Is my Son going to be an overweight teen?

Question

I'm really getting worried about my son's weight. He is 5 years old. He has always been built like a tank, wide shouldered,, barrel chested. He weighs 56 lbs and is slightly taller than average for his age. You don't look at him and think fat, just big. Without his clothes though he haslittle man b***s and extra meat on him. He is the hardest child to feed. He eats chicken nuggets, cheese sandwhichcs...things like that. I make him eat fruit, but trying to get him to eat anything really healthy, he sits for hours and you have to force little peices in him and he always pukes it up anyway.He is obsessed with "snacks" I put a limit on them and I don't keep sweets around, only once in awhile. My husband scares me saying he's going to be a fat kid, and get picked on. What can I do and is he destined to be overweight. On both sides of the family we only have 1 person who you would consider quite overweight.

Answer 1

no one is destines to be overweight. Throw away the nuggets and anything else unhealthy. Tell him these are the foods he will have from now on and he has two options. eat or not eat. His choice. He will not starve. After a while he will eat. Cheese sandwich is okay as are nuggets if you limit the nuggets. For him to be overweight then there are other things he must be having. All snacke must be healthy and set a time that snack time is. Inbetween give him a glass of low fat milk or a tub of yogurt. And get him active. At 5 he is old enough to be involved in many activities

Answer 2

put him on a deit NOW because its only when there young that you can save them from themselves , he will thank you when your older.

Answer 3

Dr. Phil had a show air about this topic not to long ago. He has some really good advice. Here's a link for an article.

http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/6...

Best wishes to you!!

Answer 4

start sports?-rugby, football, hockey, soccer, rockclimbing, tennis and maybe boxing. try a bunch of sports and one day he'll find a passion for one. also you should make eat healthy.  you may also want to try and lead by example. Your child will probably copy his father figure so if your husband works out then he might. Right now at his age i strongly suggest he eat healthy since he is only 5.

Answer 5

Now is the perfect time to teach kids nutrition.  My son doesnt always like the food I make, but I introduce many things.  I dont let him snack unless he eats fruits and veggies first and then the snacks are usually the 100 calorie snacks.  That helps me keep it controlled.  He is 3 but built like he is 5 and this helps me keep his weight in check and his health up.

Answer 6

Absolutely!

Answer 7

Rockie, I'm going to talk to you from the heart here. My son is now 16 1/2. From the get-go, he was always a big boy - in fact, we lovingly called him Tank. Just solid, not really fat - but always tall, heavy, big feet. So we knew he would be a larger size.

However, there's a point where being solid just turns into being fat - and you as a parent have the opportunity to help stop this. My husband and I both wish we had done more earlier..... that's why I'm saying this is from the heart, because we know we made mistakes...

First of all, just get the c**p food out of your house, and don't frequent fast food places. If you eat out or do take out, do it really rarely - and make sure there are healthy options. Yes, it DOES make a difference to have the fries. Yes it DOES make a difference to have pop...

He should be eating the same food you are preparing for you and your husband - which should be sound, nutritious food anyway. My son didn't like very few things - he ate regular food I cooked, and likes ALL veggies and even whole grain bread, for example - but it's the little piddling extras which add up - and I have to say that's the snacktime along the way. That's exactly where your problem is right now.

If he's refusing to eat what you put in front of him, then it's time for some tough love. Then he doesn't eat. Leave the plate for a half hour, then put it away. He gets no additional snacks til the next meal, then. It won't hurt him to not eat for a day.... but he'll sure eat the next time you serve him stew with lots of veggies in it!

I just encourage you to deal with this now. My son being fat wasn't really that big of a deal through to middle school - there was some teasing, but not much. However once he hit grade 9, which is high school here - it's been bothering him since then. And once they hit adolescence, it's even harder to get them to curtail foods, since they have enough to deal with.

So from one mom to another, be careful, and do something about this now. If you need help, talk to your doc, who can refer you to a nutritionist.

I need to add, you MUST ensure that he's active - and that means you and your husband must be involved with him, too. Overweight kids shy away from being in organized sports - but find something.... anything for him to get involved with.

I wish you luck :)

Answer 8

I think the best method here is to stop giving him the bad food. Give him 2 choices: veggies or nothing. He isn't going to starve. He will choose nothing the first time of course and possibly throw a tantrum but stand your ground...he will later be hungry and want something to eat...and when you don't give him chicken nuggets he will have to eat the fruit.

When I was a kid I HATED spinach and I have some distinct memories of me sitting at the kitchen table well past dinner time starting at a plate of spinach and not being allowed to leave until I ate it...and I ALWAYS caved in and ate it, sometimes not until 4 hours later.

You do not need to take away all his snacks...in fact this can actually make him more likely to want and need to eat sweet foods since they are "forbidden". Get him out of the house to excersise. Go on family hikes, get him enrolled in a sport, and pack him his own lunch instead of giving him school lunches (they are terrible and disgusting and NOT healthy)

Just because obesity doesn't run in your family doesn't mean he won't become overweight. If he keeps eating chicken nuggest and cheese and sweets he WILL be overweight unless he is serious on excersising. Your best chances of having him be a healthy and normal boy are to start now. It might be hard and he WILL hate it, but its got to be done.