You don't actually refer to her "spare tire flopping up and down" to her face, do you?
There are many components to weight loss and there are many more when you are a 16 year old girl. To want to take care of herself, she must like herself. You can't force her to eat right or exercise, but you can give her your full support in her efforts and that's about all you can do.
As a someone who was overweight as a teen with loving yet imperfect parents, here is my advice:
- Do not badger her. Ever.
- Do not "restrict"- that will lead to rebellion
- Have plenty of healthy options at home
- have her cook with you and make meals a "family affair". I know in a lot of families, it's sort of a "fend for yourself" and eat around the TV, but don't just tell her what to do and expect her to do it. WALK HER THROUGH IT- supportively
- Activities: Is there anything that she likes to do? Does she like to bikeride? Swim? Encourage her to get involve in sports. This may be hard because she may be sensitive about athletics. Student athletes do a fair amount of training outside of practice so get involved in working with her outside of lessons/practice, or better yet, start an exercise routine that you do together- consistently. Could you maybe get her to start taking walks with you?
16 year old girls, as impossible as it seems, are fragile creatures. I think the key word is "supportive".