5 Ways To Help Children Weight Loss Without Hurting Their Feelings

Understanding Child Weight Loss

Obesity in our children has become a major concern in our lives today, poor eating habits and lack of exercise, especially due to smart phones and video games. Children weight loss is up because it’s really hard to get them up and out and on the move. It seems like from 12 to 18 years old most of their time is spent in their rooms, playing video games or chatting. Long gone are the times when we said, “I’m heading over to my friend’s place.” Now it’s text, phone or video chat.

But having a child that is above their BMI or Body Mass Index is scary for several reasons. In the past, the saying, “they’ll grow out of it,” was the norm, but they usually did with less to do in the house and more to do outside. There’s still concerns of the cruelty of being picked on by other kids and the thoughts of your child being unpopular, but even more important with children weight loss are all the revelations of health issues that can severely hurt your child’s future.

While the name calling can be devastating, Doctors are now finding that they are diagnosing children as young as 10 and 11 with conditions that we used to associate with middle age adults. It has been established that obesity has a direct connection to diabetes, heart conditions and arthritis and they’re seeing this more often BEFORE children reach adulthood. As a parent, we really have to be aware of our children’s weight loss and health in general, including possible health issues further on down the road.
But how do you help your child lose weight without telling them they need to lose weight and hurting they’re feelings?

Obviously, the first thing you should do is consult your doctor to see where your child fits in the average weight and height scale and to determine if they are any other health issues present. If they do determine your child is over weight, the doctor will say so. You both now have an open avenue for dialog that can determine the next steps.

It’s important to understand how your child feels, are they comfortable with themselves, are there issues at school, but to do it subtlety. Almost in a matter of fact way. If there is any hint of them not being comfortable, it will make the following tips even easier to implement. Let them know you’ll help in any way possible.

You can change things without them feeling they are on a diet, and by making it easier for them to integrate it into their day. Inject more activity so exercise doesn’t look like work to them. I actually placed the changes on me, knowing I had to change my life as well and that took the “pressure” off my child.

The following are some simple changes to diet and exercise you can make to ensure your children’s weight loss is heading in the right direction:

-- Gradually change your whole family’s diet so you move into the change naturally. Don’t force other siblings into “diet mentality” or they’ll feel resentful to your over weight child. Make it known that it’s important for everyone to benefit with the changes. Your child will also feel less deprived if everyone is eating the same foods.

-- Control the after school snacks. After a long day at school, it’s a good thing for them to have a small snack but what they’re snacking on makes a bit difference. As you know it’s better for us to eat smaller portions more often throughout the day rather than 3 big meals a day. It avoids the starving feeling at meal time which leads to overeating. Buy fruits and vegetables and pre-cut them so the kids can just open the container and fill a small bowl. Kids like easy and if they don’t have to make it, they’ll eat it.

-- Shop smarter. You don’t always have to buy chips and cookies, or if you do, only bring them out on Friday or Saturday, don’t shut them out but cut them down. Make subtle changes like instead, grab the low-fat yogurt, fresh fruit instead of the sugary fruit cups, other natural treats like trail mix and nuts. If you make healthy snacks available and unhealthy ones hard to find, you’ll keep temptation out of the way.

-- Exercise is a must, but we all tend to see it as work. It’s really important for the whole family to get exercise, so why not make it fun. See what they like and go do it, we go to the park and bring our baseball gloves, a football, a soccer ball, badminton stuff, whatever it takes and any exercise is better than none at all. Have fun with it…

-- Don’t overcook too much food. When there is a lot of food available we tend to keep eating even after we’re full. By cooking just enough food by portion they’ll be limited to a healthy portion of the main meal and if they’re are still hungry they can have a fruit. After about a month of doing this, the kids just stop looking for extra food and it becomes the norm without complaint. Not too mention you have a lot less waste!

By understanding your child’s weight loss condition and feelings is an important start to implementing these five suggestions. But I’m positive when your child sees the support without the hounding and the participation by the whole family, they’ll feel so much better about themselves making the chance for change much higher. By changing subtlety, chances are that no one in your family will even realize anyone was on a diet and everyone will be happy and healthier.