Diet for weight loss for a child of 10 years old. Weight loss for children. How to lose weight for an obese child

How to lose weight for a child? Why do children gain excess weight? Why are overweight and childhood obesity dangerous? These questions are answered by a pediatrician of the first category, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the Medisvit medical centers, Tatyana Sergeevna Polishchuk.

16:17 6.05.2014

How to lose weight for a child: child's weight norms

Parents definitely need to know that the most intense accumulation of fat occurs in infants under 1 year old, at the age of 5-7 years, in adolescents 12-17 years old. Moreover, only 1% of children are overweight due to genetic or endocrine pathology.

All other cases of obesity in children are associated with an excessive intake of food into the body or with an unbalanced diet, in other words, with overeating, or with an improper sedentary lifestyle.

By 6 months of age, the baby should double its original weight, by 12 months - triple. After a year, children gain about 2 kg per year (up to 5 years). At the age of 5, the average weight is 18-22 kg, at 10 years old, 28-34 kg, at 12 years old, 36-45 kg. An approximate calculation of the body weight of a child from 2 to 5 years old can be carried out according to the following formula: M = 10 + 2n, where n is the child's age in years.

After 10 years, the annual increase is 4 kg, the formula for the calculation will be as follows: M = 30 + 4 (n-10), where 30 is the average weight of a child at 10 years old, n is the child's age. Pediatricians have special charts for assessing the weight and height of the child.

Obesity has long been recognized as a disease. In medicine, obesity (overnutrition) is defined as a chronic disease characterized by a generalized excessive accumulation of fat in the subcutaneous tissue and other tissues of the body, an increase in body weight, and metabolic disorders.

Why are doctors so worried when a child gains excess weight?

Yes, because if you do not take appropriate measures to normalize weight in time, he can come into adulthood with a whole range of serious illnesses: increased blood pressure, impaired activity of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, diabetes mellitus, fatty liver, cholelithiasis, sexual pathology systems.

Obesity occurs when calorie intake exceeds energy expenditure. The most important factor in the increased incidence of obesity is the consumption of foods high in fat, as well as an abundant diet high in digestible carbohydrates, especially in the evening. It is hard to deny that today the decline in physical activity is rapidly progressing: children spend more and more time in front of the TV, at the computer, and less and less prefer walking and outdoor games.

How to lose weight for a child: top tips

The first and most difficult step for parents is to admit that their child is overweight. If parents are aware of the fact that their child needs help to lose weight, that is already half the battle on the road to success. The second point is the realization that the fight against obesity is a long-term, psychologically difficult process for a child and his family members.

Food for a child can become, first of all, a source of pleasure, a way of avoiding problems at school or in the family, "galling" of complexes - as a result, the development of overweight, obesity, diabetes, etc. And here it can be difficult for parents to understand the essence of the problem. Psychologists and psychotherapists will come to the rescue.

It is not an easy task for parents to explain to their child why it is necessary to change their eating habits. In no case can you say that his diet has changed because he is fat. When telling your child about food, explain that we owe good health and well-being to the foods we eat, that food should be healthy and complete.

As a rule, children of obese parents become obese due to the "inheritance" of eating habits. It is in the family that we get used to eating this way and not otherwise. Have you ever wondered where candy, cakes, cookies come from in your house? That's right, you bought it yourself.

The habit of buying “something sweet for tea” takes root very quickly, but this is definitely not a tradition that will bring peace and harmony to a family. Try to buy more fruits, vegetables, herbs, fish, natural meat instead of sweets.

Currently, schoolchildren's food consists of continuous snacks on the run in between lessons, sections and circles. The reasons for this are improperly organized nutrition, not inherent in the family, the reasonable attitude of children to food intake and, in general, to a healthy lifestyle. Unlike an adult organism, a child's body begins to react more quickly to a lack of nutrients and an overabundance of unnecessary ones, which has extremely negative consequences. The nutrition of a ten-year-old child should be strictly regulated to ensure the full development of a growing organism, normal functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems, prevention of eye disease and the development of anemia, as well as to form normal social and physiological adaptation. Only in this case the child will be healthy, hardy and less tired.

For the normal functioning of the nervous system and especially the brain, unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins A, D and E must be supplied with food, they contain unrefined linseed, sunflower, olive oil, fish oil. It is enough to add 1-2 tbsp daily. l. blend these oils into salads or vegetable stews.

Vegetable food is required. For the body to receive a full set of all vitamins, you need to eat at least 4 medium-sized fruits (apples, pears, oranges, peaches, etc.) and 300-400 grams of any vegetables.

