Overweight child

[habibihabibi]

My son, nearly ten is very tall and heavy for his age. Lately he has developed a belly, double chin and looks very fat compared to his peers.
I cook from scratch but he generally refuses vegetables so his diet is mainly eggs, meat, yoghurt, apples, milk, cheese, bananas, rice , bread and cereal. I don't let him have juice, fizzy drinks or biscuits, cereal bars, crisps or sugary snacks.
He eats alot and I realize his intake is carb heavy.
Should I cut his portions?
He does plenty of sport in and out of school and 3x week swimming but is not a super active child, happier indoors than out.

I've battled wirh vege since weaning and my other children happily eat salad etc without complaining.

For the record DH is also a salad dodger and podgy.

Carbs are a bit of a red herring really it’s all about calories in calories out and carbs just are more calorie dense.

Sorry, but this is just not true. Carbs are the issue, because they spike your blood sugar, which releases insulin - and a lot of insulin causes the body to lay fat down.

For breakfast, why not keep it protein-based? Bacon and eggs, omelettes, or beans on toast - would all be better than that amount of Weetabix. And swap bananas for another fruit if you can - bananas are very carb-heavy.

He's constantly hungry because of the amount of carbohydrate he's eating.

Try buying natural unsweetened yoghurt rather than flavoured - mix with fruit and oats as a smoothie or breakfast cereal. Wholemeal/grain bread which is more filling and slower to digest. If he won't eat veg per se, try pureeing them into pasta sauces , rather than rely on cheesy or cream sauces.

as long as he's happy and taking plenty of exercise he'll get leaner as he gets older

And this attitude is why we have a child obesity crisis! OP is taking responsibility as a parent and tackling this while she can. He eats too much for a 10 year old. If he continues he'll have unhealthy eating habits for life and be a fat adult with the attendant health issues.

I think it's all about the portion size- and re-educating him to eat a smaller portion.

I have exactly the same with my just 9yo DS. He does a huge amount of sport. He's at a traditional Prep so has sport every day at school (and two multi-course, hotel style cooked meals), and also swims with a club and sails competitively. He's very tall for his age and very strong.

The problem is, he will eat as much as we will give him. He'll eat the same amount as his 6ft5 dad and then ask if there are leftovers. We've gradually slid into giving him more than he should have, and as a result he's now 4kg overweight.

I've talked to him about needing to eat the right amount for a child and I'm determined to reduce his portion size. It is hard though, because he is used to being allowed more so the complaints are vociferous. It's going to require some tough love!

I'd switch to skimmed milk if I were you, NHS says it's fine to switch once DC is 7.

Also his portion sizes are excessively large, a PP is correct about that breakfast being half his daily calorie allowance. Try 2 scrambled eggs on 2 slices of wholemeal toast and a piece of fruit as a filling alternative. Or just 2 slices with peanut butter but no eggs.

Overnight oats for breakfast made with Greek yogurt? Amazingly filling and ticks all the nutritional boxes if you add fruit.

Sounds a little bit like my son, except my DS is older. I would be careful about making any drastic changes and take it one step at a time and he might not even notice

I feel for you op, it's so hard, my son thankfully is very slim but is constantly hungry and wanting sugary snacks.

I'd be wary of taking advice on here about food groups, remember we are not experts. I'd consult the GP.

4 weetabix plus toast seems a lot to me. My 11yo has 2 weetabix, for breakfast, fruit mid morning, 2 slice of cheese on toast for lunch and a yoghurt, fruit mid afternoon and maybe some toast, then dinner might be casserole with potato and veg., an apple and milk before bed.

It is true that carbs spike your blood sugar leaving you hungry for more, my ds is like this but he likes beige foods it's hard. I try to fill him with eggs on toast at weekends.

There will be 100s if not 1000s of hidden calories in things like milkshakes in restaurants.

Why don't you start monitoring his calories on my fitness pal, don't tell him you're doing this, but to give you an idea of where the excessive calories are and where you can tweak his diet.

Also so often people say about their dc, they're so active or they play sports.

You can't outrun a bad diet.

It is definitely about the food not the sport. If sport alone was enough my DS would not have a problem.

Thanks everyone.
Some really helpful suggestions. I think I will go easy on him for the holiday and crack down when we are home and even more so when school resumes.
He has begun to make himself to cereal, sandwiches and toast which is another area I need to monitor.