plump always hungry 11 year old - any ideas?

[helmum]

All our children are skinny, like me and DH, but our 11 yr old DD is really plump. I let her go to the pound shop to spend her pocket money, and occasionally she sneaks past with piles of sweets. Should I body search her and chuck them out? She nicks any biscuits/sweets we have from the kitchen ( and I don't buy them much) and eats them in secret. There just doesn't seem time in the eves for exercise, and her hobbies are not energetic (music). I know it's pathetic, but I don't want her to get neurotic about her body image but I do want her to slim down a bit. Help!

Is she in puberty? I was a long streak of whathaveyou until I got my breast buds. I became a tiny bit rotund, once I started my periods the weight went. Tragicly, I am now empire state human tall and barrel shaped.
Is she aware of how unhealthy her habits are? I don't know whether healthy eating is presented in schools, I've only ever seen adverts on the telly about how much an individual's mum liked them so kept feeding them. I would stop buying ket the sweets and biscuits, if they aren't in the house she can't eat them. Sorry if this isn't too helpful, I have the opposite problem with mine.

Riven and KLU - thanks! I supposed I'm scared to present it as a problem to her in case it makes her unhappy and makes things worse. Not sure if I should be brave and tackle this head on (my DH opts for this) or just reassure her she will slim down after puberty. And no, she's driven to school of course...but this will change next year. I just don't have the energy to drag her to swimming in the eves after work. Zzzz (blush)

It is difficult - my DD is nearly 11 and a bit too plump - not obese but a lot of clothes (most girls Tshirts and jeans, for instance) wouldn't fit her waist.

She is quite active and never sneaks food - but she always seems to be asking for something to eat. We don't keep much snacky food in the house but what do you do with a child who cries that they really are hungry but won't eat things like wholemeal bread or natural yogurt and only a certain amount of fruit/carrot sticks?

I feel that if I just say 'no' she might start sneaking, or bingeing at her friends (they seem to always have choc/crisps available and they're skinny )

Apart from microwave popcorn I'm stuck on ideas... I did have a good healthy muffin recipe but DH banned it because he was incapable of not pigging them. Grr.