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Original poster

How to lower my child’s BMI?

260 replies

Poolofjoy · 21/09/2018 14:52

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?

OP posts:
Original poster
Poolofjoy · 21/09/2018 17:14

breyers Wink

OP posts:
JustDanceAddict · 21/09/2018 17:20

It’s a tough one. At that age they’re due for a growth spurt - usually between 12-13ish when they shoot up so I’d just carry on with what you’re doing and make sure she incorporates a lot of exercise too. She may be eating more at school/on way home - the crap we ate then was revolting!- but I was lucky as didn’t gain weight then. Try and use whole meal versions of pasta etc as more filling and lower GI, plenty of lean meat and fish, lower fat cheeses but no calorie dense food like nuts and def no processed carbs!

lastqueenofscotland · 21/09/2018 17:21

A walk every weekend and going on the trampoline at summer isn’t much.
What about junior parkrun or parkrun, she’ll get faster as she gets fitter which is great motivation

JustDanceAddict · 21/09/2018 17:26

Our secondary only had chips once a week

lastqueenofscotland · 21/09/2018 17:26

Also when you say healthy meals what is it you are actually serving up?

Original poster
Poolofjoy · 21/09/2018 17:32

She does swimming and climbing after school too.
Vegetable curry and rice
Shepherds pie loaded with veg
Veggie sausages with sweet potato mash and veg
Prawn risotto
Chicken stir fry are some recent meals off the top of my head. All made from scratch, no jars of sauces

OP posts:
Sethis · 21/09/2018 17:37

Aside from all the points made by other people, BMI isn't a fantastic indicator of health. It doesn't differentiate between muscle and fat in any significant way. I have a friend (male) who's 5 foot 4 and built like a brick sh!t house. He's a professional Thai Boxer, so if you google Tony Jaa you might have an idea what I mean.

BMI says he's worse than me, who gets cramps and stitches after running more than 500 meters.

If she's recently started doing sports after school then a percentage of her fat might simple be converting to muscle under the skin. Obviously not all of it, but it might be a contributing factor as to why her appearance hasn't changed as much as you'd expect.

Just a possibility, other suggestions about snacking etc have been good too.

Fiffyshadesofgreymatter · 21/09/2018 17:37

Just remember... measure your oil! It can destroy a healthy meal if you overdo it for frying stuff.

My local leisure centre has a thing called the ACE membership. It's £25 and they can go to as many of the club's held at the centre as they want and into the swimming. My kids do gymnastics, athletics, football, drama and basketball. And we pay extra for swimming lessons. Mine are only in primary so they don't have boatloads of homework and they love spending a couple hours after school at the centre.its really cheap for what you get. Is there anything like that at yours?

Fiffyshadesofgreymatter · 21/09/2018 17:39

@Sethis

Her weight wouldn't necessarily change, but her shape would. OP is her mother and surely can tell if she's toning up or remaining bigger due to extra fat.

wingingit4 · 21/09/2018 17:40

You’ve done incredibly well with a complete lifestyle overhaul - amazing. So few manage and a difficult age to try and make big changes for a child, well done.
Some good advice here about what next..

Original poster
Poolofjoy · 21/09/2018 17:46

I use frylight now Grin
Thank you for the kind comments, it’s not been easy!

OP posts:
makingmiracles · 21/09/2018 17:59

MAke sure her fluid intake is really good, it really does make a difference as something 80% of all hunger is actually thirst, our brains just can’t always tell the difference.

As for school dinners, that could be a hidden heap of calories, when mine had free school dinners a few years ago I found out ds was being allowed 2nds and 3rds!! And there was always bread rolls on the table, which the other kids didn’t much like so he’d end up with several portions plus 5/6 bread rolls!!! Kids often swap or give away stuff they don’t like...

LizB62A · 21/09/2018 18:00

As another poster said, you need to weigh and measure her each time - you should track her overall BMI not her weight

ForTheLoveOfDoughnuts · 21/09/2018 18:18

How much does she weigh? And how tall is she? I'd say If she's a healthy weight for an adult but being short is affecting her bmi, I wouldn't worry so much.
For example 11 stone and being under 5ft vs 11 stone and being 5ft5.

A friend of mine has a large 10 year old boy. Because he's still very short, he's rather large. Once he's had a growth spurt, it'll be more spread out. She changed things like you have and is trying to maintain his weight.

Original poster
Poolofjoy · 21/09/2018 18:20

When she was weighed last she was 8 stone 10 and just over 5 foot

OP posts:
Florries · 21/09/2018 18:33

Sorry, im in a rush and I've not RTTT so apologies if this has already been suggested but would you consider joining slimming world?

