Many kids have noticeably gained weight

[Lazt]

We’re a few days back in school now and I’ve really noticed that many many kids have put on weight since March, quite a number are now noticeably overweight. We’re in a reasonably affluent area where I would’ve said pre lockdown the slightly overweight kids were very much in the minority.

I include my own kids in this who were pretty slim before are definitely chunkier but not overweight.

It’s just so shit. This is not a judgement on parents, just the terrible situation we’ve put our children in.

[quote Chaosatthezoo]@Valleydad99 agree

Glad to see this thread hasn't turned into a parent bashing thread again and I say this as someone whose dc haven't put on weight thankfully. But I can totally understand how plenty have.

[/quote]
There is a fair bit of covert parent bashing! People are obviously just in denial about how much they’re feeding their children...

On the exercise point. I have found over the years walking very effective at keeping slim. Calories used on a four mile walk would make quite an indent into my diet so I don't get the exercise deniers on here. Ok if you are very overweight the few hundred calories here or there aren't going to shift years of weight gain and you need a radical diet.
However kids who are balancing quite well normally could end up gaining with a vast drop in activity like many have had while keeping up their normal diet plus only a bit extra through baking / boredom.

Well let’s look at the maths...

In ‘normal’ times child x eats 2000 calories a day. They burn 500 calories a day through walking to school, walking home, break times and sports clubs.
In lockdown, that child still eats 2000 calories. However their quick walk round the block in their parents lunch break from WFH burns 150 calories. They burn another 150 playing in the garden. That leaves 200 calories a day that they would normally burn but haven’t.
Schools/sports clubs/gyms/dance classes/swimming pools etc were closed for say 120 days. 120 x 150 = 18000 calories extra. 1lb = 3000 calories, so that’s 6lbs.
A lot for a child.
Very crude numbers but shows how a reduction in activity can lead to weight gain in a child who is eating exactly the same as he/she was before.

Actually I fucked up there. 120 x 200 = 24000. So 8lbs. Just by not burning 200 calories a day that they would normally.

Anyone who thinks that their child has piled on the pounds because they havent been exercising during this are deluded. Weight management is about the food, including the type of food, you consume. The exercise is an added benefit. If children have gained that much weight that it is noticeable it is linked directly to what they have eaten i.e the food that their parents have purchased and given them. I can't believe people are saying that missing 2 session of PE a week has made a child put on weight! Take responsibility.

One of my DC has definitely chunked out. He’s diet didn’t particularly change but his activity levels definitely did. I’m praying a growth spurt will sort it out.

*His

@brakethree

Anyone who thinks that their child has piled on the pounds because they havent been exercising during this are deluded. Weight management is about the food, including the type of food, you consume. The exercise is an added benefit. If children have gained that much weight that it is noticeable it is linked directly to what they have eaten i.e the food that their parents have purchased and given them. I can't believe people are saying that missing 2 session of PE a week has made a child put on weight! Take responsibility.

People aren’t saying that though are they? People are saying that their kids missing their walk to school and back, their playtimes at school with friends, their swimming lessons/gymnastics/dancing/football practice and matches/rugby/tennis or whatever activities they do, playing outside with friends after school etc have put weight on. If all your kids do normally is 2 PE lessons then yeah, stands to reason it won’t have an impact.

Prior to lockdown my six year old did the following exercise per week: three swimming lessons, tennis lesson, cricket training, gymnastics, running club, 2 school
PE lessons, multi-sports after school club plus three outside playtimes during the school day. There was no way that could be replicated by one walk per day during lockdown.

@brakethree
Agreed, my kids have probably ate shit while they've been sat at home and I've been working on the front line during the pandemic, leaving me drained on my days off and struggling to shop for and prepare 3 healthy meals a day. As I said I do feel like a failure and that's a reflection on my parenting.
I'm trying to change our diet now we're having some kind of normality.

Mine did in lockdown but since we've been able to do more and go to parks, he's lost it all again.

My 11 yr old dd has gotten quite large and we are worried. Lack of exercise and eating to much out of boredom. 12 year ild ds is as skinny as ever.

DD had definitely got chunkier as well as have a massive growth spurt (about 20 cm from March to July) , she's a competitive swimmer and precovid would eat alot to make up for the 5+ miles she was swimming a week, I adjusted her diet but obviously not enough. She been back training about a month, less sessions and not as intense as normal but she's already started to slim back down.
The active kids will slim back down as OP says it'll be the ones without the opportunity who it will impact most.

