How can I make him loose weight?

[yagurlnira768]

My little 8 year old brother is 120 pounds and only 4'4" he is really fat and stunted and he won't exercise or eat diet food. His doctor doesn't seem to care...she says most americans are like that and they will grow out of it. He eats a lot of chicken and ham and cheese sandwiches...he drinks a lot of juice and soda. He doesn't eat mcdonalds or fast food...because we rarely eat out. We do eat a lot of home cooking because my mom thinks its better. He loves chicken especially bbq type chicken, he once ate 8 drumsticks. His proportions are abnormal. But when we try to control it he won't eat at all...he just starves himself. Its so weird. What do I do?

[mangageek]

Damn he weighs more than I do! You're right that it's not healthy but it's up to your parents to decide what food to keep in the house. First off work with the rest of the family to get soda banned from the house along with any juices that have as much sugar as soda (most do). Also control the amount of meat that he can eat in relation to veggies and starches. He's probably fat because of all the meat he eats, meat has a lot of calories. I went vegetarian a little while ago and I lost 7 lbs in a week and a half just doing my normal exercise and amount of food I eat. For reference I'm 5'0" and went from 105 to 98. So not eating meat every night helps him lose weight. And as for him refusing to eat, he will soon end that childish behavior when he's so hungry that even vegetables sound good. You'll just have to let him refuse to eat until he comes around.

As for exercise, take away his preferred activities like computer, video games, etc and make him earn his time on them. For example walking the dog an an hour long walk earns an hour of blank. Any other exercise can be subbed in too. hope this helps! The transition period will be rough but it will be good for him in the long run and prevent diabetes and asthma or other such issues if he doesn't have those already

[yagurlnira768]

Luckily he isn't ill yet but you gave good advice thanks.

[xzinax2]

He's just a little boy,he doesn't care about weight right now,and you shouldn't force him,he'll develop confidence issues if you make him think that there's something wrong with him. Just make it fun for him,run around with him,play sports,and tell your mom to make less fattening foods that are still tasty,and don't tell him that you're trying to get him to lose weight

[Anonymous]

He should probably weigh somewhere around 95 pounds, He could easily get there in 6 months with the metabolism of an 8 year old, exercise, and proper eating habits. You say he is 8 years old, so he probably doesn't grasp the ramifications of it, and you can't treat him like an adult. When you tell him he needs to go on a diet and loose weight he stops eating. That is how a kid would react to being treated like that. You don't put an 8 year old on a diet plan and an exercise regime.

What you do, is find and activity that he likes to do that includes exercise but don't act like it is exercise. If he likes riding his bike, then make time to do that with him. If he likes to swim get in the pool and play marco pollo or jail break with him. If you want him to run around, have squirt gun or water balloon wars with him. Things like that get you active, but don't seem like exercise to kids.

As far as diet, don't put him on a diet regime, just start buying healthier foods. Stop buying sugary drinks, cookies, chips, rice, potatoes, noodles. Start serving meals with a meat course and 2 vegetables.

[yagurlnira768]

What No Rice?! I'm Filipino...I eat that everyday lol.

Thanks for the advice I will talk to my mom about it.

[Opinion Owner]

Yes, no rice. Rice is mostly starch. Starch is just a lot of sugar molecules chained together.

[mangageek]

95 lbs for 4'4"? No way! He should be around 75 lbs tops, you should not be 100lbs until you are 5'0" it's a rule o thumb

[Opinion Owner]

Go find a BMI calculator. 95 would put him in health range on most of them. There are child specific ones that might push that number down to somewhere around 85 pounds. Wither way if he looses 25 pounds he will be healthier. Kids steps for kids. He doesn't need to look like an Olympian.

[yagurlnira768]

We eat rice with veggies...if that helps lol?

[mangageek]

thats good if you eat brown rice and cook the veggies without butter, just steam them

[Opinion Owner]

Nutritionally brown rice is not much different than white rice. It just has the bran still intact (more fiber). That is a very small part of the nutritional value of the food. What you are trying to avoid are high sugar foods. Starch is just a long chain of Glucose molecules. Table sugar is made of Sucrose which is Glucose chained to fructose. So when you eat rice. You are basically eating sugar. Think of it like that.

