Feeding an 'overweight' child

[WideGassySea]

I could do with some advice on my son

He is 5.8 and becoming overweight
He currently is a little over the 75th for height and a little under the 98th centile for weight

I wasnt concerned as he IS tall, but I have noticed he is devloping a definite belly and none of his trousers will do up, even the aged 7 and 8 ones
It is weird tho as soft trousers like joggers he can still happily wear in a 4-5, 5-6 or whatever, but when he wears 6-7 jeans he has an actual muffin top

I realise I must be feeding him all wrong, so I need some advice on things to buy/ put in his lunch box etc. Unfortunately we have both probably gained some weight this year as we have had a fairly traumatic year, so it wont do me any harm either

OK, so his lunch box (which he has 3 days a week) I do him currently
Wholemeal bread or roll sandwich, some reduced fat cant belive its not butter/ utterly butterly/ anchor spreadable with ham or tuna or mackeral pate, or if cupboard is totally bare a rare chocolate spread or jam
A tube/ frube yogurt
A banana or apple
A penguin or HM cupcake
Some juice- varies between fresh apple or some SF squash

I guess I could leave the cake/ biscuit out couldnt I? And make sure its always squash and just have juice for breakfast, and see about finding some fat free yogurts for his lunch. Do you think that would help?

Breakfast is always cereal as I dont think its good to have bread for lunch and breakfast and always about an ounce of something coco-pop style or a portion of porridge or 1-2 weetabix- I know these are all about 120 calories plus the milk from my Slimming World days with some fresh orange or apple juice so I cant see what I can change there- except maybe go for some really worthy cereal that he probably wouldnt eat and then we would never get to school!

Straight from school if he is with me, he will get a piece of fruit or a biscuit or slice or cake or cereal bar with some juice/ squash and the same at after school club

Then tea is something like
Turkey dinosaurs with HM oven chips, peas
chicken dippers with smilies and tinned spagetti
mini roast with roast pots, mid week yorkie and veg
HM chicken nuggets with potato and beans
Fish steak with couscous
you get the picture

Pudding is yoghurt- things like the muller crunch corners, which are probably not good? So maybe thats another place to change thinsg

Any advice very welcome. I really dont want to be raising an overweight child, or be accused of lazy parenting etc etc, but right now I am really worried he is going to end up one of those huge children we see on tv... Or even worse being teased at school

He isnt a massive veg eater- just peas, corn, brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage and DEFINITELY not peppers or cherry tomatoes, and probably doesnt gethis 5 every day, but should get 4 most days

Thanks if you have ideas for me!!

I'm struggling with this myself

The ideas I have based on the menus you've provided are:

1. Portion control - his lunchbox sounds huge - if I compare what I have in terms of my daily lunch (a sandwich or some sushi and a coffee). I'd just send him in with the sandwich and I'd make sure that his portions at home are small

1. Water. You've talked a lot about juices etc but not about drinking water, which is much better for them. We always serve big jugs of iced water with every meal, and I send both children into school with a water bottle. All those juice drinks are highly calorific. The DCs do have a small glass of freshly squeezed orange or apple at breakfast, but after that, juice is off the agenda. Same for meals out. Every restaurant will serve a jug of tapwater if you ask for it and it's cheaper too!

Just my thoughts on what you've posted. I'll keep reading with interest.

Good luck with it.

How much exercise does he get? Do you need to work on getting him more active?

I aim to serve veg with every meal, so if I'm doing a packed lunch there would be vegetables in it - for ds this is usually frozen edamame and corn in a little pot, or sometimes broccoli in a little oil and lemon juice. I give him a biscuit some days but not always.

I would say your evening meals could be more nutritionally varied. You have a fair amount of processed food in there, could you try to increase the amount of fresh vegetables, serve boiled potatoes instead of smilies etc? The range of vegetables your ds eats doesn't sound that bad to me. Fruit for pudding most days, with plain yogurt and a little honey?

And how are your portion sizes? It's often recommended to give dcs a smaller amount to start with, then offer seconds if they want it.

My one comment would be that it does seem like a lot of sweet things

sweet breakfast cereal
sweet yoghurt
cake/ biscuit
more cake or biscuit after lunch
muller corner crunch
plus all that juice

I think you should certainly look to cut down some of these not least for the sake of his teeth.

I am struggling with this same problem with my dd. She is almost 4 and just loves sweet things. I find myself having to be mean mummy and stopping her over-indulging. I have started buying oat cakes and breadsticks to offer as snacks as well as fruit. My problem is that as I am back at work she is with other people a lot and well meaning grannies and friends oblige her.

It difficult isn't it?

I would look at portion size first (lunchbox sounds ok and what I send for dd) and then I would concentrate on making him more active does he go out to play/swim/ride a bike, etc?

Only give him water to drink - there are a huge amount of empty calories in squash and fruit juice.

He is having 2 cakes plus 2 puddings a day - I would reduce this to either one pudding or one cake/biscuit - substitute fruit.

