We “cured” DD’s childhood obesity

[Anonymous]

Good for you Op! I see a lot of fat kids running around even UMC areas. Most people are not paying attention or making excuses.

[Anonymous]

What is wrong with you people? Avoiding giving her child processed foods like puffs doesn't mean she's obsessed or that her eating is disordered. There is so much misinformation out there about diet and nutrition. OP admitted that had bought into some of that misinformation like believing that fruits that are higher in sugar aren't healthy. She has now changed her thinking after following the advice of her doctor. Jeez, give her a break. Good job OP. It's not easy to change habits and beliefs around diet and it sounds like you've made a lot of progress with your daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is wrong with you people? Avoiding giving her child processed foods like puffs doesn't mean she's obsessed or that her eating is disordered. There is so much misinformation out there about diet and nutrition. OP admitted that had bought into some of that misinformation like believing that fruits that are higher in sugar aren't healthy. She has now changed her thinking after following the advice of her doctor. Jeez, give her a break. Good job OP. It's not easy to change habits and beliefs around diet and it sounds like you've made a lot of progress with your daughter.

I don't know the whole story, but the things about 8 pounds and drinking every bottle, as well as avoiding grapes and bananas as unhealthy, seem weird. wondering how "obsese" the child actually was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DD was always big. Born over 8 lbs, never left a drop of milk in a bottle, and ate well as soon as she started solids. I always fed her healthy things (focused on whole, minimally processed foods, vegetables, etc) but her tendency to take big portion sizes and clean her plate added up to an obesity diagnosis in early elementary. Once she was diagnosed, her MD have fairly simple, evidence-based guidelines:

1) 90 minutes of active play per day
2) 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day

We followed the guidelines and it worked.

Getting much more activity required signing her up for two sports. It took quite a while to finally find a fit—since she wasn’t in great shape, she really disliked the first few things she tried. But then she found an activity that clicked for her. Once she had that, it was easier for her to take on a second.

Luckily DD likes a lot of kinds of vegetables, but it was still a huge lift to work in sooo much more produce. We lean some on frozen things, some canned things, some “hidden” vegetable things. Every meal starts with a recognizable fruit or vegetable (fruit at breakfast, vegetable at lunch or dinner). Then we don’t particularly limit what she takes at meals. The whole point is that the vegetable reduces her appetite to overeat. All snacks are fruit or veg (but are often things like pouches). When she is doing legos or homework I set out something like broiled asparagus or peeled clementines for her to pick at.

I had to check a lot of my “diet baggage” at the door. I had internalized that grapes, bananas, apples, etc didn’t really “count” as healthy, but being able to lean on easier sells like a bananac especially when traveling, was important to maintain consistency.

There is another thread going now where some moms seem in denial about the validity of BMI. Admittedly this was hard to hear, especially for someone who had really avoided feeding her kid junk and sugar, never gave her puffs which I considered baby junk food, etc. But if I hadn’t taken a clear-eyed approach, we would not have fixed it. And now DD is very proud of her fitness and athleticism, which is a delight to watch.

My baby was chunky too. We did none of this and she also leaned out and is an athletes etc.

Your obsession with this is unhealthy and puts her at risk for an eating disorder.

Folks, OP did this on the doctor's orders. Kudos for following through and being consistent. I have lots of family members with all kinds of ailments and as much as they bitch and moan, they never do anything that the doctor tells them to do in order to improve their health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when a mom does nothing to chance the environment and activity level of a family when a child is overweight - then the mom sucks and it is all her fault

And when a mom does something to change the environment and activity level of her family when a child is overweight - then she has serious eating issues herself and has clearly passed them on to her kid and she sucks and it is all her fault

Welcome to DCUM. Some times of the year are much worse than others, and sometimes I wonder if there's just one really nasty, unhappy person who goes around the entire site and makes multiple posts shitting on the OPs.

[Anonymous]

8 pounds is an average sized baby...

