Six effective measures for overweight and obese children to both grow and lose weight.

How can overweight and obese children both grow and lose weight?

Childhood obesity is no small matter; it increases the risk of developing various diseases in the future and can even affect a child's mental health, career prospects, and family happiness.

I have heard more than one person who has lost weight recount their painful experience. They said, "Others were at least thin when they were young, but I was a chubby kid from childhood. Even during my growth spurt in puberty, my weight increased rapidly as I grew taller."

How to help obese children lose weight is a concern for many parents.

Children are in the process of growing and developing, so we need to control their energy intake. We can't let them diet, fearing it will affect their development; nor can we let them go hungry, fearing it will affect their learning efficiency. However, if they continue to be overweight, it will bring many health problems.

(1) It increases the risk of children developing diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease in the future. Many obese children even join the ranks of patients with hypertension, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia before the age of 20.

(2) It affects children's self-confidence, causing them to lose the opportunity to become leaders among their peers. Generally speaking, only children who are physically strong, physically robust, and mentally sharp can become leaders among their peers. Overweight children often become the target of ridicule from their classmates and find it difficult to gain the respect of their peers.

(3) It affects children's future employment and career development. Physical appearance discrimination is unavoidable in society; people who are too thin or too fat are at a disadvantage when seeking employment or promotion. Being too thin is seen as a sign of being prone to illness and having poor physical fitness; being too fat is seen as a sign of low work efficiency and increasing the burden on healthcare. This is especially true for some jobs that have specific requirements regarding appearance and physique.

(4) Impact on future romantic relationships and family happiness. Boys and girls with good physiques are more likely to become heartthrobs and goddesses among their peers, attracting many admiring glances. For girls, being overweight may not only lead to precocious puberty but also increase the risk of polycystic ovary syndrome. Overweight boys may even experience impaired sexual maturity. Regardless of gender, being overweight can affect future fertility.

Parents should reflect on why they failed to cultivate correct eating habits and reasonable food portions in their children, why they failed to encourage regular exercise, and why they failed to cultivate their children's ability to manage their own bodies.

Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, a child's overweight or obesity isn't the result of overeating in a single day. Similarly, the process of getting the child back to a normal weight requires a long-term commitment.

For children, rapid weight loss methods should never be adopted, and there's no need to deliberately lose weight. As children grow older, they will gradually grow taller, and as long as their weight doesn't increase and their body fat percentage decreases, their body shape will gradually return to normal. If weight loss measures must be taken, it's important to ensure that they not only do not affect growth and development, but also that the child maintains a happy mood as much as possible.

There are six ways to lose weight while avoiding significant hunger and ensuring adequate nutrition.

Reduce cooking oil

If you change your daily cooking methods from frying, stir-frying, and deep-frying to steaming, boiling, stewing, and cold dishes, you can reduce your intake of cooking oil, which is the highest source of energy.

Many meat dishes taste great even without oil. For example, steamed fish with soy sauce is very flavorful; poached chicken, steamed chicken in lotus leaves, and shredded chicken with sesame sauce are also delicious; stewed pork ribs are still flavorful with soy sauce. Vegetables can be boiled in oil, which uses much less oil than stir-frying, but the taste is still good. Eggs shouldn't be scrambled with a lot of oil, but rather made into steamed eggs with just a few drops of sesame oil, or soft-boiled eggs can be chopped and mixed with a little seasoning sauce.

As long as the amount of oil used is controlled and the amount of salt is slightly reduced, the rich and tempting aroma will be lessened, and children will naturally not eat too much without deliberate control. It's best to avoid meat dishes that are high in oil and sugar and fried in batter, such as sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour pork, and breaded fried chicken. During puberty, an average daily intake of 75-100 grams of boneless meat and 75-100 grams of deboned fish, one egg, and two cups of milk (including yogurt), plus tofu, already provides sufficient protein.

Avoid all oily staple foods, such as fried dough sticks, fried pancakes, sesame seed cakes, flatbreads, fried rice, and fried noodles, to prevent excessive calorie intake. Also avoid sweet breads and soft, flaky pastries.

In this way, reducing oil intake by a dozen grams a day is not a problem, and under the premise of a normal diet, it is easy to lose 4 to 5 kilograms of weight in a year. Parents must make efforts in this regard. If you rely on grandparents to cook, it is often difficult to change their cooking methods that use a lot of oil and salt.

Increase the proportion of whole grains and miscellaneous grains in staple foods

Replace half of the white rice and white flour staples with root vegetables (such as steamed rice with diced sweet potatoes and potatoes) and mixed grain and bean porridge (such as red bean, oat, and brown rice porridge). Root vegetables and whole grains are very filling, making it less likely for children to overeat.

For example, replace white rice with brown rice or oat rice. Wash whole oats, soak them overnight, and then cook them in an electric pressure cooker with rice in a 1:1 ratio. Oat rice is chewy, delicious, and has a light yellow color that doesn't detract from its appeal. You can also buy hulled oat rice online; it doesn't need soaking and can be cooked directly with rice in an electric pressure cooker, just add more water. Oat rice is more fragrant, filling, and nutritious, making it more appealing to children.

If your child can accept multigrain porridge, I recommend their red bean, oat, and brown rice porridge (1 part rice to 5 parts water) for dinner. It's more nutritious than rice. Two small bowls will definitely fill you up, but it has fewer calories than a bowl of rice, while being more nutritious. Eating multigrain porridge won't affect your child's growth and development, nor will it interfere with their evening studies; it can even reduce post-meal fatigue and drowsiness.

Increasing the proportion of whole grains in staple foods can help reduce waist circumference and lower body fat percentage.

