Reply to Son feels chubby and wants to work on losing weight

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[quote=Anonymous]8 year old son has become "chubby" this past year. His friends are all thin with no upper body fat (except a couple kids who are objectively a bit overweight), lean kids.

He looks at his torso and sees some cellulite on his belly, his chest is a bit too round too (mini man boobs). He has rounder cheeks. His weight is  healthy (he is probably 60th percentile height and 60th percentile weight, when he used to be 60/50) but because of his body type he does have love handles. He loves to eat pasta, rice, cheese, quesadillas etc.. anything that is "cheesy, carby, salty". and has a big appetite, always wanting second servings (which we allow, he can get a second serving of the protein/veggies/carb combo if he is still hungry at dinner).

We already eat very healthy food at home. Processed, convenience food is very rare at our table but i dont want to restrict food quantity either or ban entire food groups. The rest of the family is naturally on the thin side. He already does team sport outside of school, swimming, walks to school etc.. Objectively, he should be as thin as us but his metabolism/hunger and body type are not the same.

Bottom line is: he wants my help losing weight. He wants to exercise every day in our gym on top of his activities. He wants me to refuse to serve him seconds "even if i beg you to". He wants me to "make sure i eat tons of veggies and good food even if i dont want to". Those are his evenings request at bed time. Of course different story when he is hungry...

How do you help a kid who basically wants to go on a diet? I dont want to encourage an 8 yo to diet. But i dont want to see him unhappy with himself either. Anyone dealt with something similar? I see 2 options:

1- Do nothing. Keep creating the right context at home and giving hime choide: keep feeding him when he says he is hungry even if it looks like too much. Keep the pasta, cheese, rice as part of the menu etc.. Focus on telling him that his body is beautiful as it is.

2- Do what he asks me to do. keep him accountable on his exercise regimen. Double the veggies portion and start "restricting" the carbs and cheese and fat to smaller portion (the amount most kids his age would eat) and say no to seconds. Encourage him not to be thinner but "stronger/fitter".

WWYD? Option 1 or 2? Or is there a third i am not seeing?
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