I didn’t realize there were people out there limiting apples, bananas and grapes as unhealthy. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8 pounds is an average sized baby...

I didn’t realize there were people out there limiting apples, bananas and grapes as unhealthy. Wow.

There are many people, most, who think you cannot overfeed a baby, that finishing a bottle means to give them a bigger bottle for the next feed, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8 pounds is an average sized baby...

I didn’t realize there were people out there limiting apples, bananas and grapes as unhealthy. Wow.

Yup. What doctor told you this? Or was it the disordered eating internet?

I'm glad you have done some work and I'm glad your DD is thriving OP. I can't imagine a world where I approach a banana the same way as I approach a snickers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:8 pounds is an average sized baby...

I didn’t realize there were people out there limiting apples, bananas and grapes as unhealthy. Wow.

Yup. What doctor told you this? Or was it the disordered eating internet?

I'm glad you have done some work and I'm glad your DD is thriving OP. I can't imagine a world where I approach a banana the same way as I approach a snickers.

Those of you who are saying people are ragging on OP for helping out with her daughters weight - No one is doing that. We are reacting to these comments from OP which obviously indicate that she has eating issues. Those issues (Calling an 8 pound baby fat, thinking puffs are junk food, calling bananas and grapes unhealthy) were obviously transferred to her daughter in some form. It’s good they’re doing something about it now, But the kid has probably been binging on junk food at preschool and at friends houses for years because mommy is so crazy about it at home (and now patting herself on the back for ‘curing’ the issue she created). I’ve been there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:8 pounds is an average sized baby...

I didn’t realize there were people out there limiting apples, bananas and grapes as unhealthy. Wow.

My kids was born 10 pounds 2 ounces and was going through bottles like there as no tomorrow. He was a big baby and a chunky toddler. It took him a little while longer to lose his tummy but now he is just fine. He is on the high side of the BMI but he is also in the 99th percentile for his height and weight. He is proportional and his Doctor is not worried. I don't think that the baby issues are relevant to the later issue but that could be me projecting. DS reported that a girl at winter camp was surprised that he was only 7 because he looks like he is 9. (shrugs) Some kids are bigger and the BMI is not exactly accurate for those kids. Our Doctor said to focus on if the weight and height are in proportion. It doesn't hurt that DS has no belly. He is not rail thin, but neither his Dad or I are rail thin. His body type is similar to our so I don't expect him to be a stick.

Good on the OP for changing the diet up when their child was overweight as she aged. Hopefully it will help to create a life time habit of eating well and exercising. Fruits and Veg are very important and cutting back on the more sugary and processed foods is always helpful.

[Anonymous]

Wonderful job, OP!

Congratulations, you have given your child the tools to eat healthy all her life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DD was always big. Born over 8 lbs, never left a drop of milk in a bottle, and ate well as soon as she started solids. I always fed her healthy things (focused on whole, minimally processed foods, vegetables, etc) but her tendency to take big portion sizes and clean her plate added up to an obesity diagnosis in early elementary. Once she was diagnosed, her MD have fairly simple, evidence-based guidelines:

1) 90 minutes of active play per day
2) 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day

We followed the guidelines and it worked.

Getting much more activity required signing her up for two sports. It took quite a while to finally find a fit—since she wasn’t in great shape, she really disliked the first few things she tried. But then she found an activity that clicked for her. Once she had that, it was easier for her to take on a second.

Luckily DD likes a lot of kinds of vegetables, but it was still a huge lift to work in sooo much more produce. We lean some on frozen things, some canned things, some “hidden” vegetable things. Every meal starts with a recognizable fruit or vegetable (fruit at breakfast, vegetable at lunch or dinner). Then we don’t particularly limit what she takes at meals. The whole point is that the vegetable reduces her appetite to overeat. All snacks are fruit or veg (but are often things like pouches). When she is doing legos or homework I set out something like broiled asparagus or peeled clementines for her to pick at.

