Many years ago obesity in children was so rare, that we could hardly notice it. But in the past few decades it’s being spreading as an epidemic among your kids. You can say that for any money her kid is the best, no matter how much he weighs. And that’s true! We love out children and do not care, if they are overweight or not. For their parents, the kids are the best in the whole world anyway. But we have to remember, that it’s not only parents, with whom children communicate. And it is very likely that they will have problems socializing and finding friends, if they are too overweight. In many cases obese kids can get teased and laughed at, and they cannot get involved in many school activities such as sports. And an even more important problem is health. Obesity in children leads to early appearance of many health problems, such as diabetes, liver and kidney dysfunction, problems with cardio-vascular system and many others.

Someone might say that all a parent has to do, in order to keep his child in shape, is feed him less and make him exercise more. But staying motivated to do this kind of things for weight loss is usually very hard even for adults, and is even harder for children, who do not understand, how negatively being overweight influences their health.

If you want to help your child lose weight, you have to take an absolutely different approach than if you were losing weight yourself. Counting calories and fat grams doesn’t usually work here, as children will never do that. But taking into account that fact that parents are those who feed their children, you can pretty much control what your child eats and encourage healthy life style this way. Feed your child with healthy food at home and supply him with low-calorie snacks for school. If your child doesn’t always enjoy the taste of healthy foods you cook, it would help, if the whole family was eating the same healthy food, as the child. Encourage your child to engage in physical activity, take him to swimming lessons or to dance class, go for walks often, choose open-air pick-nicks instead of going out to fast-food restaurants or for ice-cream.

Another important thing for a parent is to become a role model for his child. Stay in shape, eat healthy foods with your child, if you want to take your child swimming or jogging – join him! This way you will be able to keep your whole family healthy. And the earlier you start, the fewer problems with overweight and overall health your child will have in future.

It is hard to count calories, which your child eats. But you have to keep in mind, that if a child gains one pound a week, then he needs to cut about 3500 calories (which means, 500 calories less per day). In many cases children don’t gain more than 1 pound per month, so you will only have to cut about 100 calories per day (which is as much, as a can of diet coke contains). But when counting calories you have to keep in mind that a child has to gain some weight every month and every year, because he is growing. So the pounds, which lead to overweight, are the pounds, over this normal amount of weight, which a child has to gain in order to grow properly.

If you cut the necessary amount of calories, your child will stop gaining more weight, and now you can take care of losing the extra weight he already gained.

The best way to lose weight for a child is exercising. The more your kid is involved in physical activities, the more weight he loses. You can define the number of hours your child needs to spend exercising per week by the same counting of calories and pounds you want him to lose. If you combine a healthy low-fat diet with exercising it is likely that you will succeed much faster.

There has been an interesting research made recently. Taken into account the results of 64 studies of the weight loss therapy which is based on making losing weight a life style and on drug influence, it was clearly stated that the approach which is to be used to combat the obesity of children and teenagers should first of all make them realize that the food they eat and he drinks they consume are to be replaced totally. They should also become aware of the fact that the life style they lead is to be changed once and for ever if they do want to lose weight and keep fit.

What’s more, Dr. Hiltje Oude Luttikhuis, of the Beatrix Children’s Hospital in Groningen, The Netherlands does insist on parents playing one of the vital roles in the whole process, especially when it concerns pre-adolescent children.

It is possible to find this review in The Cochran Library. Cochran Collaboration is widely known as an international group which is involved in producing reviews relating to health care interventions.

The first review on the subject was published in 2003; the review we offer is an updated version of the first one. According to Dr.Luttikhuis and her colleagues, it was almost impossible to make any deduction back in 2003 as the size and quality of the experimental base was rather poor. The results of the new research were published in May 2008; 5,230 children took part in it. It’s really essential that the researchers considered a few different weight loss approaches and made the corresponding tests. 12 trials were based on increased activity, 6 targeted diets, 36 concentrated on behavioral treatment, and 10 focused on drug therapy.

Luttikhuis and her team state that some loss of weight by the probationers was indeed revealed in some studies, however, it’s not easy to decompose these studies in conjunction because of the various ways the researches were conducted in and their quality.

Despite of the fact that the review does not say which approach was more effective than the other ones, the scientists report; it does show that making losing weight a life style was evidently much more helpful for the children.

One of the targets the researchers set was to identify the possible side effects of the lifestyle interventions. Therefore, one third of this kind of studies was devoted to find out if this approach can either influence the children’s physiological state, or to provoke growth stunting, or to result in disordered eating behavior. Not a single of the above mentioned potential side effects was revealed during the trials.

A great attention was paid to the weight loss pills approach. As it’s already known there are two principal methods used in taking weight loss drugs, namely appetite suppression and fat absorption. The researchers aimed to find out which of the approaches is better and more effective. Luckily they were able to examine all the tests which included taking Orlistat (also known as Xenical), famous for its ability to destroy fat, thus making it more suitable for digestion; and Sibutramine which is a widely known appetite suppressant. Surprisingly both drug trials resulted in a considerable weight loss among the probationers. Side effects, however, were also seen. Therefore, unfortunately, Dr. Luttikhuis and her group were unable to determine which weight loss drug proved to be more effective than another one.

The group of researchers also informed of the conclusions they made from the trials conducted. They confirm that making weight loss your life style, that is changing and keeping up to a new diet and increasing physical activity bring real benefits. This approach showed a significant loss of weight among children and teens in comparison with a short or long term treatment.

It was also proved that the weight loss drugs such as Orlistat and Sibutramine do have positive effects and can be considered as one of the lifestyle treatments, however, it’s essential to consider all cons and pros and investigate the possible side effects.

By Tina:

Thank you for the post. I do tend to rely not only on some people’s opinions but mostly on the scientific researches, especially when it concerns children. Because a personal opinion usually doesn’t cover more than one-two weight loss methods used, and it is not scientifically confirmed.

Since you’ve mentioned Orlistat, let me say, that this weight loss pill is one we used to take. I like the way it works. Even if a make a Cheat Day, I do not worry much about calories, as I know they won’t be absorbed. Good approach. Better results without many efforts


By Jane:

Thank you for the post, but I would like to express my point of view. I do not agree that children’s obesity is to be treated with weight loss drugs. Why teaching kids to follow the line of least resistance? Unless…. Parents follow it too. I do believe kids must know why they get fat, what it might lead to, and what can be done to avoid possible circumstances. They must know what food will make harm and what food will make good for them, they must also be taught to move more. It’s natural for kids, in fact. The first and only example for kids is their parents. First of all they must apply behavioral method to themselves; otherwise they can demand nothing from their kids.

I found this site using google.com. And i want to thank you for your work. You have done really excellent site. Great work, great site! Cheers!

Sorry for offtopic