Overweight DD (7)

[DontOpenDeadInside]

My DD is 7 (almost 8) and her weight has become very obvious now. I noticed a while back but my efforts to reduce it have not worked. She's in 9-10 clothes and even then they are tight around her stomach. She's 127cm and 36.1kg. I'm trying to not make a big deal out of it (though she keeps saying "I'm fat" and "I've got a fat belly".

A usual day's food is
Breakfast either: 2 pieces of toast/bowl cereal with whole milk/waffles with strawberries. Cup of tea.

Dinner: ham sandwich (2 pieces of brown bread) yogurt or jelly or sometimes a treat (cake), fruit (melon and grapes or apple slices) and carrot sticks/cucumber/toms and crisps (I know crisps are not great but I'm worried she'll still be hungry)

Tea: this varies though we do have a takeaway more often than we should. Really need to stop this. Spaghetti Bolognese (dolmio-dp doesn't like homemade)/roast/curry(jar)/rice and chips/ burritos/etc. Last night we had mince and dumplings. She had 1 dumpling about 10 carrot slices 3 small bits of brocolli, a ladle of mince and about 2 tablespoons of mash.

She usually has a 50p mix up or similar after school- I'm going to start taking fruit I think, not sure how that'll go down.
Tea is at 5 and although she usually asks for something before I'll tell her to wait or get fruit (usually waits) then she likes "dessert" which is usually a yogurt.
I just need advice on how to reduce her food intake without her really noticing. It's hard because dd2(9) eats the same (and always has) and is fine.
Exercise wise, we don't do a lot of exercise, she's just learned how to ride a bike, however by the time we get home after school it's dark (can't ride from school as dd2 can't ride one and it's steep downhill) I don't have enough to money for them to do dance etc (and they've never asked)
So objectives :
Stop takeaways
Remove crisps from lunch
No sweets after school
More exercise (how?)

What else can I do?
Thank you if you've read all this.

The waffles need to go immediately - we had them this am they were lovely but that’s a weekend treat and the kids were high!!
The sweets are the obvious evil in this diet. It’s fruit or nothing.

If you have a dog a big walk every day should make a huge difference - look at different places to go locally and let the kids choose the location - walk an hour

She eats more than I do most days. A lots of its sugary too. I'd cut down the portion sizes, reduce the sugar and lot. Add more exercise, quite a bit more. She'll be fine soon enough.

Also don't listen to the cut fat brigade. Full fat dairy is healthier for everyone. People have known this for ten years (although I will concede that the British know fuck all about health so they can be excused for being behind). A bit of milk fat (and the fat soluable nutrients that come with it) won't make her fat, it's the excess of simple carbs that is doing it.

Ok so for lunch she's just had some pasta stuff dd1 made (I'd nipped to shop so didn't see the portion size but I doubt it would have been much as it was originally just for dd1) and a packet of crisps. Then she asked for a slice of the fresh bread I was cutting for my sandwich, then she asked for the end of the cucumber, then she asked for a yogurt or fruit. I said wait 30 mins and if you're still hungry then you can. 30 mins later she asked for fruit. I'm not sure if it's genuine hunger or just greediness?

Just a bit background, but I grew up very poor and was often hungry, so I've been reluctant to limit food, which has backfired in dd3s case.
Also, she has perfect teeth, dentist has no problems with that aspect.

So in the above was the bread and pasta whole meal?

Id change the breakfast, a bowl of Porridge will fill her up until lunchtime.Lunch drop the crisps and tea sounds fine.No fizzy drinks, water only, sweets once a week and get her moving: bike ride every Saturday, walk everywhere you possibly can, dance in your living room.Its not rocket science and she'll be so grateful to not be going to secondary school overweight, nobody wants to be a fat kid

No, both white. We've never actually tried wholemeal pasta. I'll have to add it to shopping list. I can't just start the new diet straight away. We have to eat what I've got in until Thursday when I get paid. If it's a choice between white or brown bread, I have to get white as DP doesn't like brown. If I've enough money I get both.

Cut the sugar as much as you can get away with, it drives the appetite for everything else. Over time, she'll get used to having less sugar and her appetite will decrease. Aim for slightly smaller portions in general and no snacking.

Also, tell her about being healthy and that you’re going to include more fruit and veg with meals.
Get a list of what she’s willing to eat and get her on board.
Go for fruit and/or veg with every meal, even breakfast (which could an apple or berries with porridge/weetabix or mushrooms or tomatoes with eggs)
Frozen veg is cheaper.

dp needs to get a grip on his likes and dislikes for the sake if his dd health. Seems like a lot of these poor food choices are cos of his dislikes.

