How do i help my overweight child lose weight

What can I do if my child is overweight?

If your child is overweight, there's lots you can do to help them become a healthy weight as they grow.

As a parent, it can sometimes be difficult to tell if your child is overweight. A child may not look particularly heavy to be overweight.

And because more children are becoming overweight, we have become used to seeing bigger children.

Research shows children who achieve a healthy weight tend to be fitter, healthier, better able to learn, and more self-confident.

They're also less likely to have low self-esteem or be bullied. And they're much less likely to have health problems in later life.

As a parent, there's lots you can do to help your child become a healthier weight. Getting them to be more active and eat well is important.

Here's lots of practical advice to help you.

If your child has a medical condition, the advice in this article may not be relevant and you should check with a GP or hospital doctor first.

Steps for success

Here are 5 key ways you can help your child maintain a healthy weight:

be a good role model
encourage 60 minutes, and up to several hours, of physical activity each day
keep to child-size portions
serve healthy meals, drinks and snacks
less screen time and more sleep

Be a good role model

One way to instil good habits in your child is for you to be a good role model. Children learn by example.

You can encourage your child to be active and eat well by doing so yourself.

Set a good example by going for a walk or bike ride instead of watching TV or surfing the internet.

Playing in the park or swimming with your children shows them being active is fun, and it's a great way for you all to spend time together.

Any changes you make to your child's diet and lifestyle are much more likely to be accepted if the changes are small and involve the whole family.

Physical activity also may be more appealing to your child if you do something as a family.

Find sports and activities to do

Easy ways to eat well and move move

Get active

All children should be doing physical activity every day for good health, but it doesn't need to be all at once.

Several short 10-minute, or even 5-minute, bursts of activity throughout the day can be just as good as an hour-long stretch.

For younger children, it can take the form of active play, such as ball games, chasing games like "it" and "tag", riding a scooter, and using playground swings, climbing frames and see-saws.

For older children it could include riding a bike, skateboarding, walking to school, skipping, swimming, dancing and martial arts.

Walking or cycling short distances instead of using the car or bus is a great way to be active together as a family. And you'll save money, too.

Find out the amount and types of physical activity recommended for under-5s

Find out the amount and types of physical activity recommended for children and young people aged 5 to 18

Join Better Health to get free regular emails with healthy eating tips, easy recipes, fun activities and more.

Child-size portions

Try to avoid feeding your child oversized portions. There's very little official guidance on precisely how much food children require, so you'll need to use your own judgement.

A good rule of thumb is to start meals with small servings and let your child ask for more if they're still hungry.

Try not to make your child finish everything on the plate or eat more than they want to.

And avoid using adult-size plates for younger children as it encourages them to eat oversized portions.

It may also help if you encourage your child to eat slowly and have set mealtimes. You can use mealtimes as an opportunity to catch up on what's happened during the day.

Explain to your child how to get the balance of their diet right using The Eatwell Guide. It shows how much they should eat from each food group. Knowing the calorie content of foods can also be useful.

Eat healthy meals

Children, just like adults, should aim to eat 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables every day. They're a great source of fibre and vitamins and minerals.

Getting 5 A Day shouldn't be too difficult. Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your child's 5 A Day, including fresh, tinned, frozen and dried.

Juices, smoothies, beans and pulses also count.

Be aware that unsweetened 100% fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies can only ever count as a maximum of 1 portion of their 5 A Day.

For example, if they have 2 glasses of fruit juice and a smoothie in 1 day, that still only counts as 1 portion.

Their combined total of drinks from fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies shouldn't be more than 150ml a day, which is a small glass.

For example, if they have 150ml of orange juice and a 150ml smoothie in 1 day, they'll have exceeded the recommendation by 150ml.

When fruit is blended or juiced, it releases the sugars, which increases the risk of tooth decay. So it's best to drink fruit juice or smoothies at mealtimes.

Discourage your child from having sugary or high-fat foods like sweets, cakes, biscuits, sugary cereals, and sugar-sweetened soft and fizzy drinks. These foods and drinks tend to be high in calories and low in nutrients.

Aim for your child to get most of their calories from healthier foods like fruits and vegetables, and starchy, carbohydrate foods like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice (preferably wholemeal). And switch sweetened soft drinks for water.

