The Skinny on Weight Management

Tips for determining if your child is overweight:

• It is difficult to tell if children are overweight just by looking at them. The best way to determine if your child is overweight is to consult your pediatrician.
• When you visit the pediatrician, he or she will measure your child to determine his or her Body Mass Index (BMI). 
• BMI is closely related to body fatness. Once the BMI is calculated, the child is plotted on growth charts provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
• A BMI that is greater than the 85th percentile to the 95th percentile on the CDC growth chart is categorized as being “at risk for becoming overweight.” A BMI greater than the 95th percentile classifies the child as “overweight.”
• It is very important to understand that BMI is not an appropriate estimate for all children. Children who have a muscular build or are of certain ethnicities are often misclassified using BMI as a standard for overweight.
• Once your child’s BMI has been determined, consult your pediatrician to determine a plan of action if one is necessary. When dealing with children and their weight issues, it is important to not overreact, but to ensure your child receives help.
• It is imperative to start addressing problems with overweight as early as possible to ensure the continued health of the child.

The Non-Dieting Approach

• Children who are overweight benefit most from losing weight with the “non-dieting” approach. Non-dieting refers to incorporating meal management, encouraging adequate but not excessive food intake during meals, controlling snacking on high calorie foods and awareness of internal cues of satiety.  
• Prepare healthy meals that the whole family eats instead of serving special foods for an overweight child. This will create a positive and supportive environment.
• Schedule meals at regular intervals. Without a schedule, kids tend to snack more—and often reach for high-calorie foods.
• Eat meals and snacks in the kitchen or dining room. Avoid eating in front of the computer or television.
• Encourage your child to eat breakfast every morning. People who skip meals are often more hungry at the next meal and tend to overeat.
• Help your child prevent weight gain by teaching him/her to recognize internal cues of satiety. Have your child eat slow enough to be able to stop eating when satisfied rather than eating rapidly and overshooting the point of satiety.
• Don't make your child eat everything on his or her plate.

Setting Reasonable Goals

• When setting goals, set specific, realistic goals. For example, have your child decrease soda consumption by 1 can per day. Another idea would to be to add a piece of fruit in place of a high calorie snack during the day. Once this small change has been made, your child’s confidence that he/she can make healthy changes will be improved and propagate other changes in the future.
• Focus on your child's health and positive qualities, not your child's weight.
• Realize that an appropriate goal for mildly overweight children is to maintain their current weight while growing normally in height.
• Be physically active. It is recommended that Americans accumulate at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) of moderate physical activity most days of the week. Even greater amounts of physical activity may be necessary for the prevention of weight gain, for weight loss, or for sustaining weight loss.
• Reduce the amount of time you and your family spend in sedentary activities, such as watching TV or playing video games. Limit TV time to less than 2 hours a day.
• Eat meals together as a family as often as possible.
• Children should be encouraged to drink water and 2-3 glasses of low fat (skim or 1%) milk and to limit intake of sugary beverages. Beverages sweetened with Splenda can be healthier options than sugary beverages.
• Aim to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
• Your child's diet should be safe and nutritious. Do not cut out whole foods groups. Your child needs a balance of carbohydrate, protein and fat. Pick foods from all food groups that are healthy. For instance, instead of sugary breakfast cereals, have your child pick raisin bran or Wheat Chex.

Incorporating Physical Activity

• All children age 2 and older should participate in at least 30 minutes of enjoyable, moderate-intensity activities every day.
• They should also perform at least 30 minutes of vigorous physical activities at least 3-4 days each week to achieve and maintain a good level of cardio respiratory (heart and lung) fitness.
  

Smart Stuff to Do

• Dance to music
• Play games like tag and hopscotch
• Join a sports team at school or the park
• Go on a walk together
• Play at the park
• Turn off the TV for a day
• Fly a kite
• Do cartwheels, somersaults, or jumping jacks
• Practice sports skills

Parents, you should...

• Help your child decide what activities interest him/her and plan times to try new activities.
• Exercise with your child and get the entire family involved.
• Remember that exercise should be fun and pleasurable for your child: play games, sports and have fun.