[Myth024]

First off, I understand you care about your brother but ultimately this is something that your parents should deal with, not you. However, the best way is to lead by example. You eat the way you think he should, take time to exercise at home on a regular basis. Brothers have a tendency to look up to their older sisters more than they might show.

If this was my own kid, I would only serve healthy meals and the whole family would be involved in eating better. I wouldn't have any kind of soda in the house and I wouldn't give him any snacks unless it's fruit. If he refuses to eat then he can go hungry. Eventually his hunger will take over and he will start eating. You can survive something like two weeks without food as long as you drink water. I would also restrict video games and television time because I personally believe that too much isn't good for someone anyway. In the end I feel it's something that the entire family should be involved in and only by working together can his habits change.

[yagurlnira768]

lol My mom should read this.

Besides I do lead an example...I workout but he has no intrest.

[Myth024]

I've seen lots of commercials for that new X-Box connect thing that has those dancing and moving games. If you had one of those then you might get him involved by playing it with him. And feel free to copy that text and e-mail it to your mom lol. I took some of those ideas I wrote about from what my brother did with his son.

[yagurlnira768]

lol I have a wii. he really doesn't enjoy games there because he says the exercise games are boring...he likes the ones you don't do much activity in.

[Myth024]

Sounds more like an excuse. This kid is 8 years old and he hasn't learned enough to understand everything about life. His eating has made him big enough that physical activity is difficult for him and so he doesn't want to do it. Until he is required to engage in physical activity then he has the option of taking the easy way out. I think mangageek has the right idea with video games and TV being a reward for physical activity.

[NerdInDenial]

I would tell your parents to get a new doctor. Most Americans don't grow out of it. That's why there's a huge obese problem in America. I would encourage him to go outside and play. Have him join a sport or go swimming with him. You have to control the portion sizes. Cut the soda and stick with juices that are fresh and not the Sunny D stuff. If he refuses to eat, then don't feed him. He'll eventually eat when he smells the food.

[yagurlnira768]

lol Your right. Americans Don't realize this child obesity. Its funny because I told my brother to work out or even play outside...he actually has a skinny friend who loves to play tag...but he doesn't like it because he runs out of breath quickly and start sweating badly. He prefers to stay at home and play video games. Lol I don't see how a young boy should be almost my weight. It is weird. His doctor is korean...thats the messed up part.

[NerdInDenial]

The doctor is probably a Communist; he's trying to kill Americans.

[yagurlnira768]

lmao the doctor is a she. She just says he needs to exercise because his diet doesn't consist of extreme junk food lol. In my household we a lot rice, chicken and pork, plaintain, beans...lol because where I from and stuff. Homecooking. But we eat vegetables and friuts..my mom doesn't buy junk food snacks anymore. We have 0 calorie drinks in the frigde like water now.

[Honeybaby]

It may be a good idea to gradually decrease his food intake really small amounts in that way his food is slowly being decreased without him knowing.

[G-Daz]

quit hatin on the player your cramping his style

[yagurlnira768]

Yeah Cramping His Style...Wait when he dies of being morbidly obese..he is still gaining weight no matter what we do.

[G-Daz]

ok, chicken is one of the healthiest meats you can eat, I don't think that's the main problem. The other things you stated such as cheese and ham are likely though along with the soda, you could try introducing him to things like green tea, it is really healthy and would work to lower his fat without needing him to excersize although that should still be encouraged

[yagurlnira768]

well yeah...i tried...but I think its mostly my moms fault she babies him too much. but besides that why didn't you just answer the question like that from the onset lol you had to make me feel stupid first.

[G-Daz]

lol, just playing with you :P. I think seeing as how he is only 8 years old he is not really putting his health at that much of a risk as if he was eating this much older, it might stabalize in a year or too, at least if not I think the only way is to gradually influence him to eat different things that are more healthy. Eventualyl he will give in I guess

[Anonymous]

don't be a bitch.