Find out about healthy drinks for babies and young children

Find out how to eat less saturated fat

Learn the facts about sugar

Less screen time and more sleep

Alongside the advice to get them moving more is the need to reduce the time children spend sitting or lying down in the day.

Help your children avoid sitting and lying around too much, as this makes them more likely to put on weight.

Limit the time they spend on inactive pastimes like watching TV, playing video games and playing on electronic devices.

And remove all screens (including mobile phones) from their bedroom at night.

It also helps children stay trim if they sleep well. It's been shown that children who don't have the recommended amount of sleep are more likely to be overweight.

The less children sleep, the greater the risk of them becoming obese. Lack of sleep can also affect their mood and behaviour.

Helping Your Overweight Child to Lose Weight

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Poonam Sachdev on October 13, 2021

What Causes Obesity in Children?
Can I Keep My Child From Being Obese?
How Do I Know if My Child Is Overweight?
How Can I Help My Overweight Child?
How Can I Involve My Family in Healthful Habits?
Should I Enroll My Child in a Weight Loss Program?
Is Drug Therapy or Weight Loss Surgery an Option for an Overweight Child?

One-third of children in the U. S. are overweight or obese. And that number continues to rise. Children have fewer weight-related health and medical problems than adults. But overweight children are at high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults. That could lead to chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life. They are also more prone to develop stress, sadness, and low self-esteem.

What Causes Obesity in Children?

Children become overweight and obese for a variety of reasons. The most common causes are genetic factors, lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of these causes. Only in rare cases is being overweight caused by a medical condition such as a hormonal problem. A physical exam and some blood tests can rule out the possibility of a medical condition as the cause for obesity.

Although weight problems run in families, not all children with a family history of obesity will be overweight. Children whose parents or siblings are overweight may be at an increased risk of becoming overweight themselves, but this can be linked to shared family behaviors such as eating and activity habits.

A child's diet and activity level play an important role in determining a child's weight. Today, many children spend a lot of time being inactive. For example, the average child spends about 4 hours a day watching television. Add computers and video games, and the number of hours of inactivity may increase.

Can I Keep My Child From Being Obese?

If you’re concerned your child may be at risk for obesity because of habits or genetics, you can work to prevent obesity:

Make sure your child’s meals are healthy, with 30% or fewer calories from fat.
Respect your child's appetite. Kids don’t have to finish everything on their plates or finish the entire bottle.
Wait at least 15 minutes before offering a second serving.
Avoid buying snacks with lots of sodium and foods and drinks with extra sugar.
Provide enough fiber.
Limit the amount of high-calorie foods kept in the home.
Make fresh fruits and vegetables available.
Don’t reward completion of meals with sweet desserts.
Replace whole milk with skim milk at about 2 years of age, or at 1 year of age if you are concerned about obesity.
Limit TV and non-school-related media viewing. Don’t watch TV during meals or snacks.
Encourage your child to be physically active.

How Do I Know if My Child Is Overweight?

The best person to determine whether your child is overweight is your child's doctor. They will measure your child's weight and height and compute their BMI, or body mass index, and compare it to standards. The doctor will also consider your child's age and growth patterns.

How Can I Help My Overweight Child?

If you do have an overweight child, they must know you are supportive. Children's feelings about themselves often are based on their parents' feelings about them. If you accept your children at any weight, they will be more likely to feel good about themselves. It is also important to talk to your children about their weight, allowing them to share their concerns with you. Your child’s doctor can also help you set an overall healthy weight goal for your child’s height. The doctor can even guide you on a timeline to achieve that healthy weight.

To approach your child’s weight loss seriously, you can:

Set goals. Just like with adult weight loss, the weight loss goals in children should be attainable, allowing for normal growth. The goals should be small weight loss so that the child doesn't become discouraged or overwhelmed. A 5- to10-pound weight loss is a reasonable first goal -- about 1 to 4 pounds per month. Some doctors focus less on losing weight than on not gaining more so that weight catches up with expected height gains.
Food diary. Work with your child to keep a food diary. This should include not just the type and quantity of food eaten, but where it was eaten, and who else was present. The diary is not meant to help calculate calories eaten. Rather, it is useful in determining eating patterns and problem foods.
Diet. Work with your child's doctor to ensure that your child is receiving a balanced diet. Consider also working with a dietitian.
Physical activity.Exercise is an essential part of any long-term weight loss. Start small, to avoid discouraging the child. Work up to 20 to 30 minutes of moderate -- and preferably fun -- activity per day. That’s in addition to what your child gets in school. Making it fun and full of variety will help create lifelong patterns.
Behavior modification. It's important to help your child learn the skills to modify the behaviors that may be causing the weight problem. Consider sending your child to a nutritional counselor.
Parental role. Help your child by limiting the amount of processed, sugary, and fattening foods in the house, eating all meals at the dinner table at designated times, and discouraging second helpings.

