Who cares if your kid is overweight!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This perception is exactly the problem. Some kids are just genetically built bigger than others and no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin. Its called body type and there are more than 1 of them.

You have GOT to be kidding. The laws of thermodynamics can't be escaped -- if kids eat more than they need or burn, they will be fat. If they eat the same, they will maintain weight. If they eat less, they will lose it.

The most unhealthy aspect of the obesity epidemic is this "woe-is-me" victimhood that fat people have, like you're born fat and there's nothing you can do about it. I was fat and lost the weight after I took responsibility for working out and eating less -- that was 10 years and 40 pounds ago.

It's an absolute lie that "no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin" -- getting more exercise and eating less crap is EXACTLY what will make them thinner.

You really dont think so kids are built to be ballerinas and some are built to be football players? There is are various body types and not all of them are "thin." I had an eating disorder for years, during which time, there were periods where I ate practically nothing, and I still was not skinny. Over the years, I learned to eat healthy and I still exercise 5x a week, but you have to be so careful about what your standards are for your kids.

I dont know what the average DCUM mom looks like, but based on the other weight loss/size threads, there is so much vitriol towards other women and judgment if you arent a size 4, then you are fat bc really size 6 is really a size 10 and size 10 is really a size 14 and so on. So my only point is that it is way more important to teach your children that they can be beautiful at any size and if they have curves, then thats the way G-d or genetics made them and they should focus on getting to their own best body shape/weight and not the shape that the warped mom or DCUM society thinks is best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, OP.

Everyone else:

Correspondence is not causation.
http://kateharding.net/faq/but-dont-you-realize-fat-is-unhealthy/

The correct response to bullying is not to remove the thing that is the target of bullying. It is to stop the bullying.
http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-using-cosmetic-surgery-to-stop.html

If you want your child not to be obsessed with crappy food, turning it into the forbidden fruit is counterproductive. If you want your child to be healthy, focus on habits, not weight, and realize that people can follow every rule that's supposed to guarantee good health and still get sick. You might want to introduce that concept before they have a chance to decide that Grandma deserved that cancer.

And to use as your model of health malnourished people in developing countries is batshit crazy.

If you think the PP used "malnourished people" as a model of health, you're batshit crazy--or perhaps just sorely in need of some reading comprehension skills.

The point (since you clearly missed it) was that consuming fewer calories and walking/exercising more (as people in developing nations do) clearly does limit your body's tendency to get fat.

Which would actually mirror your point of focusing on healthy habits and not weight.

And I really don't think a blog from someone who calls themselves an "angry black bitch" is much proof of anything. It's merely her opinion. And not even relevant to this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This perception is exactly the problem. Some kids are just genetically built bigger than others and no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin. Its called body type and there are more than 1 of them.

You have GOT to be kidding. The laws of thermodynamics can't be escaped -- if kids eat more than they need or burn, they will be fat. If they eat the same, they will maintain weight. If they eat less, they will lose it.

The most unhealthy aspect of the obesity epidemic is this "woe-is-me" victimhood that fat people have, like you're born fat and there's nothing you can do about it. I was fat and lost the weight after I took responsibility for working out and eating less -- that was 10 years and 40 pounds ago.

It's an absolute lie that "no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin" -- getting more exercise and eating less crap is EXACTLY what will make them thinner.

You really dont think so kids are built to be ballerinas and some are built to be football players? There is are various body types and not all of them are "thin." I had an eating disorder for years, during which time, there were periods where I ate practically nothing, and I still was not skinny. Over the years, I learned to eat healthy and I still exercise 5x a week, but you have to be so careful about what your standards are for your kids.

I dont know what the average DCUM mom looks like, but based on the other weight loss/size threads, there is so much vitriol towards other women and judgment if you arent a size 4, then you are fat bc really size 6 is really a size 10 and size 10 is really a size 14 and so on. So my only point is that it is way more important to teach your children that they can be beautiful at any size and if they have curves, then thats the way G-d or genetics made them and they should focus on getting to their own best body shape/weight and not the shape that the warped mom or DCUM society thinks is best.

