Noticing very chunky young kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately a lot has to do with poverty and social class. At my kids private elementary school, virtually every kid is skinny.

I'm dcum poor and my teens are skinny. I've been trying to fatten them up forever. Dh and I were skinny until mid 30's, now we are average. Our parents were thin. Our siblings were thin. I think it's genetics.

When someone is talking about poverty, you really think they are talking "DCUM poor?"

If dcum knew what we are living on, they'd die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:American kids basically snack on junk all day. That’s why.

+1. I work in an "affluent" public ES. You would NOT believe the garbage most parents are sending to school as lunch and snack. Its almost entirely ultra processed and salt laden. Parents thing if they chop some strawberries or cucumbers that makes up for all the rest of the junk. And frankly the school options are not much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swimming at the pool this year and have really noticed a lot of chunky kids. I know a lot of kids are overweight and obese now but it still surprises me every time I see kids who are clearly overweight at a young age.

DH and I had the opposite problem growing up and our kids are sharing our genetics. No matter how much they eat they can’t really gain weight. Our 9.5 year old only weighs 66 pounds and eats like a horse!

A friend of mine said her 8 year old weighed 100 pounds!

My kids don’t eat perfectly healthy all the time and do eat junk food so it’s not like they aren’t also consuming the highly processed food. I just feel bad for kids having to go through this at such a young age.

This is some weird variation on the humble brag ...

Op - not a brag at all! When I I was growing up all the kids looked the same. Some were taller, some were shorter but they were all pretty much skinny with knobby knees. Now there are tons of overweight and obese kids! It’s shocking!

Oh f off op.

X100000000000

[Anonymous]

My 8 year old weighs 90.lns but doesn't have an ounce of fat. He is very tall amd strong. I feel bad for your scrawny kid.

[Anonymous]

The thinnest kids I know eat the most junk. So I’d check all that self-righteousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My audhd kid is on meds that lead to weight gain. He doesn’t initially present as neurodivergent. Your judgment of his body before you ever encounter his personality tells me so much more about you than him. Your judgements about “societal ills” have impacts on real kids’ bodies. Congrats on continuing the concern-trolling and exclusion. This way of engaging with weight talk reminds me of all of the fat shaming of the 1990s. I wasn’t fat then nor a special needs parent so it didn’t hit me the same way. Now I want to tell these people to either take a serious professional role in improving public health or keep your trap shut. Your casually judgmental words here inspire more exclusion, and self-hatred rather than inspiring any kind of healthy change. Go jump in a lake.

Perhaps if your kid did more jumping in lakes, or jumping in general, there would be less of a problem. If you feed your adhd kid correctly, and ensure he gets enough exercise, you don't need to medicate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My audhd kid is on meds that lead to weight gain. He doesn’t initially present as neurodivergent. Your judgment of his body before you ever encounter his personality tells me so much more about you than him. Your judgements about “societal ills” have impacts on real kids’ bodies. Congrats on continuing the concern-trolling and exclusion. This way of engaging with weight talk reminds me of all of the fat shaming of the 1990s. I wasn’t fat then nor a special needs parent so it didn’t hit me the same way. Now I want to tell these people to either take a serious professional role in improving public health or keep your trap shut. Your casually judgmental words here inspire more exclusion, and self-hatred rather than inspiring any kind of healthy change. Go jump in a lake.

Perhaps if your kid did more jumping in lakes, or jumping in general, there would be less of a problem. If you feed your adhd kid correctly, and ensure he gets enough exercise, you don't need to medicate.

DP : you have no idea how ridiculous you sound. Completely false information.

[Anonymous]

Data show that most American kids eat healthier at school. DCUM is not a representative sample of the country. It's a tiny elite bubble where literally every sport can be tried in pursuit of college. That keeps kids thinner.

It's not exactly a hidden fact that our food system has major problems. So of course kids are heavier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids, one has always been slim despite eating a ton (and she’s a girl), and the other (a boy) packed on a ton of weight between ages 9-12 and finally is slimming down by 14. Both kids eat healthy foods, not picky, we don’t drink soda or eat out a lot. His metabolism is just more like mine (sorry, son).