If your family’s routines need some tweaking, focus on gradually changing exercise and eating habits. By involving the whole family, everyone is taught healthful habits and the overweight child does not feel singled out.

How Can I Involve My Family in Healthful Habits?

Including the entire family in healthy habits is helpful. And increasing the family's physical activity is especially important. Some ways to do this include:

Lead by example. If your children see that you are physically active and having fun, they are more likely to be active and stay active for the rest of their lives.
Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise, like walking, biking, or swimming.
Be sensitive to your child's needs. Overweight children may feel uncomfortable about taking part in certain activities. It is important to help your child find physical activities they enjoy that aren't embarrassing or too hard.
Cut the amount of time you and your family spend in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games.
Make healthy meals together often and shop together for healthy food choices.

Should I Enroll My Child in a Weight Loss Program?

If your efforts at home are unsuccessful in helping your child reach a healthy weight and your doctor thinks your child's health is at risk unless they lose weight steadily, you may want to consider a formal weight loss program. The overall goal of a weight loss program should be to help the entire family adopt healthy eating and physical activity habits.

When choosing a weight loss program for your child, keep in mind the program should:

Be staffed with a variety of health professionals: The best programs may include registered dietitians, exercise physiologists, pediatricians or family doctors, and psychiatrists or psychologists.
Perform a medical evaluation of your child: Before being enrolled in a program, your child's weight, growth, and health should be reviewed by a doctor. During enrollment, your child's weight, height, growth, and health should be monitored by a health professional at regular intervals.
Focus on the whole family, not just the overweight child.
Be adapted to the specific age and capabilities of the child: Programs for 4-year-olds are different from those developed for children 8 or 12 years of age when it comes to the responsibilities of the child and parents.
Focus on behavioral changes: Teach the child how to select a variety of healthy foods in appropriate portions. Encourage daily activity and limit sedentary activity, such as watching TV.
Include a weight loss maintenance program and other support and referral resources. This will reinforce the new behaviors and deal with hidden issues that contributed to the child becoming overweight.

Is Drug Therapy or Weight Loss Surgery an Option for an Overweight Child?

At this time, there are no weight loss drugs approved for use in children, although clinical trials are under way. Surgical procedures for weight loss are being used in teenagers, but their safety and effectiveness have not been widely studied in children. Talk to your child's doctor to determine if weight loss surgery for your child should be considered.

Whatever approach you choose to help your overweight child, the aim is to make a healthy, active lifestyle fun. Make the most of the opportunities you and your family have to make positive changes.

Children's Health Guide

The Basics
Childhood Symptoms
Common Problems
Chronic Conditions

How to help a child lose weight correctly and without harm to health?

January 3, 2020

May 27, 2021

5 minutes

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ProWellness

Contents

Causes of excess weight in a child
Why is excess weight harmful in childhood?
How to lose weight in childhood?
Children under three years of age
Preschoolers, primary school age
Adolescents
Ground rules
Featured Products

Disclaimer

Please note that all information posted on the site Prowellness is provided for informational purposes only and is not a personal program, a direct recommendation for action, or medical advice. Do not use these materials for diagnosis, treatment, or any medical procedure. Consult your physician before using any technique or using any product. This site is not a specialized medical portal and does not replace the professional advice of a specialist. The Site Owner is not liable to any party who has suffered indirect or direct damage as a result of misuse of materials posted on this resource.

How to help a child lose weight correctly and without harm to health?

Adults and children are often overweight. The child grows and develops, so you can not put him on a strict diet and use fasting. Reducing weight, it is important not to stop the development, not to harm the growing, fragile body.

