Overweight children

christine24t

I was skinny as a kid, and then around second/third grade I got chubby and just never lost it, and kept gaining weight. I was 100 lbs in 4th grade, and my highest weight ever was 210 pounds on January 1st of this year.

gdortiz

i was always a big kid, but very, very,very active. played orgainzed baseball, pick up basketball, hell my friends and i got really into tennis and volleyball, like really into it.

when i graduated from highschool and started drinking, eating, and stopped playing sports i started to gain a lot of the weight i have now. getting married didn't help!

randomartisrgirl

I was always about ten to fourty pounds overweight when I was a kid. It's something I've always been used to, which is why I'm so anxious to see what I look like without fat covering all of me up, haha!

pumpkinmoccasin

I was an overweight child, I grew up in the 90s... I was pretty active but could be very lazy at times and ended up sedentary while reading a lot. I don't remember other children being overweight in my classes until middle/high school in the early 2000s, then it seemed like there was a sudden abundance of overweight kids and I ended up looking more "normal" in comparison. I went to a private catholic grade school, though, and switched to public school in 6th grade so I don't know if that makes a difference *shrug*

melsinct

I was an averaged sized kid and skinny teenager. I don't remember anyone before high school being fat. In high school I could there were only a handful of overweight kids. For what it's worth, I grew up in Connecticut.

karenjoy

I grew up in the 70's, one overweight boy in my primary school, but we lived in a country which at the time had no fast food, no culture of eating out apart from special occasions, only three TV channels and not much for kids at all, and I lived in the country, we all played outside, I would go all day with nothing to eat other than breakfast and come home when I was hungry.

At High School, a couple of chubby kids, and one VERY fat boy who had a VERY fat mother and didn't do phys Ed as his Mum wrote a note saying he had some reason why not to do it. He was very fat and did nothing with the other kids at break time, he took in more food than most families eat and I saw him one time after school when we were adults, and he was so fat that he was having to use a scooter to get around.

People ate less junk when I was a kid, McDonalds et al never arrived here until I was an adult, kids did not get treats and sweets in the culture I grew up in. You swam and played outside.

Lunachic77

I remember very few overweight kids growing up. Maybe a handful at most. The same goes for high school (class of '95). Now everywhere I go all the kids are big. There's no distinction...toddlers, 5 year olds, 8 year olds, teens they are all "bigger" or in the stages of becoming bigger. What is really sad is that it is more rare to see skinny kids than it is chubby kids. I feel like society has really set them up for failure and are handing them a death sentence. The bad eating/nutrition habits have been passed to the kids and we have adopted an attitude of "no matter what you look like or who you choose to be, embrace who you are and be proud of it". I disagree with this to a degree. How can we tell children to accept and be proud of who they are when they are making bad life choices at such a young age...it doesnt leave much room for them to aspire to be healthy when "they are great just the way they are". I hear so many reports of "kids" who are now in their 20's who have heart conditions, diabetes and other illnesses brought on by their obesity. When you are in your 20's you are supposed to be out having fun...partying, going out being reckless ...LIVING! It just breaks my heart what has happened in the last 20 years to our youth.

ninerbuff

What I see is that obese/overweight children usually come from obese/overweight parents. For the life of me if the parents were teased and ridiculed by peers, why would they let their kids go through it?
I feel for those kids since they aren't buying the food in their houses. They only eat what's in front of them.
I have a really bad habit of "peeking" into carts of obese/overweight people especially if they have obese/overweight kids.

lmelangley

I was a fat child. As were 4 of my siblings - only one was normal size. I had a bunch of cousins, and some of them were fat, too- but not all. I think there were around 3 - 4 kids larger than me at our high school graduation of about 185 kids. I have a daughter who's a junior right now. There are about 4 - 5 overweight kids in her class. They're around, but overweight kids are often ashamed and not out in public. Which is part of the problem - if you're ashamed of your weight, you don't want to be active outside where others can see you. CNN had an article a week or so ago about a boy who was so ashamed that when he decided to lose weight, he started exercising outside at night. His story is sad, but with a good ending, because he was able to lose the weight.

lissarv68

I may have posted this before. I seem to be stuck in groundhog day.

Anyway.

When you were a child, were there overweight or obese children? I remember 2 at my school, in the entire 5 years of senior school, and maybe another 2 at my prep school. I was always on the podgy side as a child, at least, I was by the standards back then. When I look at photos now, I think I would be considered average by today's standards.

When I see statistics like 40% of children are overweight at 14% obese, I wonder where these children are, and how things have changed so much since I was a child.

I was too skinny as a child and I can only recall two obese girls and that was in high school (there were twice as many boys though who were obese). I think our eating habits have changed. When I was younger, it was a treat to go even to McDonalds. Now it's the norm. Also, we didn't have the snacks and all these sugary treats at home that kids do now.

My son started gaining too much weight so when I went on a diet, he went on a healthy eating kick (my word for it because an 8 year old doesn't need to be told to diet. I worry about creating an eating disorder). I basically reverted to the way I ate when I was a child and he has dropped 15 pounds since December. That is more than 10% of his body weight. He is no longer overweight.

