How to lower my child’s BMI?

[Poolofjoy]

She is currently on the 99th percentile. About 4 months ago, we cut out takeaways. We had a dominoes every week, sometimes a curry too. Sometimes a McDonald’s as well. Food was pretty processed and crap. Now I cook homemade, healthy meals. No takeaways. I also enrolled her on two after school activities which are great exercise. This is the new lifestyle now, that we are fully sticking to. But, her weight does not look like it’s gone down at all.. will it gradually? I weighed/measured her in July ( under the guise of testing the machine at the leisure centre before I had a go, as I don’t want to make her self conscious ) should I weigh her again to check? I just don’t want her to worry that I’m weighing her again. Should I make more changes?

I was going to say about seeing what she buys at school.

I left school over 10 years ago but even then with the primitive “smart cards” parents could block certain things from being bought - designed for true allergies mainly.

Ah, seconds! Stop that, cook what you need. Any leftovers go in the freezer. If she’s still hungry, she can have a banana or apple.

Is she at Secondary School yet? They lose loads of weight walking to and from School or even to and from the bus stop, at least it keeps my kids trim.

Too much of anything is bad. You can make a super healthy, green meal and then have 5 portions... and you'd be getting chubby. Give her the correct portion size. Count the calories secretly if you want and don't let her go over.
It will be harder since she's so used to having large fatty, carby meals like your takeaways so you're going to have a job on your hands to help her understand controlling herself and not over eating. Remember, your stomach needs time to tell your brain it is full. So just say no and tell her to come back in an hour if she's still really hungry. Then give her some cheese or veg or fruit to snack on.

I'd give it at least 6 months to a year . Your doing the right things stick to it . Don't weigh her if you can help it I would just use your instincts and watch how clothes fit. Well don't for doing he right changes it's so hard xx

@Poolofjoy at 11 my DD was quite overweight ( a long story related to secret eating due to unhappiness). I saw a dietician who advised that as were eating a healthy diet I should allow her to grow into her weight.

3 years later she has grown taller I had to buy smaller school skirts she developed an interest in dance. I just continue to offer a healthy variety of food at home.
I have taught her to cook cheap, healthy meals so that when she goes out into the world she will have the skills to maintain a healthy weight. In fact the other day we watched eat well for less and she joked 'oh mummy you don't need this program you do all that stuff anyway'.

re seconds, I'd make sure you never make extra of carbs or fatty meats/sauces, but always have plenty of veg on offer so if she says she's hungry, more of that. Some foods should just be 'free' and readily accessible in a desirable format - e.g. obviously bread sticks, but also things like cold sliced turkey, sugar free jellies - things that she can enjoy until she's full with minimal calorie/fat damage done.

A school dinner is not going to stop her weight loss. The portion sizes are not big enough!

I work in a secondary school and you would be amazed at some of the crap, and the quantities of it, that I see kids buying from the canteen. One parent told me she hit the roof recently when she found out her DC was buying a slice of Pizza and a sausage roll every break time, then burger and chips type hot dinner plus a cake for after every lunchtime. He was being bullied for his weight so she'd put the whole family on a healthy diet and got them doing exercise. She couldn't understand why he was the only one not losing weight.

Well done you on tackling this.
Sounds like you are doing an awesome job.

Just a few suggestions-
Re her wanting seconds, can you plate it up in the kitchen and put any leftovers straight in a tub for the freezer?
Eith cook a bit more so there is enough for another full meal, or try to make it so there isn't any left overs.

If she is still hungry she could have some fruit or a miller light yoghurt maybe?
She might not really be hungry, but has seen the yummy leftovers.

Can you aim for 1/3 of the plate being veg too? And make sure you are serving up extra veg (broccoli, carrots etc) if you are doing a shepherds pie or salad with a Bolognese?

Also, if your plates and bowls are pretty big (most are now) can you treat yourself to a new set of smaller ones and take yours to a charity shop?

They do put in weight with puberty x

start weighing your own food out and measuring serving sizes, saying you're doing it for you to be healthy and just do same for her.? then no seconds as you could easily undo the calorie defecit she would need throughout the day in order to lose any weight. just bump up more veggies if she's still hungry.

you don't get many grams of cereal for a portion size which is tiny and the sugar spike makes people feel more hungry afterwards. the one slice of bread and half a tin of low sugar beans or 2 eggs might help, or oats - 25g overnight oats made with a scoop of choc protein powder in the fridge tastes like a naughty chocolate breakfast if she fancies something sweet on a morning Instead.