Don't worry that your child won't accept it; they actually enjoy a variety of staple foods. Create an atmosphere where the whole family enjoys whole grain staple foods, and your child will gladly try them, finding the flavors and textures of a variety of staple foods richer and more diverse.

Eat more vegetables, start with vegetables.

Overweight or obese children tend to eat fewer vegetables and tend to eat quickly. During weight loss, it's essential to eat at least 500 grams of vegetables daily, ideally more than 750 grams. When eating, start with about half a bowl of boiled or cold vegetable salad, then eat a bite of rice followed by a bite of vegetables. Laboratory studies have shown that eating half a bowl of vegetables first, followed by a bite of vegetables and a bite of staple food, helps increase satiety, slows down eating, and delays the rise in blood sugar after meals, which is very helpful in preventing weight gain.

To ensure adequate vegetable intake, it's recommended that children start eating plenty of vegetables from breakfast. Breakfast can begin with half a bowl of blanched greens tossed in sesame oil, and steamed pumpkin or potatoes can replace some bread or steamed buns. While parents can't control lunch, dinner can start with boiled leafy green vegetables, followed by other foods. Each meal should include a variety of vegetables, such as a serving of leafy greens, a serving of stewed white radish or winter melon, a serving of braised green beans, and a serving of cucumber or lettuce salad-at least three types, ensuring a daily intake of at least five different vegetables.

Teach children to finish their vegetables at school lunch, remove the outer shell of fried foods before eating, and avoid using the oil and broth from vegetables to mix with rice. Help children understand that they must change their obese state, and that a better appearance will bring more praise, which will provide them with sufficient motivation to actively cooperate with dietary changes.

I don't drink sugary drinks, and I don't eat snacks like cookies, desserts, potato chips, or rice crackers.

When children go grocery shopping after school, they may be influenced by their classmates to buy items that are not conducive to weight loss, such as cookies, desserts, and sugary drinks. It's recommended that children only buy yogurt. Yogurt is beneficial for preventing weight gain, tastes good, and won't cause misunderstandings among classmates.

Avoid buying any snacks such as cookies, desserts, potato chips, and rice crackers, and absolutely no sugary drinks. These offer no health benefits and will only lead to weight gain. If your child previously enjoyed these snacks, encourage them to give them up.

Tell your children that growing up is a process of gradually reducing willfulness and increasing rationality. When children develop good eating habits, manage their weight, and lose excess fat, parents can reward them in certain ways, such as buying them an item they've always wanted or taking them on a trip during the holidays.

Appropriate supplementation of nutrients

Nutrients related to height growth mainly include protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, vitamin C, and vitamin A. According to Chinese dietary habits, calcium is often a deficiency in the diets of teenagers. Children who don't like to eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and tubers usually also have insufficient intake of nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, and vitamin C.

The main sources of calcium are dairy products (yogurt is also acceptable), soy products (such as tofu, dried tofu, and shredded tofu), and leafy green vegetables (such as rapeseed, bok choy, and kale). If dietary calcium intake is insufficient, consider taking calcium supplements to increase your daily intake by 400 mg. You can supplement with 200 mg of calcium at two meals when you don't drink milk. Taking calcium supplements with meals, in small, frequent doses, improves absorption and utilization, and reduces the risk of side effects such as constipation. Eating more fruit increases potassium intake, which can reduce urinary calcium loss and is also very beneficial for bone health.

You can supplement with one multivitamin tablet or one B-complex vitamin tablet daily to compensate for any nutrient deficiency caused by a slight reduction in food intake. There is no need for other supplements, and avoid giving children fish oil or similar health products.

Increase exercise time

Besides controlling their diet, children should also be given enough time for physical activity, at least 40 minutes of exercise each day. They can also regularly participate in household chores, such as tidying up and cleaning. Doing chores helps cultivate self-reliance; children will eventually leave home to live independently, so developing self-reliance from a young age is beneficial. Don't let children spend all their time doing homework sitting and playing on their phones or watching TV, as this is neither conducive to their growth nor to weight loss.

When parents take their children out, it's best to find opportunities to go for long walks together to increase their physical activity. Parents' role modeling is crucial. The walks can be gradual, starting from a few kilometers and gradually increasing to over ten kilometers. Let children know that going out doesn't only mean taking a car or taxi. The feeling of walking long distances with a backpack and proper walking shoes is wonderful, giving one a sense of freedom and energy.

Take a break of ten minutes or so after doing homework for an hour to move around. Just as sharpening your axe before chopping wood is essential, research shows that physical activity improves blood circulation, increases brain oxygen supply, enhances memory, and reduces the risk of weight gain compared to sitting all the time.

Communicate more with your child to gain their understanding and cooperation; if they live with grandparents, also try to get their cooperation. Don't focus on the speed of your child's weight loss; aim to change their weight-loss habits. These are the keys to your child's successful weight loss.

During a child's weight loss journey, follow the dietary principles and behavioral guidelines outlined earlier. Teach them what is right and wrong to eat, and how to coexist peacefully with various foods. If things don't go well one day, don't be discouraged; just try harder in the following days.

Most importantly, children should grow throughout the weight loss process. Learning the basics of healthy eating is not only beneficial for weight loss but also crucial for maintaining weight in the future. Life is long, and as we age, we must learn to live rationally. If we don't learn to resist the temptations of various foods early on, and if we lack basic self-discipline, how can we achieve a healthy life in the future?

The child's height will continue to increase. As long as height increases without weight gain, or as long as the child slowly loses 0.5-1 kg per month, their body shape will become more elongated. With consistent effort, after a year, the child's physique will definitely show significant improvement, along with better physical fitness and increased self-confidence. Both the child and parents will undoubtedly feel proud.