Support for overweight teen

[Eggybready]

Can i ask if anyone has a teen whos overweight and how youve tackled it with enormous appetite they have.
Ds 15 does minimal activity (walks to and from school, mile each way) and games quite alot
He will come for walks etc but isnt sporty at all.
Hes mentioned he's very consious of his stomach and hips so want to help him
We have had a chat and hes not keen on exercising more but weve said he has to for his mental/physical health
Plus we are helping him to choose better with food but its hard when hes always staving!!
(We dont know his weight as i dont want that to be the focus, we'll be able to see if he slims down)

What would he eat on an average day?

My son isn’t overweight but has been in a chubby phase in the past. I found that sugar is a big thing and as soon as he stopped eating added sugar almost completely, he lost weight very quickly

Breakfast large bowl cereal and semi skimmed milk
Lunch is 2 cheese/salami wraps or 1 cheese ham cob or similar filling sandwich then a pack of fridge raiders plus a small sausge roll and yogurt
Dinner would be chilli/rice
Spag bol (full of veg)
Chicken dinner
Jacket potato cheese beans
Just standard family meals
He does snack too so will have cereal when he comes in from school or a bevita bar etc plus will come down around 9.30 saying hes peckish and will grab a biscuit whilst hes thinking what he wants
We've had an honest chat and said that he is eating too much crap and not enough filling healthy food. He agrees so its just about switching it all up for him

Sugar is def a problem
Ive given up all sugary food and feel so much better for it

There's an awful lot of processed food and sugar there.

Salami
Fridge raiders
Sausage roll
Belvita
Biscuits
Cereal

Look at protein for breakfast - scrambled eggs on toast, boiled eggs, Greek yoghurt with fruit.

Chicken sandwich
Veg sticks
Pasta/bean salad
Hummus

Agree that it's probably the high amount of processed foods affecting his choices and weight.

When my DS was always eating and getting overweight I read this guide on feeding 12 to 18 year olds from the Caroline Walker Trust. We discussed it and made a few changes, slowly at first and now he hardly eats "beige good".

Just don't ask me about DC2 who has ASD & ARFID. Luckily they are into a sport which means they're slim.

Change up his breakfast. To something savoury. All those sugary carbs- he’s having real highs and crashes all day. Follow glucose goddess on Instagram. It’s very interesting.

We start this week..
Protein heavy breakfast is the first step

@Eggybready good luck! Baked beans on toast and scrambled eggs or something like that is a brilliant start.

You can't outrun a bad diet

Eggs for breakfast

Salad/wrap for lunch

Chicken/turkey for dinner

Loads of water. So much water

To echo PP

Vegetable sticks with he's snackish

More water

We start this week..
Protein heavy breakfast is the first step

That's really positive, small steps are good steps

Very helpful.. Thank you 🙂

I would say that food is very instant filling but not slow releasing so he will be hungry very quickly. That's a lot of processed meat too. Could you focus on more protein, for breakfast eggs or porridge would be better.

It's his diet not excessive,that's a separate issue,just continue with the walking.
It's probably not what he eats at home but what he buys before/ after school at the shop.

Weve discussed not buying any food on top of his lunch and he said he wont from now on. He wants to change and weve said to trust us with the changes to his food choices and he'll see a difference

We all know how hard it is to avoid snacking - that is probably where the problem lies - I think I read that a lot of kids put on weight at secondary as the shite is there on offer - croissants/ pastries/ sausage rolls - at break time!

I find it depressing tbh that kids are being taught the message that between breakfast and lunch you could eat a load of calories in sugary/ fat carbs every day as part of school offering - then of course the bags of sweets

Its very shaming to have to admit how much crap we eat - so perhaps he isn't being totally honest about how much

Maybe talk through the calorie intake of a pastrie/ bag of sweets etc - its so easy to not notice that stuff

agree breakfast could be better - would he attempt porridge?! Or big bowl of greek yogurt with musesli/ fruit in it?

Hes admitted to having a croissant at break.. weve said we can help him lose weight but only if he eats better and stops all the crap. Its up to him to want to do it and be honest about it all
We will be providing better breakfasts and offering lovely healthy food so he wont be starving
I think he'll struggle with the sugar detox but he'll get through it