Greens, seasonings, spices, legumes, seeds and nuts, leafy and herbal teas should be included in the diet. You need to cook salads, vegetable soups, vegetable cuts, side dishes from stewed vegetables.

Porridge is very useful for the growing body: buckwheat, oatmeal, pearl barley, millet, which can be used every day as a side dish or as an independent dish, adding butter and dried fruits to them. It is recommended to consume cereals per day up to 50 g. But in pasta there is little benefit, it is advisable to eat no more than 20 g per day.

Eggs are an important and irreplaceable product for children. You can give them to a ten-year-old child every day, 1 pc.

A child should eat meat every day, because it is a pure protein of animal origin, which ensures full growth, good brain and immune system function. Meat is best eaten in the morning, beef, poultry and rabbit are suitable. Volume per day - not less than 150 g. The requirements for animal protein are higher in children involved in sports and in boys than in girls.

1-2 times a week instead of meat for lunch, you should give fish (150-200 g). Sea fish contains more iodine than river fish.

A child should eat milk and dairy products every day. The volume of milk or kefir can be increased to ½ l per day, cottage cheese - 100 g, cheese - 10 g. You should pay attention to the shelf life (it should not exceed 2 weeks) and the content of additives and preservatives (they give an additional load on the kidneys and liver, make them work in an enhanced mode). In short, the safer and healthier it is for the child's body.

The daily requirement for vitamins of a child at 10 years old:

A - 1.5 mg;
B1 - 1.4 mg;
B2 - 1.9 mg;
B6 - 1.7 mg;
PP - 15 mg;
C - 50 mg.

Diet

A full breakfast will give you strength and energy for the whole day.

A 10-year-old child should receive an average of 2300 kcal per day with food.

Proteins, fats and carbohydrates in a ratio of 1: 1: 5, namely: 80 g of proteins (50% of animal origin), 80 g of fat (20% of animal origin) and 350 g of carbohydrates.

Food should enter the body in 4–4.5 hours.

The child should receive hot food at least 3 times a day.

With breakfast, a child should eat 25% of the daily norm, with lunch - 30-35%, with an afternoon snack - 15%, with dinner no more than 25%.

A hearty and full breakfast is a must! It has been scientifically proven that children who eat a hearty breakfast every day are more intellectually developed, they have better memory and they are not overweight, but in children who starve in the morning, they begin to overeat during lunch and dinner, metabolic processes are disrupted in the body and energy goes to the formation of adipose tissue. Also, children who have a hearty breakfast are less likely to suffer from colds.

The best breakfast foods are cereals, boiled eggs and scrambled eggs, dairy products, and fruits.

The next meal should take place before 12 noon, the so-called second breakfast. It is important to explain to the child that during the lessons the brain is actively working and needs an additional amount of energy. This can be fruit, vegetable salad, or curd cheese.

In the period from 12:30 to 13:30, the digestive organs are actively working and food is absorbed better, this time is the most suitable for lunch. Everything that gets into the stomach will be well absorbed and satisfy the body in the accumulated needs. Lunch should consist of the first, second and third, but in no case from buns, cakes, sandwiches, chips, instant noodles.

Between lunch and dinner, the child should eat an afternoon snack. It can be some kind of vegetable side dish or a dish of cottage cheese, an omelet, or just fruits and berries.

No later than 19 hours, about 2 hours before bedtime, it is best to offer the child dinner (cottage cheese, fish, eggs, vegetables, porridge, milk, kefir, yogurt).

There is one rule in eating: you need to eat slowly, chewing each bite. It is best not to have conversations over food, especially educational ones. Any negativity or quarrel slows down the secretion of digestive juices and food will be absorbed worse. It is advisable to take food at the same time, if this is not possible, teach your child to carry a snack prepared at home in a backpack (fresh fruit or dried fruits, cheese or curd, it’s just great if it’s a side dish with a cutlet in a container or a thermos with a wide neck, intended for solid food).

What foods to watch out for

Unhealthy food harms the stomach, liver, kidneys, leads to vitamin deficiencies and increases the risk of developing diabetes.

It is necessary to completely exclude from the children's diet the so-called instant products (chips, crackers, noodles from bags). In their composition, they have a lot of salt, flavor enhancers and preservatives, in turn, the kidneys and liver, trying to rid the body of these harmful substances, get a lot of stress, which can subsequently lead to serious diseases. Therefore, it is worth explaining to the child what harm they bring to the body, and not just scolding and forbidding them to eat.

