Daughter getting fat in school

[joey197860]

Teenage daughter has gained 22kg in new boarding school. No medical explanation for it and she's very happy, wrll integrated and academically excelling. School has a shop on site and girls have access to kitchen in the evenings. Daughter had major surgery last year and specifically should not eat sugar loaded food. What am I to do? I want to pull her from the school at the end of this term. The school is absolutely no help when I discussed this with them.

It’s a very large amount of weight in a short time so I’d also be thinking health issue or pregnancy rather than just over eating.

Hope you get to the bottom of it soon OP.

2.5kg tumor and removal of an ovary - this has got to be more than just over eating, and is bound to be wrapped up in her prior medical history.

Oophorectomy often leads to increase adipose tissue. Is she on any sort of hormonal replacement to rebalance her?

Boarding school after major surgery. Solved it for you.

You absolutely should and investigate this properly. That amount of weight in a few months is not normal. I went to boarding school and we didnt have access to food 24/7 we were expected to eat at meal times and not snack all day.

Everything hasn’t been tried.

If everything had been tried you would know if it’s a medical:hormonal issue. Yet you wondered if it could be that on the thread.

So clearly everything hasn’t been tried.

This sounds like it’s just one of those ‘let’s post this as an excuse to trash fat people and people who think there’s more going on for obese people than just greed’

A friend of mine in her very early 20s suffered huge and rapid weight gain. She had an ovarian tumour. I would be wanting this investigated. Such rapid weight gain seems very unusual to be purely from having an open kitchen.

I would check medical. Bit I piled know weight in high school. School lunches, snacks from school shop, snacks in evening at home after dinner plus not enough physical activity

Removing an ovary doesn't usually mean weight gain. The other ovary takes over.

She has a masters degree in sociology and reports herself to be widely read and widely travelled. That's feels intelligent and I think she could have started at a different point for this thread.

Old threads show one year ago it was her 13 year old daughter who had emergency surgery to remove a 2.5 kg tumour and right ovary. It grew from a ping pong ball size in just 3 weeks. Invasive laparotomy with a lateral scar from the sternum to the public bone at least 16 inches long.

Scary stuff, I'm sure. For family and daughter.

But no, mum chooses to opt for "Fat and it's the school's fault"

Other threads also show a very 'brutal' (her words) way of punishing her teens which she felt was necessary. Some teens might comply with those measures, others might push back.

I wonder what her daughter's doing?

It’s not the only explanation. This amount this fast is extremely unusual given that the core diet at school Will be balanced and regular exercise a requirement. There could be endocrinological things at play. You are probably paying for BUPA in your fees, get her to an endocrinologist

I'd be interested to know what she weighs and how tall she is. Its just the words used by the OP are such that it may be a mother issue than an actual weight issue.

So there's no possibility it's your fault, it must be the fault of a whole country? Sounds about right.

I am not even saying it's your fault, but absolutely ridiculous to blame a country's attitude to food for a single child's issue with extremely weight gain over a small period. Something is happening with your child. It could be medical, emotional or behavioural. Get medical tests done and talk to her.

I am sure this is a emotional disorder possibly by a parenting style at home.

3.5st is a lot of weight gain in what I assume in a term or two? Have you had her thyroid checked in case there is an underlying issue that’s not been picked up until now?

Can posters please not make this thread about themselves and their weight issues.

Advantages for you?? How about your daughter!

It sounds as though your daughter has complex needs that are not currently able to be met at boarding school.

Weight is so sensitive. It's not up to the school to try and implement an intervention here - that's a parental responsibility.

she needs to go to a different doctor then the school one, your own GP. Though firstly talk to the consultant who did the tumour op to find out if anything from the aftermath of that, would cause sudden weight gain. Please do this as a matter of urgency as it’s a lot of weight in a short time

@StormingBurt yes the other ovary should take over.

However studies have found that pre-menopausal women who have an ovary removed have a higher level of adipose / fat tissue than those that have them removed after menopause.
Assuming ofcourse that the other ovary is healthy and hasn't developed a tumour or cyst of its own.

After that history I certainly wouldn't be jumping to - too much free access to the fridge.

Boarding schools may well be like 7 star hotels in Dubai. So what? If you sent a child to a 7 star hotel they wouldn't be happy there for long either away from home.

I think Melania90 is saying there's no such thing as weight set point. (There is though).

If you want to properly moniter here you need her to live with you unless there are very good reasons she can't.
School pastoral care will never equal most parental care

For work reasons I lived in a 5 star hotel for 2 months years ago, it was awful after the first 2 weeks.
Luxury doesn't compensate for being raised by people who don't love you but are being paid to instead

The home life of the children hasn't always been as happy and loving as OP makes out.

OP says she was sometimes 'brutal' when it came to controlling her teens and punishing them.

It's not beyond the possibility that the D is reacting to what appear to be very draconian measures at home if they misbehave.