Weight loss confidential: What formerly overweight kids and their parents want us to know
From presentation by Anne M. Fletcher, MS, RD, LD, at Healthy Kids in Healthy Places Community Action Forum
- "Love me no matter what." Overweight children and teens need to know that they are loved unconditionally, regardless of their weight. Do not allow weight to become a focus of your relationship.
- "Don't tell me my weight is okay." If overweight teens are not happy with the way they are and want to slim down, we should not minimize their feelings. We need to listen to their concerns and offer to help find some solutions.
- "The healthy way really does work." The teens send the message that young people don't need to go to extremes to slim down.
- "Walk the walk." If we want kids to eat healthier foods and to be more active, then adults have to be positive role models.
- "Help me out, don't single me out." Create a healthy home food climate – for the entire family, not just the overweight teen. Provide kids with healthy, appealing food choices without making them feel deprived and involving them in the decision-making process.
- "Get off my back." Teens have to want to lose weight, first and foremost, for themselves. Nagging, preaching, criticizing, being punitive, or trying to coerce an overweight teen into losing weight won't work and may even backfire.
- "Let ME be in charge." It's up to teens to decide if, how, and when they want to lose weight.
- "Help me be patient and realistic." Understand that losing weight takes time, effort, patience, and often multiple attempts. After losing weight, teens may not be "thin," but they can be healthier and happier.
Related Links
Healthy Kids in Healthy Places Community Action Forum
Nutrition: For children & teens
Weight management for children
Source: Anne M. Fletcher, MS, RD, LD, author, Weight Loss Confidential: How Teens Lose Weight and Keep It Off – And What They Wish Parents Knew, www.annemfletcher.com
Selected references
American Academy of Pediatrics. "Treatment of Overweight Children and Adolescents: A Needs Assessment of Health Practitioners." Pediatrics 110, 1 Supplement (2002).
American Dietetic Association. "Childhood Overweight." Evidence Analysis Library. Online: http://www.eatright.org.
American Dietetic Association. "Position of the American Dietetic Association:
Individual-, Family-, School-, and Community-Based Interventions for Pediatric Overweight." Journal of the American Dietetic Association 106, 6 (2006): 925-945.
Butryn, Meghan L. and Thomas A. Wadden. "Treatment of Overweight in Children and Adolescents: Does Dieting Increase the Risk of Eating Disorders?" International Journal of Eating Disorders 37 ,4 (2005): 285-293.
Dalton, Sharron. Our Overweight Children. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2004.
Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne. "Obesity and Eating Disorder Prevention: An Integrated Approach?" Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews 14, 1 (2003): 159-173.
Ogden, Cynthia L., Margaret D. Carroll, Lester R. Curtin, Margaret A. McDowell, Carolyn J. Tabak, and Katherine M. Flegal. "Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 1999-2004." Journal of the American Medical Association 295, 13 (2006): 1549-1555.
Stice, Eric. "Risk and Maintenance Factors for Eating Pathology: A Meta-Analytic Review. Psychological Bulletin 128 (5) (2002): 825-848.
Stice, Eric, Heather Shaw, and C. Nathan Marti. "A Meta-Analytic Review of Obesity Prevention Programs for Children and Adolescents: The Skinny on Interventions that Work." Psychological Bulletin 132, 5 (2006): 667-691
First published: 05/06/2007
Last updated: 01/01/2008
Reviewed by: Healthy Kids in Healthy Places Community Action Forum