Very overweight child

[Imamumgetmeoutofhere]

Has anyone here managed to successfully help their very overweight child either lose weight or maintain their weight until they caught up in height?

My youngest DC is in year 2 and on the 99th centile for their weight. Always has been a bit bigger than others but it's been out of control since they were around 3 years old. I've hoped and hoped it was just puppy fat or that they would grown out of it but no.

Ironically my eldest always was and still is underweight. Both have same mum and dad so it can't all be down to genetics.

Has anyone else dealt with this situation?

I'm feeling ashamed and disgusted with myself really that I let it get this far and I've failed them as their mum.

It absolutely can be genetics. Read 'Why we eat too much'.

@Janeandjohnny

It absolutely can be genetics. Read 'Why we eat too much'.

What I meant is surely it must be more than genetics if they are both so different in build. I don't even know how to help my daughter to be honest, but I don't want to make it a big thing and make it worse for her in terms of making her paranoid about it

But of course they are different, siblings are different genetically in terms of lots of things including weight.
Im not sure what you mean by 'help'? You mean lose weight?
Maybe look at diet as of course you can adjust calories but the book I mentioned and a lot of newer research says that dieting does not work. So is their diet awful, OK, could be improved etc? Im not saying do nothing but whatever you do should be useful to the end goal- so whats the end goal? Lose weight? Keep weight off? Be body positive? Validate your parenting?
Unless their diet is awful why would you blame your parenting?

I'd second reading 'Why We Eat Too Much'. At your child's age, you have pretty much complete control over what they eat, as they are presumably not buying food themselves. Obviously that doesn't mean it's easy for you to change their eating habits, but it's certainly possible. You may need to change the whole family's eating habits to achieve it though. As per the book, don't put your child on a calorie controlled diet or make them eat a lot less, just cut out processed foods and refined carbs and focus on good protein, veg, fibre, some fats and a bit of fruit.

Easier said than done, but you need to find a professional that can help your child lose weight without accidentally causing the beginning of an eating disorder.