It is not advisable to often give children sandwiches, pies, rolls, hot dogs and hamburgers, fries, cereals, sticks and curly corn products.

First, these foods strongly affect the pancreas, leading to fluctuations in blood sugar levels.
Secondly, they affect the nervous system. It has been proven that the more schoolchildren consume such foods, the worse they tolerate stress and the more often they suffer from depression.
Thirdly, this leads to the rapid deposition of extra pounds, which overload the work of the heart and kidneys, and increase the risk of developing diabetes.

There is also evidence that starch, having undergone heat treatment, releases substances that contribute to the development of cancer, and from fats, substances are obtained that have an effect similar to the mechanism of drug addiction.

These foods are poor in vitamins and minerals, but only 10% of children of this age have a full vitamin supply. The same number of children suffer from vitamin deficiency, a third of children have a deficiency of one or two vitamins. External symptoms of vitamin deficiency are easy to spot: bleeding gums, cracked lips, dryness and flaking of the skin. With a lack of calcium, disorders occur in the bone and muscular systems, which can contribute to the development of scoliosis, osteoporosis, bones become fragile. Lack of iron leads to anemia, lack of iodine - to a decrease in intelligence and thyroid disease. Therefore, control over the nutrition of children must be very strict.

Interesting to know! Regular consumption of high-carbohydrate foods increases the risk of alcoholism. Scientists conducted a study with rats that were on a carbohydrate "school" diet poor in vitamins and minerals. As a result, it turned out that such a diet contributed to the development of alcoholism in rats, and when transferred to a rational nutritious diet, the need for alcohol in rats decreased by 50%.

Sample menu for a ten-year-old student

Option 1:

Breakfast: omelet 100 g / cereal porridge 200 g, bread 50 g and tea with milk and sugar 240 ml.

Second breakfast: beet salad with green peas 100 g / carrot salad with cheese 100 g.

Lunch: borscht 200 ml, bread 50 g, stewed vegetables 200 g, cutlet 100 g, tea - 240 ml.

Afternoon snack: kefir or milk 200 ml / any fruit.

Dinner: stewed vegetables 200 g / cottage cheese casserole 180 g, boiled chicken 100 g, berry jelly 240 ml.

Option 2:

Breakfast: porridge 200 g / cottage cheese 100 g with sugar 5-10 g, milk 200 ml.

Second breakfast: fresh cucumbers or tomatoes 200 g.

Lunch: soup with meatballs 200 ml, potato / flour pancakes 200 g with sour cream 20 g, fruit juice 200 ml and biscuits 50 g.

Afternoon snack: baked apple 1 pc. / Kefir 200 ml.

Dinner: vegetable salad 200 g, fish 100 g, compote 240 ml.

Option 3:

Breakfast: low-fat cottage cheese 100 g, milk / apple compote 200 ml.

Second breakfast: any fruit / vegetable salad 200 g.

Lunch: milk soup 200 ml, mashed potatoes 150 g, fish 150 g, beet salad 150 g, tea 240 ml, biscuits 50 g.

Afternoon snack: curd cheese with dried fruits / fruit.

Dinner: beet salad with sour cream and eggs 200 g, vegetable juice 200 ml.

Before going to bed, the child can also be offered a glass of kefir or yogurt.

Diet for overweight and obese children 10 years old

On a note! About a third of the population suffers from excess weight on the territory of the post-Soviet space, half of them have not reached the age of 18. Over the past twenty years, obesity has doubled in children aged 6 to 11. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), there are 155 million school-age children in the world who are obese. In European countries, 10-30% of schoolchildren aged 6-11 are overweight. And in the United States and Australia, the incidence of obesity in preschool children over the past 10 years has increased by 70%, moreover, more in boys. By the way, obesity in boys develops 1.5 times more often than in girls, and in urban children 2 times more often than in rural children.

The consequences of obesity are extremely unpleasant, and this is a reason to think before it is too late: most often children who were obese in childhood and in adulthood are overweight.

Nutrition rules:

The diet should be fractional (up to 6 times a day) so that the body does not have time to get hungry.
The total calorie content should be 80% of the age, that is, no more than 1700 kcal.
The bulk of the food should be in the period before 14:00;
Dinner no later than 19:00.
Teach your child to eat slowly, little by little.
Limit the child's intake of fluids - no more than 1.6 liters per day (including soups, cereals and fresh fruits and vegetables).
Give preference to lactic acid products (cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt and sour cream), preferably low-fat, fatty and sweet dairy products should be abandoned.
There is more fiber.
First, wean the child from overeating and only then gradually switch to a diet for 1.5-2 weeks.
You cannot practice a starvation diet, so as not to make the young brain starve.
And of course, control physical activity: sit at the computer and TV for no more than 2 hours a day.

