Health advice for my 8 year old overweight son please...

andrealm

I really don't think I'd be getting diet plates for an 8 year old or getting him to count calories or join a gym. Does he not do things like play outside with a ball or ride a bike or scooter? Are there any after school sports he could do?(at his school so you don't have to worry about getting him there?)

Agree with everyone else, a pork pie and a sandwich for lunch is a bit much. I would limit the pies and sausage rolls to the odd treat, if he has one he doesn't need a sandwich too. Things like porridge and wholemeal bread and pasta will fill him up if he likes fruit and veg, great, maybe get him to help with making something like vegetable soup, or topping a small pizza with lots of veg and maybe a little bit of ham if he likes that.
Just encouraging him to enjoy eating healthy food without being too strict about it.

A few months ago my 4 year old used to complain about getting tired walking (couldn't understand it as in all other easy she's always been very active, always running around, loves the park etc,) but now she's fine with a half hour walk each way. When she started complaining I used to say to her " I bet you can't walk as far as that postbox, or that house with the blue door" break it into stages, that kept her going.

Taliahmai

The only after school club they do at the moment is chess and gardening in a dinner time...he does them both. Im going to tidy the garden up today so he is going to be outside helping me. He does have both a bike and a scooter, and he does often play on his trampoline. But the weather lately hasnt really helped as he hasnt been able to play out.

We do play a few games with my 4 year old which does help

He does like helping out in the kitchen and when we do have pizza he helps me make the dough and the tomato sauce for it, he also puts his own topping on it, usually tuna and sweetcorn, or ham and cheese. I think i will get him to help me make a veg soup for lunches today

moomoomama27

A food diary is an excellent way to start.

I would suggest doing this for a couple of weeks, then taking this to your GP, and ask for a referral to a dietician, who will be able to see what he's been eating, and how best to remedy anything that could be changed for a healthier alternative. Be honest with the diary, log everything he eats, as well as how much exercise he does.

Cut up portions of fruit and buy some seal fresh tubs and keep them in the fridge, great for healthy quick snacks. Involve him in the preparation, so he's more enthused.

Aso don't give him his meals on an adult sized dinner plate. Children up to the age of 9 should have meals that only fill a childs dinner plate. So swap the plates and fill the child plate it will look full to him, but the portion size will be cut dramatically.

My 7yr old is a bit tubby, but very active, unfortunatly I think she has my hubbys genes, as he's overweight as are his family. To help remedy this I did the above, as well as put the radio on for 20 ins in the morning and have a dance about, they think it's really fun, and don't realise they are exercising, it also 'wakes' the brain!

Can I recommend the Jillian Michaels dvd - called the 30 day shred. My 7 yr old enjoys doing this with me! It's fantastic as each level is about 25 mins and consists of circuit training, you need no equipment except for handweights, so cans of beans will do if needed, and the exercises are brilliant for children to do as well.

To be able to get the best help though you really do need to see a dietician who can give you a food plan which should help him.

Best of luck, and don't feel bad, you're making the steps in helping him, and that's the main thing.

mountainofdebt

OP .....have just been emailed this - might be of some use with regards portion sizing.

http://www.weightwatchers.co.uk/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=32411#Story

Taliahmai

Thank you for that link its great

Ive just cut up a load of fruit and put them in tubs in the fridge and he is now sat eating breakfast, a small bowl of mini weetabix (chocolate ones) and a plum

Pixiechic

Hi Taliahmai,

First I just want to say how much I admire your honesty and commitment.

I was brought up in a very traditional way, I have never had a weight problem and I believe that that is why. For example, everything I ate as a child was also cooked from scratch. I would have a small bowl of non sugary cereal in the morning, a sandwich on brown bread with say tuna or cheese or ham and a homemade bun or small homemade shortbread slice. For dinner in winter we would have a small piece of meat and vegetables and in summer we would have a salad meal. After school I was allowed one small fun size bar of chocolate and a small glass of milk. We never had any fizzy drinks and if we had juice it was only a tiny glass. We were also very much encouraged to 'go and play in the garden'. Crisps, chocolate and all the other 'junk' just weren't in the house which I feel made a huge difference. If I was complaining of hunger I was told to have a piece of fruit. We did have desserts but things like a small bowl of angel delight or jelly. That was just my own experience when I was around your sons age.
I can appreciate that your son might find the transition to his new healthier lifestyle difficult. Keep at it though as I am sure that his confidence and happiness levels will rise once he sees that he can achieve his goal of getting fitter and losing a little weight. I have the Kinect too and it is great for physical activity based fun. When he is doing it encourage him lots and praise him about how well he has done. Don't reward him with sweets!

All the best

Raksha

One of the things my son has done recently which has helped him is to have his meal served on a bread and butter plate rather than a dinner plate.

Sambucus_Nigra

shellsuit wrote: »

Why did you say No? :huh:

He's 8, he knows he's got a problem and he's actually asking you for help, albeit through a game.

Is there no chance that maybe if he sticks to a healthy eating plan for a fortnight, that you might get it for him?

In response to the OP's son asking about a weightloss game.

Best weightloss game; research the foods that you bought last week, and find a lower fat/sugar substitute - and look for recipes that feature [what slimming world would call] Free Foods - and look at different recipes using them.

If you don't BUY high fat/sugar foods - nobody can eat them.

WestonDave

The other thing which may be helpful is to spread his food intake more so he has less big meals but maybe more healthy snacks in between. If you let him get really starving before a meal, he will tend to over eat (as it can take time for the body to signal its full), and may end up with a blood sugar rebound later caused by the body surging out insulin to cope with the big meal which in turn cleans out all the blood sugar leaving him feeling hungry. The same applies to any high sugar snack - it will give you a sugar high for a short while but then you tend to feel more hungry afterwards. Keeping a more constant blood sugar level will smooth the calls for insulin, and stop him feeling hungry - meals need to contain plenty of slow release foods such as vegetables, brown carbs (so try wholemeal pasta, brown rice, brown bread, porridge oats etc) rather solely white carbs which tend to release energy more quickly but also fade away more quickly.

I'm not really an expert in this but I do find personally that if I let myself get very hungry, firstly I will tend to stuff down more food, and then having eaten too much I will then find myself really starving relatively shortly afterwards. It took me a while to realise that going to the gym for an hour after work, coming home ravenous, eating a lot of (pretty healthy) food, led to me lying awake at bedtime absolutely starving - of course what was also happening was all that excess food I'd eaten was getting stored away by my body as fat making going to the gym rather counter productive!

Have a look online at some of the GI diets and information - these are all about smoothing out blood sugar. I'm sure some of it is utter tripe, but if you have a look you can at least understand something of how our energy systems work and use sensible parts of it to maintain give him a decent level of energy without him having to pile on the fat. If he is overweight he will become more susceptible to blood sugar issues and ultimately diabetes so its worth reading up on this now as part of the armoury to help him. Don't get obsessed or faddy about it - just learn the basic facts behind how food works, and use that to help you. I guess at a push even the diabetes websites might have some useful diet information to do with maintaining blood sugar levels that might help - again as part of what you are doing.

Sambucus_Nigra

And a good glass of water about half an hour before main meals!