How to help your child lose weight: Keeping and staying on a healthy weight

How to help your child lose weight will require that you bring in the weight loss experts for the results to be realized

Obesity is not happening like an accident it develops gradually over a period of time and interestingly once settled it cannot be solved overnight. The solution will also take the same gradual process. If you or your child is struggling with obesity or overweight, you must be ready to take one step at a time. The process will not be easy but at the same time it is not impossible. Your first step would be to acknowledge that there is a problem. With the right people around you the process may even be much friendly and enjoyable. However, when we are talking about solutions it is important that we look towards preventions. Our children must not be allowed to go through this problem of weight gain and its associates. Therefore how to help your child lose weight should be your priority number one. I have talked about prevention for sure this is the best remedy. It is always much easier and economical to prevent weight gain by maintaining a healthy weight than it is to losing it (weight). Doctor Dalal Akoury a weight loss professional of over two decades and the founder and CEO of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is sharing with us some of the available options for us.

How to help your child lose weight: Make it a whole family effort

• Obesity is not just your child’s problem.  It is a problem that the whole family must be involved in solving. Your child lives within your family environment.
• Chances are, someone else in your family has also struggled with weight or experienced obesity. They may be able to offer valuable help and support in developing realistic goals for your child.
• As a family try to think of problems that you have solved successfully. This will help you stay positive, and look for other areas that are opportunities for change.
• Mealtimes should be family times. Create a relaxed atmosphere around mealtime. Eat slowly and enjoy your food. Eat together as a family, and don’t watch TV during meals. Families that do not eat together tend to consume more fried foods and soda and less fruits and veggies than families that share meals.

How to help your child lose weight: Be a positive role model

• Remember children are the best photocopiers. They are very observant and will do exactly what you do and very little on what you say.  They may be getting the best teaching in their schools but if what they observe at home is different then, that is what they will do. In other words if your whole family eats healthy foods and gets active then your child will do the same with ease.

How to help your child lose weight: Help your child set goals

• Set short-term goals for changes in your child’s diet and exercise on a weekly basis. Update your goals each weekly and write them down. Like you could set time limits for watching TV and jogging around.
• Ensure that the set goals are realistic.  For example, exercising an hour every day is unrealistic for a child who is de-conditioned, and not used to even minimal physical activity.
• Appreciate them when they meet their weekly goals.
• Have your child keep a record of their food intake and exercise. This will allow them to be more self-aware of their behavior. Give them positive feedback where necessary on their performance.
• Praise your child for healthy food choices and physical activity. Criticism and punishment just don’t work.
• Make sure your child understands that they can make a difference in their weight and that you will support them all the way.
• Help your child recognize hunger and fullness signals. Stop eating when you’re full and turn down helpings when you are no longer hungry.
• Help your child figure out what kinds of emotions and situations trigger overeating for them.
• Make your child’s behavior changes a positive, fun experience by planning healthy foods, fun activities, and rewards for positive behavior.

How to help your child lose weight: Watch their media diet  

• Think about all the media your child uses: television, computer, video games, and hand-held computer games. These are all activities that replace physical activity in your child’s daily routine. Placing time limits on them will free up time for a more active lifestyle. Watching TV can use less energy than simply sitting and resting! Also, we tend to snack on high calorie foods during these inactive times.
• Teach your child to be media savvy. The media bombards us with images of thin people having fun while eating and drinking high calorie foods. Kids don’t necessarily have the cognitive abilities to process this paradox.
• Limit inactive things like TV, video games and computer time.  Watching TV can use less energy than simply sitting and resting!  Also, we tend to snack on high calorie foods during these inactive times.

How to help your child lose weight: Eat healthy meals and snacks

• Have structured mealtimes and snacks on a schedule. Model and insist on good meal habits remember that eating less breakfast and more dinner or skipping breakfast increase the risk for obesity.
• Don’t mistake healthy eating for dieting. Eating large amounts of high calorie food and frequent snacking have become commonplace. Bad eating habits become accepted as normal eating habits. Eating healthful foods in a healthy manner is not the same as dieting.
• The food emphasis should be on a variety of vegetables, with half your plate being vegetables and fruits. Grains should be whole grains.
• Keep only healthy foods in your home. Keeping junk food around for other family members, and trying to “police” what your child eats, only promotes sneak eating.

How to help your child lose weight: Get moving

• Encourage physical activity.  As kids move into adolescence, their levels of activity tend to drop too low. Do active things together as a family, like bike riding, hiking, walking and swimming. Here are some great ideas for helping to get your child and your family more active.
• Build activity into your family’s daily life with household chores, walking to school, parking farther from buildings and taking the stairs. Decreasing inactivity works better for long-term weight loss than focusing on vigorous aerobic exercise. It’s also an easier lifestyle change for your family to make!
• Make sure your kid gets outside during daylight hours.  You could make it a policy in your family that unless the weather is bad, your children play outdoors after school.  This encourages physical activity, and rules out the inactive pursuits of TV and other media.

Finally I will again make emphasis on the prevention as this is the best way to keep healthy all the days of our kids live. However knowing that this may have passed you and you are already struggling with weight gain. All is not lost for you. You can schedule for an appointment with the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center and doctor Akoury will take you through the weight loss program professionally leaving you with a much healthier weight and great life a head of you.

How to help your child lose weight: Keeping and staying on a healthy weight