I made my kid overweight

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  • erica79
    erica79 Posts: 242 Member
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    [/quote]

    Agreed with the previous poster-- my kids have all totally chunked out at different times....starting around age 8, and then, yes, as growth spurts hit, up they shoot. I have a nine year old girl who has always been chunkier than the other kids, and is now about a head and and a half taller than them.

    God makes us all differently. Personally, the last thing I'd worry about is getting him into football. I knew a parent who weekly would put his son in a sweatsuit and make him run laps around the football field, at age 8, to get him to weight before game time. He would also restrict food.

    The rest of us parents were aghast.

    Your son is healthy, no? You're a good mom. You feed him well. Don't bash yourself. Weight limits for football are only necessary for "injury" purposes. They're certainly not indicative of your parenting skills, so cut yourself some slack.

    Sounds like you have a healthy kid, eating good food. To put him on a diet or restrict his intake would seem folly, in my opinion-- as long as he's not sitting on his behind all day playing X-box and/or eating crap food, I wouldn't sweat it.
    [/quote]

    thank you. I needed to hear that. Im not really worried about football except for that he really loves it and wants ot play and I can't imagine him moving up to the next division yet. He's get crushed. lol
  • stormieweather
    stormieweather Posts: 2,550 Member
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    My son did that. He got chunky for a while and literally had rolls around his waist. He got lazy and didn't want to get out and do much because of it. But then, he shot up to 6"4 and thinned right out. Now, he's 22 and very active and underweight! I'm doing my best to put weight on him because he's much too thin.

    So don't worry too much. Feed him healthily, have him checked by doc, and keep him as active as you can. I think you'll both be fine!
  • nlhawthorne
    nlhawthorne Posts: 34
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    When I was younger I was put on a million and one diets and "healthy eating plans" by my well-meaning parents but at the end of the day their interest or mine faded and it was back to old ways. My brother however is 13 years younger than me and was following the same pattern with his weight that I did, so we looked for some advice on something that would help him without trapping him in a lifetime of yoyo dieting like me. The best advice we got was that, with kids, unless they're very obese, you generally shouldn't be trying to make them lose lots of weight, but rather concentrate on educating them about food and help them maintain their current weight - kids grow pretty quickly and eventually they will "grow into" their weight. It might not solve your problem about getting him on the team in the short-term but I know I would have preferred that my parents did it slowly but surely with me rather than confusing me with mixed messages and overly-restrictive diets that made us all miserable. My brother is now a healthy teenager who is an appropriate weight for his height whilst 13 years on I'm still struggling with my weight.
  • godblessourhome
    godblessourhome Posts: 3,892 Member
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    portion control is a must!!! have him read labels and learn what one portion is/looks like. my kiddos love apples and peanut butter and it is easy to let them have however much they want and think they are 'eating healthy'. but a large apple is actually 2 servings of fruit and a correct portion (2 tablespoons) of peanut butter does not seem like much. have him measure it out.

    my oldest son complains of being hungry all the time, but i know he does this because he is thirsty or bored, not actually hungry. i have him drink a glass of water first and wait 15 minutes before i give him a snack of 10 baby carrots. if he comes back after the carrots and says he is still hungry, i know it is real hunger. if not, i know it was thirst or boredom. many times, he won't even finish the carrots.

    find something healthy that he doesn't really love, could be green beans or grapes or cauliflower. when he says he is hungry, give him the option of eating a bowl of that. if he takes it, he is truly hunger. if he doesn't, he is not. don't give him the option of anything else.

    cut out all 'liquid calories' other than water and 2 servings of milk. they are not necessary. no juice! and make sure you are only giving him 1 serving at a time - measure it out!
  • mikeyml
    mikeyml Posts: 568 Member
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    I agree to see what the doctor says. He is burning a lot of calories from sports. With him still being young, playing sports and going through growth spurts, you don't want to deprive him of the food he needs. But you don't want to encourage overeating too. The snack before football practice probably isn't the culprit here, it's probably all about portion sizes.
  • amehrkens
    amehrkens Posts: 162 Member
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    I have the exact same problem except it is with my daughter. She is 7 and weighs 107lbs, unlike your son she actually started out at 9lbs 9oz and hasn't slowed down a bit. She is also very tall so she carries her weight well (much like me). I am 6 foot tall and my husband is 6'2 we are big people. About 6 weeks ago at dance class we had observation night where the parents could watch the girls dance during their class and for some odd reason it just struck me how much bigger she is than the other girls her age. I vowed that night to make her healthier. I got a ton of flack on another forum I frequent about being a bad parent and what not. I do think her biggest problems is portion control and she eats out of bordem. We live in MN so winters are always rough...its hard to get the kids out and moving. The first thing I did was take her grocery shopping with me and let her pick out healthy things that she likes so when she thinks she needs a snack the only option is a healthy snack. The next thing we did is really honed in on her portions. She only gets one serving and doesn't get seconds. Occaionally she will ask for seconds and I will ask her if she is still really hungry or just wants it, 90% of them time she ends up not wanting the seconds. I also started packing her lunch at school so I knew exactly what she was eating. Over all this has all worked really well for us. She has lost about 3 lbs, but our focus was not to lose but to maintian. Over the summer I would like her to lose a few pounds but I am not going to tell her that. We are simply going to move more and focus on keeping her active. Good luck with your journey with your son....it is very hard they don't understand. My daughter wants to be bigger than her 9 year old brother....she doesn't understand that being bigger than him isn't a good thing.
  • Renonvme
    Renonvme Posts: 58 Member
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    A couple of things:

