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?

Not read every post, but have you mentioned how much sport she is playing? If not much, I'd start looking for clubs with plenty of hours.

Swimming is good for this- the 11yos at our club would be swimming 3- 7hrs a week depending on commitment/ squad etc. You could take her to trampolining/ hockey/ tennis etc with the aim of getting 1hr+ exercise per day.

At trampoline at the moment! What are thoughts on alpro chocolate milk?

It's pretty high in calories compared to the coconut or almond milk. As a treat, like anything else I guess it's fine.

I bought it once for my protein shakes and it tasted amazing, I then checked the values and realised why it tasted so good!

She doesn't nèeda chocolate milk. No kid needs flavoured milk. You are simply going to have to learn to say no. Some things just need to be cut out, and chocolate milk of any kind is one. Or she will never get past her sweet tooth. You're trying to change her eating habits. She can have a treat; we all like a pudding now and then. But chocolate milk? Why is that even a thing.

Look at ways of creating healthy versions of things she enjoys.

e.g. my DC like KFC style fried chicken. However, I marinade chicken, coat in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, spray with oil and bake in the oven. They are happy with it as an alternative.

Chaz - we do similar, there is a great website called a pinch of nom and they do all sorts but one of my DCs favourites are pizzas made using a tortilla. Tomato puree, grated cheese and whatever toppings, I tend to put sweetcorn and peppers in it and chicken.

I also slice new potatoes, boil them then 'fry' them in frylight. Sometimes use cajun spice or something, another big hit.

First of all well done for taking the action you already have, it's obviously starting to work if you and your other half have lost so much!
One simple thing to do is use, or buy, smaller plates - or maybe ones with a big border which you leave uncovered by food!
Do you have a pudding every day? Maybe reduce that.
Have PLENTY of veg, steamed (add flavourings like lemon, herbs), stir fries, big tasty salads.
Cut up celery and carrot into sticks and keep in the fridge for snacks, with yoghurt or a hummous type dip made from whizzed up chickpeas, lemon juice and yoghurt.
And try to avoid any 'diet' products with artificial sweeteners - there is mounting evidence that they actually cause people to put weight on as the liver is tricked into thinking there is a surfeit of calories so it will get busy and store some of them for later as...fat!

Fifty, I know she doesn’t need it. I’d heard there was a low sugar alpro chocolate milk that could be stirred in to porridge oats for over night oats. If it was no worse than milk, I’d have tried it, that was all

We do have rather large plates which good can look a bit lost on. We could definitely purchase some smaller ones, great idea

Food can look a bit lost on

Even if it was no worse than milk, it's a bad idea. It's reinforcing to her tastes that sweet stuff is the thing to choose. If she's take normal milk then why add a chocolate flavour?

You need to shift your thinking about this. Make choices that remove the sweet, chocolate taste from meals which should not be sweet and chocolatey. Allow treats and pudding when it fits with the meal plan that day, but don't bombard her with sweet stuff. You need to change her tastes and you can't do that if you pander to the sweet tooth for breakfast.

Alpro chocolate milk per 100ml - 60cal, 2g fat, 7g sugar, 3g protein

Semi skimmed milk per 100ml - 47cal, 1.5g fat, 5g sugar, 3g protein

Sorry semi skimmed milk is also 2g of fat

Can you put her on packed lunch at school? Maybe tell her that you need to save some money for a special treat at Christmas?

u can make it with oats, water and as an example 'PhD diet whey ' double choc flavour which has 90 cals 1.4g fat 17g protein 2.8g carbs. so much more filling and longer lasting than making with milk,but tastes great and chocolatey.

I hear you fifty, I’m trying to make it all as painless as possible but my mindset needs to stop being so skewed by sweetness! I just asked her what she had for school dinners today (can’t see it online) the answer was ‘ermmm chips, sausage and a cookie’ I said do they not have healthier things to choose from. Her response was ‘Hahaha. Seriously? Mum. Everyone eats that stuff’

One of my DD’s has always had a bigger appetite and a sweeter tooth than my other kids. A few years ago her height was around the 50th centile and weight was nearly the 75th which was enough to nudge her into the overweight range on BMI. Compared to many of the kids around her she didn’t stand out as being overweight but she did have extra around her tummy. She’s 10 now.

She is also a good swimmer - swims for a squad and is in the school team - and since she’s been swimming 9km a week the excess has gone. She’s not skinny but she looks strong and her BMI is back around the 60th centile. The best thing is that with all the training (and there’ll be more as we head into Summer in Australia) it’s normalised her appetite and she is hungry for proper food, not zillions of snacky stuff. She still likes ice cream and the like but a small ice cream doesn’t undo the effects of a hard training session. Lots of children here swim in a squad without being competitive about it - is that an option where you live?

Also, as she’s become more hungry for “proper” food she’s become less focused on sweet stuff.

There is a lot of room to up the exercise- i think recommendations are at least 1 hour a day. that's the bare minimum. These skinny kids you see - they likely do 3-4 hours per day. more walking and biking during the week, more of everything in the weekend. sum up how much she actually does.

I'd get small dinner plates as soon as possible. We changed ours and it made a massive difference psychologically and we slimmed down.

Don’t forget drinks! It is amazing how many calories you can chug down in fruit juice, sugary or milky drinks.

Main meal should be 1/2 veg, 1/4 protein, 1/4 carb.

Keep going !!

wster for drinking
Watch sugar the bitter truth if you want it explained why you shouldn’t be drinking juice & pop - it’s an hour and half so I watched in 3 half hour sections

Buy portion plates www.matalan.co.uk/product/detail/s2670665_c000/healthy-eating-portion-plate-27cm-white most people eat to much dinner
80%diet and 20% exercise for weight reduction

I used to take dd2 training and although dd2 was slim she trained with some other that were high BMI and they were training a lot - but they were eating to much, fizzy pop and cakes after training etc

If she’s five foot and eight stone is that actually overweight? As she’s started puberty, can you not use adult BMI?

I think I’m right that girls don’t grow significantly once menstruatation has started.

Her school dinner plus meal at home means she’s having two big meals a day. Can you slowly change your evening meal into a ‘tea’ where you eat something smaller? Boiled egg, tuna salad, soup etc? The sort of thing she should be having at lunch?

Well done on making those changes.
For your dd, It will be all about the amount of carbs she’s eating.
She’s having a v carby breakfast and probably loads for school lunch.
Dinner and exercise sounds fine.
She would probably lose a lot if you cut right back on cereals and bread.
Try things like fresh fruit or a bit of tinned fruit and Greek yoghurt for breakfast or an omelette with veg or sausage, egg and beans.
Talk about the healthy options they have at school and if there’s something else that would suit her better. Give her some fruit to take in for morning break or to top up a lighter lunch.