Anyone have their kids use MFP? (not for weightloss)

Some kids are just not sporty. I am not a sporty person by any means.

P.E at school was a nightmare and was my least favourite class which was frustrating - growing up in Australia, most kids love sport. The only active thing I enjoyed was rowing and even that eventually died when getting to practice at 5am was too difficult.

It was only as an adult I learnt that while playing cricket/footy/tennis etc. was a nightmare, weightlifting was amazing. It's all the benefits of playing sport, without actually playing sport AND without a lot of the contact-injuries associated with other sports.

Beaner63 wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions on other ways and other places.

We do go on family walks, usually 5 out 7 nights a week.

As I said, this thought wasn't about weightloss, more about accountability. Having access to the MFP database and being able to scan barcodes on her own phone would be helpful.

As one of the moderators pointed out this is against the TOS, please go ahead and lock this thread.

Don't lock the thread! It's a great discussion on how to help our kids!!

Or stop stocking the house with junk?

I did suggest that my 14 year old set up an account to track his calories. He tried sparkteens but said it didn't have anything in the database. He is underweight (he always has been) & he recently started running several times a week & lifting weights & I wanted to make sure that he was eating enough & wouldn't lose any weight. He aims for 3000 calories a day. I don't think he actually has set up an account though. He's just been trying to eat more.

I don't know what you should do. I was underweight growing up & I haven't had this issue with my kids. I wonder if it would be helpful to speak with an eating disorder therapist about what is the best way to approach a child with a weight problem. You want to help, but you don't want to propel them into disordered eating.

I would say fill the cupboards and fridge with healthy snacks and foods. It's hard as a child to be expected to eat well when your options include junk food. Just a suggestion. Good luck.

Have you thought about making more behavioral changes for your whole family as well since you think she's eating mindlessly? Only eat at the kitchen/dining room table - no food in the family room, bedrooms, car, etc. And no screens while you're eating. Don't bring serving dishes to the table as you're more likely to take seconds, just appropriately portioned plates. If you are having a higher calorie snack like chips or nuts, pre-portion so you don't overeat.

I second the suggestion of joining the Y. My 12-year-old son is one of the least athletic kids I know, even less athletic than I was at that age. If he could he would just sit and play video games all day and eat chips and candy and drink soda. We went to the Y one day to do our swim tests for summer camp and he asked if we could get a membership, so I signed the whole family up. He does love swimming (really more playing in the water than swimming) and he likes being able to run around the indoor track and pass me. My husband is disabled and can't do much exercise but he will take my son to the Y and they will play pool together while I workout.

Also, since I've been using MFP my whole family has just been eating better. I haven't purposely made my son eat less calories, I'm just fixing dinners that have less calories per serving. I've noticed in the last few months that he is starting to thin out and isn't as chubby. He was never overweight but eating healthier combined with moving more is just naturally making him thinner.

Beaner63 wrote: »

tincanonastring wrote: »

I know it's not for everyone, but as a parent, I'm going to try to help my kids find a sport they like and will stick with.

And we have tried. Been through 4 sports so far and she has taken a liking to them. And none of the other suggestions either.

However, set her down with an easal and some paints and she can be there for hours. Art really is her thing, so we got her into an art class for social skills as well as personal skill.

My 11 year old is the same-we've tried tball, soccer and basketball, all epic failures But put the kid in front of her piano or violin and she can play for hours, crazy kid lol. We realized my daughter is just not competitive at all, so we decided to try a sport where she wasn't really competing with others-ice speed skating. She loves it, and at this stage she just tries to better get own times. My other two kids are much more competitive and they do the races/meets, but my 11 year old just likes to get out there and have fun, which the sport allows for We also go roller skating a couple times a month, at a rink, and that's a fun, non-competitive way to get in some exercise!

Beaner63 wrote: »

My 11 year old daughter is in the higher side of healthy weight range for her age. However, she has the same love of food that her mother and I do.

