Good Exercise ideas to help child loose weight?

Question

I have a stepdaughter and she is vry sweet. She is 11 and her father has joint custody . She is a great kid but she is lazy. During the school year she lives with her mom and as soon as she gets home she does her homework and then sleeps till dinner. Then She eats whatever Junk(McDs, Burger King or other junk like that ) her mother picks up. SHe then watches TV and goes back to bed for the night. Im not judging her mother what goes on there my husband and I cant change but thechild is slowely starting to get overweight. SHe is a good 15 lbs overweight and for a kid thats alot. ALso she has no energy and never wants to do anything but lay around and watch TV. We will get her all summer long and I would love some Ideas of ways to get her back on track and her energy levels up. Fun things so it doesnt feel like shes being made to exercise. And please keep your rude coments to yourself.

Answer 1

When my son 12 and he was getting a bit overweight we took on the challenge together..... a lifestyle change to be all around healthier. We joined the gym and went together every night and we had a blast doing it. We started only buying healthy foods and making it fun to find different healthy recipes. He became much more energetic and just all  around happier. I think that it is most important to make it fun and positive.

Answer 2

If she's the type of child that doesn't like outdoor activities, try getting her a nintendo wii maybe.  most of the games for that require you to get up and move.  its a good way to "sneak" exercise to children.

Answer 3

I really understand your concern.  I grew up obese and I would not want that for my child.

My own daughter began to get chubby last year, even though she got a lot of outdoor play. Then blammo! she grew three inches and became lanky!  I have never emphasized 'diet' except to provide healthy meals and to define the word as in 'diet means the food you eat'. I do NOT want my child to worry about her weight or physical appearance (beyond good grooming, of course).

I trust you serve healthy meals and snacks at your house.  If possible this summer, try a very physical fun activity like swimming and horse-back riding, hiking...whatever will have the whole family together, playing and having fun.

You say the child is sleeping a lit. That concerns me greatly.  She should have a check up.  

I wish your family all the best!

Answer 4

my 9 year old twin cousins are almost the same. but they dont just sit around too much, i mean they play outside and run around and play sports (softball, soccer, basketball) but they still seem to be over weight, by a good bit. their problem is they eat so much and they eat really jucky. they put mayo on EVERYTHING it's so gross. so what we told their mom (when she asked for advice, i didnt just go and tell her this bc that would be rude) we said find healthy foods that are really good and let her get to where she LOVES to eat them. it sucks that yall dont have her more so that she could try to STAY active instead of just for the summer. but try to see if there are any summer sports that she would like to do, like soccer, and hopefully when she goes back to her moms, she'll ask her mom if she can play another sport. a lot of my friends were chubby when they were that age and now theyre in great shape. for a lot of kids, it's just a stage. good job for trying to step up and help her out. maybe go on walks with the family. tell her it's just family time, and it actually is a great way to be together and have fun while doing something that's very good for you. good luck

Answer 5

trampolines are great excersice and and so are pools, try to do something together and make it sound fun... kids love being with friends so encourage her to invite a friend over and play outside

Answer 6

have her play an easy sport. like something she wont think is a real sport. play that for a while. if that doesnt work have her ride a bike from that i now have HUGE muscles in my legs! hope that helps :)

Answer 7

I would question why an eleven year old sleeps that much each day. If she's that tired I'd suggest having her thyroid checked, could be the reason for the weight gain too. Of course eating fast food doesn't help, but I don't know an eleven year old that sleeps in the afternoon unless they are sick.

Answer 8

She is very lucky to have a stepmother like you!  And you are doing the right thing.  She is going to have a rough time if she continues to gain weight, and it's not good for her health.

Plain old walking is wonderful exercise for everyone in the family!  Get her to take walks with you and her Dad after dinner.   If the stores are close enough, maybe you could walk there once and awhile as well.

Since it will be summer when she visits, swimming will also be a wonderful exercise.   Also, you could set up a badminton net in your yard, and have some badminton matches......you play her, she plays Dad, and the two winners play each other.

But of course, it's also necessary for her to cut back on food a bit to lose some weight.   Don't deprive her of "treats" entirely, but try to serve overall healthy meals.   Fortunately, there will be lots of great salad veggies available in the summer, and you can grill chicken as well.   Once and awhile, though, take her for an ice cream.  That won't kill her, and she'll feel like she's not being deprived.

Even if she only loses five pounds over the summer, she will look and feel better when she goes back to school.  And she will grow into her weight eventually!

