Telling your kids that they have to give up on their favourite burger and fries can be a nightmare. From thrashing to bawling, you are going to experience the whole package. But what else can you do with the weight loss tips for overweight kids?
This is a question that several mothers have in their minds. Obesity is one of the markers in the rapid growth in the child diseases. If you have been failing to get your kids to eat healthy and lead an active lifestyle, chances are that the same is going to come back in full force on their health.
To help those struggling moms, we have listed out some of the best tips for weight loss for kids that you can take a look into.
How To Tell If Your Child Is Overweight?
Body mass index, otherwise known as BMI, is the marker that helps us deduce whether we are in the healthy weight range or overweight.
If you find that the final BMI result is more than what the standard should be, chances are that your child is either overweight or obese, depending on how much more the results are.
We all love to see our kids healthy and in the correct shape and size and sometimes even love chubby babies but obesity is that one factor that ends up being a curse for their health than a boon.
If you are looking for an effective BMI calculator for your child, click the one here (R).
It is very important that you consult a doctor before switching to any kind of restrictive diets and rigorous exercises involving the weight loss goals.
For a healthier gradient down, it is necessary that you keep a check on the kind of food that your child is consuming. The last thing that you want is to end up making them suffer from malnourishment.
How To Lose Weight In Kids?
Much like everything else, promoting healthier weight loss in kids can be a tedious task. It is very important to ensure that you opt for healthy ways that won’t impose any kind of impacts on their overall growth and development.
This is why it is also important to look out for the doctor’s advice before proceeding with the same. Going cold turkey with anything that your child does on a daily basis can impact their overall well being negatively. This is the reason why it is best suggested that you do focus on the following prospects that we are about to mention around.
It is necessary that you know that not every single kid’s body is the same. Every single child’s metabolism isn’t the same either.
To ensure effective weight loss for kids, it is very important that you do focus on the effective weight loss tips for overweight kids that involve changes in their diet as well as lifestyle.
1. Reduce the Processed Foods
Kids love processed foods. Take sausages and cheese and even the burgers and the fries because they do affect the overall health of the kids and their heart health as well.
Processed foods, for the most part, are loaded with trans fats which further make it hard for people to imbibe more calories and fats (R) in their bodies. It isn’t just about the processed foods, even the foods rich in refined grains can impact the overall prospect of insulin resistance that further have negative impacts on their bodies.
To help cut back from this issue, try making healthier switches in their eating habits. Instead of getting them sausages, changed it with some skinless grilled chicken fillets. Instead of giving them white bread and the pasta, give them whole wheat bread and pasta.
These small changes can make impactful changes in their lives and can even keep their weights in check, thus preventing the risks associated with obesity and being overweight.
2. Be Realistic About The Process
When it comes round to the ways to lose weight in kids, the options are abundant.
As I did mention before, it is important that you don’t bring forth drastic changes in their routines and eating habits or go cold turkey because that is not going to work and might end up imposing negative impacts on their health.
Instead of doing that, be realistic about the process and assure that your kid perceives the process well because at the end of the day, that is what is going to matter.
If you keep unattainable goals and ask them to lose 20-30 pounds in a matter of 5 days, that will put them under pressure and even bring forth negative impacts on their overall well being too. That is the last thing that you want.
More than pressurizing them into losing weight drastically, it is important that you encourage them to maintain the weight.
For the most part, experts suggest that if you are setting weight loss goals for a child motivate them to lose around 1 pound every week but don’t make it mandatory.
Your child is growing at a very successive rate and with their growth and development; they are likely to lose weight gradually through the process itself. Keep realistic goals for your child and motivate them instead of forcing them to do something. That is where the problem arises from.
3. Find the Right Weight Goal for Your Child
Some babies are chubby and overweight and sometimes that’s okay and part of their growing process.
Weight loss for kids in such situations isn’t necessary because as they grow and develop, they’ll gradually start shedding off those extra pounds. This is why it is important to find the ideal weight goal for your child based on their age as well.
There are instances where you will find that children under certain age group shouldn’t even have to lose their weight even if they are over the normal weight range. Given that they are still in their growth and developmental stages, chances are that the excess pounds can be easily lost through the process altogether.
This is where and why you need to get the pediatrician involved and get a better idea of whether your child needs to actively lose weight or it is healthy enough for them to be the way they are.
4. Proactively do it With Them
If you have set around goals for them to actively shed off the excess pounds, it is very important that you also lend your support to them through the process.
They aren’t going to believe that they can achieve the final results if they don’t see that you are participating in the same with them as well.
Making it a family affair boosts the child to work harder and even stay motivated because if the parents can do it, I can too.