Again...size 4 means nothing...big bones means nothing. That's the reason there is a healthy weight RANGE. Its a medical definition. You are more (statistically) inclined to a multitude of health problems if you are over the limits. Can you be unhealthy and thin? YES. Can you be healthy and a little overweight (YES). But why take the risk? Most people aren't overweight at a size 8/10, but I'd bet they have pushed the limits at a size 14 unless they're 6'5. Do certain people have smaller builds...of course!!!! One's build has nothing to do with the amount of fat you carry on your body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Nice...
"Here's a revelation for you, since I can tell you either have very young tots or babies, or no kids at all..."
WRONG! My oldest is 22. I have five kids. None of them are "very young tots". None of them are overweight. If anything, they could gain. They are a healthy weight because we modeled healthy eating habits and a healthy lifestyle.

You're not very smart.

That must be it. Your exemplary modeling The gene pool from the foreign country you are from must not have anything to do with it.

Even in food-scarce sub-Saharan countries, certain people just tend to be big. Tall, heavy-boned, and big. I'm most familiar with Cameroon but there are many others. In some countries, the population tends to have tiny feet and narrow shoulders and bird-like skeletons and nobody weighs more than 135, including the men. They have the coveted gift of genes. Also, for whatever reason, a lot (certainly not all) of Jewish women from any country are tiny. Not just <114 lbs, but very short with little size 6.5 shoes and petite hands.

Big and fat are two very different things. Most pro basketball players are very big--wide shoulders, very tall. Not fat. You're not really making much of point. Or sense. PP was right, you aren't very smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

With extremely rare exceptions, people are not overweight unless they are eating too much of the wrong foods. We can play around with excuses, but we all know that kids don't get fat unless they are eating (read: being fed) incorrectly. Add that to a sedentary lifestyle, and you have the recipe for a fat kid.

It's never the child's fault. As a parent, you own it 100%. And you owe it to your child to fix it.

Hey there, another DCUM Know-it-All talking out of her ass,

Here's a revelation for you, since I can tell you either have very young tots or babies, or no kids at all: when your children are older they become much more autonomous and they control their food intake themselves to a great extent. You can buy nothing but a bean sprout macrobiotic diet for your house but your 10 year old will still eat what he wants at school, after school, at soccer practice when the team moms bring %#$ crap packaged shit for "snack," .... at the movies with their friends, using their own money they earned ... at the pool snack bar, when you're not with them ...

so, no. You can model all you want as your 'thin parent' self, but at some point, your older kids make their own choices and it's not always baked tofu with fat-free vinagarette and a side of mesclun.

Then they want to quit soccer and instead spend that time on photography and yearbook. Then what?

At some point, oh smug Mom of a 20 month old, it's out of your hands.

I think I love you.

[Anonymous]

That must be it. Your exemplary modeling The gene pool from the foreign country you are from must not have anything to do with it.

You sound fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This perception is exactly the problem. Some kids are just genetically built bigger than others and no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin. Its called body type and there are more than 1 of them.

You have GOT to be kidding. The laws of thermodynamics can't be escaped -- if kids eat more than they need or burn, they will be fat. If they eat the same, they will maintain weight. If they eat less, they will lose it.

The most unhealthy aspect of the obesity epidemic is this "woe-is-me" victimhood that fat people have, like you're born fat and there's nothing you can do about it. I was fat and lost the weight after I took responsibility for working out and eating less -- that was 10 years and 40 pounds ago.

It's an absolute lie that "no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin" -- getting more exercise and eating less crap is EXACTLY what will make them thinner.

What? No, you can't escape the laws of Thermodynamics, but I'm not sure which one relates to dieting...

Zeroth Law: If system A and system B are in thermal equilibrium with system C, then system A is in thermal equilibrium with system B

First Law: Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.

Second Law: When two isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium in itself, but not in equilibrium with each other at first, are at some time allowed to interact, breaking the isolation that separates the two systems, and they exchange matter or energy, they will eventually reach a mutual thermodynamic equilibrium. The sum of the entropies of the initial, isolated systems is less than or equal to the entropy of the final exchanging systems. In the process of reaching a new thermodynamic equilibrium, entropy has increased, or at least has not decreased

Third Law: As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a minimum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This perception is exactly the problem. Some kids are just genetically built bigger than others and no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin. Its called body type and there are more than 1 of them.