Answer 9

Bike riding.  I loved it.

Also, work with her about controlling the tendency to eat when she is bored or sad.  That was my downfall.  When I was upset, I tended to eat.

Also, consider the possibility that she may have an illness that is actually sapping her energy.  Untreated allergies, anemia come to mind.

Answer 10

I would say take her swimming, Thats a good activity for the summer. You can also take her skating or bike riding on a bike rail, and/or got  for walks.

Answer 11

okay this one is easy!

all you have to do is find a way to motivate her... buy some magizines that have exercises for friends to do together. but make sure that SHE wants to do this, dont force it on her or she'll become distant. when i was 11 i was 20 lbs overweight and my mom tried to sign me up for gym classes and all that did was make me hate her. when she said that she found some exercises to do with friends and now i am just fine.

my advice to you..... ask her what SHE wants to do and help her find the right way to lose the weight is she wants to. she might also be just fine with the way she is...............

hope it helps!

Answer 12

Be supportive of her no matter what.  Get her outside and active. Do not say you need to do this to lose weight.  If so, she might rebel and it will get worse.  Also make sure that you always have healthy, good food at your house.  Try to get her involved in cooking and picking our recipes to cook healthy meals.

Answer 13

take her to the Dr. and have her blood checked to make sure she does not have a iron deficIEncy or low thyroid. then what i did with my daughter. first of all she took interest in her going size so i was blunt and said flat out only she can do something about her size, we can help. me i stopped buying junk, ie: breakfast bars have 6,7,11grms of fat in them salsa has none.  a women needs 13grams of fat a day a man 15-18grams explain to her that the rest is stored as fat tell her that the body doesn't like fast food that they are made with drugs that make you addicted to them show her the facts, most heavy people in my experience don't like being heavy. what I'm saying is show her the facts help her by showing her alternative things to eat plain corn tortilla chips have low  fat. tell her whats in the food she is eating if she is educated then she is powerful some may think its mean but i would tell my daughter nothing with fat after dinner, and then i would  remind her that the food she was choosing was not the best choice be bold (don't berate her, when she sticks with a bad choose) but always acknowledge her efforts by complimenting her. don't continue to pretend she is not headed down a dangerous  road. her father might want to spend a Lil time exercising (walk and talk) with her it would be great for them both.

Answer 14

i did the same thing in highschool i would do my homework fall asleep and then eat dinner and then go back to sleep i slowly became depressed... but finding a hobby like dancing.... sports or something would keep her active maybe giving her a new friend (puppy) takes the dogs for walks etc... but never mention to her shes overweight when my dr told me i was 3lbs overweight it stuck with me til this day... and now i worry about my weight too! and at that age their still growing but her bad habbbits will stick with her so finding a fun activity shes into would be a good idea

Answer 15

i don't have an answer ,but I'm glad you asked this question,my stepdaughter just moved in with us and shes over weight.my husband and i have three other kids who are not overweight,so I'm trying to figure something out they can all do without making her feel like shes got a problem.

Answer 16

Any activities with you and your husband would be nice. Do family walks, soft ball, soccer. Just make it fun and never mention weight loss. Show her how to eat healthy by you and your husband doing it. Again just make it fun.

Answer 17

Hopefully she has some summer friends there to run and play with. If not make a point to do some family bike rides or hikes, or swimming. Maybe you could sign her up for some of your local community education classes for the summer. Our town has an awesome program with everything under the sun from art to rock climbing. It would be a good way for her to meet people. Another idea is to get her a her a trampoline.

Have a great summer.

Answer 18

swimming and bike riding are great ideas or start playing a sport with her like softball or soccer or something because she can join a softball or soccer team or something and would continue with that exercise even when you don't have her like during the school year.

Hope that helps.

Answer 19

You might want to consider that she may be depressed. Look into that. dont make a HUGE deal that you think she is overweight. It will make things worse.

Go to your local rec center and or theatre. Put her in dance class, an acting class, baseball, basketball, or swim class. You would be surprised how physical an acting class can be.

I am suggesting things that would be group sports and something where she can meet people her own age. School can be very depressing at that age. Its hard for some kids to make friends. I know those things all cost money but once you find something that she loves the reward will be fantastic.

I am only going on my own experiences at that age. I was over weight and slept ALLLL the time. My mom was worried and she put me in sports. I HATED it sometimes but now that I look back Im glad that she did.  ooo hhh yeah... that sleeping thing is basiclly normal for that age group.... but dont let it get tooo excessive.