You have done well with the veg he will eat but his tea seems to have a lot of processed "childrens" food in it. I would say that oven chips, potato smiles, chicken dippers, tinned spaghetti, turkey shapes and chicken nuggets should ideally be occaisional if that. It would be healthier to cook him adult food from scratch. Do you eat the same food as your ds?

Protein at breakfast keeps kids feeling full - a boiled egg or bacon samdwich rather than cereal every day is an idea.

a lot of it is processed isn't it?

why dippers and dinosaurs? why not put some skinless chicken drumsicks in the oven? you can marinate them in something to make them tastier.. lemon juice, bit of olive oil, garlic, or some honey and dark soy.. also nice cold in a lunchbox the next day

and boiled potatoes or mash

sugar free squash not always taht great as has got aspartame in it, which some people swear makes them hungrier/crave more sweet stuff

lots of processed and tinned stuff has more sugar and salt in it..

Breakfast and Lunchbox is same as DD (6), roughly. Although I make 1/2 a sandwich now and not a whole one as she said it was too much.

If she has a cake or cereal bar at lunch though, she gets yoghurt or fruit for pudding at dinner time.

I would cut out the squash, reduce the portion size at dinner time or give less meat/pots and more veg.

And agree with lulu - chicken drumsticks better than chicken dippers, for example. Look bigger but they end up with less, but better quality, chicken. (I think)

Hi Quattro
Sorry, yes he drinks masses of water too. The juice he takes to school is mostly sugar free, and I just checked and the cartons are 12 kcals each, so probably not too bad. The juice with breakfast I count as one of his 5 a day
But honestly the child is ALWAYS thirsty!! Never known anyone like it!! He only has juice with lunch and after school snack.

Does the lunchbox really sound big? I took advice from friends (via facebook) and from the DoH eatwell site and thought that a sandwich, fruit, yogurt, biscuit and drink was about right, I think he would be ravenous on just a slice of bread :-) But I will leave the biscuit/ cupcake out and see how that goes

alarkaspree
Excerise wise, he does football club one night a week, plays out on his bike 2 nights a week and all weeekend (the wii has only been turned on about 10 times since Christmas!) when at home, but less so when away with his dad I think probably, but he is very asthmatic so does get a bit out of puff. Luckily it doesnt slow him down for lonh tho. After school club nights they tend to do stuff int he school hall or out on the field but I am not sure how much activity it involves, but he always has a very red face when I get there
You are right about the processed food, as I work full time, although I condense my hours so I can pick him up 2 nights a week, so those tend to be the better nutrional days and the days I collect him at 5.30 fromteh football club is the staright from freezer days

I have started to give smaller portions- he looks most aggrieved and I always allow more if he asks- should I be saying no to seconds if it is 'good' food like boiled or roast pots, chicken, couscous etc etc
I always say no to a 2nd yogurt and offer fruit, but he eats that too ...

do you have time at the weekends or one evening, to do a bit of batch cooking, or time to put stuff in a slow cooker before work?

i often make a huge vat of meat/tomato sauce that can be made into chilli or bolognese or lasagna, i freeze it in those silver foil lidded containers.

i also make a casserole or curry in the slow cooker and portion it up for the freezer, so on busy nights, there is something there

but i don't think that oven chips /dippers is a problem once a week or less, and fishfinger sandwiches, wtih lettuce and tomato and salad cream are very popular chez lulu! as long as plenty of good fresh home cooked stuff majority of the time

you can put a whole raw chicken in the slow cooker, on a bed of celery and carrots, finish it off in teh oven to brown for half an hour with some jacket pots that you've microwaved first .. you can use the chickeny juice in the slow cooker as a base for a soup too...

Oh crikey, loads of cross posts!

Mulgul yes, he is a sweet food fan. Mostly his after school snack is fruit- like pineapple or cut up apple/ banana but yes there does eem to be a theme. thank you for the outside eye. Bread sticks we used to have a lot and I recall now they do at the ASC so will get some in too

seona he is a fairly active lad. Not much organised exercise but lots of moving around

Fatty Will look at changing the after school snack over. Processed food is a necessary evil of full time working for me. I always eat with him on the days I finish early, unless we have other children over, and vary on the days I finish late, depending on his mood and how quickly I need to get food on table and him to bed

Lulumama I have tried chicken drumsticks and he isnt at all keen. The dippers & dinosaurs are far from nightly and I batch freeze really good coated chicken breast and nuggets that I make from scratch and cook as well

MNToro What do you do for after school snack?

so it sounds like he is getting plenty of good food too !

maybe it is more portion size then?

There are a lot of people on here that swear they have lost lots of weight after stopping drinking SF juice. It can trigger cravings and mess about with metabolism in some people.

Does he get food at after school club too?

I wouldn't give a yoghurt and a cake at lunchtime.

I would give a higher fibre/lower sugar breakfast cereal plus protien at breakfast time.