Membership for her would be free of course and you can eat as much as you like of free food (meat, fruit and veg) to satisfy her appetite. You could put it as her coming to support you and it's a fun thing you share together etc. She can still have her cookie and things at school and syn them.

hendricksy · 21/09/2018 18:34

I'm 5 foot tall and at 8.10 I had a lovely figure so I doubt she is actually fat .. try to keep the levels of food down and as she grows she will even out . Well done for realising the problem now . My parents over fed me all my childhood out of love and I manage my weight but my ds is is morbidly obese .

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 21/09/2018 18:36

Unless you and your DH are both short it’s seems likely that she will grow more. So there is a chance for her to grow into her weight. If you can continue the great work you are doing and hold her weight steady her BMI will automatically reduce.
DS1 and I took this approach when he was a similar age and a bit overweight. He is now about 5kg heavier but 25cm taller (now 15 and around 6 foot) so is a healthy weight (especially as the 5kg are linked to rugby training 5x per week).

AmIRightOrAMeringue · 21/09/2018 18:44

Just wanted to say congratulations, that's a massive change and if youre losing weight it's obviously working.

Either sounds like something medical or portion sizes.

For portion size reduction, could you switch to smaller plates? That's meant to help.

Also eating more slowly definitely helps / mindful eating. It takes 15 min for your stomach to register it is full so if you wolf it down you can still think you're hungry when you're not really

She will probably have a growth spurt soon and start levelling out

Also how does she get to school is there any way she could cycle if she gets the bus now for example

InTheNavy · 21/09/2018 18:48

My DS also 11 and 99th centile for BMI after Year 6 school weigh in. We were offered a place on a council run programme with NHS dietitian and a sports coach at our local leisure centre. One hour of ( strenuous) fun games for the kids followed by healthy food preparation / activities/ tasting. It was excellent. Is there anything like that available to you?
Aim/ focus was NOT weight loss- it was motivation and information for healthy family lifestyle and healthy eating. They do not advise weight loss in children- rather hope to reduce BMI by maintaining same weight as the children grow taller.
Programme looked at portion size, healthy snacks, breaking bad habits, making good choices, choosing healthier versions of good- eg looking for healthier cereals, healthier cereal bars, yoghurts etc

Lollyice · 21/09/2018 18:49

We had to reduce ds's BMI. More exercise was the key. Park Run on a Sunday morning, swimming with the family and a kick around in the park have all helped, not cost the earth and actually are fun so don't realise it's good for them.

CrabbyPatty · 21/09/2018 19:04

Just jumping back in.... and haven't read all posts. I think you need support from a healthcare professional now and not set your own targets to manage weight loss- how do you know what's appropriate. As I said our perceptions of what is healthy and how to approach weight loss can actually be very wrong. For example, Slimming World (whilst I'm sure this is a well meaning suggestion) is not evidence based and particularly not advisable for children. Also, its like therapy if you try lots of competing techniques at once they wont work. My other tip - exercise for at least half an hour once a day.

ZanyMobster · 21/09/2018 19:21

One thing that made a huge difference to my DS2 was sending him in packed lunches most of the week. He now has ham or chicken in a pot, a pitta bread, a yoghurt, piece of fruit and some cucumber. It fills him up way more than a school dinner and he never asks for snacks anymore straight from school. He has a limited variety of food so we struggle with school dinners anyway but he was have what they call a special at school so this was generally a baguette or something. Just not enough of the right stuff to fill him up.

Evening meal-wise again he is very limited but if he has for instance pasta I will do pasta and a tomato based sauce but do less pasta and add chicken for extra protein. I generally have a high protein diet and it really does fill you up better than anything else.

I will do him chicken dippers, a handful of oven chips then a load of veg. It's not ideal but I give him less than he was having.

He was on the 98th percentile, he is 10. Child BMI is an odd one as it takes into account their age, at the time he was the same height as my 12 yo DS so if I made him 12 on the calculator he was much lower down the scale. Even so, still overweight.

He has always done lots of exercise (football, cricket), in excess of 10 hours outside of school (plus 3 PE lessons in school). He has recently taken up boxing and that involves lots of proper fitness training, that seems to have made a massive difference. I weighed him after 4 weeks and he had lost 4lbs already, that was in the school hols too. I haven't weighed him again though as I can see he's losing weight, I don't want it to be an issue but he is fine with being weighed, he has to at CAMHS every few months anyway so it doesn't worry hi,

ZanyMobster · 21/09/2018 19:23

Oh snack wise we have any fruit or veg (raw sugar snaps, mini peppers etc). Also as a treat I'll buy ice lollies such as mini twisters or fruit pastel ones as there is nothing much to them.

ZanyMobster · 21/09/2018 19:26

Sorry keep thinking of things, we buy the Best of Both milk too as he does like milk before bed (he is autistic and it has always been his routine). He has strawberry sugar free crusha in it. We are just doing everything we can without it feeling like a diet.

I do feel like it has worked as a life style change as he no longer keeps on asking for food constantly. It was definitely a habit for him.