DD(4) is overweight - what changes can I make?

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My DD is 4, 5 in June. She's in reception. She was recently measured and weighed in school and she is slightly overweight at 110.4cm and 22kg. It hasn't come as a shock as she's my third and has always been bigger than they were at the same age. But she was also born much bigger...she was an almost 10lb baby, my DH is 6ft3 and I'm 5ft10. My other two are tall but very lean.

But I can't keep using 'but she was born big' as an excuse. I want to address is but gently. I want to make small changes that will help her over a longer term not a quick fix.

She's not hugely active but doesn't do nothing. She swims and does a dance class once a week. She supposedly scoots to school (10mins each way) but a lot of the time we end up pulling her along on it! We often go for walks at the weekend with her either walking or on her bike but it's not long before she's whining about her legs being tired. We could do more but she's still only 4.

Her diet isn't great. This is where we need to make the biggest change. She's fussy. She hates veg, mainly eats pasta and potatoes, a bit of fruit and she has a big sweet tooth and is a grazer. I make the vast majority of their meals from scratch and they don't eat that much junk food apart from the odd pizza. She loves spaghetti bolognaise, tomato pasta (homemade sauce with masses of blended veg), shepherds pie (mainly the potato topping!) and jacket potatoes. She eats a bit of egg. She doesn't like chicken, fish (apart from tuna pasta) or seafood. I often make things like casseroles but she'll basically eat the mash and leave the rest. But I'd love to get her eating more veg, more protein and less heavy carb meals. Suggestions would be welcome.

I also need some ideas for healthier puds. She loves dessert after dinner and I don't want to stop her having it altogether but I need to mix it up a bit and move away from ice cream or chocolate mousse! I often freeze smoothie in ice lolly moulds which she likes, but generally she doesn't love fruit (although eats a reasonable amount) and doesn't like yoghurt much either!

I should add that my oldest was a dreadful eater and it was the cause of so much stress. He's fine now so I've been trying not to worry too much about DD's bad habits in the hope she'll come good in the end. But I know it's not great!

If she’s a grazer make sure there’s plenty she can graze on that’s healthy - cucumber, peppers and carrot sticks, hummus, cherry tomatoes etc.
To encourage her to eat veg can you take her shopping for a special ingredient each week - let her choose and get her to help cook it.
Also try serving the carrots in batons instead of circles or vice Versa - sometimes it’s the smallest things that make a difference!!
Could you start growing some veg? Or get her her very own tomato plant this year?
And remember that in order to get an average sized child you have to have bigger ones and smaller ones!

This. She doesn’t need pudding. Fruit only. Allow her and siblings to help meal planning/make suggestions, and offer no alternatives. And stop the ‘she’s only four’. She’s not a baby, she needs to move, every day. Cut any tv time, more exercise, ignore any whining. Walk/bike to school if time and distance allows.

@MintJulia, could I ask what sugar-free ketchup you buy please? My DD loves it. I buy the Heinz low sugar low salt one but haven't come across a sugar-free one.

Thank you for all the tips and advice here. I'm reading them all. I don't agree with them all but I appreciate the replies anyway.

@JaninaDuszejko, yes we do have a trampoline but my DC are the only ones in the world who don't really like it! The problem is it's quite a small one so can only go on one at a time. They don't find it that fun. She does go to a childminder two afternoons a week though and love going on her much bigger trampoline with the other children. The weather has been a bit warmer this week too so they've started using it again.

I realise as well that I don't take her to the local playground during the week as much as I did with my older two. Mainly because I was a SAHM then whereas I work 3 days a week now so don't have many free afternoons after school. And my older kids have outgrown the playground now so don't want to come, but one isn't quite old enough to be at home alone.

I had one very chunky baby and toddler, she was definitely going up the percentiles for a while. She just loved her food but now at 8 she has completely slimmed down and is actually slender (as are her siblings) compared to many classmates. I honestly never thought about, let alone worried about it.

Our kids are encouraged (made!) to do lots of exercise though and eat pretty healthily which probably helps. We don't have desserts during the week (in fact hardly any sugary foods save the odd spoonful of honey on porridge) and often not at the weekend as I know they are having them as part of their school lunch. They only drink water too.

A few tweaks to your/their diet and a little more exercise are probably all you need to do (and for general health rather than losing weight). I would also be concerned about the possibility of future eating disorders if you do any more than this.

@Mariposista, when I said, 'we could do more but she's only 4', what I meant but didn't actually type was that I didn't want to start signing her up for more activity clubs because she's only 4 and already does swimming and dance. But we can do more incidental activity and movement yes.

@BigotSpigot, thanks. I do agree with you and think this will be the case with my DD to. My oldest was a big baby and chunky toddler too but had slimmed down a lot by 4. But he was always charging around everywhere and barely ate 😂

We are actually a really active family, but things slow down in winter so we haven't been doing much aside from our weekend walks. We do occasionally go swimming at the weekend and she loves ice skating. During the summer we do loads of cycling and loads of water sports, but she isn't quite at the stage where she can join in that much yet.

And diet-wise, the rest of us eat really well. I follow a low insulin diet so limit carbs and sugar, aside from wine at the weekend I don't drink sugary drinks, and for the family wholegrain carbs are the norm, almost everything is cooked from scratch, junk/convenience food is minimal, loads of veg with every meal, but my youngest chooses not to eat it as she hates veg and only eats the potato and pasta! My DH is the one who buys snacks and treats etc which I don't mind hugely, but the problem is we're not strict enough about not allowing her the treats and snacks if she hasn't eaten the good stuff in her main meal. At least it's obvious what we need to work on!

My eldest was the same in reception. I brought in a 2 ‘treats’ a day rule. Usually they will choose crisps and a small choc bar. Kit Kat or similar. Once they’ve had them. Even if it’s in their packed lunch there’s no more. It’s either fruit or yogurt.
Its actually made a big difference and neither are veg lovers but eat heaps of pasta/ rice etc. It’s the snacks that put the weight on though.
They don’t get pudding. Unless they have their treat left then it’s usually a bar. Otherwise it’s fruit or yogurt

You are half way there if you can see the gaps. And I totally get when you have children at different ages as we unconsciously give treats early, we move in from playgrounds etc.

Maybe something like family tag rugby game might get all ages moving. We do a bit of roller blading, footie and decent hikes.