Joanna Fortune: My teenage daughter is obsessed with her fitness tracker

If she begins skipping meals or pursuing calorie deficits to lose weight, I would strongly advise seeking professional intervention

When wellbeing becomes a fixation, the results are counterproductive. Picture: iStock 

My teenage daughter got a fitness tracker as a birthday gift, and watching her stats has become an obsession. She was already fit, but she is now competing against herself and others in her online group. She’s lost weight and is stricter about her diet; she keeps asking for lean protein, essentially chicken. I’m not sure how best to handle what’s happening.

As our children grow, we need to encourage self-regulation and trust in how they feel in their own bodies. Wearing a fitness tracker may actually work against their awareness of their body’s signals by relying on a device to tell them how they are progressing.