause a teen to pack on excess weight and will make him feel less energized. Make sure your teen has access to plenty of easy-to-grab healthy snacks and that you are providing nutritious meals. Additionally, make sure you stress that skipping meals is not beneficial to your teen's waistline--teens often thinking that starving themselves will lead to weight loss. According to Whole Family, it is better for a teen to eat five or six small meals or the standard three with snacks than to skip a meal.