To think after lockdown teenagers need to lose weight?

[Alisonshaw]

I know during lockdown alot of us have relaxed and probably snacked alot more than we should have and I know that his has unfortunately extended to my teenage DS too. He is 17 and has piled on the weight over lockdown. I wouldn't say obese but certainly something to keep an eye on. Do we need to make more of an effort nationally to help us all lose some weight, but particularly children before it is too late?
Maybe schools need to introduce more PE (although with stretched timetables this would be very challenging) or maybe a national measurement program of older teens. Maybe just a bit of time to get over the stress of the last year we and our DC have been through?

Hard to generalise. My 17yo is huge. My 14yo is struggling to keep the weight on.

Personal responsibility is all that's required. You've realised there is a problem you are now taking steps to combat it, job done. Probably best to keep on top of it in the future, prevention is the best cure.
We are aware dd is doing less exercising and adjusted out diet/food intake to reflect that.

@Alisonshaw

I know during lockdown alot of us have relaxed and probably snacked alot more than we should have and I know that his has unfortunately extended to my teenage DS too. He is 17 and has piled on the weight over lockdown. I wouldn't say obese but certainly something to keep an eye on. Do we need to make more of an effort nationally to help us all lose some weight, but particularly children before it is too late? Maybe schools need to introduce more PE (although with stretched timetables this would be very challenging) or maybe a national measurement program of older teens. Maybe just a bit of time to get over the stress of the last year we and our DC have been through?

Why are you waiting for school to fix this?

Why don't you do some pe or exercise with them?

Or use some of their extras free time to

Ok maybe I'm wrong. I suppose only time will tell if this generation can beat the obesity crisis. And maybe we all need to take a step back and take personal responsibility. And we need to make sure we don't see a rise in eating disorders, maybe more needs to be done to prevent that.b

@SleepingKitten

"and a national measurement program already exists to offer support to families that need it."

Yeah, they go in and weigh 4 year olds in school and then write letters to the parents of the kids their arbitrary measures deem to be overweight.
From experience, a lot of the time this is down to a child's build (shock! We aren't all built the same!) but that isn't taken into account at all.

Just because something already exists, doesn't make it a good thing or something that should be extended further

From my experience (30 years working in early years) the children who are flagged up as overweight, are nearly always the ones staff are predicting will be. Sadly parents rarely seem to address this and I see the same children, years later in year 6, clearly overweight.

I think some posters are deliberately misunderstanding the OP.

I would hope that COVID has taught everyone that well-being is the single most important thing and yes of course diet and exercise are part of this. No fat shaming necessary, just good support. Same goes for those who refused food as a coping mechanism, we can be on the same side about this, no need to hurl abuse at those who have experienced the stress differently.

It's not so much weight as general unfitness. Some of my DCs friends barely go for a daily walk. They may not be fat but they are very unfit. It is a health crisis worsened that was already on the way.

But now is really not the time.

I don't think I've misunderstood at all, thank you.

I think the mental health crisis resulting from lack of social interaction and too much time online being exposed to 'influencer' culture is far more concerning.

Jog on love. If YOUR teen is overweight YOU do something about it. Best way is to demonstrate it yourself and not buy in junk.

Enforced stuff at schools will cause an explosion of eating disorders amongst teens.

My teens are fine thanks. How can you think you speak for all teens? Anyway, the lockdown is hard enough without the fat police

I think the health of the nation has suffered physically and mentally through lockdown. The lockdowns have been a government decision and successive lockdowns, changes in policy have caused anxiety which manifests itself In different ways. I do feel the government has a responsibility for its citizens , and there needs to be done thought how we can have a more healthy nation. Obesity is a contributory factor to the impact of Covid.

Haven’t schools got enough to think about already?

No. But they do need an amazing summer full of camping, sunbathing, beaches, picnics and all the other stuff that we got to do as teenagers.

A campaign re better mental health support for teens would be far more useful.

I think at the age of 17 he should be able to see if he has gained weight and do something about it.

@Alisonshaw

Ok maybe I'm wrong. I suppose only time will tell if this generation can beat the obesity crisis. And maybe we all need to take a step back and take personal responsibility. And we need to make sure we don't see a rise in eating disorders, maybe more needs to be done to prevent that.b

The trouble is op eating disorders are often about control- there's not a lot else teens can control at the moment, under eating or over eating, it's a mental health problem not something you can teach someone not to do, although admittedly discussion in school about mental health and where to ask for advice is needed more than ever.

Maybe schools need to introduce more PE

If I had to pick one reason why I find sports so deeply unappealing, 13 years after leaving school, PE would be it. I'm not naturally sporty, and PE was a continual lesson in the fact that exercise involved freezing your bits off in cold weather, inadequate clothing, always coming last regardless of how much effort I put in, and generally being thoroughly unenjoyable.

To this day, the only sort of exercise I can stomach is the sort that is non-competitive and has a practical purpose to it - which pretty much boils down to walking, and cycling from A to B. That's not the sort of exercise we did at school.

Thankfully I'm naturally fairly slim, but I can assure you that school PE had a long term detrimental impact on my exercise levels.

@Littlefluffyclouds13
Fellow EYFS I agree that it picks up the ones we already know it should, but every year it also picks out children who are active, healthy, and who it's clear are just built that way.
You know in advance which parents will get the letter, but common sense tells us that not all of them should.

Some kids are designed to be whippets, others are naturally built like tanks!

I don't dispute it can be useful, but I just wish their was more nuance in the system!

My DD chunked out (her words) during the first lockdown but had been doing 20 hours of exercise a week before that (competitive sports). She then grew 4 inches in what looked like a matter of weeks and is now back to her slim physique. She has taken more care of herself during second lockdown, though. We all upped the veg, cut down on the snacks and started working out to a YouTube video (picked one at random) every day. It has made a big difference to out physical and mental well-being.

None of mine have put on weight, neither have I restricted food or snacks we’ve focused on making healthy choices, cooking etc. Brilliant life skills.

what about your child's parents taking on this responsibility?

@Justmuddlingalong

Who's buying his snacks if he's not going out?

OP said something about tax payers? Yes, that must be it. The fat teenagers will take all our jobs, molest our grannies and eat our dogs. Or brains. Anyway.

Its good to mix it up though OP we haven't had a fat kids thread for ages.

Your posting history shows a weird, probably unhealthy, obsession with your teenage son's weight, that preceded lockdown.