Seeking Mom's in Boston, Mass

Hi,

I'm a personal trainer/nutritionist. One of the things I would like to say is that when dealing with this issue, make sure you do not keep drawing attention to his weight. What is he eating? Are there a lot of refined sugars in his diet (sweets, soda, sugared cereals)? Is he active? How much time is he spending on the computer/gameboy?

There is an empidemic of overweight children in this country. Kids do not play outside like they used to. Video games have taken the place of tag and kick the can....

Many times there are programs at your local YMCA that will help your child become more active. What needs to happen is that he needs to burn more calories than he is consuming.

The other side of it is to find out if he's doing emotional eating. Did you take him to the doctor to see if his thyroid is working properly (usually not an issue but can be).

Hope this helps

schaneque...long unusual name..lol well anyways...you son is at that unusual age...it may be a stage...i swear. its puberty. the beginning. i wouldn't worry and certainly don't let him feel any weirder than he already does feel...and he feels it believe me. soo encourage less bread intake cause carbohydrates are very bad IF he is getting too many. whole wheat bread is a VERY good start. popcorn instead of chips and soo on. you can make it easier for him. also is there any overweight aunts and uncles?? it could be herititery. i don't know the whole story. but i really think its just the beginning of puberty and its very common to gain weight. he will loose it before you know it and be a hunk before you know it...kay?? let me know in a couple years or just one...and tell me how handsome he got cause thats what happens...lol those are such hard years for kids. they will either gain weight or become these extra skinny geeks..lol i gained the weight and i am not a heavy person by far. my boys did too. now they are as skinny as can be...lol good luck. and bye for now...J.

hi schaneque,
my name is kelly and i work as a medical assistant at westwood pediatrics in westwood mass. we have a program that is called healthy lifestye and it is a program where thr pediatrician dr pozner runs and has a consultation and then goes over a plan with the parents as far as excercise and nutrition goes and then you come backl every 3 months for a follow upa nd get weighed in and to see how things are going. it is a good program we started. you have foloow ups with a nurse practioner who is a nutritionist as well. i don't know if this info will be beneficial to you. just wanted to let you know. if you want more info about our practice e-mail me at ____@____.com ok

good luck kelly

As much as I wish that I was skinny, I'm not...lol. However, my son is/was also very large as well. Earlier this year I made a decision to work on my weight and so it kinda trickled down to my son. He has eaten so much healthier because that's all there is in the house. Plus he just turned 13 this year and has started getting active. Everytime I turn around he is out doing something now. Perhaps part of the solution is to find something that he is interested in that involves exercise. My son got interested in weights and football just this past year and it has made a huge difference. And I'm not sure about this but if you guys can eat whatever you want, does that mean that there are things in the house that wouldn't be most beneficial to his eating lifestyle? If so, maybe removing them would help as well. My son has turned to other things to eat because we just don't have it in the house and he gets happy when I go get him a bag of chips because now its a treat.