    First of all, I teach 2nd grade and I have noticed that children do tend to get kind of chunky at this age. I think they go through a lot of growth spurts and need the extra fat. :wink:

    Secondly, if he's working out hard at his sports, that brings his metabolism up and then when he is off season, it's going to drop. Is there a way you can counteract this by doing other sports off season? My 9 year daughter swims on the swim team year round, but I notice when we don't go to practice as much, that little belly starts popping out!

    What kind of yogurt are you buying? Most yogurts have a high sugar content; especially those marketed for children. It's horrible how companies sneak that sugar in food! :grumble:

    Is he drinking a lot of fruit juice? Juice has a really high sugar content as well; almost as much as soda! It's much better to eat the fruit and drink water (just remember that fruit has sugar, too). Or, maybe try diluting the juice? I usually pour half juice and half water for my kids.

    Do you buy whole grain bread? That might help keep him full longer, if he's getting hungry often. Also, things like cheese sticks and maybe keeping carrot sticks or sliced sweet bell peppers with a little bit of light ranch around for easy snacks. My son LOVES to eat clementine oranges. They are small and really easy to peel.

    I don't know if any of this helps you. I'm sure your doctor will have some great advice.

    Good luck! :smile:
  • cfischer81
    cfischer81 Posts: 111 Member
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    I think many people have made some good points here. Maybe it was already mentioned but I don't think you son needs to actually LOSE that weight. The extra 15 lbs may make you feel rotten and, as parents, we all feel rotten about SOMETHING we've "done" to our children! :smile: It's ok, you haven't failed him or been a bad mother. Just make sure he's maintaining his current weight and not gaining more and within a year he'll grow right into that 15lbs!! They grow like CRAZY, don't they? If he hasn't gotten much taller in the last year or so then he'll probably sprout up a few inches any day now!
    Keep up the great work. It sounds like you are doing a lot better than many parents are. Don't beat yourself up so much!
  • nkwsweetie
    nkwsweetie Posts: 1 Member
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    i wouldn't worry to much about it, as long as you are now eating healthy. I honestly think it's his age, my husband was a tad on the chubby side around that age then he must have hit a growth spurt, because the weight just came off.....both him and his brother did the same thing..... :)
  • BflSaberfan
    BflSaberfan Posts: 1,272
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    One thing I've noticed with kids right before puberty is that their bodies hold on to fat, and then puberty hits, they grow a few inches and boom, they're walking around on chicken legs again.

    Keep his diet healthy like you have been, I wouldn't necessarily try to get him to lose weight at 8 years old though.
  • ivyjbres
    ivyjbres Posts: 612 Member
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    Football has weight classes now?

    But still, weight classes don't indicate that your son's overweight, just that he's big enough that someone thinks there's the potential that he could hurt a smaller kid by accident. But that's football, that's kind of a built in risk. Remember that by volume, muscle weighs more than fat, so if you son's active, he's going to have more muscle. Unless you look at him and go, "wow, that kid's fat," chances are he's not overweight.

    BTW, I found a BMI scale for children, according to it, my son's not just overweight, but obese. No way in Hades! He's 4 and can still fit pants for a 24month old around his waist, they just aren't long enough.

    Don't let yourself get stressed by labels you only get from one activity. If his pediatrician hasn't said anything, he's not overweight.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I know not everyone is a fan of Jillian MIchaels but one thing I remember from her short-lived show on NBC (Losing It with Jillian) was that if the children were overweight, the only concern was making sure they were eating healthy and being active on a regular basis. The number on the scale wasn't as important. I think that's great advice, especially for a kid that age who's likely to go through a huge growth spurt soon.

    Also, be careful with restrictions - he could react like I did and sneak food and you don't want to start that awful habit. Keep teaching proper nutrition and watch those portion sizes and he'lll be fine.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    I'd like to add, that his low birth weight and being premature, predisposes him for "metabolic syndrome" later in life. I say this from experience, but also from scientific evidence: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart disease (metabolic syndrome) are more common in adults who were low weight at birth. So I'd say to take a long term view and now distill eating habits in him that will improve his health later in life. I would say that watching glycemic load of his meals is one thing, and I second the recommendations about portion control.

    http://www.diabetesvoice.org/files/attachments/article_416_en.pdf

    this is not something you "caused" or had control over coming into existence: it is caused by his growth having to catch up to his low birth weight. But you can set him up for good health in his adult years!
  • erica79
    erica79 Posts: 242 Member
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    thank you all for the information and the suggestions and advice. I'm going to look into the diabetes someone posted and look at what he should be eating for calories, plus watch his portions. Again I really appreciate everyone's comments. It's nice to have somewhere to express my concerns before I see the doctor. :smile:
  • naku
    naku Posts: 109 Member
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    you are a good mum :)

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