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!

Can I just say that...

OP, have you checked his height and weight on the percentile charts rather than on that BMI calculator?
Does it tell you what his height is in relation to the rest of his age?
That NHS calculator is showing overweight as above the 91st centile, if his height is also 91st centile or above, then you don't need to worry as much as if it's the 4th!

@Mercurial123

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.

It is obvious what is meant. If a person gains muscle and loses fat, they can look the same / smaller but still be heavier as the volume of muscle weighs more than the same volume of fat.

It blows my mind people are arguing this, 1lb of anything is the same weight as 1lb of anything else. It is clear people are referring to the volumes. Do you are metal weighs the same as cotton wool?

@itsraininghere op said her sons weight is 6st 12lbs

Ds is same age and has plumped out a bit. I think it's quite common for boys that age to do this, pre puberty. Their growth rate then increases and things return to normal weight wise. This happened to my nephew, although he's now borderline skinny at 14yo. Do what you can to keep encouraging healthy habits, including the exercise, but don't stress about it.

Oh missed that sorry I was using the original 6.5. But anyway but it's so close! A few pounds for a growing boy, when most of us never weigh our DC.
Regular weighing is likely to create an issue for any kid, and is totally unnecessary. Keep up the cycling, try to encourage healthy eating and don't stress about it.

@DollyDinkle

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

Have the world's biggest eye roll for your lack of self awareness

Don’t weigh him, just keep his diet healthy and keep the exercise up - some children just have a bigger build for their age.

It blows my mind people are arguing this

I feel the same but on the point that people suggested muscle gain at all.
It takes "significant work and commitment" to gain 1 lb of muscle in a month -- in adult human beings who are probably start out at twice the mass of OP's lad. Not a kid who is doing maybe 30 minutes extra activity most days, at most, at a level comfortable to him.

Suggested routine for a full grown man to gain 5 lbs of muscle in 30 days -- it's all weights work, not a bit of casual cycling.

"Fat turned into muscle" is not why OP saw 5lbs higher weight after 3.5 weeks.

On top of that, there is an upper limit to how much muscle a human being can carry. Most of our weight is water, organs, skin, skeleton, microbes, guts. Things that don't change. We don't even know where the lad's muscle mass was at when he started.

Boys start to gain weight in early teens (sometimes earlier) in order to sustain growth. In
yr7/yr8 at school it is quite noticeable, we refer to it as the barrel stage. Then they suddenly have a momentous growth surge. Ds has always been tall and slender but even he was packing the “puppy fat” around 13/14. He is now 6’3” and still growing albeit at a much slower rate. We always knew when he was about to grow because he would eat like a locust and be complaining of tight trousers only to have the same trousers hanging off him but significantly shorter a month later.
He is now at the body builder stage where diet is important to him. Last night I was asked to buy healthy snacks rather than cookies then he reappeared saying he still needed cookies. He plays rugby competitively so trains 3x weekly with game/s at the weekends so eats enough for two adults. He is desperate to put on weight.
He too has hyper mobility but has always played sport so improved muscle tone helps his joints. He still does that thing with his fingers and can touch his wrist with his thumb. It is a massive advantage in rugby where finger dislocation is common, his just bend and spring back.

FWIW DS1 is diagnosed AS and hypermobile, apparently the comorbidity is common.

From what you have described OP his weight is fine, but maybe check his thyroid to make sure everything is OK on that front

If you’re certain he’s not sneaking naughty treats out of the cupboard, it could just be a bit of pre-pubescent puppy pudge before a massive growth spurt hits him.

'Sneaking naughty treats'? 🙄

I can’t believe how people are arguing over whether muscle weighs more than fat!

1lb is 1lb. 1lb of lead is the same weight as 1b of feathers. The mass would differ but not the weight. In equal weights the mass of muscle is less than the mass of fat.

OP My twin boys are the same height and weight but have very different physiques. One is much leaner. The other has a bit of a tummy. Neither are technically overweight but one definitely appears to be a touch on the chubby side.

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

Give over. Have you met a five year old and tried to get them to do something they don't want to do? He love love loves cycling. 12 miles on a bike is not far at all. And he doesn't do that every day (if you read it correctly) maybe once a week on a Saturday afternoon we'll go off with snacks and explore.

Honestly. I've been quite entertained by the muscle vs fat convo. I love the way that equal weights of things weighing the same as one another is presented as some great myth-busting insight. Cracks me up.

Honestly. I've been quite entertained by the muscle vs fat convo. I love the way that equal weights of things weighing the same as one another is presented as some great myth-busting insight. Cracks me up

And the faux pretence that they don’t understand what the poster means. I am as literal as they come but even I can work out that when someone says “muscle weighs more than fat” they mean for the same volume.

It’s the fact that several people have felt the need to earnestly post on this thread that muscle and fat weigh the same, as if it’s some huge correction the original poster hasn’t realised…