You have GOT to be kidding. The laws of thermodynamics can't be escaped -- if kids eat more than they need or burn, they will be fat. If they eat the same, they will maintain weight. If they eat less, they will lose it.

The most unhealthy aspect of the obesity epidemic is this "woe-is-me" victimhood that fat people have, like you're born fat and there's nothing you can do about it. I was fat and lost the weight after I took responsibility for working out and eating less -- that was 10 years and 40 pounds ago.

It's an absolute lie that "no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin" -- getting more exercise and eating less crap is EXACTLY what will make them thinner.

You really dont think so kids are built to be ballerinas and some are built to be football players? There is are various body types and not all of them are "thin." I had an eating disorder for years, during which time, there were periods where I ate practically nothing, and I still was not skinny. Over the years, I learned to eat healthy and I still exercise 5x a week, but you have to be so careful about what your standards are for your kids.

I dont know what the average DCUM mom looks like, but based on the other weight loss/size threads, there is so much vitriol towards other women and judgment if you arent a size 4, then you are fat bc really size 6 is really a size 10 and size 10 is really a size 14 and so on. So my only point is that it is way more important to teach your children that they can be beautiful at any size and if they have curves, then thats the way G-d or genetics made them and they should focus on getting to their own best body shape/weight and not the shape that the warped mom or DCUM society thinks is best.

1. I'm from a rural poor area, and moved to DC recently, so I'm not your typical "DCUM mom" anyway. I don't have unrealistic standards, because where I grew up, most kids got plenty of outdoor activity and exercise and are in great shape from that.

2. Yeah, not all kids have tiny frames or big frames (genetic component), but no one is genetically FAT. There are predispositions to have faster or slower metabolisms and bigger/smaller frames. The rest is behavior. If you sit 15 out of the 16 waking hours of the day, and eat packaged food, you'll end up fat 95% of the time. If you gets lots of activity and eat appropriate portions and foods, you'll end up thin 95% of the time. Note that 60% of Americans are overweight or obese.

3. I'm very sorry to hear about your personal struggles with a disorder. However, you realize that disordered eating creates metabolic problems that probably account for your inability to lose weight while suffering (your body goes into "starvation mode" and the type of food you eat if you binge/purge is usually terrible food). Healthy food habits and healthy amounts of exercise are what work. Disordered eating is a tragedy and obviously is a disease that needs serious medical help (and doesn't make for healthy, thin people).

4. It's important to teach your kids to be happy with themselves, NOT that they are destined to be fat. Any child can get the activity and good diet to avoid being fat, it's just a question of meeting their needs (which can definitely be challenging). For example, not everyone is stick-thin in developing countries, but no one is outright fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That must be it. Your exemplary modeling The gene pool from the foreign country you are from must not have anything to do with it.

You sound fat.

Not to mention ignorant. "the foreign country you are from" ? Really? Klassy.

[Anonymous]

To the PP who got the idea that Jewish women are petite with small feet....um...have you ever seen an actual Jew?? If anything the stereotype (which is just that) runs in the other direction.

Signed,
Curvy Jewess (and mom to same), sitting on my round tuches eating an apple

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What? No, you can't escape the laws of Thermodynamics, but I'm not sure which one relates to dieting...

Zeroth Law: If system A and system B are in thermal equilibrium with system C, then system A is in thermal equilibrium with system B

First Law: Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. It can only change forms.

Second Law: When two isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each in thermodynamic equilibrium in itself, but not in equilibrium with each other at first, are at some time allowed to interact, breaking the isolation that separates the two systems, and they exchange matter or energy, they will eventually reach a mutual thermodynamic equilibrium. The sum of the entropies of the initial, isolated systems is less than or equal to the entropy of the final exchanging systems. In the process of reaching a new thermodynamic equilibrium, entropy has increased, or at least has not decreased

Third Law: As temperature approaches absolute zero, the entropy of a system approaches a minimum.