I had to check a lot of my “diet baggage” at the door. I had internalized that grapes, bananas, apples, etc didn’t really “count” as healthy, but being able to lean on easier sells like a bananac especially when traveling, was important to maintain consistency.

There is another thread going now where some moms seem in denial about the validity of BMI. Admittedly this was hard to hear, especially for someone who had really avoided feeding her kid junk and sugar, never gave her puffs which I considered baby junk food, etc. But if I hadn’t taken a clear-eyed approach, we would not have fixed it. And now DD is very proud of her fitness and athleticism, which is a delight to watch.

My baby was chunky too. We did none of this and she also leaned out and is an athletes etc.

Your obsession with this is unhealthy and puts her at risk for an eating disorder.

Folks, OP did this on the doctor's orders. Kudos for following through and being consistent. I have lots of family members with all kinds of ailments and as much as they bitch and moan, they never do anything that the doctor tells them to do in order to improve their health.

I suspect that adding the sports and 90 minutes of activity a day is what made the real change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our DD was always big. Born over 8 lbs, never left a drop of milk in a bottle, and ate well as soon as she started solids. I always fed her healthy things (focused on whole, minimally processed foods, vegetables, etc) but her tendency to take big portion sizes and clean her plate added up to an obesity diagnosis in early elementary. Once she was diagnosed, her MD have fairly simple, evidence-based guidelines:

1) 90 minutes of active play per day
2) 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day

We followed the guidelines and it worked.

Getting much more activity required signing her up for two sports. It took quite a while to finally find a fit—since she wasn’t in great shape, she really disliked the first few things she tried. But then she found an activity that clicked for her. Once she had that, it was easier for her to take on a second.

Luckily DD likes a lot of kinds of vegetables, but it was still a huge lift to work in sooo much more produce. We lean some on frozen things, some canned things, some “hidden” vegetable things. Every meal starts with a recognizable fruit or vegetable (fruit at breakfast, vegetable at lunch or dinner). Then we don’t particularly limit what she takes at meals. The whole point is that the vegetable reduces her appetite to overeat. All snacks are fruit or veg (but are often things like pouches). When she is doing legos or homework I set out something like broiled asparagus or peeled clementines for her to pick at.

I had to check a lot of my “diet baggage” at the door. I had internalized that grapes, bananas, apples, etc didn’t really “count” as healthy, but being able to lean on easier sells like a bananac especially when traveling, was important to maintain consistency.

There is another thread going now where some moms seem in denial about the validity of BMI. Admittedly this was hard to hear, especially for someone who had really avoided feeding her kid junk and sugar, never gave her puffs which I considered baby junk food, etc. But if I hadn’t taken a clear-eyed approach, we would not have fixed it. And now DD is very proud of her fitness and athleticism, which is a delight to watch.

My baby was chunky too. We did none of this and she also leaned out and is an athletes etc.

Your obsession with this is unhealthy and puts her at risk for an eating disorder.

Folks, OP did this on the doctor's orders. Kudos for following through and being consistent. I have lots of family members with all kinds of ailments and as much as they bitch and moan, they never do anything that the doctor tells them to do in order to improve their health.

I suspect that adding the sports and 90 minutes of activity a day is what made the real change.

I suspect that you don't have experience with obese children.

[Anonymous]

Great job, OP! I can't tell you how many times I've seen parents in denial, including my own parents when we young about my little brother's weight issues. He now has diabetes in his 30's. I know it's hard because some kids put on weight more easily than others, but kudos to you for recognizing what your DD needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great job, OP! I can't tell you how many times I've seen parents in denial, including my own parents when we young about my little brother's weight issues. He now has diabetes in his 30's. I know it's hard because some kids put on weight more easily than others, but kudos to you for recognizing what your DD needs.

Np. At 30, it is certainly not his parents' fault for his weight or diabetes.