Trying to Get My 10 Year Old Boy Fit too.

Hey there,
I think it's great that you are trying to get healthy and help your son too. I suppose I just think it's a bit worrying to have a 10 year old on a diet and going to the gym??? The best thing you can do is lead by example, (which it seems you are doing, good job!) and encourage good eating habits and physical activity. I guess I think a 10 year old should be playing sports and running around with his friends, not waking up at 4am to go to the gym? While he may seem to know everything and be very 'with it', emotionally a 10 year old is not fully developed, so making a point of him being overweight may make matter worse instead of better. I wonder how much he is overweight?? Because until kids finish growing you don't know if it'll stay or even out as they grow taller? Limiting his calories too much may even impede his growth..

Anyhow. I'm not at all judging, just offering an opinion, as my weight was made a point of when I was young and it really affected me negatively. My family eats poorly, and as a result I was a bit of a pudgy kid. Not fat at all really, but my older sister told me from a young age that I was fat and that if I kept eating so much then nobody would ever love me. This is extreme I know, but I grew up with serious food issues, hardly eating sometimes and binging other times. As a result I'm now 22 and weigh 110kg (245lbs or so I think?) and have only just started to take control of my eating. I feel that if she had never said these things I would be much better off, as I was a really active kid and my weight probably would have evened out as I grew, but instead I developed body issues and didn't want to do any activities like swimming in front of people that showed 'how fat' I was. I guess all I'm saying is try to be sensitive and aware that the things you say to a child affect them more than it does adults.

Also, this is a bit random, but a great way to get veges in is to make spaghetti bolognaise with grated carrot and zucchini.. It's delicious!!
Grate 5 or so carrots and 3 zucchinis and cook this with onion/garlic/herbs whatever you would usually put in. Let it cook for awhile with a bit of olive oil so it goes soft. Then mix in tomato paste, then mince. Cook another 15mins or so until the mince is cooked. A general rule I use is to put in a bit more carrot and zucchini than there is mince - it all mushes together into a great bolognese sauce and you can't even taste the veges! My sister even put in grated mushroom the other day (which I despise) and I didn't even notice

All I was trying to say (in a roundabout, let's tell my life story kind of way) is that I think it's not quite healthy for a 10 year old child to be counting calories, dieting and going to the gym.

I'm not implying that his mother is doing wrong by trying to teach her child about food and healthy habits, not at all. I think its wonderful that she's trying to improve the health of herself and her son. I just think that there is a less invasive way of doing this, as other posts have pointed out (getting rid of junk food, encouraging more veges, encouraging sport, limiting tv time etc). The only reason I posted my opinion is that she is obviously looking for some advice and other people's points of view, or else she would not be posting on here.

Personally, if I was a 10 year old and all my peers were eating whatever they wanted and I was counting everything I ate I would develop a complex.

And some kids do grow out of their 'puppy fat', in fact many of my friends did just that as we grew up, especially the boys.

True. Apologies. :flowerforyou:
Though when someone says just after my post: "Quite frankly, *NO*" it does tend to make me a tad defensive!

I have not read what everyone else has written - but wanted to quickly respond to you.

First - call his pediatrician. Last year when I started MFP - my son (11 at the time) showed an interest in eating healthier too. I called his pediatrician to find out how many calories he should be eating. They told me #1 - they don't believe in kids dieting... they should grow into whatever extra weight they have (extremely obese kids being the exception) #2 - they could only give me a "range" - and the range was huge - 3400 - 4300 calories depending on his activity level (my son plays basketball, baseball, football and exercises for the fun of it) #3 - to focus less on calories and more on nutrition.

If you're buying only good stuff and have healthy and tasty options for him - he'll have no choice but to make good decisions. Focus on "the family" getting healthy - not losing weight. Ask him to take a walk with you, we have awesome conversations while walking together. Play Wii Fit with him - my son loves to beat me at the hula hoop.

The best thing you can do is be a good example.

When I was younger (about 10) my dad told me that I was getting a little heavy. My mom took me to Weight Watchers... there I sat with a bunch of HEAVY people - and that's who I related to. Was I fat? Nope... not at all - I was getting ready to go through a growth spurt more than likely. But for the rest of my life - I related more to a fat person than to thin people. Fat was my "normal".
Concentrate on "health" and "nutrition". Admit that you haven't always made the right decisions and you want to give him a leg-up on nutrition early.

Don't focus on weight because at that age it's a constantly changing thing that they don't have much control over!

I love what you're doing teaching him calories. I'm a very math oriented person so now that I know how many calories I burn in a day and how many calories are in one pound of fat (3,500 for those of you that haven't found it yet) it has become very easy to turn weight loss into a math problem and realize achievable goals.

I'd agree that looking into sports is definitely a good thing! I didn't play football as a kid (my mom was always afraid of me getting hurt so I played soccer and basketball) but I definitely wish that I had...they have pretty intense practices from a young age and it's definitely a great way to learn how to work out for the rest of your life. My roommate played football as a kid and still has a workout regimen that he developed through jr. high and high school that he utilizes (albeit a little more sparingly) to this day. So if you're not the type to worry about him playing a contact sport and he has some interest, definitely look into it!

Even if you are the type to worry about a contact sport - let him try it. My son is 12 and has played for 5 years... it's been the greatest experience in the world for him! He's learned so much self discipline, teamwork and truly knows what it means to push his body to its limits. I have to laugh though because I never thought I'd be on the sidelines yelling... "HIT SOMEBODY!"