Some of his friends pound soda and spend all their money eating junk at the snack bar all summer and after school and are stick thin. He’s my kid who happily snacks on cucumbers after school.

You can judge all you want, but you have zero clue how everyone is actually eating.

No, we don't know how everyone is eating. We do know there is no obesity in POW camps, so it definitely is linked to eating, no matter what you believe about genetics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Body positivity has its place, but that place shouldn't include overlooking, ignoring or celebrating overweight and obesity in kids. That's just sad.

Overweight and obese kids have shorter lives, period. They have sicker lives. They struggle much more to reduce weight in adulthood if they are already overweight or obese in childhood. The research is substantial and undeniable.

I feel like body positivity is a well meaning concept, but far too many people who embrace it have embraced it as a way to excuse our sick food system and to enable them to avoid the difficult changes (only because change is ALWAYS difficult for humans, even positive change) that are required to live a healthy lifestyle in the midst of our sick food system.

The majority of Americans get 60-70% of their calories from ultra processed food products. These food products are things that you can chew and swallow, but they aren't food. They don't nourish the body in meaningful ways. They actually malnourish the body and create insulin resistance and metabolic disorder - including in many 'skinny fat' people who appear healthy in terms of body weight but nevertheless have symptoms of metabolic disorder.

I highly recommend the book Metabolical by Dr. Robert Lustig, an esteemed pediatric endocrinologist who has been waging a war on our current food system and medical system for years. You'll learn a ton about both and about why body positivity isn't the answer to the epidemic of overweight and obesity that is stealing our children's health and futures.

That’s all true, but it’s more than just that. The other question is why are somekids who eat real organic foods and exercise regularly also overweight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately a lot has to do with poverty and social class. At my kids private elementary school, virtually every kid is skinny.

I'm dcum poor and my teens are skinny. I've been trying to fatten them up forever. Dh and I were skinny until mid 30's, now we are average. Our parents were thin. Our siblings were thin. I think it's genetics.

When someone is talking about poverty, you really think they are talking "DCUM poor?"

If dcum knew what we are living on, they'd die.

So?
Do you know the meaning of "poverty?"

[Anonymous]

My chunky kid is hungry. I will remind of the difference between your mouth being hungry and your stomach being hungry, or suggest waiting a little after seconds for satiety to catch up, but if an hour after dinner I’m getting “mom, can I go back and have some more chicken and zucchini?” I’m not going to say no. Friends who eat way worse are skinnier. Siblings who eat the same food are skinnier. It is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason for this societal problem is on display in this thread. Nothing but denial, excuses, and blame-shifting.

You are reading negativity into people searching for reasons.

[Anonymous]

Two aspects to consider.

-Pregnant women in their 30s are now usually insulin resistant (but pass their diabetes screenings), their breast milk is full of hormone disrupters, and both mother and child are pumped with antibiotics at birth, further disrupting gut flora. All this sets the stage for weight gain. Then comes all the circadian disruption.

-This region is woefully behind when it comes to child nutrition norms. Elite travel teams eat cvs ice cream sandwiches as team snack. Artsy preschools have no plastic toys but serve generic goldfish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids, one has always been slim despite eating a ton (and she’s a girl), and the other (a boy) packed on a ton of weight between ages 9-12 and finally is slimming down by 14. Both kids eat healthy foods, not picky, we don’t drink soda or eat out a lot. His metabolism is just more like mine (sorry, son).

Some of his friends pound soda and spend all their money eating junk at the snack bar all summer and after school and are stick thin. He’s my kid who happily snacks on cucumbers after school.

You can judge all you want, but you have zero clue how everyone is actually eating.

No, we don't know how everyone is eating. We do know there is no obesity in POW camps, so it definitely is linked to eating, no matter what you believe about genetics.

It’s obviously calories in calories out, because of physics, but how many calories actually go out is incredibly complicated because the metabolism is not an engine. And how many calories go in depends on large powder on how hungry the kid is, which owes a great deal to hormones, not just activity level. All of these things can be influenced by genetics (though they’re definitely not entirely heritable — one reason physical activity is healthy is because it can alter those hormone levels even if it doesn’t burn a lot of calories.)