To feel like a failure!

[upndown]

Basically my daughter - 6, is very overweight. She is in 10- 11 year clothes and carries the most weight on her tummy, but is visible overweight all over.

She was a very skinny toddler, but her weight crept up over the years from around the age of three. I honestly don't know how I've allowed it to get this way but I'm struggling to get her weight down. I eat a healthy diet in general. But I have a love for all things sweet too. I guess I've allowed my daughter to too.

She always seems to be hungry and over the past few weeks I have ensure that five days of the week she has no sweets/chocolate. at the weekends - I allow her some treats. She fills up in between meals on fruit.

Why haven't I seen a loss? I know these things are gradual, but she looks exactly the same size! I'm careful that she doesn't pick up on this, but she is already concious of her weight because she said 'I wan't a flat tummy like my friends at school" I am SO angry with myself for letting it get this bad. I know there are friends in her class that live on crap and fast foods. They are bean poles!

The types of food she eats are listed below. I never fry food or cook in grease and use healthy spread for toast.

Weetabix/rice crispies
granary toast
low fat cream cheese
lots of fruit
most veg
chicken
cod
fish fingers (yes I know!)
pasta with pesto
sausages
bolognaise
rice
mash
new potatoes
rice cakes/breadsticks
houmous
skimmed milk


mcdonalds is the only fast food she would eat and that is on average a handful of times a year.

chocolate was most days until the last 6 weeks.

is anyone in asimilar position. I want her healthy, but not feeling her weight truly reflects what she consumes??


btw, she is not very active, but I think that's mainly due to her size...
Thanks

[fuzzpig]

Quite often when we do something with mash, we use half potatoes and half sweet potato, it's really tasty and gives a wider range of nutrients.

[Ruprekt]

I would do the opposite to boysarebonkers!

Switch to full fat everything and lower the carbs and sugar. It is sugar that makes us fat Not fat itself.

Fill her up for breakfast with sausages and poached eggs.

Lots of water and some milk.

Lunch could be ham or chicken with lots of salad veggies.
Blueberries.

Dinner could be roast pork crackling and broccoli and creamed cabbage.

She will be so full she will not want to snack. I wonder if she eats out of boredom.

[lambinapram]

This book gives good advice:
<a class="break-all" href="//www.amazon.co.uk/Smart-Food-For-Kids-recipes/dp/0749953454/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">//www.amazon.co.uk/Smart-Food-For-Kids-recipes/dp/0749953454/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

I agree Ruprekt -fat and protien satifies, high carb and sugar creates cravings and hunger.

[MohammedLover]

Have you tried doing a few mins of running up and down the stairs or star jumps in each advert break for example. It can soon start adding up.

Is it just the two of you at home or have you got a partner who also needs to be on board with the changes? Amazing how many calories can be quickly put away behind ones back "if mum's not looking".

Please update this thread further down the line, I for one would be interested to know how it's going :)

Good luck at staying positive it's sometimes hard to remember what motivated this challenge when the results take so long to come along.

[theoriginalandbestrookie]

I'd like to say that I have read this thread with interest. DS is borderline overweight and loves his carbs and sweet stuff, however when he does exercise he throws himself into it and I think that's why so far it's just about in control.

As a result of this thread I have been making a consicous effort to make sure he gets more veggies - he loves raw carrots and frozen peas and does a bit more exercise.

It's tricky and the thing I hate more than anything else is being judged. One of the boys in DS's nursery class is heavily overweight. He struggles to run or move fast, but she has two other boys that have perfectly normal frames, therefore it's a bit too facile to assume it's all down to bad parenting food choices.

I wish DS would eat more slowly. It's something I have learned as part of Paul McKenna. It would be great if someone could devise a book/CD specifically for children that explained why it was important to eat healthily and ways to do that i.e. eating slowly, stopping when you are full, savouring what you eat, but not judgemental about being overweight. It's a really hard message to get across.