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Just thinking here. Does he have a dog? A dog that requires a lot of exercise? Does he want a dog? To check, many shelters allow dog walking although a parent would need to be around with the 10 year old.
Family walking program each evening. Start slow and short and work up. Keep track on a calender so he can see progress.
Swimming or even just lessons. Has he ever shown an interest in any activity like, karate, table tennis, swimming, canoeing, biking, etc?
The biggest thing is knowing your own child. What sparks his interest or can be a motivator?
For example, some years back, a woman tinkered with recipies of her family's favorite meals but made them low fat....So, if you haven't already, start making more low fat meals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom
A box of mac and cheese with a carrot grated into it was dinner for four of us.
No wonder so many kids are overweight.
"Fat" in food does not make someone "fat". Carbs do. Increasing the fat can make them thinner, if you reduce the carbs. Mac and cheese is virtually all carbs, carrot or no carrot. Nutritionists may be reluctant ro tell you this...if your kids lose weight quickly, you won't need the nutritionist's services for long.
And it has been my experience that the medical profession, very much including nutritionists, are at least 10 years behind the curve when it comes to cutting-edge research. They also tend to be very conservative, not wanting to accept newer ideas until they become mainstream. You should cut out all the sugar and most of the carbs from your kids' diets. Feed them quality protein and raw veggies, esp leafy greens.
The good news is, if the kids are just age 10, they will outgrow the fat during puberty.
"Fat" in food does not make someone "fat". Carbs do. Increasing the fat can make them thinner, if you reduce the carbs. Mac and cheese is virtually all carbs, carrot or no carrot. Nutritionists may be reluctant ro tell you this...if your kids lose weight quickly, you won't need the nutritionist's services for long.
And it has been my experience that the medical profession, very much including nutritionists, are at least 10 years behind the curve when it comes to cutting-edge research. They also tend to be very conservative, not wanting to accept newer ideas until they become mainstream. You should cut out all the sugar and most of the carbs from your kids' diets. Feed them quality protein and raw veggies, esp leafy greens.
The good news is, if the kids are just age 10, they will outgrow the fat during puberty.
I know, my mom is still a huge believer in low fat or fat free everything. I've tried to explain to her that usually when they take out the fat from a food, they add sugar to compensate for the reduction in taste. I'm diabetic and my sisters are both pre-diabetic, so fat free but higher carb foods are the worst thing for us. I know my mom was just following the diet trends of that era, but I think we all would have grown up healthier with more protein, less carbs, and a decent amount of fat in our diets.
Wow lots of thoughtful replies...a few snarky ones, but not too bad so far. I am going to digest some of this and answer back in the morning. But feel free to keep the thoughtful posts coming, I do appreciate it.
OP, I would try having a "family" conversation about eating healthier. Then I would follow through with it. My sister and her entire family of 6 have weight problems but it's not from a lack of activity. All the kids are in sports. It is all the junk in the house and eating out. This past year, she finally decided to actually follow through on healthy eating and sure enough the entire family is losing weight.
If you actually track the calories your son eats vs what he should eat for his age and size, you'd be surprised. The fact is, all junk food, fried foods, take out, restaurant food are ridiculously high. Sometimes, it exceeds 50% or more than one allowed intake. We have an 80/20 rule in our house where 80% of what we feed our kids is healthy and we percent can be whatever (at a modest amount of course). Right now our kids' 20% is their school snack and dessert that they get to have after dinner. Clearly this doesn't comprise of the entire 20% but this allows us to have a "bad" dinner every once in while.
I will also say that my kids do not have free access to the pantry.
Have you tried something like Nutrition Detectives? It's a great place to start anyway but depending on his maturity level, he might be too old for it. They have previews on the link so you can decide.
These kinds of issues are why I wish every school added nutrition classes as a required course!
I was looking more about how to talk to him...about food choices to how weight is impacting his life and pushing yourself harder when exercising. We have lots of exercise options. He tends to go about 15 minutes and then sits down in the shade. Same at recess.
How old is he?
My kids don't make food choices. We make them.
Therefore, 90% of their diet is whole foods with an emphasis on veggies (mostly steamed, sometimes salad/raw) and lean protein. Two or three fruits a day.
When my son needs a packed food for class, its usually sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, turkey, and cheese.
Don't have him exercise. Have him participate in something fun that is physical.
When I run/lift weights, I do maybe 4-7 hours a week.
When I switched to tennis, I play 16 hours a week sometimes!!!
