As the years go by and the obesity rates continue to climb our children are also falling victim to being overweight and obese. Eighty percent of overweight and obese children will remain this way into adulthood. It is easier to work on weight loss for children while they are young.
Children can lose weight and change their eating habits easier than adults. The older you get the harder it becomes to make that change and lose weight. Children should not "diet" but rather be taught to make healthy choices.
My daughter is classified as obese and she is 10. I have taken her and had her tested for all the main medical problems from her thyroid to diabetes. There is nothing wrong with her medically. She has a slow metabolism and we were sent to a dietitian.
Upon meeting with the dietitian she showed us what an appropriate portion size is. I was shocked when she showed us this. She says this is true for even an adult. An appropriate portion size is the size of the palm of your hand. That is it. She should have all four food groups on her plate but each food group helping should be only the size of her palm.
A child only needs enough calories each day for energy allowance. Any calories after this are turned into fat. Not enough calories begins to burn fat for energy. This is not to say that you need to starve your child. This will not work they will just go behind your back and sneak food, defeating what you are trying to teach them.
Your family as a whole should be working together to make a healthy lifestyle change for your health and your childs health. Your child should be eating 4 to 6 times a day depending on bedtime and school hours.
An Example Day:
- 6:00- 8:00 Breakfast
- 2 hours after breakfast if not close too close to lunch a small snack
- 11:00- 1:00 Lunch
- 2 hours after lunch a small snack
- 5:00- 6:00 supper
- 2 hours after supper if not too close to bedtime then another small snack
Following an example like the one above will not leave your child hungry and they will have plenty of energy. Now this does not mean that you feed your child cookies and chips for snacks. You need to give them fresh fruit and vegetables. Something low in calories and fat.
I have four children with three of them being slim and one who is not, this makes her feel very bad about herself. Children that are overweight fall prey on others whom like to pick on them causing low self esteem and other problems. This is heartbreaking for parents as well. We feel like we have to help but do not know how.
I went looking on the internet for weight loss for children to find a solution. I needed a solution that would fit into our budget and that I could implement on our whole family so that all my children would learn to eat healthier for life. I figure as the obesity rates continue to climb, the way we eat in my house one of my other children was bound to become overweight or obese as time went on.
I was taught to make meat, potatoes, veggie, and bread at each meal. This was the way I grew up and it is supposed to be healthy according to Grandma and Mom. This was obviously going to have to change. I do not want my kids to take that habit on with them now that I know that it is not the healthiest way to eat.
I could only find fat camps and schools to put her in. Well this is absolutely out of the question for me. I am not sending my child off somewhere just because she is overweight. I love her with all my heart and I am keeping her.
After much searching I came across a perfect program for my entire family that had no revolving costs and was in my budget. At $60.00 I felt that it was well worth it for the health of my family. We have only just begun to use the program but I can tell you it is worth every penny.
The diet generator is the best thing ever. It plans my meals for me and gives me a grocery list of what I need to make the meals. If there is something that we do not like or do not want to try then I just substitute it with something else healthy from the generator. And if I have any questions I just go to the support forum with others going through the same thing.
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