• Knowledgebase: Nutrition, Exercise, and Obesity

    Questions about child nutrition, exercise, and obesity/weight loss.

    11. What are your thoughts about heavy kids? - Top

    Well, I think all over weight children need a good evaluation- history, and physical, looking for any treatable underlying illness. Unfortunately though, it is very uncommon to find a treatable medical condition.

    That leaves us with only two things to control: food in and calories burned. At least for pre-teen children, parents should have a fair amount of control over what they eat. I am concerned every time I have this discussion that many parents are unwilling to be held accountable for what their children truely eat. If you don't buy processed food, fat-containing foods, and unhealthy foods, your pre-teen child is very unlikely to have access to them. For the non-overweight family members it is no fun to have no snack foods in the house. But, everyone has to play by the same rules. If you eat Doritos, why cant she?

    As for exercise, many parents think that just because their child is participating in a sport they are getting lots of exercise. I have had children in Baseball, gymnastics, wrestling. There is a LOT of sitting around in most sports. You need to make a point of encouraging a structured half hour of exercise for your child at least every other day, if not EVERY day. This may be a brisk family walk every day. It may be biking (not coasting), swimming (not playing in the pool), Jogging, or anything that gets you moving a little uncomfortably for 30 minutes.

    There are currently NO medicines approved for weight loss in children. I have tried Xenical (a fat blocker) with absolutely no success in children.

    Unfortunately, there are no programs and no money available for weight loss in children. A good program will involve peer group support, exercise, dietary counselling, and parental involvement.

    If you can help control your pre-teen's weight until Puberty, they may then take a greater interest in their own body image.

    I like to stress to kids that I dont want them to lose weight so they will look like the girls in the magazines, etc. I want everybody to be "thin". I stress that I dont want them to get sick with diabetes, heart attacks, and stroke at an early age from being over weight. - Updated: March 9, 2001

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    • James L Horwitz, MD

    David C. Thomas, MD

    Barbara Lindberg, PNP