at being shocked at the huge amount of teenagers who are overweight?

[Blossomhill]

Controversial I know. I also completely understand that their will be children who are overweight for reasons beyond their control. However it really does upset me to see so many children and teens who are obviously quite considerably overweight

41 stone man calls firemen to move him. Cos, yeah, that should done at public expense. Geez, what is wrong with this country?

I really think they should stop responding to his calls. If his bloody house were on fire, I bet he'd be able to move...

given he obviously can't move, who is feeding him? Maybe they should be feeding him salad.

I just don't see all these fat teeenagers in the school that I work in.

There are fat kids, but I would say that they are quite a small minority, around 5%.

I was a form tutor to 30 kids in year 7 2 years ago. There were two boys in that group who were overweight, no girls. Even those 3 boys have grown 'up' and thinned out

and the school I work in is mostly working class in intake

nmc- hehe- evil, but good, plan. It's my betting he is actually able to get his own food though.

Too much processed food, too much sitting in front of the T.V/P.C playstation, not enough proper family meal times, list is endless.
I often see children on the way to shool eating sausage rolls and pies from the bakers, and sweets and fizzy drink.

DS1 had had a food tech lesson on how to make a sandwich at least I got taught how to make a cottage pie

I also see overweight children, and am really sad seeing obese young children.

I think parents need more support though. Yes, ready made meals and lack of families sitting together for a meal, and too much sitting in front of a box is the reason.

But, parents need to work and often feel the need to resort to convenience food. and activites and clubs for children are expensive.

If public transport was cheaper then more people would use it-that would help too.
in London less than 40% of families have cars as the tube system is free for kids and excellent

by the way my kids arent overweight-but i can see how easy it is to become overweight

I don't see any in the school where I work either....I can only rememebr one really relly obese girl in the past. A few are a bit tubby now, but nowhere near really fat.....and they all eat crap all the time (not bought in school, but fom shops nearby, or they bring it from home)

However, I have noticed a lot of pupils who have left school, suddenly put on loads of weight in late teens/very early 20's. I see them around a lot and am really at how big they get

fizzbuzz - maybe that's something to do with alcolhol cumsuption?

Was quite shocked at the numbers of overweight and obese children (and adults) this trip back to the UK.
Here in Holland, the diet is pretty high fat, however you just don't see the same rates of obesity. I'm sure it's down to the exercise. Stereotypical, but true, your average Dutch person does lots of physical exercise as a matter of course with all the cycling. Portion size in restaurants and cafes (and ready meals now I think about it) is also a lot smaller here.

same in Belgium Yeahbut - kids from the age of six (and younger)are expected to be able to cycle competantly, and I've seen a group of seven year old school children on a school trip - they had to cycle there and back!

School children here also do much more walking.

I don't see them either. I work in a primary - out of 200 children there are maybe two overweight girls. I have 3 teenagers and see alot of other teenagers; their friends, at school events and again only the odd overweight child.

Yet I should see them. Well I should if we believe that it is linked to deprivation, lack of education and socioeconocmic status.

Whilst in the Uk, the litigious culture has put many schools off organising active trips or even allowing children to run around in the playground. Most fun things are banned (climbing trees, playing footbatll, skipping, etc...). Many state schools do not even teach rugby or lacrosse or hockey or any game where the pupils might conceivably in some incredibly far-fetched set of circumstances get hurt.

The results I saw as a secondary school teacher- many overly-sedentary girls, boys who were would do anything for the thrills they've been denied throughout their childhood, and either an inflated sense of danger or no sense of danger at all, both of which are limiting in my view. The town I moved from witnessed in the space of two years: a still unidentified child dropping a breeze block onto a lorry, killing the driver; a girl slashed across the face; a boy throwing a javelin during games into another boy's head. These are just a few of the incidents I can name off hte top of my head. Many of my pupils spent their weekends down at the park sniffing glue and aerosol cans.

You might think this was a deprived area- it was not- it was in one of the richest counties in the UK.

thanks for that link, misdee. My eldest is also overweight - she's 8. According to the article she's borderline (0.5) but maybe I didn't measure in exactly the right spot? She's certainly too fat though and trousers generally don't fit.
It's really, really difficult to handle TBH. Obviously I have control over what she eats at home to some extent, and we generally eat fresh, healthy and balanced meals, never buy crisps or biscuits other than for parties etc., but I can't control what she has at other people's houses. Being sociable she does eat elsewhere once or twice a week usually, and that always seems to be meals like pizza & chips followed by an endless supply of ice cream ).
Add to this a real problem with portion size control - she will really stuff herself if it's something she likes, and again that is out of my control a lot of the time - I have spoken to the dinner ladies at school but it doesn't seem to have helped, I guess they think they're being kind to dd by still letting her have seconds and thirds even though her mean mummy said no . I tried her with packed lunches but she ended up supplementing her lunch with other people's food . Am now starting to wonder whether I should pick her up and give her lunch at home.
I feel like I am at my wits' end at times, but am totally uncertain how to proceed because I suffered terribly with anorexia and bulimia in my teens and thus am terrified of pushing her towards an eating disorder. I guess I should talk to my GP, but can I trust them to handle it sensitively? Dd is already aware of being tubby and cries about it at times

geekgirl, i have given up with next clothing for dd1. asda and tesco are generally cut a bit more generously. but she has been living in jogging bottoms and leggings and a couple of skirts.

