Child's gained weight with daily exercising

[Artie30]

Hello all. It seems a child's weight post can get pretty nasty but want some advice... I'll take the bit.

Ds is 10, he has asd. He's about 145cm tall. A few weeks ago he was 6.5 Stone which put him in the overweight category.

He doesn't really care about his weight so it goes over his head, which is good. I don't want him obsessing over his weight.

I've been trying to watch what he eats. Also we've bought him a new bike since his old one got too small. For the last 3-4 weeks he's been out on it daily. For an hour outside after school each day and often going on 2 mile bike rides with Dp... he's obsessed with his new bike.

I felt like he was looking like he'd slimmed down a bit, in the face too I think!

But I've weighed him today and he is 6 Stone 12.5! Nearly 7 Stone. Wtf?? Surely he can't gain half a stone in a few weeks whilst we are making an effort with his diet and exercise.

He is 10 nearly 11! He is in 11-12 clothes that fit him fine so not in clothes big for his age!

What the hell do I do now?

His diet isn't the best but not the worst either. He only drinks water, hates anything sweet, he's partial to chocolate and crisps but in moderation. He doesn't like sweets.

For breakfast it's usually 2 slices of marmite on toast, school lunches on week days and usually fish fingers for dinner (he will only eat fish fingers atm, don't hate me). He maybe had a packet of crisps in the evening but that's it. Weekends he may eat a little more but not extreme!

@DollyDinkle

My son, at 5, was going on 12 mile bike rides. 2 miles is not enough to burn calories

Well your ds is most unusual then. I know plenty of children who are a normal weight and do nowhere near that level of exercise. It shouldn't be necessary for a child to exercise to that extent just to maintain a normal weight

What are you hoping to achieve by getting worked up over this?

Stop weighing the kid. Let him enjoy his bike and his very limited selection of foods and find something else to get worried about.

With ASD you’re not going to achieve much by trying to limit his food etc other than to stress him out, so let him get on with being himself and continuing growing and if there’s any weight concerns as an adult then he can address them himself. You’re going to foist a balanced diet onto a kid who will only eat one thing for lunch. So you have to take whatever small wins you can. Which in this case includes him enjoying being active on his bike.

*You’re NOT going to foist a balanced diet

And fwiw I weighed myself 2 days running and was 8lb difference !! It can happen - either dodgy scales or just differences in water retention etc that can make big - most likely temporary - changes

@sueelleker

Muscle weighs more than fat, so he may be slimmer and still weigh more.

No it doesn't.

Are you sure he's overweight? NHS calculator says that's normal height and weight. Can't be much in it anyway. Stop weighing him, encourage him to find exercise he enjoys and explore healthy food options without making any fuss about it at all. Sounds perfectly normal to me.

@itsraininghere are you using the children's calculator?

Yes. Children's calculator. I had to make up a DOB so used March as a guess.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/

It says overweight?

I think making a 5yo cycle 12 miles a day is abusive.

I think his weight has increased because his diet doesn’t sound great. If he’ll only have fish fingers, can you hide veggies in it? Or if he’ll hate carrots and broccoli, can you give a huge side portion of those with fewer fish fingers?

Does he have a trampoline? Mine loads the sensory effect of the trampoline too, plus the exercise aspect

2 miles is a very small amount of bike exercise, can your DH do a better distance? Build up slowly to 12 miles or so.

Replace the crisps with carrot sticks.

Walk to school, be more active

Some really stupid suggestions here! How on earth do you hide veg in a fish finger? And as for replacing crisps with carrot sticks. You people must have very unobservant 10 year olds.

Anyway op it sounds like he's doing fine, great that he loves his bike. 2 miles isn't bad for a ten year old to be doing daily. I used to cycle 2.5 miles each way to work and I was pretty fit compared to those who drove. I bet all the people saying it's not far don't actually cycle 2 miles to work each day themselves. Even less likely that their children do.

The most likely explanation is that he has got taller since he was last weighed. Fish fingers isn't that bad nor is toast. Plus he eats some veg. Really it could be much worse.

Some really stupid suggestions here! How on earth do you hide veg in a fish finger? And as for replacing crisps with carrot sticks. You people must have very unobservant 10 year olds.