First law. You can't create matter (e.g., fat) out of nothing. You must be taking in and storing it (matter and energy are the same -- that's the "change forms" the law references) and not expending it as physical activity (e.g., energy loss through chemical supply to muscles, heat, biological tissue repair after activity, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

With extremely rare exceptions, people are not overweight unless they are eating too much of the wrong foods. We can play around with excuses, but we all know that kids don't get fat unless they are eating (read: being fed) incorrectly. Add that to a sedentary lifestyle, and you have the recipe for a fat kid.

It's never the child's fault. As a parent, you own it 100%. And you owe it to your child to fix it.

Hey there, another DCUM Know-it-All talking out of her ass,

Here's a revelation for you, since I can tell you either have very young tots or babies, or no kids at all: when your children are older they become much more autonomous and they control their food intake themselves to a great extent. You can buy nothing but a bean sprout macrobiotic diet for your house but your 10 year old will still eat what he wants at school, after school, at soccer practice when the team moms bring %#$ crap packaged shit for "snack," .... at the movies with their friends, using their own money they earned ... at the pool snack bar, when you're not with them ...

so, no. You can model all you want as your 'thin parent' self, but at some point, your older kids make their own choices and it's not always baked tofu with fat-free vinagarette and a side of mesclun.

Then they want to quit soccer and instead spend that time on photography and yearbook. Then what?

At some point, oh smug Mom of a 20 month old, it's out of your hands.

I think I love you.

I love how you can pick the fat people out just by reading their responses. It's like you can just see their chubby little fingers flying over the keyboard as the grease from their big mac slowly drips onto the mouse pad.

[Anonymous]

I find this whole topic pretty interesting. I have always been somewhat self-conscious about my weight, but in large part b/c I *do* have a muscular build. You look at pictures of me as a kid, and I had huge thigh muscles at the age of 5.

I was VERY athletic growing up and was never called fat. But I remember always feeling fat (and still feeling that way) b/c I was never model thin (or had any slim features really).

I now look at my children (2 boys and a little baby girl) and see my feature in them. What is odd is that - technically - my 2 boys are considered on the edge of overweight by BMI standards. But you look at my kids and they are seriously fit. Like - no fat. They too have very muscular shapes. They are strong and fit and very active.

So I get what OP is saying to a certain extent - what is technically "overweight" may really be a product of genetics. That said, I think childhood obesity is a real issue and I would be devastated if my kids were teased at school for being fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I love how you can pick the fat people out just by reading their responses. It's like you can just see their chubby little fingers flying over the keyboard as the grease from their big mac slowly drips onto the mouse pad.

Ummm...no.

But you can definitely tell what kind of person you are (as in, a judgmental bitch) based on your post...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of this depends on your interpretation of overweight. For a mom who is 5'6" and 110, a "fat" child might be very different than for a mom who is 5'6" and 150. As parents, we need to be very careful not to put our own distorted perceptions on our children.

If you do have a child who is tending to be overweight, please make sure to talk to them about healthy weight, healthy body image and healthy choices. You should also stress that everyone's body is different and its often not fair that some of their friends can each whatever they want and still be super skinny, while staying thin might be more difficult for them. PLEASE ackowledge genetic difference and that various body types are beautiful - not just what they see in the magazines. If you can, point to celebs who are not traditionally skinny and how healthy self-confidence makes someone way more attractive than a size 0 dress. Thin should not be everyone's goal. I could starve myself and lose 50 lbs and I would still be very curvy - my butt is not going anywhere.

We can debate whether a woman who has several kids and could lose 20 pounds is curvy or overweight. But a kid is a kid. There's no need for kids to have excess fat on their bodies. The hormones that fat produces can screw up the growing process. It can also make it harder for the kid to be a healthy-weight adult.

This perception is exactly the problem. Some kids are just genetically built bigger than others and no amount of dieting or exercise is going to make them thin. Its called body type and there are more than 1 of them.

The important thing is that the child have the right amount of fat for his particular body type. It's not about being skinny, it's about being healthy.

It's hard for me to see how anyone can look around us and not think overweight and obesity, beginning in childhood, are a major public health problem as well as a very significant individual health problem.