Any tips on getting an overweight 6 yr old to a healthy weight?

[Bobbybee]

My friends dd is overweight. SHe eats far too much junk food and just wants to eat loads. She's not obese, but looks like its heading that way.
She eats normal healthy meals but its definitely the snacking that's made her overweight. She's getting teased about it at school already and does get upset about it.

My friend has been talking to me about it and we discussed some changes she could make eg having no junk in the house and getting stickers for eating her 5 a day.

Any other suggestions please on how to tackle this?

Find an activity she can enjoy - maybe tap dancing, swimming or trampolining which burn off more calories than it seems - and go on family walks, short at first but interesting.

Er, for the mother to stop buying and giving crap would be a start.

Yes, I think she's finally realised that now.
Unfortunately there are loads of people who don't actually realise how bad junk food actually is.

A good idea would be to try and cut down on the amount of processed/refined carbohydrates in the diet - less bread/pastry/sugar/pasta.

Lots of fresh veg/salad, and more exercise - even if this is just walking to school rather than going in the car. (An example, not saying she does that!)

Smaller plates on which go smaller portions.

Carbs in the morning, protein in the evening.

Exercise in a fun, FAMILY orientated way.

Including treat foods sensibly as part of normal diet. Making treat foods nutritionally valuable where possible, such as a desert that is scrummy but that which provides vitamins or calcium and so on rather than Haribo handouts (!)- fruit ice cream, fruit milkshakes dressed up to look fun and special.

Either making mealtimes strict or allowing snacking by providing strict snacktimes, but most importantly not allowing a help yourself, graze all day on whatever you fancy attitiude.

My dC ask for all food except that which I leave out for them to snack on here and there, i,e. fruit, nuts, crisps, biscuits. I don't only allow healthy raisins to be freely available I also allow a bowl of crisps to be on a table in the afternoon or a plate of bics x2 each...

Mine are all very slim - it is probably a bit genetic too but this is what I do and it works for us at least

Thanks for the suggestions.
She goes swimming once a week and walks a lot as her mum doesn't drive. Her mum also cooks food from scratch so its definitely the snacking thats caused this.
Its quite sad as her mum, like most mums, thought she was doing the best for her dd and didn't think 'treats' were going to cause so much weight gain.

Any ideas for what to replace the unhealthy snacks with, apart from fruit and carrot sticks (which she eats anyway)?

pretzels or popcorn rather than crisps, oatcakes wth low fat cheese spread, rather than crackers and cheese, jelly or sorbet rather than icecream or cakes, buy biscuits which are individually wrapped, so child can have eg ONE penguin, rather than a packet which is open and easier to help herself to. crisps are ok as long as they are the lowfat kind - like french fries or walkers baked.

ensure mealtimes fill child up so they are not elft hungry, jacket potatoes, lentils, pulses and beans, veg, brown rice or pasta, are all low GI and help to fill up for longer. Allow helpings at mealtimes to be as large as child wants as long as they are healthy.

exercise is the key here, walking is great but kids have TONNES of energy which needs to be unleashed. agree trampolining is fab for kids, as is skipping, hula hooping etc - is there a kids athletic club she would want to join?? Weekends should be whole family activity time, long walks, bike riding, hide and seek in the park etc.

I think mother should try and play down the "diet" side of this, and just promote it as new years healthy lifestyle change. Ensre child eats decent breakfast, takes a packed lunch to school with wraps or pitta bread stuffed full instead of sandwhiches, veg and dips, lowerfat crisps, lots of fruit like bananas, tangerines and grapes for example. a snack like cereal with skimmed milk when child comes in from school, or popcorn, then teatime close-ish to bed. No supper except something like a skimmed milk hot choc or something. I think child probably needs to learn that its ok to have an empty stomach occasionally.

sorry for length of post

for her to be stict no matter how hard it is- and i know its hard. she really needs to limit her intake to bf, lunch and dinner with only fruit inbetween. my ds has behaviour problems so i know this is very hard but you have to do it. Also not letting her eat limitless fruit- alot of fruit has a high natural sugar content which is not good. carrot/cucumber sticks and cherry tomatoes are a good snack along with rice cakes or breadsticks. Oh and to be very aware of cereals shes having eg try bran or museli or something plain with lower sugar content like conflakes or rice crispies and obviously skimmed or semi skimmed milk.

Please don't give skimmed milk to a 6 year old!

Im only repaeting what I was told by my sons hospital dietition. Theres nothing wrong with giving skimmed milk when they have cheese and yogurts etc too.

This is from FSA website-

Semi-skimmed, 1% and skimmed milk contain at least the same amount of protein, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc as full-fat milk, but less fat.

Once a child is two years old, he or she can start drinking semi-skimmed milk as long as they are eating a varied and balanced diet and are growing well. However, skimmed milk and 1% fat milk aren't suitable as a main drink for children under five years old, because they don't contain enough vitamin A and skimmed milk is too low in calories, which children need.