DD is overweight - how to respond

[FeelinTwentySixPointTwo]

My DD, 10, is overweight and I'm torn as to what, if anything, to do about it at this point.

She was born on the 91st centile and has tracked it throughout. She is tall for her age and "big" all over - eg she has size 6 feet - but has just started falling into the overweight category for BMI.

She is very active and we couldn't really add more activity into her schedule. We walk everywhere as a family and weekends are very active too. During the week she does sports out of school (dancing, cross country running, swimming and cycling). As my username suggests, I'm a runner so she has grown up with sport being the norm.

As a family, we eat healthily and desserts tend to be yoghurt and fruit if we have them. We don't have takeaways and don't really have unhealthy snacks in the house. Her issue is portion size. She's always hungry and will frequently want seconds. If we say no she'll cry and say she's still hungry. We offer healthy snacks and try to get her to fill up on protein etc but it's the sheer volume of food she wants to eat that seems to be the problem.

For context, me and her dad are both slim, as are her siblings.

I'm stuck as to whether this is something that needs tackling now, before she turns into an overweight teen and adult, or if she might slim down when she hits puberty.

At the moment she appears very unaware of the fact she's overweight. We don't discuss weight, don't make it an issue, and she's not remotely body conscious. Ideally I'd like it to stay that way but I know things can't continue on this same trajectory.

Funnily enough I’m finding the protein on the go a problem too (peri meno woman, and her hangry kids too!!)

I’m taking slices of turkey in a Tupperware, and now the weather’s warmer we have mini ice packs in zipped lunch boxes to keep it cool.

sometimes we have sausage rolls or cocktail sausages

i always carry lots of apples and try to get them to eat one at the same time (my mantra is if you don’t want the apple, you can’t be that hungry!)

I’d welcome other suggestions for high protein, minimally processed snacks, if anyone has any?!

I think BMI is pretty useless for tall, sporty, pre pubescent children, especially girls. I think you are over thinking every aspect of her diet because this measurement, which is largely unproven outside of adult white men, is flagging up concern, when really there may be no concern.

Measuring kid’s BMI in school is beneficial at a population level. But arguably it’s pretty useless at an individual level.

Personally, I think she sounds fine. Far more than ‘fine’, actually , I bet she is doing way more exercise than the average 10 year old. Her diet also sounds significantly better than my 9 year old nephew, who despite having a low-normal BMI, largely lives off junk food.

I wouldn’t overthink it right now. I’d let the next few years play out. I’d keep sports and a healthy diet as none negotiable as possible. But I wouldn’t start limiting her portions of healthy food.

DOI: I was a tall and broad child who did lots of sports and swam to county level. Pre puberty, I would have definitely been overweight on the BMI scale despite eating generally good food. By the end of high school I was a size 8 and I’ve been that way ever since, despite doing a lot less exercise than the beginning of high school.

High protein snacks:

Hard boiled eggs
Cottage cheese and blueberries
Cold roast chicken

@Muddymiddle

It’s normal at this age. Especially for tall sporty girls
please do not shame her
watch n wait
let her learn to listen to her body.
she eats when she is hungry
drinks enough water
and stops eating when she is ful
if you intervene now she will lose valuable learning

for example we slow our child down but don’t say no. Eg - please eat a carrot before you have seconds or an apple before sweet stuff.

my experience is they eat eat eat. Fatten up and then suddenly get taller.

keep plotting in the red book and don’t fret yet.

High protein snacks:
Hard boiled eggs
Cottage cheese and blueberries
Cold roast chicken

These are the sort of things we have when we're at home or out for a picnic with a coolbag, but it does tend to be easier to put cereal bars or fruit in rucksacks if we're heading off to sports clubs or out for a full day etc.

Lots of good advice on this thread, so thank you.

My DGS does not recognise when to stop eating so he will eat and eat until he is sick! Obviously, his DP do make him stick to “normal” portions but this does not stop him from asking for more!
It’s hard when they resort to tears but, sometimes, it’s necessary.
Good luck with regulating your DD’s eating.

Size 6 feet? I’d bet she’ll rocket up. I was a junior 12 at her age and I’m 5’4

Haven’t read all responses. I was a bigger child growing up with a slim, very active mum. I just remember being hungry all of the time from a young age. It made me go absolutely bananas when I earned my own money, and I went to a size 20.
Basically don’t make your daughter feel defective because she doesn’t share your metabolism. She likely knows she’s different. Speak honestly about hunger and get her to do that internal check in about whether it’s hunger, boredom, anxiety etc. My mum didn’t do this, and my disordered eating is partly due to feeling that something was wrong with me as I needed to eat more than an avocado with some salad for lunch like mum did.

Size 6 feet? I’d bet she’ll rocket up. I was a junior 12 at her age and I’m 5’4

Yes, size 6 feet in year 5 does seem really out of the ordinary. She's the second-tallest in her class as well.
At the same age I was average height and had much smaller feet. I don't remember what size I was at 10 but I do remember being a 5 when I went up to secondary school. Her dad isn't particularly tall and nor are her siblings.

@FeelinTwentySixPointTwo I had size 6 feet age 7.... I am now 5'10, size 8 feet. I grew loads until I was 11 and have been 5'10 ever since. My entire immediate family are short but my maternal uncles and grandad were all very tall... sometimes it just goes like that.