Not sure if my 8 year old son is overweight or obese?

[Anonymous]

It's easy to not realise how fat your children actually are. My son was obese at the age of 7 and I never even really noticed or thought anything of it. However one day when we were at the beach I took him to one of those trampoline things where they strap you in and you can jump really high. My son wasn't tall enough to go on the big one for above a certain height children and adults, but when they tried harnessing him up for the smaller one, after he put both his legs through the leg holes the strap to go around the waist couldn't get round his belly. Even after we took his jumper and shirt off (it was a hot day and we were about to go swimming anyway) the harness was just not going around - the only way we could properly strap him in was to go under the belly but this breached health and safety or something so we couldn't do it. I was so embarrassed to have to walk away from the ride because my little boy was too fat to fit into the harness.

It really hit me hard and I hope it hits you hard too when you see it. On that day we banned all fizzy drinks and cut right back on the sweets. With a nice growth spurt and some excercise he's now a healthy weight (sort of). But that just shows what's achieveabke and you shouldn't give up on your son! There's still time to fix it!

[Anonymous]

If you're really concerned with your kid's heath, you can make an early morning or late day apt. We use kaiser and they have apts as early as 8:30am and late as 4:30pm. Physicals only lasts an hour, which should give you plenty of time to get him back to school/work or pick him up after school to go for just 1/2 day.

Lots of good advice about just focusing on eating more healthy and exercising. I was a chubby teen. Didn't learn good eating habits or nutrition till my college years. I went up to 165lb at 5'3" as a teenager. I went back down to 120 when I was in my mid 20s with a lot of exercise and cutting out most junk. It's never too late, but good that you're becoming more conscious of it and be more thoughtful moving forward.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't matter whether your son is overweight or obese. You need to do something about it. Start with a trip to the doctor. If he's hungry after a meal, veggies or fruit only. You have to act now or you are dooming him to a life of obesity and major health problems.