He is 10...and "a lot". I don't have the numbers but enough for the ped to refer us to a nutritionist.
P.S. A lot of his weight gain happened after going on a medication for his anxiety. Likely we will take him off and try something else when he goes back to the doc in November. But we found lots of places to work on diet and exercise in the mean time to help him out.
A side note about anxiety meds - my grandson had an accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury that caused anxiety. At that time he was a skinny teen. In a month on the meds he went up about 2 sizes. With the help of his medical team and lots of prayers, he is now well and has been off the meds for quite some time and is back to normal. However, it took him a few months to drop the weight and get back to his prior weight. I'm sharing to prepare you that in coming off the meds or changing them, it is not an overnight recovery back to his normal weight.
As to how to talk with him, remind him that the meds (mostly) caused this. Give him something to blame it on for now as long as you give him tools to fix it. Remind him that many kids, and adults have had to deal with it, and you know he is strong and can do this - and you are on his side, you are going to kick it together! And that you heard that other kids who went thru this found it helped if they planned out their meals/menus so they had the right food in the house when they needed it. Give him choices, let him write a menu from options you give him from your nutritionist. Give him small goals - movie night if loses 1lb, sleepover for 2lbs, etc.. Allow him to earn points for good food choices or behaviors. Remind him it's a journey, not overnight.
As to exercise, as other posters have said, of course find something he likes. Bear in mind, he is probably embarrassed about his weight, and might not want to wear a bathing suit. I wonder if when he exercises he gets so hot he feels he can't continue? I'd ask him why he stops. Sure he said he doesn't want to do anymore but why? Is he afraid something will happen to him? His anxiety might be playing into his unwillingness to exercise. If that's the case, maybe you could do a joint exercise like kicking a ball to each other, throwing a ball for 20 mins a day? Whoever doesn't catch the ball has to walk or run to the other person and back as fast a they can - something to break the monotony and make it more fun.
I grew up fat and I was shamed and bullied endlessly. I can say pretty much for sure it's not going to help him to lose his only safe harbor...home. I would definitely change meds. Is he fat because he has anxiety or does he have anxiety because he is fat? It's important you know the answer to this question! Read about his meds. If weight gain is a side effect, he is being set up to fail. And believe me, if he gets fatter, he will have more anxiety.
But doing nothing is not an option either. Once a person becomes morbidly obese there is a 95% chance they will never be able to lose the weight and keep it off with diet and exercise alone. Bad metabolic changes happen. Have his thyroid checked! Make sure it is normal!
Here are some things you can do. Stop bringing junk into the house. No one needs it! Don't buy grains/bread/cereals/sweets/rice/potatoes. Keep hardboiled eggs, cheese, deli meat, and raw veggies available for snacks. Check out the low carb wraps as a sandwich substitute. Meals need to be mostly meat, green veggies, and salad. Try SF pudding as a dessert and SF popsicles are great. Don't buy any juice, it's all sugar and has no redeeming qualities. Fruit is loaded with sugar and 1 piece of something a day is more than enough. No one needs to drink all their calories. All drinks should be SF/no sugar.
I have a friend who is a great mom. Her kids tend towards fat. Here's what she did. She cut off allowances and started paying the kids good money for chores. Like yard work! Washing the car, etc, etc. And the more physical the activity, the more the pay. She also trades hours of activity for hours allowed to watch TV or play video games. Mowing the yard gives her kid a $10 bill and if it took him 2 hours, he gets to watch TV for 2 hours. Or play video games.
I would concentrate on being creative and finding ways to provide incentives for the behavior you want to see. Make it easier for him to succeed than fail. And try really hard not to use food as a reward!
You simple can't. It will just have a negative effect.
Set an example. Don't be talking about it. If you are going to talk to him it will just embarrass him and he will end up being a closet eater.
Find fun "exercise". Go rock climbing, kayaking, canoeing, zip lining. Indoor rock climbing seems to be the in thing right now. After he advances in that you can find clubs/meet-ups that do the real thing. Go for walks in a National Park. Taking walks around the neighborhood is just boring. Get him an awesome bike along with you getting a bike. Find fun, adventurous bike trails. At that age you are going to have to fool him into exercise.
Children and pets usually become overweight because parents/ owners feed them too much food / treats and do not provide enough exercise.
Action speaks louder than words. Thinking you can " talk to" a kid and snap him out of a potential spiral tends to be more about the parents' ego than anything else.
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