DD overweight, but what more can I do?

chocdonuty

This could turn into more of a rant! Basically dd is overweight, she is a bit short for her age (7)which doesn't help and has a bit of a tummy on her, jeans are always a problem! The thing is I know she's a bit tubby but it's only her dad who is making me paranoid about it. I'm just not sure how big a deal I should make of it as I'm not sure what else I can do to get her to lose a little weight.
We walk to school every day, 20 mins each way, She takes dance, swimming and trampoline lessons 45 mins each plus a walk to all of them, she plays outside every single day, usually riding about on her bike or at least on the move! The only time she slobs in front of the telly is at night when she's winding down for the day or first thing on the weekend.
She eats well, not always getting her 5 a day but I do try, doesn't eat ready meals, fried food nor do I add salt to her food. Takeaways, sweets and greggs ect are a rare occurance.
So do I do enough? I think she is a happy healthy and active child, aside from trying to up the fruit and veg more, (affording fresh fruit all the time is costly, in an ideal world I'd have a full fruit bowl all the time but thats a whole other post!) What else can I do?

Counting_Pennies_2

I would suggest apples are a good cheap offering for a fruit bowl. You can always get them cheaply.

In terms of her weight, have you taken her to the health visitors and had her weighed, do you still have the red book you might be able to plot it at home. That would be a good first indicator.

Jeans are always so bulky so just don't go near them.

How does she look to you, and any objective friends?

Do you think she eats too much (even the good stuff?)

It sounds to me she is having enough exercise. Is it just her posture? girls often bend in the spine sticking their tummy out, perhaps it is that that is making it look worse.

hth

LeeSouthEast

Couple of things to bear in mind: she may grow into her weight (her growth spurt is still to come), and she may just be a naturally slightly larger child. If she is only slightly to moderately overweight, I'd let it be for now and see what happens.

Pete*G_4

at 7 years old she's not at her full height, and her body is growing in all sorts of different ways (and into different shapes) all the time.

There is a rough guide HERE for "ideal" weight ranges, but ultimately a doctor will decide if she is overweight or not - if you really feel that you need to know.

As a Personal Trainer, class instructor etc who also runs kid's exercise classes, I would let her develop naturally. she sounds like she has an active lifestyle as it is, and it sounds like you have a decent approach to food and what she should/shouldn't be eating. she'll grow into her weight, kids always fill out before growing up.

Bubby

chocdonuty wrote: »

Takeaways, sweets and greggs ect are a rare occurance.
QUOTE]

If she is truly overweight (i.e if you are going on advice from a nurse/doctor/hv then these need to be removed completely. My children have only ever tried a little bit if we have had a takeaway but have never had one themselves and have never eaten from Greggs.

Some children are naturally bigger than their peers though so this may be the case if it is slight?

[Deleted User]

My son was always overweight but he has ASD so getting him to exercise by walking was horrendous. Now he's 14, and he's shot up in height and in relation to his height, slimmed down to normal weight for his height.

I never made a big thing of his being overweight. My life was made hell because i was overweight and i ended up with an eating disorder. I did however, get him to go with me to the shops, anything I could think of to get him to walk as he grew older and more prepared to walk (he laughingly said that when he was walking with his peers somewhere as a school effort, the teacher told him to slow down cause he was way ahead of everyone else so I guess he really is fitter lolol). I also limited how much rubbish I had in the house so he couldn't just help himself to 3 bags of crisps at a time. For us, rather than being weight obsessed it was about living healthily.

I am afraid, however much your daughter seems to be exercising she could be eating more than she is using up as energy. BUT she is young, far too young to make an issue of it. U can just make sure she eats healthily.., a bag of apples costs £1.., the price of two confectionary products ..., same for pears. Grapes cost £1.99 (all Netto prices). I know its hard to find the money but it might be worth considering if u can.

gunsandbanjos

She may eat 'the right things' but is she eating too much of them? I saw a programme recently with a very overweight little boy who just ate far too much, the food wasn't too bad in itself it was just the sheer volume that he was consuming that was the problem.
I wouldn't make too much of an issue of it, you don't want to give her a complex about her weight.
Good luck.

pandora205

It seems like she is getting lots of exercise, so I think the easiest way it to cut out snacks other than fruit and veg (biscuits, crisps or other nibbles) and just serve water and milk for drinks for the family. Most children will eat fruit when they are hungry and they're not presented with other options.

Other than that, check your are serving healthy meals (whole grains, pulses and nuts, lots of veg, leaner protein, milk/yoghurt) rather than restricting food intake.

chocdonuty

I have thought about taking her to the doctors but I'm worried about making an issue of her weight when there may not be one, I suppose it doen't help that I'm short and dumpy, lol ( 5'3 and size 18) so she does take after me and to some extent other members of the family too.
When I look at her and other children the same age she always looks younger somehow, other girls seem to have long legs and arms where as dd seems to have a younger body shape if that makes sense. Friend have said she's ok and she does enough so not to worry, but I'm her mum, I can't help it!

Pete*G_4

how tall is she?

dizziblonde

If you make it into a battleground she may well kick against you completely - I did and it's how my weight gain started off. Rather than going in all guns blazing, I'd shift things over to healthier options gradually - if she has dilutey squash - reduce the strength of it gradually, "run out" of biscuits so she's got to have an apple or similar... I just know my mum made food a big battlefield with the result that when I could - I ended up bingeing and ended up getting fat almost as a big two fingers up to my mother.

She doesn't take anything like steroids for eczema or asthma by any chance does she? I know my little brother was really rather large as a child because he took prednisolone a lot (and I know I've spelt that wrong) for his eczema - in addition to which his eczema was so severe it knocked his growth back slightly, poor thing was head to toe in bandages and more than slightly stocky - right combo for him... he's now a very muscular fitness obsessed twenty something - because my mum didn't push things too hard with him and he decided as a teenager that he wanted to do the gym thing etc etc.