Kids loosing weight in lockdown - no school lunches

[Assgone]

With all the lockdowns and other exercise related commitments people have had to stop (swimming lessons etc) I am surprised to see that my DD is looking a little trimmer round the waist line (if only I could say the same for me!). She isn’t being underfed or anything like that but it does make me wonder if when at school with the free school meals she was over eating? She was a big baby and a chunky toddler as she wasn’t quite as active due to underlying health conditions and so is probably slightly clinically overweight compared to her peers. She has always been a really good eater and at home we do try not over feed and so it does make me question why she actually eats and portion sizes at school lunch times. She isn't sat round all day but she isn't running daily marathons either, just normal playing round the house in the garden and 1 normal daily dog walk.

AIBU to think she is over fed at school?

Out of interest, how old is your DD?

Perhaps at school she's having a hot lunch like sausage and mash and then comes home and has spaghetti Bolognese for dinner but in lockdown she's just having a sandwich for lunch and then 1 hot dinner a day?

School meals are 5 out of 21 meals a week so if a child is overweight it’s likely that the school meals are not the problem. I imagine the problem is with the majority, the other 16 meals a week.

The portion size of school dinner is unlikely to cause weight gain in most children. Even though they have puddings, they’re not what you would serve up at home. And your average kid’s “home lunch” probably has more calories tbh. Plus mine are grazing - fruit after Joe Wicks, a couple of biscuits mid-morning...

Portion sizes in primary schools are small. Plus most kids leave half as it’s not always something they like. My kids (all slim) have always come out of school starving after school dinners, less so with a packed lunch. I’d say the problem isn’t school food.

Even if she's only playing in the house and garden, that's a constant stream of more activity than sitting at a desk would be.

Well I don't know if this applies but as a secondary teacher I know a lot of kids get sweets/crisps/energy drinks on their way to school. I often wonder if the parents are aware how much junk some of them get through in a week!

I thought today that my 4 year old looks like she’s put on weight. I obviously feed her more than she has at school.

My teenager is looking trimmer but I know full well that's because he's not paying almost daily visits to the sweet shop on his way home or supermarket before school, he's not getting in from school declaring he's ravenous and raiding the cupboards. No amount of persuasion, explanation or even withholding funds has made a jot of difference as there always seemed to be someone with pots of cash to buy for others.

All my dc are slim and averagely active. 1 ate like a sparrow and found school dinners adequate, the others all found the portions far too small.

Perhaps she's about to have a growth spurt? Some kids plump up just before one. (Mine didn't, and would look decidedly scrawny for a while, then ate like demons to catch up.)

School life is quite sedentary though. She's presumably not sitting still for hours a day at home, most people tend to get up and wander around a bit more than you can do when in lessons.

@KatnissK I wonder too - at one point we were really quite worried about ds's junk food intake so asked a couple of his mates's parents to try and limit the cash for junk food and they seemed oblivious to how much they were spending or the frequency with which they all stopped at the shops.

We're eating less as a household. We have been getting up later, doing a 30 minute workout before a late breakfast then we're not hungry till late afternoon so having an early evening meal. Skipping lunch altogether most days. Plus as we're not going out we're not grabbing snacks.

I’m surprised to read that you think school dinners are the cause of a child carrying slightly too much weight tbh (I know that isn’t exactly how you have worded it, but that’s what it seems you have inferred to).
School dinners round here are generally assumed to be smaller portions than children are normally given at home and I know children who come out of school absolutely ravenous as their lunch was too small for their growing active body.

I wonder if your child has had a bit of a growth spurt and has gone upwards, so stretched the weight up a bit making them appear they have lost a bit of weight? Are you doing more exercise than your child normally does? If you normally drive to school and child doesn’t actively engage in running around at playtime and now you are doing two online exercise classes plus a two mile walk each day, that could have an effect?

Sorry DD is only 5 and is still very young and growing constantly. I understand what people say about its only being 5 out of the week but her other eating habits haven't changed, other than no trips to Grandparents which probably add to it. The things is she will eat whatever you put in front of her so where a lot of children may not eat everything they are given at lunch she will clear the plate.

Perhaps she's more active at home? Not all kids race around the playground and playtime is pretty short.

School meals are quite small aren't they? My dc eat far more at home.

I've been thinking similiar with my daughter (8 yrs old). Her weight has always been a bit of a concern, but has definitely becomes more so over the last couple of years. Problem is, it's very difficult to track their food at school, because they get "snacks" at after school club, and I have no idea how much she eats there before coming home for dinner. She eats very healthily, and we don't really do sweets / fizzy drinks / crisps etc, so her problem is portion control - I even have to restrict her fruit intake, as she can empty a fruit bowl in a day! At home I can have more control over what she is eating, and I am already seeing small changes, even though her normal activity is less - she normally has 2 hours of swimming a week, plus tennis, and is very active at school (I know this, as I bought her an activity monitor, as I thought maybe I was in denial about how active she really is!). I also wonder if school portions are based on the "average" child, and she is shorter than average, so maybe needs less food. Unfortunately, she is completely unable to tell when she is full, and will eat until everything is gone regardless of portion size.

People always say school lunch portions are small, I’ve worked in a lot of schools and never thought the portions were small at all.

I think it's probably more likely the nice weather and more time running around and less time sat down

@Areyoufree yes sounds very similar to my DD but a few years on. she won’t go near fizzy drinks and rarely has sweets etc.

Smellbellina on a Friday my DC have fish fingers and chips. I saw a picture of DD with hers once and it was one fish finger and 4 chips. At home she’d have 2 fish fingers, maybe 10-12 chips and a side of veg. Mine don’t stop moving, and I don’t think a fish finger and 4 chips (plus a piece of fruit at morning break) is enough to keep them going from breakfast until they get home.
Maybe other schools have bigger portions.

@Smellbellina I was always under the impression they were not small.

Our school served the same portion to Reception and y6. It was fine in Reception but not enough for y6 imo especially on days when they ran out of food (y6 was served last)

She may have just grown a bit and so looks a bit thinner. My kids appear to fill out a little bit, then grown an inch and look thinner for a bit...

School dinners are absolutely tiny. No child is putting on weight from primary school dinners! We're talking one small fish finger, two tiny potatoes, a few peas and a small piece of fruit - which most children seem to leave half of anyway. I'd have thought most kids would put on weight being at home for all meals, especially as they are not moving around as much now.