Overweight child and its all my fault - bit long ...sorry!

findingmyownway

isualive wrote: »

To TracySouth:D

I learnt to say no when he wanted more and threw out the chip pan. He was a very fussy eater, refused sweets as he didn't like the texture, but loved cakes. Hated eggs, hated fish etc. It was a steep learning curve for us all but we are all still learning, even trying to grow vegtables in the garden, baking bread etc.

For a while he hated it, and me, but it worked. We do have treats at weekends and chips occasionally on holiday from the chippie. I've also refused to buy white bread, crisps, chocolate, cake etc and switched to skimmed milk. I've had to be cruel to be kind, so strict at times.

I've also cut down on cheese and I have started to read labels and do alot more homebaking. He loves to be involved in cooking and it has taught him alot. He is also now more willng to try new foods.

This is an excellent post – the ideas about growing own veg, learning to cook etc will set a child up for life.

To the OP, I think some changes to your daughters diet would make a difference. For example, replacing the peanut butter with low-fat houmous or tomato salsa type dips would be healthier.

Also, the processed vegi sausages and waffles could be replaced with pasta or rice based dishes – spag bol, tuna pasta (if she eats fish?), brocilli and leek bake etc. Have a look on the old style board – they have threads on healthy recipes with tons of ideas. Maybe let her have a look too, or choose some from books. If you both make the effort to cook together it will become fun. Obviously the processed meals don’t have to be entirely cut out but even replacing the waffles with a jacket potato would make a massive difference.


You could replace some of the snacks with smoothies too – they can be very filling, packed with vitamins and fun for her to get involved with making up new recipes etc.

Children learn by example – if she sees you eating healthily and taking more exercise etc it will become more acceptable to her. The ladies only swimming sessions are an excellent idea but she needs your commitment to helping her. By fitting more exercise into both your daily lives you can boost her self esteem – eg walk / cycle to the shop, school, leisure centre. Or how about setting yourselves a challenge – the Cancer Research UK Race for Life series is excellent – 5Km (3.1 mile) courses around parks all over the country where its women of all shapes and sizes taking part by running or walking. I did one a few weeks ago with my stepD who also needs a self esteem boost – she was really proud of herself at the end and it has made her think a little more deeply about the link between eating healthily and not getting so out of breath/being more able to keep up with her friends etc.

ktb

when my OH and I cut out processed carbs and potatoes at dinner time we noticed we didnt put on weight and our weight didnt fluctuate as much.

We now just have lots of veg, protein & if we do have a carb we have wholegrain rice or wholewheat pasta - they take a bit of getting used to if you are used to the horrible white, refined stuff, but we actually prefer them now. We also recently discovered cous cous and quinoa... both of which are very versatile, easy to prepare, low fat and much better for you than the usual carbs - we eat them very regularly now & I highly recommend them.

Does your daugheter drink much water? It can help with portion control as it fills you up and you eat less. Thirst is also ofetn mistaken for hunger - so might help her snack less between meals too...

that's_another_fine_mess!

Can't add much to these brilliant posts but I noticed your garden is too small for a big trampoline. Have you seen the small sports ones? I got mine for under £20 and put it in a corner of the living room. Two years ago I lost 3 stone in about 4-5 months by bouncing/jogging/jumping on it during the advert breaks in my favourite soaps and slightly adjusting my veggie diet to replace the high fat things with low fat alternatives (as a really filling snack I can recommend a slice of thick wholemeal bread with a very thin scraping of nut butter and a sliced banana!). My doctor reckoned that a 5 minute bounce (with arm movements!)was equivalent to a 15 minute jog because the resistance is so much greater, it's a lot more fun and I could certainly feel the ache in my calves afterwards. I thought I was going to be a size 20 for the rest of my life and am still a size 14/16, even after having a baby and not trampolining for ages (haven't needed to as the baby keeps me fit lol). Good Luck

savagevixen

albertross wrote: »

Cheesy triangles aren't much better than peanut butter really, to lose weight some calories have got to go, either by burning more up, or eating less.

230 calories isn't that much to get rid of, replacing a bar of chocolate and a pack of crisps with a small apple may do it.

Over a month, that's a couple of pounds gone, with hardly any effort, and no jogging.

Did the weight start to pile on when she turned veggie?

The child at the heart of this is just a kid! Your theories are good, but you have to apply them to an awkward pre-teen, who just wants to be like other kids. She is lacking in self-esteem.
The key to this is the confidence and exercise.
Whilst cutting out 230 calories may make a difference, small exercising daily will do the same and have more longterm benefits that placing to much emphasise on the odd treats she does like.
You have to be very careful with young girls, not to make the food to much of an issue. Involve her but not too much pressure. With the right amount of exercise and a few tweaks to her diet, she should be able to eat like any other 12/13 year old, loose weight and grow in confidence.

savagevixen

I wasn't having a go! I just wanted to be realistic, she is a child, and children find things difficult to stick too sometimes. If the whole family (as mum is suggesting) change their lifestyle and regularly exercise, it will draw the least attention to the girl herself.

TracySouth

As I have stated earlier, my garden is too small for a trampolene but someone suggested a trampette.....I am now the proud owner of one:p I thought I could suggest dd doing 15mins on it whilst watching our soap and come the adverts we could change over and I could do 15 mins. We dont live tooo far from the seaside either and last summer spent a lot of evenings down there with their scooters which dd seemed to enjoy, so i think doing that again will help. have bought some veggies to make a pasta sauce and will blend it up to disguise them (may even get fussy ds to eat it too!) and I am about to make her some quorn burgers which have added veg in them too.
I dont want to give my daughter hang ups about food or her body size, everyone is different, I just want her to get a bit fitter and healthier and then hopefully some of the pounds will fall off.

I wil keep you updated to how we are doing.:T

TracySouth

albertross wrote: »

Cheesy triangles aren't much better than peanut butter really, to lose weight some calories have got to go, either by burning more up, or eating less.


Did the weight start to pile on when she turned veggie?

The cheesy triangles are only about 30 calories each iirc, and only has one a day so I dont think they do much harm

She has gradually been putting on weight before she turned veggie but since then I think it has got worse.

that's_another_fine_mess!

Good luck with the trampette- if you can do 15 mins at a time you're a woman with better stamina than me! (and the weight will fall off quicker than it did for me). I reckon just doing it during the adverts to start with, you'll notice a difference.

isualive

We've got one and my son loves it, we all use it.

Dave_Brooker

TracySouth wrote: »

As I have stated earlier, my garden is too small for a trampolene but someone suggested a trampette.....I am now the proud owner of one:p I thought I could suggest dd doing 15mins on it whilst watching our soap and come the adverts we could change over and I could do 15 mins. We dont live tooo far from the seaside either and last summer spent a lot of evenings down there with their scooters which dd seemed to enjoy, so i think doing that again will help. have bought some veggies to make a pasta sauce and will blend it up to disguise them (may even get fussy ds to eat it too!) and I am about to make her some quorn burgers which have added veg in them too.
I dont want to give my daughter hang ups about food or her body size, everyone is different, I just want her to get a bit fitter and healthier and then hopefully some of the pounds will fall off.

I wil keep you updated to how we are doing.:T

Get her a dog and make her take it for walks twice a day.