He also doesn't get the snacks, treats, and eating out all the time that his friends get but he likes that he's slimmer. He says he likes that he can move his body and do active things now and doesn't want to become unhealthy again. He knows more about nutrition than most adults.

I think another problem is that children are not taught nutrition. Do they even teach that in school anymore? When I was in school it was a huge part of the curriculum.

Lunachic77

When I see statistics like 40% of children are overweight at 14% obese, I wonder where these children are, and how things have changed so much since I was a child.

They are right here http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2010/

Very sad indeed

rachelw16

I think another problem is that children are not taught nutrition. Do they even teach that in school anymore? When I was in school it was a huge part of the curriculum.

I don't know about America, but in Canada we start learning about nutrition in...third grade, I believe? Possibly fourth. Anyway, it's required from then up until grade nine, at which point phys-ed and therefore health isn't mandatory anymore. We also have a class called "Food and Nutrition". Or maybe that's just where I am

123456654321

I was an overweight child, I grew up in the 90s... I was pretty active but could be very lazy at times and ended up sedentary while reading a lot. I don't remember other children being overweight in my classes until middle/high school in the early 2000s, then it seemed like there was a sudden abundance of overweight kids and I ended up looking more "normal" in comparison. I went to a private catholic grade school, though, and switched to public school in 6th grade so I don't know if that makes a difference *shrug*

KOOONAAATAAA! ;P


...Anyway, there weren't many overweight kids when I was younger that I can remember. I see them everywhere now though

i_love_vinegar

There were some chubby ones, I guess. Most were in pretty good shape though, if I am remembering correctly!

CorrieV1976

I think sometimes its genetics to a certain point. I have a 17 year old who is tall and thin and a 14 year old that is overweight. Although I am overweight now it only began when I was 30 I had always been thin going through highschool at 110 # . Their father is a body builder and has absolutely no fat, but his sister and mother are very heavy set and his grandfather died of a heart attack and was very large as well.

My son does not overeat when he is with me and I do not allow him junk food. He is outside skateboarding most days so he is being active yet he is still very much overweight. I can remember when he was born how everyone said (at 8 #'s) wow he is solid! He really was, he was as heavy as a boulder to pick up and when he got a bit older if he didnt want to be moved you really had a hard time moving him.

I dont know what to do to help him get thinner but I worry about him (his grandpa had diabetes) and he has trouble going to the bathroom somethimes.

i hope that with my efforts he realizes how important it is to be healthy and we can figure out what's going on exactly but I believe that his genetics are playing a huge role in this.

MinnieInMaine

When I was young, I went through phases of skinny to chubby then back to skinny and I think some of that was just due to hormones and growth spurts. All through the years of growing up, I'd spend every moment I could outside playing, riding bikes, running around, etc. I didn't really get to be seriously overweight until I was in my senior year of high school and there was a lot of craziness in my life and I used food as comfort and became more sedentary (and unfortunately that stuck until a couple years ago). So, the way I see it, activity level (or lack there of) is a big part of the problem. Kids have a lot more sedentary options these days with more video games, online chats, etc so going out to play just isn't as appealing.

Anyway, I only remember there being a handfull of really heavy/obese kids in school.

hbrekkaas

I think another problem is that children are not taught nutrition. Do they even teach that in school anymore? When I was in school it was a huge part of the curriculum.

I don't know about America, but in Canada we start learning about nutrition in...third grade, I believe? Possibly fourth. Anyway, it's required from then up until grade nine, at which point phys-ed and therefore health isn't mandatory anymore. We also have a class called "Food and Nutrition". Or maybe that's just where I am

My kids school (in Canada) starts teaching nutrition on Kindergarten. There is no pop/chips/candy allowed, treats are only allowed to be eaten after lunch, school meals are made in school, and the BC government has restrictions on how much sodium/fat/etc are allowed in foods served in school. Our school also has daily physical activity, either gym class or an in-class kids exercise video. Definatly depends on the school.

That said, there are tons of big kids now. I remember being in school and there was 1 obese girl in my class. A few of us were chubby (I was one, though what I thought was chubby wasn't really that big)

My daughter is in grade 4, and very skinny. Good diet, lots of exercise and a naturally small frame. I cook most of our meals and they don't get many treats. My younger two are a big bigger, but they take after their dads family. Big frames, tall kids. They are not overweight by any means, they are just bigger. My son is 20 months and looks like a body builder. Its so funny to watch him walk, he has this really wide chest/shoulders, huge hands and just looks tough. They will probably weigh more then my 8yo does at her age, but they are also going to be taller too. We do the same thing with them, tons of exercise, home cooked meals and few treats. We also teach them about nutrition as much as we can.

In my daughters school there are quite a few overweight kids, in her class alone there are 4 girls I can think of off the top of my head. They don't get picked on much though. My daughter actually gets picked on more because shes short then the obese girl in her class does for being fat. That will probably change in high school though. I think its just such a common thing now that no one really thinks too much about it.

I definatly think it has alot to do with what parents feed them, fast food, sugar cereals, pre-made meals, etc. are so easy to come by now and so much easier then actually having to put effort into meals. And its so much easier to sit your kid in front of the tv/ds/wii/laptop then to take them for a bike ride.