No sugar - My son is 12 and 234 pounds!

Man, I don't have any advice... but my heart totally goes out to a kid who's 234lbs! I remember being 180lbs as a 12 year old and then 200lbs as a 16 year old. Definitely do what you can, now! I'm sure that I would have been really mad at my mom for trying to make me eat healthy.... but when I grew up as an adult it would be something that I would really appreciate.

Be consistent as you can! And tough it out despite what his dad does.

s2konstantine wrote: »

Paleo/primal! Cut out processed crap. Meat and veggies! Means not only no sugar but no 'boxed' food, i.e. dehydrated food which offers little fiber or satiety. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-shopping-list/#axzz3J0th9aYE

Yes! Hey there single mother, make everything from scratch following arbitrary guidelines with no basis in anthropology or biology!

Codilee87 wrote: »

MrM27 wrote: »

Well I guess the OP wasn't really prepared to responses in this thread or it isn't a serious thread to begin with because she never came back.

Its only been 24hrs. Its possible that she is at work or otherwise engaged and unable to respond. I wouldn't jump to harsh conclusions just yet..

Agreed.

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »

herrspoons wrote: »

s2konstantine wrote: »

Paleo/primal! Cut out processed crap. Meat and veggies! Means not only no sugar but no 'boxed' food, i.e. dehydrated food which offers little fiber or satiety. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-shopping-list/#axzz3J0th9aYE

What a fantastically bad idea.

Agreed. Forcing a 12-year-old, who is just beginning to get into the angsty, rebellious, teenage years, on the most restrictive fad diet out there, is not going to go over well.

Very true. You want to keep it as simple as possible

Well, this is just sad.

OP, if you ever come back, did your doctor say to cut out sugar or did your doctor say to get the child on a diet of high-nutrient foods that fill him up and reduce his excess calories?

If you ever come back and would like to learn more about how to help your son achieve long-term success, you might want to find out the answer to these questions:

• what his caloric intake currently is
• what his caloric intake should be (TDEE)
• how many grams of carbs, protein, and fat he should be eating
• how to achieve a diet high in nutrient rich foods that also allows for snacks and desserts

There are a lot of people here who can help you answer these questions and find a good food plan for your son.

And if you yourself are overweight, OP, you can do it together.

Best of luck to you.

herrspoons wrote: »

I have to ask... Is this for real?

A pre prepubescent kid who weighs 234?

I hit 200lbs around 11 or 12.

Of course, I'm 6'4 now, and was over six feet then, but yeah, I was a fattie back then.

To the op... Based on my own experience as a fat kid, nothing is really going to change until he decides to change. My parents tried the following...

Shame (I still cringe when I remember being told that if I didn't lose weight, they'd have to buy me a bra.)

Forcing me to exercise.

Paying me to exercise.

Enforced dieting.

None of it worked. In my case, I had a terrible shyness, particularly where girls were concerned, and was a bookish kid that had no athletic ability or interest at all.

The only way it will change is if he decides to do it.

Two suggestions...

First, try to find an athletic activity he likes. If he discovered slice of something, that might motivate him to change to be better at it.

Secondly, it would be great if he had a "workout buddy" maybe an older brother or cousin or something that could show him the ropes, explain to him that girls are great, but they don't like the fat kid, etc. Someone who he thinks is cool, not a parent.

And lastly... In my case, and, I suspect, most obese children, there is a root self esteem issue at play. In my case, in some areas, such as intelligence, I was quite arrogant. In others, such as athletics, and girls, I was quite the opposite.

Probably something a therapist needs to tackle.

Hope you can get it resolved. As a 35 year old man, I feel like I squandered a great deal of my youth by refusing to believe that it could be better. I finally woke up to some degree in my 20s. I never had a girlfriend until I was 19. I always hated situations, like the beach, or pool parties, that required my shirt to be removed. I missed out on high school athletics, because I was too chicken.

In short, it is one of the worst types of situations you can face as a parent... Something vitally important to your child's future happiness, but that you have almost no control over. Talk to a paediatric nutritionist. Talk to a therapist. If dad won't play ball, talk to a lawyer. But bottom line, change has to come from him.

Best of luck.

Unless he's showing signs of diabetes, he has no reason to go as strict as no sugar or no carbs. Most doctors are woefully oblivious about nutrition and really have no clue what they're talking about. That's why dieticians are required to go to school for 4 years and learn all about nutrition and are able to get that title.

The father is definitely an enabler, but it sounds like he's definitely overeating at home, or at school - it really doesn't matter. He uses food as some kind of outlet, because to get to that weight at that age means it's become a comfort for him. Especially at that age, cutting out ANYTHING(unless medically necessary) is a huge no-no, and believe me when I say it will only, definitely, 100% cause food issues and disordered eating in the future. You cannot control what he eats at school, for instance, so he needs to learn how to eat balanced on his own and understand why.

I'd really suggest finding a registered dietician who preferably has some kind of specialty with children. He needs to learn how to start seeing food normally. The fact that dad gives him burgers and fries definitely sounds to me like he's associating food with comfort - ie I see dad and we share food, yay! Clearly this is a health risk at his age at this point. Consult a dietician. The root of why he's turning to food as some kind of coping mechanism might also need to be addressed, as well.