Exclude:

Confectionery and any sweets except honey.
Easily digestible carbohydrates and compensate for them with animal proteins (milk, cottage cheese, eggs and meat).
Limiting fatty foods, it is better to use butter from fats.
Fried, salted and smoked.
Semolina and oatmeal no more than 1 time per week.
Give up pasta.
Replace dried fruits and bananas with unsweetened apples and pears.
Fatty meats.
Sugary drinks, especially carbonated drinks like forfeits and Coca-Cola.
Reduce the daily intake of sugar and baked goods by 50%.

But you can expand the diet by: 250-300 g of vegetable soups, 150 g of meat (poultry, beef) or 150 g of fish or seafood, 200 g of low-fat cottage cheese, milk (kefir, yogurt) up to ½ l daily, cheese 50 g, 1 –2 eggs (3 times a week), buckwheat and pearl barley porridge.

But vegetables can be eaten in large quantities. The menu recommends all types of cabbage (150 g), radishes, fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini and (vegetables, except cabbage, up to 400 g), nevertheless, potatoes no more than 250 g per day, and a maximum of 1 kg per week ... Fruits should be eaten unsweetened and up to 450 g per day. Sugar - 10 g.

In addition to the diet, daily physical activity, jogging and walking in the fresh air should be applied. It is recommended to reduce body weight by ½ kg per month and no more than 7 kg per year.

Calorie table of products

Teach kids from childhood to correct food and healthy eating norms, try to have something prepared for them at home so that the children can warm up their own lunch. Teach them to take food with you to school or other activities in a container, and convince them not to give up school meals. Good nutrition and a sensible diet, laid down by your joint efforts, will become the basis of health for your children.

In the past, childhood obesity was more of an abnormality than a rule. But today the picture has changed so much that pediatricians have raised a real alarm. There are classes in schools in which almost half of the children are overweight. Moreover, if earlier such a child was teased, and he understood that he had a problem, now almost no one pays attention to it - neither the children nor the teacher. But the sooner parents think about how to help their child lose weight, the less likely they are to develop obesity-related chronic diseases with age.

Do you remember how the childhood of today's parents was? In the morning - get up and be sure to have breakfast. Then - running to school. Afternoon activities or extracurricular activities. Then quickly lessons and games with friends in the yard, sometimes until late in the evening. Yes, I also often had to visit the library to get the necessary books for essays and tests.

How do today's schoolchildren spend their day? In the morning, they hardly get out of bed, have breakfast with oatmeal from bags or cereal pellets drenched in milk (in which there is a huge amount of sugar, and often various chemicals). To and from school - in the parent's car (or school bus). Mugs and sections - if you are very lucky and have someone to drive. The Internet has completely replaced the library and games with friends. And we still wonder where the fat children come from?

But the sedentary lifestyle of a modern child is just the tip of the iceberg. The roots of the problem are much deeper. They are in the changed psychology of society and, above all, in the mentality of the parents. If they accept everything imposed by advertising and simplify their lives with “fast” ways of feeding a child (almost on the go!), Then how will he develop at least the basic skills of proper nutrition?

Psychologists have conducted an interesting experiment. They asked the students what their favorite food was and what vegetables the children liked. The results are shocking. The most popular dishes are: pizza, hamburger, french fries, chicken nuggets. Do you know where this menu comes from? McDonald's is a sure winner of healthy eating. And of their favorite vegetables, the children named Mexican salad and hot corn ...

Age features

Many parents, when asked by a pediatrician why they do not struggle with excess weight in a baby, answer that he will already outgrow by the age of 14-15. There is some truth in this. Starting from 10-12 years old, modern children begin to grow faster, and the child "stretches" a few centimeters per year. Of course, he becomes thinner and more angular.

But if he is used to eating incorrectly, and will continue to do so, then when growth slows down a little, he will again “grow in breadth”.

Before taking active measures to lose weight your child, you need to find out about his age-related psychological characteristics:

It is not for nothing that we dwelt in such detail on the psychological aspects. Any child, even a very small child, is, first of all, a person who has the right to his own opinion and taste preferences. And overweight problems usually start from the head, not from the plate.

How can I help you

How to help your child lose weight quickly and with pleasure? In fact, a lot depends on the correct parenting approach. The process of losing weight can be a real torture with many restrictions or an exciting game, the main prize in which is a healthy body and a beautiful body. And turn punishment into pleasure within the power of intelligent and loving parents.

