Helping A Child Lose Weight

Helping a child lose weight could be quite difficult, especially if the child in question is reluctant to change their eating patterns and lifestyle, but with support from loving parents, I'm sure that success is inevitable.

Before you begin the journey of helping a child lose weight, it would be a good idea to get the child in question checked out by a doctor so that you know whether the child has any underlying condition that would make successful weight loss difficult or impossible. It might also be a good idea to get a blood test to see whether there is any vitamin or mineral deficiency so that you know exactly what is what and don't accidentally make any deficiency worse.

In order to be helping a child lose weight I think it is important that any dietary changes that are made, are made by the entire family. This means that if an entire family is eating the same thing, then the child in question has less reason to complain, but as we parents know, kids will complain about anything and everything!

Helping a child lose weight by changing their diet to a more healthy one needs sneakiness on the part of the parent. I'm sure my children wouldn't eat a floret of broccoli sitting of their plate, but they do eat finely chopped broccoli all the time because if they don't really recognize it then they can't complain about it. Many of the 'one pot' style of cooking allows for vegetables to be hidden.

In helping a child lose weight, making swaps for favourite food items is another idea. If they like chips or french fries, make oven baked ones instead of having the deep fried variety. If they enjoy pizza, why not make them at home - they are so much healthier than the take away variety. These are just two examples, but parents are very good at taking ideas and applying them for their child's particular needs.

Exercise would also be a part of the lifestyle changes needed for helping a child lose weight, but if your child doesn't like sports, maybe the focus should be getting them moving rather than formal exercise. Activities like playing with a pet or kicking a ball outside or flying a kite doesn't seem like exercise, but its certainly not being sedentary. Like the diet component, it would be really helpful if the family became involved in any new activity, whether it is doing a sport or simply kicking a ball outside.

I think that its important that when helping a child lose weight, that it is done gradually and that changes are introduced slowly, because the changes need to be made as a permanent not a temporary thing. Its also really important that any weight loss efforts are not so severe that they are a detriment to a young growing body.

Good luck!

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