Please help, my 7 year old daughter is obese! I could cry. :-(

[mummyloveslucy]

My daughter has always been tall, with her weight matching her height. Over the years, she's gained more and more weight. She is now 4 foot 5inches and weighs 84lbs (6 stone) Only 3 stone less than me and I'm 5 foot 6.

She eats healthy food at home. I cook every day. We do eat out a fair bit too and she usually has chicken nuggets and chips. Or carvary, with 2 yorkshires. She can eat an enormous.amount.of.food!.I.have.to.let.her.leave.the.table.feeling.a.bit.hungary.which.makes.me.feel.a.bit.sad.for.her.

She.isn't.that.active,but.we're.looking.into.ways.of.increasing.her.excercise. Eg.maybe.another.swimming.lesson.a.week.Longer.walks.or.another.activity.

She.does.have.problems.with.chronic.constipation.and.has.been.on.lactalose,which.is.like.6..5mil.teaspoons.of.syrup.a.day.We've.now.changed.her.to.Movicol,but.she.doesn't.like.it.It's.very.hard.to.get.her.to.drink.enough.as.well.

Any.advice.would.be.very.welcome.

That would make more sense. I could just about eat a piece of meat the size of my palm although not as thick as my palm - but I did check - some people said fist!

yy to matchbox sized cheese.

I suppose that is partly how people end up overweight in the first place, by misinterpreting suggestions for portion sizes and healthy eating generally.

I was an overweight baby and child then I slimmed down at 16 and have a perfectly normal relationship with food.

I'm a size 8 now.

@bigboobied I think portion size is the biggest thing tbh. If OPs daughter was eating sensible portions of the food emtnioned it is unlikely to cause too much of a problem.

I have struggled with weight (I'm a size 10/12 but have been a 14) and it was all down to portion size. Plus OP says they eat out a lot. Resturant portions are huge. I barely eat out now because of this.

Don't you think appetite has something to do with this as well as portion size. My dcs love food but they don't eat a lot and rarely ask for food in between meals, they don't do much exercise either. I know other dcs who seem permanently hungry and they eat portions twice the size of my dcs and are hungry an hour later. What do you do with a child who is hungry all the time?

The Early Bird Diabetes research suggested that a child's activities levels are hard wired and they will only do a certain amount which is unique to them and you can do very little to change this, they found that organised exercise had very little if any effect on obesity levels in children.

Does she have friends you could invite over?

DS went through a stage where, even though we have playground equipment in the back yard, he would just sit if he was by himself. But if a friend came over they would run around for hours.

SpringGoddess my DS goes through those "permanently hungry" stages and I never deny him but just say "would you like carrots or strawberries" or whatever fruit/veg we've got on hand. And I cut it up small so it seems like more and takes longer to eat. He does try the "but I'm hungry for iiiiicccceee creeeammm" whine, but I figure if he's not hungry enough to eat carrots (which he does like) then he's not truly hungry. :)

take to docs make sure there is no medical condition

then instead of defending yourself by saying she only eats shit at grandma's house. look in your cupboards. write down over the period of a week, that odd bag of crisps, that odd sandwich between meals.

just do your own calculation.

If she hasn't got a medical condition, then your feeding her too much.

to remedy this isn't a mystery. 3 meals a day sensible portion size. lots of exersize.

kids should run around

We honestly don't have junk food in our house! I would just eat it, so I don't buy it. I'd never give a sandwich between meals either.

We've had a good day today! She's walked about 5 miles. (We have waterproofs) She's also had a 1 hour swim. There was no coplaining, as I kept her chatting or playing eye spy etc. She's also had smaller portions and I've upped the fruit and vedge. I'm working on the drinking, but it remains a battle.

When I was a child, I ate loads of puddings, chocolate,sweets and crisps. I was always under weight. My mum was quite worried about me, hence all the fattening foods. I had a small appetite and was very active and a fidgit.

I don't have an alternative to bread or pasta, I just don't eat them. So if we have spaghetti bolognese, I have the meat with a pile of broccoli and cabbage. The greens provide lots of vitamins and good roughage. Much healthier than pasta.

kids need slow releasing carbs so wholegrain pasta is good

What about using rice, couscous or similar grains instead of pasta. Blend other veg into a tomato based sauce rather than using a commercial one. Maybe try gluten free pasta too to see if that helps her digestion.

Yes,she.likes.rice.Hasn't.tried.couscous.We'll.try.gluten.free.pasta.too..

Couscous IS pasta, just little. Quinoa, perhaps?

Couscous has a 25% better GI value than pasta, so is definitely a good alternative, even though it is still semolina based.