Fat child , has anyone successfully helped them lose weight ?

[frumpet]

My DD is fat , not a bit pudgy , but fat . Clearly i never ever say that word to her . She is 11 and will be going to secondary school next year , i would hate for her to start there and be overweight as i know exactly how that pans out .
So has anyone on here helped their child lose weight ? i am not talking fad diets etc , just a steady weight loss to get them back into a normal weight range for their age / size .

Watching with interest. My DD 2 is fat, sorry that sounds awful, but thats the truth. She will eat well at meal times then pinches bits from the cupboards during the evening. We had birthday cake, then she asked for crispd, I said no, have an apple. She went off in a huff. Have discussed making better food choices but takes no notice

I have to admit that dd being fat is 100% my fault , after all i am responsible for buying the rubbish she eats , although she does steal stuff from the cupboards too .
Her appetite was massively effected by medication she had to take , but she no longer takes it .

I have an older DD (15) and she is very slim. She said she would have a chat with her and see if she would go running with her etc. i think DD2 thinks I am having a go at her when I refuse to let her have fatty food. She had a prepaid card for school lunches, but i have stopped it as lunch was a pot of pasta and large cookie!

Do they exercise?

Exercise is the key. There is no point in a one pronged approach, you must ensure healthy eating and physical exercise. My dd was overweight and I managed to get her down to a healthy size. She will never be a skinny minnie like her sister but she is perfect now.

Both of mine eat the same but the older one would be as lazy if I let her, while the younger one is always on the move.

I got her weight down by making sure she was using the trampoline, going out skating, coming with me on her bike when I go for a power walk.

My understanding particularly with adolescents is that it is less about weight loss but about weight maintenance and then they will grow into weight. Education, exercise and a healthy diet are key pieces.

My mum never bought biscuits, cake, crisps or otherwise for the house. We would get it maybe on a Saturday night if we had a video (old alert) or if we were out somewhere. It wasn't part of our daily diet.

I have never bought any of the above for our house either and I do this without thinking about it. Why would I? If I had biscuits in the house - id eat them, daily. If I ate biscuits daily Id be 2 stone heavier by the end of the year.

If I know people are coming I buy biscuits or on the odd occasion bake something but that is it.

Really think about everything in the house. You really need to re think your shopping if you want to help her which obviously you do.
Nobody NEEDS sugary cereals, biscuits, crisps, chocolate, sweets or anything like it. It isn't a food source so don't buy it.

They will moan at first but start telling them the shit that is in there and what it will do to their growing bodies. Don't mention weight as such.

My son is 6 and knows all about MSG's, GMO's, sweeteners etc. He also knows about Antioxidants (or antioxegens as he calls them), vitamins and minerals.

If you talk to her about how bad food can be for her body but also how powerful and good it can be you are educating her for life.

It is sad that she is overweight already but that is just a small problem. Her health is under major pressure at a time when she needs nutrients more than ever. Puberty is the most demanding time for her body.

I watched my 3 year old inhale runner beans tonight because she wanted to run faster than her brothers .

I know an 11 yr old won't fall for this but there are other ways to put it to her.

Maybe tell her how all of the stuff in fizzy drinks, biscuits, processed foods etc is linked to cancer and how you really want the family to be much healthier at a time when food is getting worse. Mentioning her weight will just make her feel bad about herself.

Then tell her how nuts and seeds are amazing for beautiful skin and if she sprinkled it on her cereal everyday it would have her glowing and sparkly eyed within weeks. I don't know what she is like but you could find away of talking to her about it so it would be of interest to her if you see what I mean.

Good luck. I hope I have helped and not made you feel worse as I don't mean to. I just find being negative about processed food and positive about healthy food is so good for kids and they really do respond to it.

Agree with princesspants. Start by not buying crisps oe biscuits. We never had them in the house as kids, and I never buy them in my own house. If I had them, I'd eat them, so I couldn't blame DD for doing the same. (She's not even 2 but you know what I mean.) Good luck.

Two of my children are naturally very slim, but the other two have at one time been at the upper end of the range of healthy weight for their height.

By increasing their activity levels, they maintained the same weight as their height increased, thereby bringing them back to a slimmer shape and a healthier weight for their height.

One increased activity by walking to a secondary school that was three times further than his primary school. The other took up dancing and gymnastics.