thats so sad geekgirl. Thing is, she's young enough to do something about it now. Any longer and the teasing will start and she will eat to fill the loneliness.
Ask your GP and get her enrolled in some activities. Do you walk to school? Any bit of exercise will help. Cut down portion sizes - I once heard a dinner should be what you hold in cupped hands,
There's so many parents who don't seem to have noticed. I see them queueing outside Greggs with tubby and fat kids and buying pasties and what have you.
I think my kids are skinny because of genetics as since dd was born (4 year ago) their diets have gone downhill as dd requires 24 hour care. So the 14 yo lives on pasta, crisps, coke, sweets etc same with the 12 yo I manage to make a decent meal maybe twicea week but quite often they refuse to eat it. Its because I got lax dealing with dd. Both boys are very skinny but I worry what all this crap is doing to their hearts/health.

I can feel for you, needmorecoffee; special needs really puts the whole thing onto a different plane.
With us, it's exercise that's difficult, as dd needs very careful pacing and is not allowed to overstrain her joints.
Also, she has very frequent injuries which leave her unable to weight bear -has fallen down stairs 5 times in last 3 weeks, each time landing on her fractured foot.
And ds is just starting the same pattern of subluxations and injuries.
There are times when I can't wait for them to leave home so at least I can get some exercise.
Thankfully, we have the time to cook, as dc's conditions are less demanding; also, both children seem to be naturally slim. But exercise is a very sore point with me. One wants to do things right as a parent.

I do push dd's wheelchair all over Bristol and make the boys come with me Up until last week we didn't have a car and the buses aren't accessible so we'd walk everywhere.
Rather shamefully we all went to a supermarket when we got the car and bought crap to eat. It was all too much after so long, all brightly lit and shiny with sugar sugar sugar!
So I'd blame the combination of cars and supermarkets. Its just too easy to buy empty calories!

LOL NMC at the thought of you and your family piling into the car and going for your sugar rush trip!! I think you probably deserve it!

NMC, i think some of dd1 excess weight has occured due to dh being ill for so so long. the kids did eat more ready meals etc than i would've likes, and i am very ashamed of that.

but once my mum gave me an old slow cooker it made our lives so much more easier.

havent seen the GP yet about dd1, but all i have read is now about reducing her weightm, but rather stabilising it so she 'grows' into her weight. fortunatly it is so slight, that i think that we can manage that well.

i have made dh hide his sweets and crisps. and the fruit bowl has been demolised in recent months, as all cried of 'i'm hungrey' from the kids, i have directed them to the fruit bowl instead of the biscuit barrel.

I read somewhere that the link between poverty and obesity is nowhere near as great sa people imagine. And that working class families feed their children perfectly well most of the time. So you might expect to see fat children in all walks of life rather than concentrated in one particular demographic group.

imho there are more significantly overweight tennagers than say 20 years ago - ie when i was at school, i was classed as 'fat' (i was a size 14!) and there were maybe 2-3 girls, and 1 poor boy - all the boys were like sticks - in my year who were larger than that, though from memory the girls were no more than a 16-18 at most. however nowadays i see girls who are well over a size 20, and boys of the same sort of dimensions -so maybe there arent simply more, but those who are overweight are more overweight than years ago, iyswim....not sure have explained that well

i am concerned about my own son who if put on a BMI scale would certainly be classed as overweight...however he walks to school each day, spends his entire lunch hour most days playing football plus half the weekend. his problem is eating at the wrong times - he doesnt like to have breakfast as it makes him feel ill to eat first thing in the morning, he never eats much of his lunch (as it stops him from playing football) so by the time he gets home at 6.30 he is starving, has cereal while waiting for his dinner, then a meal & dessert by about 7.30 and of course then is in bed around 9 without time to work it off... I'm considering letting him have school dinners but am not sure he would eat it anyway, and even if he did i expect he would still want dinner at home...am hoping for a growth spurt to thin him out as not sure what else will work in the circs....

I just came from Manchester air port. At one point every single one of the people sitting opposite me 100% of them from 4 unrelated groups were all very over weight, the 65 year old the 20 somethings, the lots of them. And when I went to get some lunch there was hardly a healthy meal to be had and portions which to me looked like portions for three people - baked potatoes I have never seen to big in my life and what was about a third of a whole chicken. Not a single veg to have with the lunch either. Contrasting this very badly with Geneva air port I think it was or Paris where they actually served.... a vegetable and normal sized portions.

I am surprised there was any lunch left at all with all those fat people around Xenia

Huge amounts of drink being consumed at lunch time too.

I suppose this is the price you pay if you don't travel business class. Mind you fat middle aged businessmen are not unknown.