Overweight 10yo ds wants to do weight watchers

[Mummypig2020]

Ds weighed himself a few days ago. We are open about weight/healthy eating/unhealthy eating etc. We all could do with getting healthy and losing weight. Except my Dd who is naturally slim and can eat anything.

Ds is 4ft10 and weighs 7stone3. He carries a lot of weight on his belly. He walks around topless and you can really tell. I feel so sorry for him but it’s my doing.

I do ww. I had a delivery from their website today and he asked if he could do it. Iv currently lost 4 stone through it.

I don’t know what to do. He knows you get so many points a day etc but obviously he’s too young.

I don’t know what to do 😩 I started my first diet at his age and have constantly battled since. I don’t want him to have to deal with the same.

Don't let him do it. Focus on upping his exercise instead, what sort of sports/activity does he do at the moment?

He runs a lot, and plays after school for a good two hours playing football ect. He was so active before lock down 😩

This makes me very sad as somebody who was a grossly overweight child/teen.

I turned it around upon leaving my parents house at 18 and I’ve been a healthy weight ever since but I do identify the struggles i faced and the insecurities I developed as being ‘their fault’, despite being close to them now. At least you acknowledge that this is your doing and can help him before the real high school bullying or health problems kick in. WW at 10 years old isn’t the answer though, lots of exercise and healthier food is.

No way. Exercise, healthy portions and work on maintaining his weight and thus growing out of it, if you see what I mean. Emphasise that he's beautiful and perfect AND has just put a bit of weight on top of his perfectly healthy body and that he will grow out of it as he looks after his health.

Don’t let him do WW. It is not designed for 10 year olds! Instead, focus on educating him on healthy eating and exercise habits that he can take throughout his life - it sounds like you know you have had an unhealthy relationship with dieting and you want the best for him, and helping him now will do that. If he wants to do it, half the battle won already

Down load my fitness pal instead so he can monitor what he eats to get a balanced diet etc.

Get him to really up his exercise, his next growth spurt will slim him down as well.

What is his portion / food intake like?
Homestly?

Give us an example of what he wouod have in afew days?

Do not let him do WW....

Healthy portions. Lots of vegetables. Water

Very few snacks.

Walks, bike rides, as soon as lock down is fully over, back to sports.
Can you do dvds together? You can get them cheap on ebay....
Kids zumba? Kids Boxercise?

I think we are seeing a lot of posts like this because of lockdown. Kids have had less opportunity to be active, walking to school, doing sports, playtime etc. So don't feel bad as you won't be the only one!

Plus they've had less distractions so may be eating more

Following, as my 12yo DS is 4 feet 10 and I am going to weigh him tomorrow. I suspect he is a similar weight, maybe a little lighter. Lockdown has meant that his normal daily exercise which was walking to and from the bus stop for school and Games lessons twice a week have stopped. I don’t think the laying in the garden, some walks and some cycling have been anything like a substitution. And we’ve all probably eaten more.

It’s great that you’ve recognised that his weight is above what it should be and you’re taking a thoughtful approach to how to act! Lockdown is tough with the lack of activity but it could be an ideal time to make sure the whole family is eating a healthy, balanced diet as I guess he is at home a lot more and you have more control over what he eats now.
I’d concentrate on healthy portions, lots of veg, very very few unhealthy snacks and water to drink. Exercise is great and will help with his health and mental health but it’s diet which has a bigger impact on weight.

Could you get him to follow along to videos like this?

They should be fairly fun but get him moving again. You could also try creating snack baskets, for him and his sibling so that he doesn't feel singled out? fill a small basket with fruit/veg snacks and one sweet one (something like a bear fruit yoyo), and that is their snack limit for the day. Once they are gone, they are gone. You could get a portion plate like this, put the food into it to check you have got the portion size correct, and then decant the food onto a regular plate without him seeing. www.amazon.co.uk/MyPlate-Divided-Kids-Balanced-Sections/dp/B01GXXQI58/ref=pd_sbs_201_1/260-0434492-2887614?psc=1&pf_rd_p=2773aa8e-42c5-4dbe-bda8-5cdf226aa078&_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_wg=BfIKR&pf_rd_r=WE7VEPP0N0FQV002PCCV&pd_rd_i=B01GXXQI58&pd_rd_w=ZRrdO&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&refRID=WE7VEPP0N0FQV002PCCV&pd_rd_r=854c1d42-a0f0-4a1d-9d8d-0861834bf709

But please don't let him get hung up about his weight.Play him body positive videos (there are ones for kids on youtube).

Diets do NOT work. You know this. If they worked you would have spent most of your life on one. You'd have lost the weight once and that would have been it.

So what works. Changing your entire lifestyle around food and exercise works. He's 10. Any sensible changes you do now, as long as they are permanent, will become normal for him over the next few years, then he'll be an adult with a healthy lifestyle who doesn't need to diet.

What permanent changes can you make? Not short term fixes, permanent.