Causes of excess weight in a child

First you need to find the cause of the problem. There are several factors that affect the appearance of overweight in children:

Wrong attitude towards food. Often, mothers feed their children themselves, believing that a good appetite is a sign of health. Eat well - here's a supplement for you. Infant fatness at a certain age is a problem.
Sedentary lifestyle. Modern children, instead of outdoor games, sit near the computer, play gadgets, parents encourage this. Lack of movement leads to weight gain.
Heredity. Full parents from the first days should take care of the baby's weight, paying special attention to this. For example, you should reduce the consumption of sugar-containing foods: sweet carbonated drinks, ice cream, chocolate, sweets, lollipops. You should also reduce the proportion of foods with hidden sugar: fat-free yogurt and regular yogurt, cottage cheese mass or cheese curds, tomato sauces or ketchups, mayonnaise, instant cereals, sausages and sausages, cereals, muesli, granola, muesli bars and protein bars. Eating habits are laid down in early childhood, up to 5 years, so it is important to monitor the child's diet.

Attention! Are several causes of excess weight combined at once? The child is at risk of obesity.

Why is excess weight harmful in childhood?

If the child is overweight, the following problems threaten:

Deformation of a fragile spine.
Early heart problems - just can't handle the load.
Metabolic disorders - the pancreas cannot cope with its work, there is a risk of diabetes mellitus, which can manifest itself not only in childhood, but also many years later in adulthood.
Complexes. Psychologically, the teenager will be uncomfortable, because in the team they often laugh at the overweight, which can lead to bullying of the child, the so-called school bullying. An inferiority complex develops, which can remain in adulthood.

Introducing a tasty treat that will become an additional source of vitamins for your child - Ditops Fruit Chewable Tablets with Vitamins A, C and D. Three main vitamins for every day in a convenient form will be good helpers for strengthening the immune system and the growth of the child.

Attention! You can determine excess weight by appearance, body index, or simply by showing the child to the doctor.

How to lose weight in childhood?

Different weight loss methods have been developed for children of different ages. It is important for parents to follow the recommendations in order not to start the problem.

Children under three years old

It is necessary to consult a pediatrician. More often the reason lies in an endocrine disorder or overeating. It is enough to balance the diet, check the functioning of the endocrine system.

Preschool children, primary school age

It is difficult to control nutrition here, since the child eats more often outside the home. At home, more and more often, an “independent” baby begins to pull food from the parent’s table into his mouth. Either the whole family will have to switch to a healthy diet or control the child.

Teenagers

Some see the problem themselves, try to go on a diet. Sometimes they go to extremes, up to a hunger strike. This negatively affects health.

Attention! Excess weight can occur due to hormonal failure that occurs during adolescence.

Basic Rules

In order for a child to lose weight, it is important to follow a few rules:

Eliminate all fast carbohydrates and fats from your daily diet.
Limit high-calorie foods.
Increase the menu of dairy products, vegetables, fruits, fish.
You can take dietary supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, calcium, iodine. If they are not enough in the usual food of the child, then this can lead to an increased need for food, as the body tries to make up for their deficiency.
Meals should be frequent and small.
Exclude fast food completely.
To rid the child of the habit of constantly snacking on something. Computer lovers are especially affected by this.
Increase activity and exercise. Send the child to the sports section.

To normalize the functioning of the digestive system, we recommend using herbal tea from wild herbs No. 5 (Comfortable digestion) - Baikal Tea Collection with chamomile, Kuril tea, plantain and volushka. This herbal drink helps to find comfort and ease in the stomach.

As a substitute for fast food, you can use Natural gummies (orange) - Yoo Go without sugar. In each marmalade - the maximum benefit of turmeric and orange. Curcumin helps to gain harmony, normalize appetite and provide antioxidant protection. Isomalt and orange soy provide natural sweetness, and isomalt is also a prebiotic and helps nourish the intestinal microflora.

Sometimes it is better to be an example to your child. But it is important that he does not skip meals, does not go on hunger strikes. Remember, in the pursuit of harmony, you can lose your health. Only reasonable and competent actions are needed.

Disclaimer

Expert: Elagina Maria Business Profi of Siberian Wellness and nutritionist in cosmetics

Reviewer: Ekaterina Vorobieva Adept of a healthy and active lifestyle

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doctor's advice for parents - Into-Sana

How to lose weight for a child? Why do children gain weight? What are the dangers of being overweight and childhood obesity? These questions are answered by the pediatrician of the first category, the pediatric gastroenterologist of the Into-Sana medical centers, Polischuk Tatiana Sergeevna, from the portal The only one.

