Weight Loss for Kids

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  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »
    LKArgh wrote: »
    IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »
    LKArgh wrote: »
    IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »
    LKArgh wrote: »
    If the kids are eating at child care, then do not serve a second dinner, let him seat with you and grab some fruit and chat about his day. Or,to actually know what he has been eating, forbid child care from feeding him. It woudl be a problem emotionally if he was a 3 year old, but he is old enough to understand that you want him to eat with you at home and that it not healthy for anyone to eat two dinners. Would you eat two dinners per day everyday just to socialise, especially if your dr told you you are obese?

    People all the world over have four meals and don't have weight problems. They call the fourth meal "tea."

    Also, people in some parts of the world regularly nap every day, still no weight problems.

    The standard American diet and general sedentary lifestyle is to blame and is easily solved, particularly in children, without any level of fuss, and without any awareness on the kid's part that you are lowering their caloric intake. It is much, much, much easier to have a kid lose weight than an adult.

    This is a simple fix. All the talk about him skipping meals, going to pediatricians and dietitians and singling him out is just making things more complicated than neccessary, and probably would cause self-esteem issues.

    I do wonder if the kid has money and is buying candy bars/chips/soda while he's out...

    I am not American, I have no idea what you are talking about with the 4 meals.
    If you mean "tea" as is used in some areas of UK, it is not a meal after the evening meal, it is the evening meal. People are not having dinner and then an extra meal.
    If you mean "tea", as in an actual cup of tea in the afternoon with a snack, this is a snack, not a full meal.

    These are the meals in a day in Spain. The fifth meal - they are about that life.

    Desayuno
    Almuerzo
    Comida
    Merienda
    Cena


    http://spanishsabores.com/2015/06/17/spain-dining-guide-when-are-spanish-mealtimes/

    But they're probably balancing the calories throughout the meals to adjust for the fact they're eating more often (at least, the people within a healthy weight range are). They aren't just adding an extra meal *in addition* to a full day's calorie needs, which is what appears to be happening with OP's son.

    Nobody is arguing that eating more frequently, in and of itself, is a problem. Adding a whole extra meal without adjustments (intentional or unintentional) the rest of the day will cause anyone to gain weight unless there is a corresponding rise in overall activity.

    That's pretty much what I said. I have no argument with you.

    It's not the fact that he's having a 4th meal. It's CICO. So I gave some suggestions on how to easily decrease calories and increase activity.

    OP is not saying he is having a 4th meal, as in a snack. She is saying he is having a full dinner (which I assume is also the main meal, calorie-wise) at daycare, and then again having a full dinner at home a bit later. If she was saying he is having some fruit at daycare, or a yoghurt at home, I doubt this conversation would have started.


    So what if he's having a 4th meal, is what I'm saying. You can eat a standard breakfast that is 800 calories, or an also similar, delicious, large sized breakfast for 250 calories. It's not the fact that he's having a full 4th meal, because plenty of people the world over eat lots more meals than we do. The issue is that American meals are calorie dense, where a normally sized meal is pushing 1200 calories, in addition to having a sedentary lifestyle. I had recess AND gym DAILY growing up as a kid. So two hours of running around - one structured, one unstructured every single day - during school hours. Is that what is happening now? Doubt it.

    Ultimately, it's that woman's kid, and she will do what she feels is in his best interest that works best for her son and her family.

    Nobody is arguing that the 4th meal is an inherent problem. Everyone understands that meals can be balanced out so that people can have as many meals as they want and still be at a reasonable number of calories. But clearly that isn't what is happening here -- OP's son is having two full dinners. That's why people are discussing this.

    It isn't like this is a situation where things are working out well for everyone involved and people are just dragging the concept of more than three meals in a day.

  • WillingtoLose1001984
    WillingtoLose1001984 Posts: 240 Member
    Its sounds like more could be going on than one extra meal. I mean he is wanting to overeat and it could be because he is going to grow soon or something emotional or just heavy foods and he likes volume. It is hard to say. My son is a little chunky too and can have an extra meal sometimes but hasn't gotten that much heavier so fast.

  • WillingtoLose1001984
    WillingtoLose1001984 Posts: 240 Member
    jondspen wrote: »
    You need to talk to the pediatrician and hopefully a nutritionist (preferably one with experience in children). I don't think losing weight will be that bad, 1 lbs a week is 8lbs in 2 months...which is doable, but not fun. You have the nutritional requirements for a growing kid to consider as you're cutting back calories that you can't control during the day, so lots to juggle in this case.

    You kids seems to be mentally ok, no problems with school or friends, physically active, at least somewhat. I think cutting sweets down (not out, esp at Halloween and Thanksgiving is just cruel) and upping his activity level somehow is the best approach. You got room for a punching bag or training dummy for him at home? 30-60 min every day working on kicks and punches should burn at least 100-200 calories a session. If you can then cut out a canned soda and a daily donut (300+ more calories right there), you got about 500 calories a day now, or one pound a week.

    From what I've read theres the help him not gain weight until he grows approach or slow weight loss approach and help him take responsiblity for what he eats. I don't think it should not be dealt with at all because I grew up heavy on the verge of obese and have had problems with my weight my entire adult life and that caused problems. When the time is appropriate let him know that he can do something about his weight that it isn't impossible to control.
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
    IHaveMyActTogether wrote: »
    emmamcgarity wrote: »
    I am not a fan of calorie counting for kids. It’s to easy for kids to end up with self esteem issues and disordered eating. I would focus more on nutrition for the whole family and discuss healthy serving sizes for nutrition for everyone in the family. That way he won’t feel singled out.

    https://www.choosemyplate.gov
    The site above offers some nutrition guidelines you may find helpful. I likely would also stay away from the scale for a while so that he doesn’t feel stressed about it. Small changes over time do make a difference.

    You got three woos so far, but that's solid advice you gave.

    "When boys develop eating disorders, it's usually because they're in a sport that emphasizes weight, such as wrestling. Wrestlers compete based on weight classes. For instance there's one class for 75-pound boys and another for 80-pound boys. Wrestlers feel pressure to stay in their weight class, which is called "making weight."

    https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/eatdisorder.html

    This is important to note, especially in regards to the Judo things.

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