She's not very active, more into art and music (she's not coordinated at all when it comes to sports).

I was thinking of setting up MFP for her to use as a calorie journal for a month to try and get her to see how many calories she is taking in and to start to understand food choices come with consquences.

I want her to figure out, without me just saying it, that it's fine to eat things like cheeze-it's, but when you eat a box (which she has on saturday afternoon while reading) it's more calories than if she had a big hamburger from a fast food place.

No. Do not do this. The best way to help her figure this out without saying it is to model it. She's 11. Don't let her eat a box of Cheese-its on Saturday while reading. Let her take a serving and eat that. And if she is more interested in music than in athletics then that is ok. Take some family walks. I'm losing weight just fine and the only exercises I do are walking and yoga. I have started to jog a little during my walks, but I had to do that on my own. I have also started asking my husband about lifting weights but again I had to get there on my own.

This scares me because I know so many people with eating disorders who had parents who were always saying things to make them feel like they were fat and worrying about their calories etc at a young age. My sister in law wouldn't let her daughter shop at Forever 21 because she was too big to shop there when she was 12. She was not too big to shop there almost every clothing gift I gave her came from there. They used to bribe her with things like if she lost X pounds then she could buy this or that. They wouldn't let her take violin when she was in middle school, they made her run cross country because they thought she needed the exercise. She was always a little pudgy, but she was never fat but her parents sure made sure that she knew that her weight was unacceptable.

I would suggest just making good food choices and portion sizes available. If she comes in to get the box of cheeze-its just tell her she can't have the whole box and put some on a plate. If you model it at home she will make better choices when she is out with friends. But if you get her all obsessed about counting her calories then she may think that you are ashamed of her.

You've gotten some good ideas here about increasing activities and such, but I think one thing you mentioned can be addressed without too much of a problem or conflict and that's the mindless eating where you mentioned her eating and reading. So, maybe to help everyone in the family, don't allow snacking to be done with an activity (reading, watching tv, etc.) and only be done at the table or in the kitchen so that it's no longer mindless eating.

good luck!

I think that parental behavior is important AND kids (just like adults) are different. I used to be fairly smug about how we handled eating with young children (you have to try everything once each time it is served -but don't have to have more if you don't want more). Worked like a charm with my oldest -didn't work so well with my youngest

(I joke that it was Karma paying me back for my parental smugness! )

One of my kids tends to eat for what her body needs. The other one eats for what a larger body needs. I had all sorts of issues with my Dad making snarky comments when I was younger and I don't want to do this. And it’s very tricky supporting kids through this. We live in a more obseogenic (special? ) than when we were growing up...

No answers, but lots of questions!

If she likes artistic things, you might see what is available in the way of non-competitive dance classes! I was never big on competitive ball-related sports when I was younger, and as an adult I've found that dance classes (ballet and bellydance in my case) are the only organized physical activity besides running that I actually like and stick to. There are tons of options; ballet is kind of a hard one to get into at her age (the adult just for fun classes aren't usually available yet), but there's tap, modern, hip-hop, bellydance (I'd recommend American Tribal Style for her age), etc. Dance is both a good workout and a form of artistic expression, so she might be more into it.

And is it possible that she might be eating so much because she's gearing up for a growth spurt and genuinely hungry? Either way, pleaaaaaase don't give her crap about her weight. My dad made *comments* even when I was a wee itty bitty teenager, and they definitely contributed to the festively screwed up relationship that I have with food now, which of course has contributed to me becoming a bit fat and needing to be here. So, super counterproductive there.

I would not suggest this. I'd try to encourage more activity. I was an "over weight" child with a "helpful" parent and it did me no favors. I have a bad relationship with food. I do use MFP on a separate account to track my own child's macros though. I would never show her these (she's not old enough to understand them even if I did) or judge her for them, but she has her own set of health issues and it's helpful for her nutritionist, PCP, and therapists to see what she's been eating and adjust accordingly.