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Original poster

100 kilo kids: obesity SOS

125 replies

GoldenKelpie · 04/03/2020 21:11

Its on channel 4 9pm tonight. I am just watching now. I was reluctant because I wondered if there was any hope for these young people with the advice and support they are being given at this hospital.

It upsets me greatly you see because I have been obese my whole teen and adult life up until I was 52 years old and I discovered the secret to losing excess fat and maintaining that loss permanently. Well, I'm 56 now, so four years.

OP posts:
Shortfeet · 05/03/2020 16:25

@Goldenkelpie I'm really interested in your low carb stuff and have 2 questions

First, why can many people have a high carb diet and not be fat if the theories you have outlined are true?

Second, is it not really hard and antisocial to follow a low carb diet?

Thanks. Really enjoying your input.

SouthWestmom · 05/03/2020 18:39

I disagree - the 'lovely young teen' came in as an emergency and needed them to repair/replace the damage. They didn't have time to try anything else.

Plus I suspect the team have more idea of what works than one person who is an expert on themselves. I don't think it's helpful to be dismissive of their years of training and experience.

Leflic · 05/03/2020 19:18

I think it’s interesting we all agree that the mum had issues and was the problem but the nurses and doctors have to make the child their priority. Why not spend the money on her making her a less neglectful parent.Because it may be the boys choice to put food in his mouth but if that involves repercussions from his mum it’s a bit victim blamey.

As an aside the low carb thing works for emotional eaters because it breaks the cycle. Skinny people can eat sugar and carbs because they actively stop themselves eating too much. Plenty of thin people have poor diets.
It’s not anti social because you can eat most vegetables, meat and protein ( including cheese and nuts), So whilst you can’t have a proper pizza you can go out for an Italian and have the meatballs and tomato with cheese sauce or on top of a salad with Parmesan. Still have a full English just minus toast or hash brown, still have a Sunday roast but without potatoes but with the cauliflower cheese etc etc.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 05/03/2020 19:37

The mother bringing in ready meals? Fuck her attitude stinks

You could see that that doctor was (almost literally) biting his tongue not to speak his mind to her!

And why did she seem to spend all day, every day at the hospital with him? Is she afraid that without her influence he's going tools weight?

SchadenfreudePersonified · 05/03/2020 19:38

*lose, not tools

Stoppit, autocorrect.

Pandamoore · 05/03/2020 21:14

She slipped up and gave herself away a bit at the end saying she didn't want him to do as they told him. Yeah, because she wants to be the only one telling him what to do. I also wonder if she thought leaving him alone with them for a bit would loosen her grip on him. He's probably the 'golden child'. Poor bugger.

MamaRaisingBoys · 05/03/2020 22:16

Bizarre how when he was first admitted she was complaining the regime was not intense enough, then when he was asked to go for his one walk per day she kicked off that it was too much. Such a horrible situation

TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 · 05/03/2020 22:53

Just watching this now, it's awful.

Just no actual parenting going on, lots of placating, ignoring poor behaviour, excusing themselves and their actions.

Poor kids.

I was overweight as a kid and am now as an adult, but honestly can't blame my parents. My mum repeatedly encouraged me to eat well, took me to weight watchers and went on plan with me, tried to get me to do exercise and go to clubs with her, made healthy home cooked meals for every meal. Years of really really trying.

I just refused and snuck food when she wasn't looking, figured out I could get a school lunch of rice and potato smileys for 22p then use the rest of my £1.50 at the sweet shop.

purpleme12 · 06/03/2020 00:16

It was really hard watching Harry clearly upset in that room

I felt for the Liliana's mum as well to be honest. It looked and sounded like something more going on there but I guess if they're saying she's as hungry as someone who's but eaten for days then the girl might act out.
The mum was trying her best

jurgenkloppisoursaviour · 06/03/2020 00:45

OP I don't understand why you're saying that they should have tried something else before they did surgery on Tommy. He had emergency surgery to fix his hip, he didn't have a gastric band fitted.

I don't agree with a whole food group being removed from a child's diet. Low carb works for you, which is fantastic. But it's not appropriate for a growing child.