Your goal when you are also getting involved in this is to ensure that you bring forth complete changes to the overall diet as well as the kind of lifestyle that the entire family is adhering to.
This kind of impacts in the weight loss in kids is especially beneficial for the teens because they tend to produce better results when they have the support of their parents.
5. Set Examples
Another amazing one of the weight loss tips for overweight kids is to set examples and be a role model for them.
If you ask your kids to eat healthy and switch to a more nutritious diet and then yourself stuff your face with burgers, pasta and fries, chances are that your kids will not take your command seriously.
This is where you need to make the necessary changes. For the best results, withhold yourself from the pleasures that you normally would indulge in.
Instead, support them through their process of weight loss because then it will be helpful enough in keeping them motivated, better than what you would realize.
If you are getting a day off from the work, instead of lazying around, go out and explore the entire place around. This can be a speck of motivation for your own kids.
6. Cut Down on The Sugary Drinks
When it does come down to the weight loss tips for overweight kids, it is important that you do focus on making them drink sugary drinks around. If you are always giving them sugary drinks like soda and concentrated fruit juices, it is best suggested to ensure that you bring along the best of the results altogether.
If you want to implement effective ways to lose weight in kids, it is important that you cut out the soda, market sold juices and such for either water, infused water or even for the low fat skimmed milk.
For the most part, these are what end up making all the changes in your child’s physique. If you want them to lead a healthy life, it is important that you start with small changes.
7. Get Them into an Active Lifestyle
An active lifestyle is a necessity if you do want to indulge in effective ways to get back on track with the weight loss routine.
For the most part, it is important that you encourage your kids to make healthier switches to an active lifestyle because that is what makes all the difference.
Aerobic exercises are often considered the best ones to opt for because those are the ones that help with burning and shedding off those excess calories for good.
If your kid doesn’t like to follow a routine through with the activities, it is best to include activity in their day to day itself. It might not seem as such but does have beneficial impacts on the overall.
You can encourage them to roam around the parks on their bicycles or if possible, enroll them into swimming classes too. Apart from that, make them have an overall active lifestyle by ensuring that you get them into changing the normal day to day habits that they indulge in.
8. Don’t Restrict Your Kids to Diets
When it comes to diets, they are the biggest NO when it comes to the kids. As we did mention before, giving proper nutrition to the kids is important because that is what helps propel their growth and development.
In order to nurture them for the best growth, it is necessary that they get all the micro and macronutrients without fail. If you have been struggling to keep things in check for yourself, it is very important to ensure that you focus on not putting them on restrictive diets.
This is what causes all the chaos. There are also a number of diets which further have that influence on the kid making them think that some foods are bad for them because you have restricted them from eating it.
Additionally, the weight loss supplements are also a big NO when it comes round to the weight loss tips for overweight kids. For the most part, you don’t know what are in there which is why it is best to avoid it for good.
9. Watch out When You are Full
Overeating is one of the most important factors when it comes round to the growing weight and the problems associated with obesity.
One of the most important ways to lose weight in kids is to persuade them to understand when they are full. Doing this will help them have an overall better perspective when it comes round to the prospect of weight management in the kids.
It is also important that you never force and feed your kid when they are already saying they are full. If they are hungry later, get them some healthy snack but avoid stuffing their faced till they can’t move.
Child sized portions are important for your kid. It is completely futile if you think that your child can eat as much as you are. If you try and maintain such portion sizes, chances are that the kid will get used to that which might end up making them overeat than what they are supposed to.
10. Ensure Quality of Sleep
Coming round to yet another one of the weight loss tips for overweight kids is the fact that you ensure that they get good quality of sleep.
Given that the children these days are more inclined towards the screen time and technology, the same does have the potential of ending up affecting their overall health, and make them lazy throughout the day, thus further promoting the causes behind the weight gain in them.
Some of the active pass times that you can cut out from their routine for better growth, development as well as weight management definitely has to be to cut down on the video games and such.
Proper sleep cycle is a necessity when it comes round to an overall healthy well being and such.
11. Imbibe Better Eating Habits
Eating habits stem from a child’s early days itself. If you think that making your kids eat unhealthy junk food right from the get go and then suddenly changing their eating habits is going to do you any good, you are mistaken. That is not how it works.
You need to instill healthier eating habits in your child right from when they are kids. This is what helps ensure that they have already built a habit of eating good and nutritious foods to help with better management of their weight.
When it comes round to the weight loss tips for overweight kids, it is very important to ensure that you focus on healthier eating habits as well as an active lifestyle for your kid. This is what makes all the changes. If you can’t correct it there, chances are that you wouldn’t be able to do it abruptly at a later stage in life.