White bread often is much tastier and easier to eat more of.

I had this problem op, I stopped sweets and just let her have treats at nanas on a weekend.

She also starts dancing and I think that's really helped. Could you look into it?

Also I don't buy crisps chocolate sweets etc but fruit is always available.

Dd is nearly 9 and weighs less than your DD.

Ds17, put on weight while revising in year 11. He used to graze while revising and tbh, I let him because it was the only way to get him to do it. Since starting college he makes himself scrambled eggs for breakfast and takes a packed lunch of usually a grilled chicken breast sprinkled with any herbs or spices. He puts this with any chopped salad or veg and a bit of wholegrain pasta or rice. For tea I employ the multicooker to make something easy. Dd loves chopping veg (weird teen) so I freeze lots of bags of veg and throw it in with stock and sometimes meat and barly. We've had all manner of stews and casseroles. Ds has lost all the weight he put on and because he's still growing and keeps active he's feeling really happy about his body now and its done loads for his self esteem. And he's just reminded me he's cut out chocolate/cake/ icecream etc. We don't buy pop or juice with sugar and non of them have ever had a filling.

Have you seen Fitness Blender on YouTube OP? I do that with my DS a couple of times a week (he's 8). There are loads of different ones and the easy ones (which we do) are simple to follow. Usually about 30mins per session. Also what about just having a Friday night (or any time) disco at home?!

That is a carb heavy lunch. She may have an energy slump mid afternoon and crave sugar. You probably need to supervise her meals more closely, but not draw her attention to it directly. Could you use a plate diagram to visualise the ratio of carb and protein to veg. Ideally half the plate should be veg. What did she drink?

That's way too much food for a 7yr olds lunch, for sure. But remember she is now conditioned to need more food, it will take a while to adjust her appetite but that's possibly the most critical thing here. If she is overeating at 7 and keeps up that pace by 15 she will have a very serious weight issue as the extra will add to her size day after day. Can you plan to get out and about immediately after meals so she can't keep pets teeing you in the kitchen? Don't bring snacks anywhere with you. Work on distracting her after meals and remember yourself that every item you hand over is an extra 50 or 80 or whatever calories. Not something she needs to know but it might help your resolve.

I have to say that not buying stuff in the first place is the best tactic for everyone, it means there's nothing to give in on. You will adjust, all of you, to what's in the cupboards and fridge.

I would ease into this new diet. You don't want to upset her and make her feel deprived. It also gives you time to plan and find new healthy meals and ingredients.
Also increase the activity gradually so she doesn't notice it and it becomes a habit. Walking a lot is great and by next summer you can have really built up her stamina and be doing long walks, bike rides and lots of playing outside.

Pets teeing= pestering...

When it comes to yogurt I thought I would never like plain yogurt with just some fruit as its too sour, but I really like it. I have the ff Greek yogurt with blueberries normally, but even normal plain yogurt is ok with some fruit. So don't think she won't like it that way.

Replace full fat milk with semi or skimmed.

Reduce crisps to twice a week. No need to have everyday. A packet of crisps is fattening for an adult so imagine the effect on a child.

Lots of bed carbs. Stick to potatoes. Brown rice Or brown pasta. Or reduce the amount of white pasta and rice served.

No take outs or pre made sauces.
There’s loads of rubbish cake waffles etc.

To develop cycling skills/have a bit of time on the bike in the winter, have a look and see if you have a Go Ride club locally. These are fairly informal Kids Cycle coaching sessions, v low cost and usually PAYG.

Agree with pp , your partner needs to sort out his own bread if he wants white , surely he should want what is best for the children .

Also a small portion of salty or salty / sweet popcorn can be used as the treat instead of crisps , it’s more filling , less calories and a good fibre source .

Is she busy? Can she do more things/all together so she isn’t associating food and boredom?

Watching with interest as dd1 is 6.7 and looks tubby around the middle (Don't have scales that work) and is super tall and food obsessed.
I am trying my best in terms of containment but she eats very little with me during the week with breakfast, school dinners and after school club. I do her morning snack which is always fruit or veg and we are super time limited in the evenings so need to get organised with the slow cooker but usually end up with soup/egg on toast/beans.
It's hard OP- dd2 is perfectly normally sized, only interested in food when she's hungry, stops when she's had enough, only drinks water and i Don't think I've done anything differently!!

If you cut out the takeaways you'd have more money to get healthier food in the weekly shop. Not saying that to he goady, just its an obvious solution.