hi i'm new to this board and i would like to see if anyone could possible help me.

i have a 9yr old daughter that is over weight i have taken away all sweets and she only gets what i serve to her but the problem is that she sneaks in the middle of the night to find food she can't excerise like normal boys and girls her age due to she has a leg length discrempency so when she walk s or runs too much she is in pain.

she is also adhd and she has a lot of diabilities that she doesn't understand to a point.if anyone could possible help me in anyway of suggestions or ideas please respond.

IMO (and I don't have children and I'm not a doctor so I'm far from an expert), I think the WORST thing you can do is deprive her of the foods that she enjoys. I think you should allow her to have some candy/sweets along with healthier dinner options. And obviously, you have to lead by example. For a child, I think the entire family should be held to approximately the same diet. If you're only serving her what you think she should eat, she may be hungry. Children need more calories than an adult.

Talk to her doctor, ask him what he recommends.

As far as activity, do you have access to a pool? Maybe through a family membership at the Y? For children, I think its important to encourage as much active play as possible. I realize thats hard for your daughter. How would she do with a trampoline? Maybe you could purchase a mini-trampoline for her to jump around on.

Good advice!

Along with that I know that Weight Watchers has a very successful program for children which won't deprive her of sweets. It will just limit her intake and also teach her how to eat nutritionally. Never to young or too old to learn that! Check with your local chapter to see when they have a kid's meeting.

Be very supportive of her. It must be heartbreaking for both of you. The last thing in the world you want your girl to do is focus her self worth on appearance so please try to make it all about her health with eating right and exercising!

Be blessed,
Jeannie

I was an overweight kid and the thing that saved me was when my mom went to a weight loss center with me (we went to Nutri-System, which I don't think is in business anymore, but I think Weight Watchers is better anyway). It felt so good to know that my mom was going through it with me. The best thing was that I lost faster than my mom, probably because I was a kid and because I had so much more to lose, but it made me feel great!

I agree that still letting her have little treats is important. Drinking lots of water is important. Sometimes with kids little things can make a big difference, such as switching to diet soda instead of regular and finding low-fat or low calorie versions of the things she likes (they even have low-fat Chips Ahoy and Pop Tarts these days)! You might also try giving her protein bars for an occasional treat rather than cookies, etc. A great one to try are the Zone bars (Walmart). Very tasty and actually even a half a one is very filling.

As far as exercise, can you afford a stationary bike? I used to ride one while I watched TV after school.

My suggestion will really only work if your daughter is in to this... but my friend had an overweight son with a speach impediment and got him a little mutt. He really loved dogs, and the puppy was a constant source of exercize. He didn't like sports because he didn't like talking to the other kids.

Again, if your daughter doesn't like dogs that probably won't help. Dogs (IMHO) are better than playmates or exercize gyms because of their unequal compassion and loyalty. The dog won't care if she looses weight, he just wants to have fun with her! If she can't keep up with him, he'll always come back to her side, full of unconditional support and encouragement.

http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hi,

The only other piece of advice that i can share with you is to not completely deprive her of sweets, but make sure there aren't a ton of them in the house either. I had to force myself not to buy a bag of chips, but maybe 2 of .25 bags if chips from the grocery store. or the six pack of cookies instead of the dozen. Also, look into sugar-free/fat-free if you'd like also it's not to late to start that process, just keep the original name brand cookie or cereal and buy sugar free/fat free and swap the bags.

Also, your asking for help because your daughter has a disability of some sort. Richard simmons does offer an exercise tape for those who also can't do a lot of aerobics while on their feet. Look on Amazon.com or your local library for free video tapes and see what's out there. Also, are you both in a position to perhaps get her in the pool? That could help also.

Like i said, i don't know the severity of her disability but I'm sure there are some things out there for her. If you want to keep those treats around, be vigilant about how much is around, and when they are gone, they are gone until next shopping trip.
I hope this helps in some small way.
Ayvon

Has her thyroid been tested for T.S.H. T-3 an T-4??

I think kids today(including my own)eat far too much junk food. Or maybe my family was just different. When I was growing up there was never pop in the fridge whenever we wanted and I don't remember having chips in the cupboard.

Chips and pop were rare in our house. They were exactly what they were meant to be....treats! We got our allowance on the weekend, usually enough for a bag of chips, a pop and a few candies. That is basically the only time we had junk(excluding the holidays).

With my children I find there is always pop and chips in the house, which they don't get very often. But the worst is the chocolate from the holidays! It seems everyone gets them chocolates and they are eating them from one holiday to the next. It drives me batty because you hate to throw away something that was given to them.

I will admit that my children eat far too many sweets, but everyday they have three meals and three snacks(two for my one in school). They are allowed to have chocolate or candy, but usually have a small amount with a piece of fruit.

I also know that some kids will eat just because they can. When the kids go to their grandparents house they are constantly asking for and receiving food. They ask for it because they know they will get it, I believe that if they lived there they would both be very overweight. At home they never ask for food until snack time(I have certain times)and they don't complain that they are hungry or deprived of anything.

Of course all of this stradegy may fly out the window when they get a little older!!!

my 8 year old son weighs 140 pounds. I have been struggling for a long time with his weight. Recently, I enrolled in LA Weightloss since DEC I have lost 35 pounds. I am enrolling him now...... I will let you know how it goes. It is a wonderful program... no drugs or crash diets.. they are a nation wide organization. Maybe there is one close to you.

FastFood=Fat, MSG is disguised as natural flavoring, autolyozed (sp) yeast/soy, which kind of makes one addicted to the highly pungent flavors.-cheese flavored thing a doodles and processed foods. If it is low fat calorie then it must have high salt,MSG, or Sugar or corn syrup solids to compensate flavor. Do a search engine on aspartame/nutrasweet/side effects/negative. Then do one on allergies to glutten-this could be tied in with ADD and weight issues. Switch to 2%milk and stop any juice or limit it to 6 oz. a day.

Try Oxycizing with her and pilaties everyday or swimming. The easist way is to make subtle changes in the family's diet over the next 4 years. Don't tell her she is fat just tell her you want your family to be as healthy as it can be.

Hi, you guys all gave such good advice! Hey there, that was so true what you said though about that fat free stuff. I have learned alot about that, and the statistics show that America has gained weight since the introduction of the fat-free products. I think, especially with any kind of disability such as your daughters, you should eat things that are as natural as possible, and that would definitely exclude any fat-free products. Most of them are laden with other ingredients to make up for being fat-free, that are worse than having the fat. For instance, we eat regular butter in our house because it has one ingredient in it: sweet cream. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in margarine? You can't even pronounce most of them. Just eat the fats in moderation, and stay with the natural choices. Hey there is so correct about the aspartame thing, I don't even buy my kids vitamins with that in it, so usually I have to go to a health food store to get them, cause most children's vitamins in the grocery store have so much junk, and aspartame in it. Aspartame has been linked to learning difficulites, and othe things. It's funny, we grew up pretty much having what we wanted, and we just learned to have it around, and not be desperate for sweets, and my husband's family is very overweight, and they never had any sweets or junk around, so when the kids saw it, they went nuts over it. I just think it's common sense, have healthy foods around, good meals, and don't worry too much about the sweets. If you make some chocolate pudding for dessert, she probably wouldn't be sneaking anything, cause she would be satisfied with that. Don't buy fat-free crap, just get foods as close to their natural state as possible. Good luck! Val