Many obesity prevention programs have been developed with most having only limited and short-term effects. The large majority of interventions have been developed and implemented mostly top-down with limited input from youth themselves, resulting in interventions that do not meet their needs and interests and therewith have limited uptake. Co-creating interventions with the target population has shown promise in providing more effective and sustainable solutions as such interventions are centred on individuals’ needs and circumstances; hence, co-creation may be the effective solution to improving energy balance behaviours thereby contributing to prevention and treatment of obesity. In this lecture, I am keen to share examples of how I strive to make research more inclusive by collaborating with youth as co-researchers in the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions aimed at promoting healthy energy balance behaviours.