@HikingforScenery

I think his weight has increased because his diet doesn’t sound great. If he’ll only have fish fingers, can you hide veggies in it? Or if he’ll hate carrots and broccoli, can you give a huge side portion of those with fewer fish fingers?

Does he have a trampoline? Mine loads the sensory effect of the trampoline too, plus the exercise aspect

Yeh we do have a trampoline

@SaltySheepdog

2 miles is a very small amount of bike exercise, can your DH do a better distance? Build up slowly to 12 miles or so.

Replace the crisps with carrot sticks.

Walk to school, be more active

Feel like I keep repeating myself.

As above, we walk to school every single day.

He won't eat carrot sticks, he doesn't like them. He will eat carrots now but only cooked and soft

Dp literally works 6 days a week. There is no time to do regular 12 mile bike rides. Dp is super fit and could it and more with ease, just doesn't have the time. However, I think Ds would be in a lot of pain cycling long distance.

Ds cannot go out on bike alone either so that is not an option.

2 miles is a very small amount of bike exercise, can your DH do a better distance?

What’s her dh got to do with it? Him cycling a better distance will do fuck all for o/p’s son

Or are you really suggesting that the DH, being a man, will be somehow better at helping the son improve his cycling, while o/p gathers her skirts and looks proudly on at her boys doing boy things?

@SnackSizeRaisin

Some really stupid suggestions here! How on earth do you hide veg in a fish finger? And as for replacing crisps with carrot sticks. You people must have very unobservant 10 year olds.

Anyway op it sounds like he's doing fine, great that he loves his bike. 2 miles isn't bad for a ten year old to be doing daily. I used to cycle 2.5 miles each way to work and I was pretty fit compared to those who drove. I bet all the people saying it's not far don't actually cycle 2 miles to work each day themselves. Even less likely that their children do.

The most likely explanation is that he has got taller since he was last weighed. Fish fingers isn't that bad nor is toast. Plus he eats some veg. Really it could be much worse.

Thank you. He would absolutely notice the veg in a fish finger. I tried veggie fingers once. The texture was all wrong for him and vomited... huge sensory issues with food. He just knows. Would never get a carrot stick in him. He only likes them cooked soft 😅

I am really proud of the bike rides. People might be saying it's not far but considering he's just starting rising after a while not riding his bike (needed a new one), it's quite an achievement for him!! It's better than zero miles and the bike rides don't include the several laps he does around the block after school every day (part of which is up a steep hill)!

@Nomoreusernames1244

2 miles is a very small amount of bike exercise, can your DH do a better distance?

What’s her dh got to do with it? Him cycling a better distance will do fuck all for o/p’s son

Or are you really suggesting that the DH, being a man, will be somehow better at helping the son improve his cycling, while o/p gathers her skirts and looks proudly on at her boys doing boy things?

Exactly, thank you. Dp tends to do it cos he enjoys it and I tend to stay home with younger dc who cannot ride bikes yet. Dp is very fit too and could cycle for miles and miles but does not have the time. 2 miles a day is adequate for DS!

Tbf it would be impossible to ride 12 miles around the village without doing the same lap over and over again which sounds boring or going out on the main road which is too dangerous for DS.

Wouldn't have the time to cycle 12 miles regularly either 😅 Work, school, homework, other hobbies, other commitments etc!

You dont need to justify yourself anyone with a brain (and the ability to google) hearing the words hypermobile would know about the pain it can cause kudos to your son for learning mine is nearly 13 and cannot ride a bike he can barely walk in a straight line he obviously has dyspraxia but no-one will "label" him (or support him but that's another story)

Try a 6 weekly height and weight check its not too often but often enough so you can track his height going up and weight staying the same

Muscle weighs more than fat,

No it really doesn't. It's denser than fat so you can weigh the same and be slightly slimmer as the weight is more concentrated.

Muscle weighs more than fat

It’s fairly obvious that people mean that for the same volume of fat and muscle, muscle weighs more

@shouldistop 6.5 stone is 6 stone 7 Pounds, not 12 pounds

I just thought I'd come onto this thread to let you all know that muscle doesn't weigh more than fat.

It’s fairly obvious that people mean that for the same volume of fat and muscle, muscle weighs more hmm

No it isn't obvious at all, otherwise they would have pointed it out.