My nearly 8 year old has become very podgy 😬

[justanotherneighinparadise]

I’m not sure what I can do 🤔

He doesn’t like sport so he’s not a child that naturally runs around, although he does do PE at school. His food isn’t too bad. I’ll give an example;

One poached egg on a piece of toast for breakfast.
Lunch is half a beef sandwich. Small yogurt. Grapes. Mini pepperami .
Snacks; small bag of organic gingerbread biscuits (they’re aimed at babies and sweetened with grape juice)
Small amount of grapes with a chopped up babybel
Dinner ; chicken curry with rice and a mini naan. Pudding is an ice lolly or a corner yogurt.

Drinks are milk and water.

What do we think? If it’s too much what would you do instead? He would happily skip breakfast but darent incase the school thinks it’s neglect or something 🤦🏻‍♀️ Portion sizes are pretty small but I could cut down the portion size for dinner.

He’s always tracked the 91st centile got height and weight but I’m pretty sure he’ll be over that for weight now. In fact I could do a child’s BMI to get an idea.

If he is putting on weight to the point he's actually looking chubby, then he must be eating more than that or literally sitting infront fo a TV all day.

The first step really is being honest about what you're feeding him.

If he's at school hows he getting all those snacks?

Cut those out and all the yogurts and ice lollies ( stick to one a day)

Actually I’m glad I just did that as it says he’s a healthy weight and on the 90th centile. He just seems to have filled out so much and I’m struggling to get trousers to fit around his middle.

He has the snacks when he gets home.

I’m not sure why there’s an insinuation I’m lying about the food he has. I’m a SAHM and I’m with him all the time outside of school so I know exactly what he’s eating.

Sometimes they get suddenly bigger round the waist just before they shoot up! He might be due a growth spurt.

Growth spurt coming?

That doesn't seem like an excessive amount of food to me. My ds ate way more than that when he was eight...although he was very sporty and never still.

Obviously I’m hoping it’s a growth spurt but I also dont want to rely on that incase it’s portion size. He’s just so thick around the middle and backside now. He never used to be.

I think I’m going to cut down his portion of dinner as I think it’s too big. I kind of cajole him into eating it as I think it’s good for him whereas really I just need to give him less.

Can you not ditch the after school snacks do a slightly earlier dinner then go fir a walk after tea?

Start taking the long way round to school in the morning

Not sporty at all. I’d love him to be more active and he has ample opportunity but unfortunately doesn’t want to run about unless he has to. Can’t stand football for example.

@Whatwouldscullydo

Can you not ditch the after school snacks do a slightly earlier dinner then go fir a walk after tea?

Start taking the long way round to school in the morning

Yes, I can do that. To be honest some of his snacks are what he didn’t manage to eat at lunch but the cheese and grapes are definitely a snack. I could do dinner earlier.

The school is 15 mins away by car so we can’t walk to school. I’d love to but we’re in a village surrounded by busy A roads and that’s the nearest school to us.

Either he’s due a growth spurt or needs to move a bit more. Trick him into it if you need to - tell him you have any to take up running and need him to cycle or scoot next to you?

Aah well that makes life a bit harder ...

If he's not eating all his lunch and finishing it when he gets home maybe leave out the yogurt and the salami. Leave him the grapes cheese and sandwich and he can have the yogurt after the curry.

If he struggles eating tea he's probably full after the snacks so maybe drop ajd see how it goes

My non sporty DS was ok with swimming at that age - does he swim?

I think more movement vs change in diet is probably the answer here.

I did used to take him to park run and he’d scream and cry the whole way round. So he definitely won’t run with me.

Those gingerbread men (organix) are worse than the mcVitties equivalent look at the nutritional information. Sometimes we think we are buying healthy alternatives but in fact we are getting conned by the fancy packaging that looks better.

Saying that I think what you give your child is fine but I’d up the fruit and veg. He’s only having one portion of fruit and no veg, two portions of grapes only count as one of your 5 a day.

The diet sounds ok for an active 8 year old but there could be some things to tweak. How much milk does he drink? If it's a lot that could be the reason. Does he really have poached egg on toast on a typical morning or is that a good day? Sounds like a faffy breakfast, but I've never mastered them.

My dd is the same age and I have previously been worried about her weight (never officially overweight but I think that is partly because she is short so the BMI doesn't work as well if a child is short or tall) but has recently slimmed right down and I'm no longer concerned. A weight gain can come before a growth spurt but I wouldn't just relax and think it's that. If you are struggling to do up his trousers he is almost certainly overweight I'm afraid.

Can you swap to walking or cycling to school? Ditch the milk, up the exercise. Do you have a trampoline? A Gorilla Gym? Can you sign him up to something like trampolining? That's a good sport for children who are less sporty.

He’s having veg as part of dinner.

I didn’t know that about the organix gingerbread men. I was trying to find something for his lunch box that was a bit ‘treaty’ without being crap. What aspect is terrible?

There's a difference between lying and just not being honest with yourself.

I didnt say you were lying; I just said that if he actually is overweight then you need to admit to yourself if you're giving him more than you want to admit to. People always manage to not count a treat here or there etc.

Just make sure you are fully sure he's not getting extra snacks somehow.

He has a professional sized trampoline would you believe that was gifted to us. Doesn’t want to go on it really. He hates getting hot so complains when he does abs Sri’s what he’s doing.

I haven’t looked into classes though. I was going to look at a local judo class. His swimming stopped due to corona.

*and stops

I think you need to up the excerise. His food doesn't sound too bad, I mgith cut the pudding after dinner and you don't need nan and rice, wed do one or the other.

Try parking further from school and walking the rest. Long family walks at the weekend. Enroll him in a sports club.

For example at 8yrs my ds was doing 45min swimming lesson, 2x 90minutes football training, a 60min football match per week. Plus family walks, out on his bike with friends after school most light nights .

Honestly I wouldn't give him the snacks after school. Just give him dinner earlier and don't encourage him to eat! He'll eat what he needs. If he suddenly announces hunger pangs 10 mins before bedtime then a couple of crackers.
My dear friend's 9yo is very tubby despite being really sporty. I couldn't figure it out till I had dinner with them, the poor kids were berated into clearing their plates. Leave them alone!

They grow out then up. Don’t restrict his food intake, it’s a recipe for an unhealthy food relationship. It’ll work out soon

I wouldn't worry, my son got the letter home from school that his weight was a concern at that age,no idea if they still send these out anymore. Anyway, he isn't a 6ft plus beefcake,however at 22 he is 5.10" and very slim. I worry more now than i did when he went through his chunky stage