Overweight and a nutritionist

malky800

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 4:22 pm

My 8 yr old daughter is very heavy and chubby. She is in the 50th percentile for height and 97th for weight.
The main reason why I am very concerned about the situation is because my husbands family is very obese and many health issues.
My dr. isn't overly concerned because she has always been heavy from the beginning and following her curve.
I want to take her to a nurtitionist just to get an idea of how much I should be allowing her to eat, how much snacks she can eat, etc.
Am I overdoing it? Taking out the time and money for it.
Should I wait until my dr says it's time now to go?

amother

Tue, Oct 30 2012, 4:43 pm

If you are not observing unhealthy tendencies in your daughter's eating, LEAVE IT BE!!

I was a chubby kid. Not overweight, but definitely not svelte, and my mom graciously took me to nutritionist appointments bi-weekly for years. I had my growth spurt late, and slimmed down significantly, and then developed an eating disorder in my teens because I was petrified that I would get fat again. (and I never was fat! I look at pictures now and I see a chubby kid, not the morbidly obese one I thought I was) 15 years later I'm still struggling with my eating disorder. Petrified that I'll get fat, and die of one of the myriad things my mom would warn me about on the way to the nutritionist.

Offer healthy foods for meals and snacks to ALL of your kids, not just this DD, and please, don't make an issue of her weight if the doctor says it's ok.

spinkles

Wed, Oct 31 2012, 12:08 am

I wouldn't. It could make her feel bad about herself.

I would just make sure she was exercising regularly doing things she loves, and that the rest of the family was too. And I'd be making sure the whole family was eating a healthy diet based on whole grains, lean proteins, and lots of veggies.

rothjj

Wed, Mar 13 2013, 5:38 pm

Do not try to restrict amounts of food... unless the food is high sodium or high sugar. Instead, switch the type of food you offer to whole grains, vegetables, lighter proteins (fish, chicken) , fruits, nuts, and the occasional treat. Do not forbid treats entirely or your daughter will become a secret eater.

I regret extremely once trying to restrict amounts and cut out treats- this can set up eating disorders. I am still trying to undo this parenting mistake.

You can see if your daughter eats when bored, and set up scheduled snacks and meals if yes- that's okay. Make sure they are often enough that she is not starved from one time to the next.

By the way, slim kids and fat kids eat remarkably similarly. Just slim ones are much more active - so work on that!!!!

If your husband's family is overweight, you have to accept that some people are meant to have a higher weight- and there is nothing you are supposed to do about it. Your job is to teach healthy habits- not to restrict amounts of food. And you should concentrate on eating healthy at any size... many overweight people are more healthy than normal weight ones.

If you leave your daughter alone, she may come to you one day and ask how to eat more healthy and lose weight, and then you can work with that.... And the best time for that is much later on in life. That will have much larger a chance of being successful than if you try to force it.