He seems to get quite a lot of empty calories ie lots of processed potatoes, tinned spaghetti, juice. The processed poultry will probably be higher in calories than ordinary chicken.

I have a similar problem with dd which is compounded by ds being underweight. I try and give her more veg and less carbs than him and smaller portions in her lunchbox but its hard to stop her noticing the inequality.

Cut all puddings out.
Stop the juice
Make sure he isn't eating close to bedtime

Does he walk to school?

You could keep his food the same but just increase his exercise. Suggest a game of football in the park on the way home or take him swimming.

I'm not their biggest fan but Weight Watchers do a really good book on healthy eating as a family with lots of sensible suggestions.

There is a lot of sugar in his diet, and the processed food will also contain huge amounts of salt, which will make him bloated and cause water retention.

Working full time is not a reason for not cooking properly. You could try batch cooking at the weekend, or keeping some of whatever you have for dinner for him to have the next day.

Also I would just offer fruit and yoghurt for puddings.

Not being funny but i see very little processed food in his diet as the chicken products are home made.

Do agree re the SF juice tho as DH used to go thru liters now we have other made traditionally made sugar squash and he is drinking much less and also not as interested in sweets/crisps etc as compared to when drinking SF juice.

Exercise is good for health but doesnt do a lot for weight loss.

When DD1 was around 8/9 we noticed that she was putting on weight. Before doing anything we started a food diary to find out where the problem was. We recorded the calories for absolutely everything she consumed. In her case we discovered the culprit in one day - she was drinking a huge quantity of a no added sugar drink which in fact contained a lot of 'natural' sugars.

In agreement with her we cut this down to one small glass with water after. Her weight quickly settled down.

I would recomend this approach but it is hard work as verything has to be weighed/measured. You may find that there is one culprit or that portion size is an issue but without checking you wont know.

For snacks how about things like cut up carrot sticks, cucumber, pepper with hummous.

Oat cakes also good.

I buy twiglets in the little packs as they're tasty and the children like those with hummous too.

I don't let mine have masses of fruit and don't buy juice/squash as its so bad for their teeth.

Porridge is good for breakfast - definitely lose the coco pops type cereal. With a little honey if necessary or some greek yoghurt.

I also buy plain greek yoghurt rather than flavoured ones and my children eat that.

Dinner wise - pasta with home made tomato sauce is always popular. I also make my own pizzas as a treat.

Could you get him involved in choosing what to eat and helping to cook/prepare it. So he makes the salad to go with the pasta.

And definitely watch portion size - he may need to re-learn when he's had enough to eat.

MixedNutPlate - there is something processed in nearly every meal: coco pops, frubes, penguin bars, turkey dinosaurs, dippers, smilies, beans, tinned spagetti, yorkshire pud (unless homemade, muller corner. IMO that is a LOT of processed food especially for a child.

If your child is thirsty all the time and is putting on weight I'd take him to the GP to talk about getting him tested for diabetes.

On the diets side of things cut out all the juice whether sugar free or not. Pure juice is too refined, has too many calories and contains no fibre - give him a piece of fruit instead and make his body work for it's nutrients! Sugar free juice is very acidic so will still attack teeth enamel, the artifical sweeteners encourage the body to crave the sugar it expected but was denied and what's more the sugar free juice is full of nasty artifical additives.

Don't encourage something sweet after every meal, it's a bad habit. If my kids have had a good few portions of veg in their meal we often won't even do fruit afterwards.

I would also restrict processed oven meals to once a week - everyday is just too much.

And of course exercise more - as a family, swim, cycle, go for walks, play football and rounders in the park, make it inclusive.

Eat with your children, at the table, definitely not in front of the TV as this encourages everyone to eat more. And as far as possible no snacking between meals.

Don't keep junk food in the house, it's too tempting. If your child fancies a treat, then walk to the shops to get it.

Have a general plan of healthy eating but allow a few small treats every week.

Have read this with interest as DD2 is also overweight. I buy almost no processed food at all and drinks for her are largely restricted to milk or water (mainly water). Her problem is simply a love of food. SHe doesn't eat much 'junk', but she does eat alot. Unfortunately she is also a bit of a thief and will raid the fridge or cupboard unbeknown to me. I try not to keep much in the way of treat type things, however much the rest of us would like them, just because if there is anything like crisps, cakes or sweets in the house she would sniff them out and consume in one go. It's hard because you can't regulate every bite they eat, however hard you may try. I feel a complete failure because she is getting so overweight and I don't seem to be able to halt the weight gain and I have DH absolutely refusing to help me because in his mind any form for attempted weight control will lead to anorexia. I have tried to explain that anorexia is mainly a mental issue but obesity is almost an epidemic. It's about health for me, not image.

What nulgirl said - just too many sweet carbs in one day. Switch some of these to fruit or savoury wholemeal stuff - he's probably a bit sugar addicted (as so many of us are, including me)