To think it’s possible for child to be overweight BMI but not unhealthy?

[NameChangedOct24]

My DS is age 8 and falls into 95th centile overweight BMI on child growth charts. To me he doesn’t look overweight, is it possible that he is still healthy despite the chart and I’m not deluded….ill try to upload a pic.

Missed this but this is SO insane and has to be a joke

I think the question is really "what do we mean by healthy?". It's unlikely that a child that age will have arteriosclerosis or heart disease. But could he be storing up problems for the future? Potentially.

He is fine why are people so mean!! He does not look overweight. BMI charts are not a whole picture. if he keeps getting told he is overweight it could give him issues with food & body image. He will have growth spurts & his body will change it happens to boys & girls. What happened to being kind or if you can’t say something nice say nothing!

OP please remember that people come here just to be bitchy. It’s inexplicable but people enjoy being mean about a child under the guise of being ‘helpful’ or concerned. Please remember that you’re commenting on a small boy’s body@DinosaurMunch

People forget (or weren't born) what the children of previous generations were like. Children did not look like scaled down adults - they were what would today be probably described as scrawny. Yes, you would be able to see their ribs. I went to a primary school say with 200 pupils - there was one slightly overweight child.

He looks perfectly healthy to me! Just did a bmi on 135/35 and he falls in to the normal range🤷‍♀️. My first DS was skinny at 8 even though he ate alot. Second DS 11 (short) looks like your boy and he is not overweight at all. A growth spurt and you will be worried that his too skinny wait and see. And relax! If you know his diet is balanced and that he has no problem running around like they do that age I would not give it another thought.

I wasn't commenting on OP's child - I didn't see the picture.

Thanks for all the replies - I’ve requested the photo be removed as recommended by a few posters.
DS does eat well (ish) - he’s a bit fussy with some veg. A lot of protein ( fish, eggs, chicken) but only manages small carb portions. is very active (cycles 2 miles to school each day, plays regular sports for a team, bi-weekly martial arts club, is a strong regular swimmer for 8),

but I am worried I’ve lost sight of what is a normal weight. The ribs/no ribs debate is interesting.

Dunno why the NHS uses BMI as it wasn't even made up by a medical person in the first place. It is utter nonsense

Why is saying he's overweight mean? Or unkind?!

Other than related to possible health issues there's nothing inherently bad about being overweight.

If he does have weight issues it's kinder to tackle them now so he can avoid any health complications down the road.

It's not though. For the majority of the population it is a useful tool. There are outliers of course but for most of us it's a reasonable range.

You absolutely shouldn't see his ribs. I didn't see the photos but no, ribs on show are not an indication of healthy eating or not being overweight at this age. Who makes this stuff up?

I've battled anorexia. I don't know anyone who developed one based on BMI..

Also 9 stone is a healthy bmi so I'm not sure what you mean? At 5'2 103-136 is the healthy range.

I would be concerned if you were extremely skeletal at 126 lbs. I'd be worried something else was going on.

Doctor's. Doctor's make this up.

Kids bodies are different to adults. Ribs protruding? No. Ribs that can be seen? Yes.

Ancel Keyes was a dick

Sorry but that is not an exact science at all! I've seen people who were desperate to put on weight, but their DNA wasn't built that way. I've seen several male members of my family be "chunky" at this age to then grow into the inevitable 6'4" fit selves. I honestly don't think enough research is done into this. It's a non event academically. The danger is we don't allow DNA to do it's thing and we compare and contrast"body types" on SM. But again I am not minimising the extremes of this which I do witness also.

Who doesn’t love seeing a group of adults mocking a child’s appearance 😍😍😍

It's really not. For the vast majority of people it is a blunt tool that indicates whether a person is a healthy weight. It is just part of what makes up a full picture of health.

It can be a useful tool with other things being looked at, but by itself alone, no.

Blunt being the key term there. Parents get letters home based on their kids BMI scores and the letters can be hugely triggering for both parents-and particularly for the kids, who wonder why they’re getting letters and peers aren’t. I’ve heard on several occasions (SADLY only with girls) where children have developed unhealthy eating habits as a result of receiving the brown envelope in school after BMI measurements. The kids know what’s in the letters.

The bluntness can be VERY damaging.

My ds was chubby ages 8 - 10 but had his first growth spurt & went from 4' 8" to 5' 6" by the time he was 11, by 16, he was 6' 1" & is now 6' 4" at 20, he is by no means skinny but is not fat, he is well built like all the men in our family.

I didn’t see the picture but eating well and exercising are good habits regardless. i think as long as his weight and height percentiles are reasonably stable I wouldn’t worry too much, he’ll probably go through some growth spurts. Mine has always tipped just slightly in and out of overweight on BMI, she usually has a growth spurt that takes her back down to a healthy BMI after chubbing up a bit first. Also very tall for her age (usually 98-99th percentile for height).

Lots of things can trigger anorexia - how horrible of you to question the previous poster.

Scrawny?
That is vile. Some children are naturally very slim and can eat like a horse.

Most kids in a healthy weight will have visible ribs.
We have lost sight of this because so many children are overweight.