Nanamilly · 06/03/2020 01:07

I wondered from the start if the wee girl had Prader Willi Syndrome. It was just so obvious there was something going on.

AnotherMurkyDay · 06/03/2020 01:26

I usually try and think there's two sides to every story, children are usually better with their parents, etc. But Tommy's mum? She was killing him. Yes I'm sure she has issues of her own, but letting him game all the time and eat whatever he wants, bringing him food in hospital, it was more than feeding, which the doctors did say it was hard not to do that, it was abusive and I'm surprised social care didn't get involved more

TheQueef · 06/03/2020 01:34

Why was she so desperate to get his chronic fatigue in?

AnotherMurkyDay · 06/03/2020 01:36

@TheQueef

I wondered if it was the excuse she'd been hiding her negligent parenting behind so she wanted to keep reminding them it wasn't her fault

TheQueef · 06/03/2020 01:41

Ah I wondered if it had been a missed diagnosis, explain a bit why she was so adversarial.
She wanted a ruck!

AnotherMurkyDay · 06/03/2020 02:04

@TheQueef

She seemed to be under the impression that CFS meant her son didn't have to exercise which was either because she was genuinely misinformed or being intentionally obstructive. I think she basically just wanted someone else to blame (the hospital) or something else to blame (the CFS). I'm not sure if she was ready or able to face up to the reality. Either she was in denial or she was abusive, and if she's in that much denial about the situation then she is not in the right mind set to be making decisions for him either. It was really a desperately sad situation all over, but i couldn't help but think that he was the one literally dying and that the services perhaps should have stepped in not left him to go home with somebody who was jeopardising any progress he made even in hospital

AnotherMurkyDay · 06/03/2020 02:07

I don't know what policy options there are as regards obesity, but usually if a childs health needs are not being met then the LA would put some kind of order in place to make sure there needs were met and if they continued not to be then care proceedings initiated. But we seem to be treating obesity as separate from other health conditions, or malnutrition. I guess it's because it's becoming the norm now

purpleme12 · 06/03/2020 06:16

They did say that they have removed children before because of obesity

They boy did lose weight in the end though so something must have gone in to the mum

TitsInAbsentia · 06/03/2020 06:35

I'm just watching this now after coming across this thread.

Liliana ate a raw sausage from the freezer?! Bizarre...she just seemed to be a really unhappy kid there must have been something else wrong there (another poster mentioned Prader willi - that was my thought too) needs medical and psychological intervention.

TitsInAbsentia · 06/03/2020 06:58

OMG the face on Tommy's mum when the nurse is talking to her about having to cut his calories, and she's on about he needs rest so he doesn't crash NO LOVE! Mum thinks she knows best and she knows shit, and they were really overemphasising nothing different happened over the weekend WAY too much, guilty as f! She'll be feeding him rat poison for attention next....

bugbhaer · 06/03/2020 08:08

The programme clearly showed it was much more complex than x or y diet. There was one child with a genetic condition, one was emotional eating and one seemingly had a feeder mother. Low carbing isn’t going to fix any of those issues.

Yes, I agree. I'm not sure why the doctors were focusing on scales and plates of boiled carrot when I think some therapy would do wonders. Something like weight-lifting with a positive male PT would have done wonders for Tommy

bugbhaer · 06/03/2020 08:09

I got my points mixed up. I think that therapy is just what Tommy and his mum needed. She's just not available to support Tommy and he's doing everything he can to look after her.

bugbhaer · 06/03/2020 09:25

I'm about 3/4 of the way through and finding this very, very irritating now. Why are all of the medical staff ignoring so many things - the existence of emotional eating, the fact that Esther was smuggling in ready meals and a box of chocolates, the benefits of small incremental life style changes, the fact that all of the parenting needed interventions...

bugbhaer · 06/03/2020 09:30

Oh for goodness sake! Now Prof. Double-barrelled-surname is asking the teen what he thinks is the solution as "he's been the problem". That poor kid was so angry and couldn't express it. Imagine being trapped in that small room with all of those adults, being talked about and fat-shamed.

TreeTopTim · 06/03/2020 09:42

@bugbhaer the staff were frustrated with Tommy's mum but they had to be professional. They knew that calling her out on it wouldn't work or help the situation.