Son puppy fat

[blondebird69]

My DS is 13 in August. He is not very tall probably about 148-149 cm so under 5ft (as I am just). He hasnt hit puberty yet as he has no underarm hair and not sure about anywhere else. However he has got quite a belly on him and people have started to make comments. I am concerned about it and wondered will he hit puberty soon, will that make a difference?
He is not the healthiest eater even tho I try and encourage him to. He wont eat salad or drink much water. He doesnt do much excercise either. Not sure what to do. He has had a hard time at school and I dont want to see him bullied.
To make matters worse DD who is 27 months younger has started puberty and is nearly the same height.

I have one who eats anything which used to breathe and one who is vegetarian.

Thanks for the abuse, guys!
("I am an eating disorder waiting to happen", "hysterical", "tell all other parents that they are crap")
Clearly, some people are incapable of having a civilised debate. Shame really!

Let's just get one point straight: it's a scientifically proven fact that most (most!) parents with overweight children think they are not overweight. I always found that hard to believe - surely one can look at any child in a swimming costume and easily tell if they are overweight or not.

But quite obviously, this thread is a confirmation of these scientific facts.

It is also a scientific fact that our society has an obesity epidemic that is worsening by the day and that 'normal eating' will lead to being fat because that is what is the norm today. If your want to stay slim all your life you have to eat significantly differently from normal society.

Now, before you angrily sit down to haul more abuse into my direction, remember that you may very well be one of these majority of people who can not tell a fat child/teen from a normal weight one.

Nobody's being abusive MRJJ - you were the one who came on this thread angry.
Most posters are perfectly capable of having a civilised debate.

I'd not disagree with you that the majority of parents of overweight children are in denial about them being overweight - I didn't know about the 'scientifically proven' bit, but it's not surprising to me. However, this thread doesn't confirm that at all. It's not what is being talked about.

"If your want to stay slim all your life you have to eat significantly differently from normal society." - hmm - I guess that depends on what you would class as normal eating. Personally, I'd say we eat 'normally' IMVHO, but, as a wider family, we are not fat - some of our family come into the category of people that people always comment on, as they are underweight.

If you've read the posts, the debate isn't about fat, obese, or overweight people in general, it's a question about if it's normal or unusual for pre-pubescent boys to put on weight before they start growing taller - which it is. Nobody is in denial, we are just reassuring the OP that this is quite a common thing to happen.

Of course it's good to encourage plenty of exercise and relatively healthy eating habits for life, as have been discussed.

www.bmj.com/content/332/7550/1130.long
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3974000/

Puppy fat has been shown to not be a real thing. Children that are overweight are far more likely to become overweight adolescants and adults. As nice as it might be to listen to various people's anecdotes and think it's not a problem, it isn't normal or healthy. You would be helping your DS much more by addressing this problem now. Don't rely on puberty.

Wow lots of comments. DS does not eat lots of crap. Yes we have a treat box but he does always ask and not just take and I monitor it. He does eat fruit but just not enough of it. He is typically a meat and two veg type of kid. He does not really drink much water but since I have been keeping ice cold water in the fridge he is drinking more of it.

He realises exercise is important and today he went and played tennis with a friend in fact he enjoyed it so much he is going again.
Really what I was asking is have other parents experienced children having a little bit of a belly at the age of pre-puberty. He is not obese and does not eat junk food all day. My DH and I work shifts but where possible we eat as a family and never processed food and I try to be health conscious where possible.
I was worried as he is still quite small in height which worries him greatly. Please don't think I think it is ok for him to be "chubby". He is not excessively overweight just carrying a bit of a belly.
I just wanted some advice of other experiences and reassurance that when he hits puberty and grows in height this will all even itself out.

You sound like you are doing the right thing. If he is worried about it then this is your chance to talk to him. On the height side he is still young so plenty of time to grow. If he is concerned about the chubbiness he needs to know it is likely to go but he must keep up healthy eating otherwise it won't.

My DS isn't a great fruit eater if all I but are apple and pears but he will eat strawberries, kiwi fruit, passion fruit and suchlike. Perhaps he needs to be more adventurous? I used to buy one of something to try
Sometimes on the exercise side it is a case of finding the right sport. Hope the tennis continues. Does he have bike? My son cycles to friends houses rather than catching a bus

I think you do have to have in mind that he may not grow much in height - one of my nephews (mum is 5ft, dad is 6ft2) was 'going to shoot up soon', 'a late developer' and had 'puppy fat' when his height stalled at 5ft 2 in his early teens. His puberty growth spurt at 16 took him to 5'4, and thats where he has stayed, and so has the chubbiness.

It might be worth a trip to the GP just to check his height is normal for him though

I think that an overweight child is consuming more calories than they're using up, and it's just luck if they then have a growth spurt that temporarily sorts it out.

A bit like the old joke : i'm not overweight, I just need to be 6' 5".

But bad habits are bad habits and I don't think anyone who turns a blind eye to 'puppy fat' (and the causes of it) is doing their child any favours.

I was thinking more about this last night (sad I know!) probably triggered off by a trip to a park with a river so there were loads of kids/teens who had stripped off. I was initially surprised by how slim the majority were but then of course realised that the overweight ones were possibly not at the park and not stripped off.

I looked very objectively at my two in amongst their peers and would say that they were not as thin and toned as some of the boys but equally have no trace of the tummy they had and were certainly not overweight. I look back at photos of my youngest at 10/11 and my eldest at 12 and yes, they were overweight then.

I know they weren't eating any differently to what they had been when younger and in fact my younger son was getting podgy on the exact same diet and level of activity that his brother was slim on. They aren't eating any differently or more now than they were then either and I reckon activity levels are more or less the same too.

I have read some of the articles posted above and can absolutely see what it is saying but at the same time, I can't deny my personal experience.

However, it is a fact that your weight is directly related to how much you eat v's how much you move. Energy in/energy out.

My two have always been on the 95-99th percentile for their height - calculations suggest that they will be between 6'3 and 6'6. I have been regular at measuring their height, but less so in measuring their weight as we didn't have decent scales.

When younger they hovered about average (DS1) and about 70th percentile (DS2).

Given the above, I think my two did store fat before puberty and have stretched it off. My sisters boys did the same and they are slim adults, my other sisters son although slighty younger than mine has done the same. What I would say is that my sons have never done the "eat a whole loaf of bread and a gallon of milk" thing when growing, they have eaten much about the same but sometimes that has been stored and then at other times used to fund the growth. Maybe just a different way of growing that some others on this thread have also experienced.

Clearly that isn't going to be the case for all children otherwise we wouldn't have fat teens and adults.

For whatever reason (to avoid being looked down on?) parents of children who didn't stretch out of it haven't posted so it does make it look like it is a probability that this will happen rather than something that might happen iyswim?

Anyway, I hope that the OPs son looks at it as a positive step to getting fitter rather than have it harm his self esteem to the point where he would rather stay in and eat and not exercise to avoid being bullied.