She says she’s fat, which I say ‘you’re not, but we can all work on being healthier as a family’. She knows, shes not daft. But she doesn’t actually look fat, she looks stocky. But yeah, either way, she’s overweight!

It depends what it is she's having seconds of. Big piles of vegetables, yes. Seconds of pasta or something carby, no.

If she's having adult sized portions at 11 then that won't be helping. I wouldn't give the option of 'seconds' to be honest. Any leftovers just automatically go in the freezer.

@MinisterforCheekyFuckery

Sorry! My kids are still in primary and they don't even have stuff like that on the menu. It's all carefully planned meals with unlimited salad. I assumed high schools had cut out junk food too! I guess that's something I will learn in a few years!

In which case, I wouldn't shy away from weighing/measuring - it might encourage her to see progress too! But do all of you, not just her. Make sure she sees this is something you are all learning and improving, not just her, and that it isn't her 'fault' - it's a place you all got to together and are all going to get out of together.

And rather than just focusing on weight/BMI, maybe see about checking how strong you all are, and stamina - how long can we hold up a 2 lb weight with straight arms, how far can we run before we get puffed out, how many lengths of the pool can we do in 30 mins, and aim to improve it.

I assumed high schools had cut out junk food too!

I wish they would. It's not just about weight, diet really affects their behaviour as well.

If she's eating junk at school and a packed lunch is out of the question then I'd cut out all other junk food at home. Watch her carb/sugar intake. If she's eating similar portions to you her portions are definitely too big. Halving her portions suddenly will leave her feeling hungry so reduce them gradually. I wouldn't weigh her, there's no need and it will just make her feel self conscious.

Most cereals have 30g as a normal portion size. Cereal bowls these days are huge, so it makes a normal portion look tiny. We weigh our cereal and when we went to stay with my in-laws over the summer, we were truly shocked to see their portion sizes for breakfast. They ate a heaped cereal bowl, easily 100g, for breakfast, with added fruit and almonds. This was followed with toast from baguette and yoghurt.

How does she feel in herself weight aside? Does she have energy? Does she sleep well? How's her digestion? If all these are good I'd keep on with doing what you are doing for a few more months. If not I'd take a trip to the GP to see if anything else is going on.

Just had a look at the cornflakes, rice krispies and porridge we have at home, recommended portion is 30g for the 2 cereals and 40g for the oats. I think thats adult portions. So she is eating adult size breakfasts.

No to seconds regardless. If she is still hungry advise a piece of fruit/veg/slices of ham/boiled egg etc

Also encourage her to drink more water. Aim for a glass every morning before breakfast then ideally a glass before a meal. Offer the same again of she says she is hungry. Many people find they are actually dehydrated. But it does also help to fill you up & has definitely helped me lose weight whilst still eating 3 meals a day plus healthy snacks within my calorie allowance.

I follow an app called My fitness pal. Very easy & simple to use.

All of your posts are really helpful, thank you. So I’ll stop with the seconds unless it’s veg and make sure when she has cereal it’s 30g instead of 40g. She usually goes for toast though. I’ll check on the school payments app if I can see what she’s having at lunch. She wouldn’t be able to snack secretly as she doesn’t carry cash at school it’s all paid for online

What about the sugar she’s eating?

We thought we had a good diet until last December, DD needed two fillings. So what we did was cut right down on her sugar.

DDs average breakfast is now usually porridge and cinnamon with a piece of fruit. Apple/banana.

Lunch at school- but she misses dessert unless it’s something she really wants or there’s fruit on offer.

Snack is carrot batons and cream cheese or cucumber batons and hummus sort of thing after school.

Dinner is a pasta/chilli/ curry/ I make an effort to try and ensure that 30% of the meal is vegetable, the meat is lean and carbs are limited to less than they used to be.

DD has a sweet treat at home about once per week.

Drinks are water and one can of Pepsi max per day

Dessert is generally a couple of spoons of natural yoghurt and strawberries and raspberries.

DD does 2+ activities a week.

I didn’t see it to start with but she was losing weight. She’s over 2stone down from when she had her tonsils out a year ago- she had an appalling diet but she had a lot of soothing crap food when she was unwell with tonsillitis every other week!

It’s made a huge difference, well done for making these changes, her health will really benefit xx