@AldiAisleofCrap

Weight is 80% diet 20% exercise , if people’s dc have got fat in lockdown it’s not from lack of PE or cycling to school.

And truth is 80% fact and 20% some random made up numbers?

It's shit what kids have had to deal with during this.

I’m in another country with a second phase lockdown.

They went back to school for a few weeks in June and then it closed again. I noticed then that many children had put on weight and their uniforms were tight . My teen has.
One of my younger ones had sore legs that first week back. He was shocked at how unfit he’d become.

My younger two haven’t got chubby but I’ve noticed their appetites have dropped drastically. They are eating very little and it must be that they are not burning a lot of calories.

We have no garden. And I’m wfh full time as sole parent so it is hard to get them out exercising without nagging a lot. No park nearby.

I’m glad they younger two are eating to their appetite.

With my teen, she has definitely gained weight as she’s has had to drop all her sport. I think she is snacking more from boredom. But I am more worried about triggering an ED.

As a strategy, I am offering her more healthy treats/snack plates as I think she feels like grazing more just to have something to do (I can relate). She is not eating more than normal at regular mealtimes. I’ve said there is no reason to have breakfast if she’s not hungry then (she’s at home anyway so can eat anytime).

Eg of what I offer her / sometimes she makes for herself: veg crudités, salsa with small bowl of tortilla chips; sliced tomatoes or avocados on seeded toast; corn on the cob with olive oil and pepper; lots of herbal tea; one square of chocolate with a handful of almonds; plain yoghurt with homemade (no sugar) muesli; apple slices with smear of peanut butter; popcorn. I cut up fruit for her into small pieces so it looks like a bigger serving etc (cutted up pear ).

I’m doing this too and I feel more energised and have lost weight (hadn’t gained in lockdown, but needed to lose a bit).

@Drivingdownthe101 - my point is that a lot of these activities for primary aged children are half an hour. A child having a 30 min swimming lesson is not burning that many calories. Whilst I agree that children moving all day all adds up and many adults don't move enough so gain weight, it is actually food that makes the real difference. Every time obesity is talked about exercise is at the front. It is difficult, in fact almost impossible for the average person to lose weight by just exercising. More focus needs to be on the food and type of food being consumed and people need to be honest about this.

@Bluebell1995 - I am sorry that my post came across as directly criticising parents like you, I'm not. Many parents, well mothers, have been under a ridiculous amount of pressure during this and it's been impossible to juggle everything. Generally however, where people aren't front line or both working full-time parents are able to keep tabs on this stuff and not blame others.

Agree with PP that it’s stamina, fitness I’m seeing a big difference in. Different if you have a garden, trampoline etc.

It is difficult to lose weight just by exercising, yes. But even a child burning just 100 fewer calories a day than normal due to not walking to school and back/swimming/playing football/doing gymnastics/playing with friends etc will put on approx 4lbs over the time period of all those activities not being available.
4lbs is noticeable on a small child.

And it’s not ‘blaming others’. People are simply saying that lack of activity due to their normal clubs etc not running means their child has put on weight. Not assigning blame. Most parents I imagine will blame themselves and feel pretty guilty, as parents tend to.

It’s the snacking- I’ve really tried to cut it back now. It’s helped that cupboard locks have gone back on the doors due to the baby being able to open them but it was constant snacking, particularly during lockdown. Me too....

I wouldn’t underestimate how much primary children exercise on a normal non pe school day. Mine primary aged DC regularly clock 20000 steps - and that’s before any outside school activities. They are not ‘sporty’ kids, either.

And all my young primary kids activities are an hour (bar swimming). Gymnastics, dancing and football are an hour, swimming lesson is 45 mins.

Brakethree I think you underestimate how much activity some kids do just faffing around with their mates.

Just as some reassurance - my youngest DS definitely put on some weight during lockdown ( I did weigh him in a ‘fun’ way and he wasn’t overweight but heavier). He was lucky to be one of the year groups that returned to school. By the time term finished he’d slimmed down again ( and actually lost a little).

For him it was definitely reduced activity and also I admit I suspect he did eat more whilst at home.

My eldest is very skinny and didn’t change at all - but even in lockdown was much more active than his brother.