Why is it that my child isnt losing weight

[Jay2328]

My daughter is eight, and we walked her to school every day except for the days it rain, and she walks home every day. We have limited her intake of food, she drinks water, eats fruits, salads, and she is getting bigger in the tummy, neck, arms, and legs(whole body). She is tall and big in size then her class at school and she is beginning to have issues at school behind her size/weight. When she does watch tv she breathes like someone is asleep really heavy. I'm exhausted all my options. No we dont have weight issues in our family.....im scared that if i don't do something soon that she will have alot of issues both mental and physical ..any suggestions I'm willing to try...plz desperately mom

[sara_white]

I suggest talking to your dr. about her breathing, if shes breathing like that during the day she might not get enough rem sleep at night,also a thyroid check wouldn't hurt, and activly limiting her food intake will cause mental problem later in life, not to mentilon sneaking and stealing food.

[Renee Radenberg]

From your measurements, her weight is above the 95th percentile which indicates she is overweight for her age. Suggest a weight management program for children. It is great she walks, however you need to increase other forms of exercise daily that children enjoy, such as dancing, playing sports or playing in a playground. Limit time in front of the TV/DVD or non-active-video games. There have been studies showing the longer the length of time a child sit in front of the TV, the greater the weight gain. It seems you are limiting high sugar drinks from your list, however, she needs to eat healthy foods without limiting too many calories for her to grow in height. Suggest replacing drinks/snacks with low fat milk/yogurt or fruit/popcorn. Additional suggestions: cook only low fat meats (chicken, fish, loin of pork) or non-meat sources (soy products, nuts), low fat vegetarian combinations (rice & beans, pasta & beans, low fat cheese & pasta), fat free or low fat dairy products (skim milk, 1% milk, low fat cheese, low fat yogurts, low fat soy milk/yogurt), use plant oils, non trans-fat margarines, and eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Eat daily high fiber breads and cereals (oatmeal). Make exercises fun for her and have her help you cook simple healthy foods so she learns how to eat right. If you are still concerned, then have her checked by her MD. Hoped this helped you.

[AmbieAnn]

My son is 8 with similar problems. We found that just walking wasn't helping him all that much and taking him to a park or playground 2ce a week made a noticeable difference in his weight loss. At 8, he went from 140 lbs to 100 in 3 months just from playing outside and shutting off the tv more. And I also change his diet by limiting sweets to sugar free without him noticing and calories intake to 1500 a day.