Anonymous wrote:75 pound for a eight year old boy is kind of normal. But not able to button up shirts is not. Sounds like the OP’s son is shorter than average. Hopefully he will grow taller without not gaining more weight. In the meantime, you could maybe send him to a nutritionist so that he can hear from someone else the importance of eating healthy and exercise more. Our pediatrician has a nutritionist on staff.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not normally the type to voice my concern online but I saw a recent post which was similar to my problem and helpful ideas were given so here goes.

My son has just turned 8 and is quite chunky with a bit of a chubby belly and face. I was happy that it didn't seem to be bothering him, he was always happy as normal and I just assumed he was storing fat for a growth spurt, which is normal at his age I am told. However the bad news is he has just got fatter and fatter over the last year reaching 34kg recently. As soon as I noticed this weight increase I was slightly concerned (but not too much) so took him to the doctors for a check-up. The doctor told me he was very overweight and have me some helpful advice regarding his diet, excercise etc. But the most concerning thing is he is very proud of his new belly and seems to by trying to get fatter, which sounds absurd writing this. However stuff like when we went swimming he sat down and went "Mummy look how fat I've gotten!" with excitement - I just shrugged it off as him being silly
but looking back it does worry me. Now everytime I weigh him, which the doctor told us to do regularly, he is happier when he puts on weight and sighs when he loses weight. He asks for bigger portions and seconds and is always trying to get me to buy sweets at the supermarket. Obviously I am not stupid and I have his food intake under control, but especially after events such as Christmas parties, NYE parties and his birthday which was just before christmas, it is difficult to stop him from eating so much. I kept my eye on him taking all the nibbles, sweets and chocolate but there's not much I could do about it at a party when I'm mingling with my friends and he's playing. He must of put on an inch around the waist just over the last month after all he ate and drank because now when he buttons up his school shirts, the buttons look like strained from the push of his fat belly, which he found hysterical. Sometimes he lifts up his shirt and chases his sister around whilst running his belly or something and always plays with his belly fat when he sits down I've noticed. The most recent 'game' he's created is balanced cutlery on his belly which now sticks out enough for him to do. The doctor warned him of the dangers of obesity but the message didn't seem to go through. If my son's trying to put on weight (and currently succeeding) then what can I do about it??!!

I have him doing as much excercise as I can but it is difficult. We lives 1 minute away from school so although he walks it's not exactly a lot of excercise. The school takes him swimming once a week, and he plays football at th weekend when he can. However lots of the time he meets with the neighbour friends round houses or whatever where I'm not sure he does get much excercise.

Any suggestions because I'm seriously stuck?? I'm controlling his diet, excercise and we've had professional help but still no results??!!

Anonymous wrote:For the curious, that's about 75lbs.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter weighs 75 pds and is 4'9". She's not overweight. It all depends on build and height.

Anonymous wrote:OP (I believe) stated his kid din't like pokemon go.. (btw, thanks to all posters about this- it sounds way more fun that I imagined so maybe we'll try it as a family).

OP, I would put your son in a martial arts program. Those skills will help him down the road and also help highlight that there are disadvantages with being overweight. If he has a friend who is also overweight - that is his current peer group. Mix up the peer group. Even if your son isn't interested initially, the programs do require participation (not like a painting class where you can daydream) and are rather disciplined. Don't ask, make it an option, just say, you will be trying this for a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think it's really acceptable to let your son get that fat I'm afraid. They have such a high metabolism when they're at that age it can't be just what he's eating 'trying to get fat' there must something to do with how you were feeding him and treating him - how long has he been overweight? Is this weight increase recent? Has he ever been skinny?

Do not listen to this poster. Not all kids rub around like crazy. Our son loves eating and hates sports. We have to resort to making him exercise and watching his food and it is very difficult.

I actually think you need to talk to him about why he wants to fat. It is possible, although unlikely this is in response to someone inappropriately touching him.

I appreciate you defending me against the previous poster. However I am actually quite offended you would suggest a cause which is such an obscene and disgusting image to put into someone's head. I'm sure that if he had been or is going through something like that we would spot reactions or signs other than him wanting to be fat. Please don't ever post suggestions like that unless you have some sort of point to back it up because that In my eyes that is not at all appropriate for this post.

Anonymous wrote:Put me down as another Pokemon Go advocate!

I was also a non believer in the mystical powers of Pokemon Go... that is until I went "Pokehunting" with my kids too & I loved it right from the start.

It's so much fun, like a great big scavenger hunt however instead of searching for specific things, you never know what you'll get (which is the exciting part!).
It definitely has made us closer as a family, where as before my kids wanted to rip each other's hair out if they had to spend 5 minutes together... but now, they've actually teamed up to play & ate getting along better than they have since... well, ever actually, lol.

I also lost about 6 pounds from all of the walking (I'm jealous of all you others that have lost so much weight) but the best part is that you're not walking for exercise you're walking for fun, so it's much more pleasurable thang exercise.

We've now started a "Poke night" in our neighborhood & all of the neighborhood kids & their parents play on the team based on the team you choose when you start Pokemon Go & they wear a shirt that corresponds with their color (Team Mystic/Blue, Team Valor/Red & Team Instinct/Yellow).
We split up & "Pokehunt" for an hour or two (based on the weather & temperature) & whichever team catches the best at the end of the night wins.

I too was one of those people who thought it was silly watching all of these people running around playing, bit it wasn't until I actually played with my kids that I understood.
I shouldn't have knocked it until I tried it.

OP, this would be perfect for your son, as he won't have a clue he's even exercising. He'll just simply think he's having fun.