Agree 100% with @titchy
My aunt took me to slimming world when I was 10 or 11 and I've been a lifelong yo-yo dieter.
It really is about long term healthy eating habits, not points, syns, calories and especially not at 10 years old.

Lots of kids I've seen have put on a bit of weight during lockdown, lack of structure and activities is having an impact.

My dd slightly overweight so I'm focussed on set meal times, daily exercise and routine, I don't want to inflict my years of fad diets into her, it's also helped me lose a bit of weight too.

Thank you all!

Right this is what he eats (honestly- no point lying).

Breakfast- cereal (a sugar one like cinnamon crunch OR wheatabix depending what’s in the cupboard)

Lunch- a ham wrap, a sweet like a penguin bar, crisps and sometimes a banana. Maybe some mini scotch eggs too 🙈

Dinner - we eat a lot of home cooked food as Dh does the cooking and he loves it. So unless he’s on lates it’s normally something like fajitas, chicken kebabs with pita bread and salad (he only eats lettuce and cucumber 🙃)

Then he will be straight back upstairs after dinner

He comes down around 7.30pm for a pudding which could be either a penguin bar, yogurt, Ice lolly.

He doesn’t eat that bad, but his portions are big. I would say they aren’t much smaller than ours and he eats it all.

We have had an honest talk about it last night

He knows he’s put weight on. He said he can feel it on his legs and belly. M
He weighs 6stone12 and is 4ft10.

We have decided to not follow ww and to just change our eating habits. He had egg on toast this morning instead of a huge bowl of cereal.

Iv made his packed lunch, it’s a sandwhich with ham and lettuce, a banana, hula hoops and he has taken a ww chocolate because they need eating lol.

For tea tonight we have chicken kebabs (the stick ones lol) with pita and salad (it was already planned)

Iv charged his Fitbit and he wants to start exercising more.

The thing is we go on long walks, like 3 hours a lot. But we also have a 4 year old that holds us down as a family lol.

and he has taken a ww chocolate because they need eating

They don’t need to be eaten. They can be binned.
And recognising that there is an issue is a great first step.

If he was an 18 year old girl with that height and weight he would be on the lower end of a normal BMI.

Are you sure he's overweight? He hasn't just got a little bit of a belly laid down prior to a growth spurt? Both my sons did at that age and didn't have it for long as they shot up.

I’ve made his packed lunch, it’s a sandwich with ham and lettuce, a banana, hula hoops and he has taken a WW chocolate because they need eating lol.

And it was going so well!

No to the hula hoops OR the chocolate.

Yes to a piece of fruit.

Good idea to set him on the WW/SW path. They do not statistically work long term.

My dd2 (7) started to get a bit of belly fat because she was having a big plate of pasta every day and not burning it off like she would do at school so I have cut that down massively.

Just watch his carb and sugar intake

I don't believe your description of his diet and that's probably the problem. Have you seen those tv programmes where they describe their diet then they film them and sooooooo much more is eaten! In lockdown in some ways it is easier to control their food but that would mean controlling what you buy for you as well. Would you be able to get rid of the extras and really just go with what you describe? It would probably be enough then, if you just reduce portion size a bit.
So the crisps and chocolate bars are out completely (are they really just eaten at lunch?) as you stop buying them.

That packed lunch does sound absolutely massive though! I'm overweight, and it's about the size of something I would eat!!

To the poster who said diets don't work - yes they do. sensible diets work. The reason people regain weight is when they start to overeat again.
Op do you keep fizzy drinks in the house?

WW / SW are designed to fail (it's a business- they want repeat custom!) So focussing on sustainable lifestyle change is key.

Honestly, a lot of this comes down to you, and it's evident that your mindset isn't quite right (e.g giving chocolate rather than just binning it).

You need to look critically and nutrition and healthy lifestyle info, and put it in place for the whole family (obviously alongside dh, if he's the primary chef this is his job too!).

I'd start by looking up portion sizes for kids of his age - they're a lot smaller than you think!

All diet foods/drinks are stuffed with sweetners they actually make you crave sweet sugary stuff/carbs. Bread is carb heavy!

You have identified he has large portion sizes so it's likely easiest to reduce the carb element of his diet plenty of veg and protein.

Don't buy crisps/biscuits and the temptation is not there for any of you.

"Diet" is the word for the food you eat. Everyone one is on a diet!

Come off the WW diet start eating healthily with him. Sorry but I don’t think his diet is “not that bad”.
The chocolate you described “doesn’t “need eating”. It’s cheap crap, can be thrown away.
The earlier you start giving your children good foods the easier it is to continue into teens.
I don't even know how sweet cereal is a breakfast thing, it has more sugar than many desserts. By having most types of cereal for breakfast, you ensure a steep and fast energy dip - time for a pick me up snack before lunch then.

You’re very lucky that your DS is keen to do something about it. Only in childhood you can create new fat cells, in adulthood they only expand, hopefully then shrink with right diet but never go away. That’s why childhood obesity is the worst type IMO.