How to lose weight for a child: child weight norms

Parents should definitely know that the most intensive accumulation of fat occurs in infants under 1 year old, at the age of 5-7 years, in adolescents 12-17 years old. Moreover, only 1% of children are overweight due to genetic or endocrine pathology.

All other cases of obesity in children are associated with excessive intake of food in the body or with an unbalanced diet, in other words, with overeating, or with an incorrect sedentary lifestyle.

By the age of 6 months, the baby should double its initial weight, by 12 months - triple. After a year, children gain about 2 kg per year (up to 5 years). At the age of 5, the average weight is 18-22 kg, at 10 years old 28-34 kg, at 12 years old 36-45 kg. An approximate calculation of the body weight of a child from 2 to 5 years old can be carried out according to the following formula: M \u003d 10 + 2n, where n is the child's age in years.

After 10 years, the annual increase is 4 kg, the formula for the calculation will be: M = 30 + 4 (n-10), where 30 is the average weight of a child at 10 years old, n is the age of the child. Pediatricians have special tables for assessing the weight and height of the child.

Obesity has long been recognized as a disease. In medicine, obesity (overnutrition) is defined as a chronic disease characterized by generalized excessive accumulation of fat in the subcutaneous tissue and other tissues of the body, weight gain, and metabolic disorders.

Why are doctors so worried when a child gains weight?

Yes, because if appropriate measures to normalize weight are not taken in time, it can come into adulthood with a whole range of serious illnesses: high blood pressure, disruption of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, diabetes mellitus, fatty degeneration of the liver, cholelithiasis , pathology of the reproductive system.

Obesity occurs when caloric intake exceeds energy expenditure. The most important factor in the increase in the incidence of obesity is the consumption of high-fat foods, as well as a rich diet high in digestible carbohydrates, especially in the evening. It is difficult to deny that today the decrease in physical activity is rapidly progressing: children spend more and more time in front of the TV, at the computer, less and less prefer walking and outdoor games.

How to lose weight for a child: top tips

The first and most difficult step for parents is to admit that their child is overweight. If parents are aware of the fact that a child needs help with weight loss, this is already half the battle on the road to success. The second point is the realization that the fight against obesity is a long process, psychologically difficult for the child and his family members.

Food for a child can be, first of all, a source of pleasure, a way of avoiding problems at school or in the family, "jamming" complexes - as a result, the development of overweight, obesity, diabetes, etc. And here it can be difficult for parents to understand the essence of the problem. Psychologists and psychotherapists will come to the rescue.

It is not an easy task for parents to explain to a child why it is necessary to change his eating habits. By no means can it be said that his diet has changed because he is fat. When telling your child about food, explain that we owe our well-being and health to the foods we eat, that food should be healthy and complete.

As a rule, children of overweight parents become overweight due to "inheritance" of eating habits. It is in the family that we get used to eating this way and not otherwise. Have you ever wondered where sweets, cakes, cookies come from in your house? That's right, you bought it yourself.

The habit of buying “something sweet for tea” takes root very quickly, but this is definitely not a tradition that will bring peace and harmony to the family. Try instead of sweets to buy more fruits, vegetables, greens, fish, natural meat.

Avoid when buying sausages, sausages, mayonnaise, convenience foods. And for cooking, try to use methods without adding fat - do not fry, but bake or use stewing, boil, steam. Do not allow the child to eat in front of the TV, while reading a book: if he is carried away, he will eat much more; prohibit the use of chips, nuts, popcorn, chocolate and waffle bars. The whole family needs to eat right. Many people have to change their eating habits. Limit the use of bakery products, pasta, dumplings, jams for the whole family, exclude semolina.

Lean meats, lean fish, eggs, dairy products (preferably in the form of fermented milk drinks, cottage cheese) must be included in the diet. And for tea you can buy dried fruits - raisins, dried apricots, prunes. The main thing when a child follows a low-calorie diet is the support of all family members, a favorable attitude, encouragement and faith in a good result.

Remember that the only way to correct primary obesity is to reduce caloric intake and increase physical activity.