Finding out the reasons

First of all, you need to find out why he gained excess weight. To do this, you should go to an appointment with a nutritionist. But before that, it is advisable to keep a food diary for at least a week, in which all the food that ends up in the child's stomach during the day will be recorded. The skill of keeping a food diary will be useful in the future, when you independently develop and adjust the child's diet.

This is easy to do at 3-6 years old, when the baby is in front of the mother almost all the time. But schoolchildren often do not admit to eating bagged treats, especially if they are not encouraged by their parents. Therefore, it is very important to explain to the child that the diary is not kept in order to convict him of disobedience, but in order to understand how harmful food has affected his excess weight.

If the nutritionist does not find serious deviations from the principles of proper nutrition, and the child is still obese, the reason is most likely in hormonal imbalances. Then you will have to go to an appointment with an endocrinologist and pass the appropriate tests.

Often, digestive problems lead to weight gain, which can be identified and eliminated with the help of a gastroenterologist.

It is worth starting losing weight with a visit to the doctor even if the child has any chronic diseases. The attending physician will tell you how to choose the right diet and what to look for when choosing suitable physical activity, so as not to provoke an exacerbation. If done correctly, the child's health may even improve.

Motivation

At any age, the process of losing weight will go much faster if the child becomes an active participant and interested in success. And for this he needs serious motivation.

Modern children very often do not even realize that being overweight is a serious problem. And all the more, they do not understand why they should limit themselves, if many peers live quite well and so.

Choosing the right motivation is already half the solution to the problem. And there are no ready-made recipes here - every child needs a special approach. We will give just a few examples of more or less successful motivations, but you may have to look for new techniques yourself:

Some parents try to motivate their child to lose weight with monetary rewards. We do not recommend doing this. He must understand that losing weight is needed first of all for him, and not for his parents. And this is not a method of making money, but a reliable way to put your own body in order.

Eating habits

A nutritionist can best tell you what the diet of a child of a certain age should look like. We will not now repeat the common truth that the children's menu must necessarily include meat, fish, herbs, vegetables and fruits, nuts, seeds, high-quality vegetable oils and dairy products. And we will not talk about the dangers of packaged "harmfulness" either - every mother should know about this.

But how to form healthy eating habits in a child and make sure that he chooses healthy food on his own, and not questionable semi-finished products? In this case, there are several fail-safe tricks:

Fresh food. The taste of freshly prepared food is much brighter than yesterday's. Having got used to eating only fresh, the child will not want to eat canned food and semi-finished products.
Diversity. Even the most delicious and healthy foods become boring if they are eaten constantly in the same form. Try to diversify the menu as much as possible, look for new recipes, fantasize.
Easy preparation. Teach your child to cook with their own hands. If he likes this activity, then instead of treats from sachets, he would better cook himself something delicious himself.
Personal example. You will never be able to convince a child of the benefits of healthy food if you yourself eat somehow. The whole family will have to switch to the right diet.
Specialty restaurants. Visiting such establishments will convince the child that healthy food is prestigious and is served even in good restaurants.

With such a psychological approach to nutrition, even in the company of peers, he will not be ashamed of his position. On the contrary, he will begin to defend it and, perhaps, become a useful example for someone.

Physical exercise

It is impossible to force a child to do regular exercises by force. Or he will do it with great reluctance, not technically performing the exercises with one single thought in his head: "When will it all end!" There is no use for such training - just a reason for unnecessary scandals in the family.

Here are some great tricks to motivate your child to play sports:

Important! Take care of your safety and invest in a few introductory sessions with a professional instructor. Having fallen unsuccessfully on the asphalt a couple of times, the child may refuse to continue classes. And the instructor will make the first skills easy and avoid injuries.

Summing up

The only reliable way to lose weight for a child at any age is to adjust his diet and encourage him to lead an active lifestyle. The growing body will do the rest on its own in the absence of serious health problems.

Moreover, children lose weight faster than adults - their metabolic rate is much higher. Therefore, even a very overweight child can shrink to normal size in a year or two.

The role of parents in children's weight loss is difficult to overestimate. These are motivators, mentors, comrades, coaches - whatever you want, if only the child during this period felt the maximum comfort and support. And only one role for parents is categorically prohibited - the dictator-critic, who sees only failures and imperfections instead of success. But you are not like that, are you? So, your baby is lucky and you will succeed.

If your child has suddenly started to turn into a “donut” from a “cane” and “skinny”, you should not indulge in hopes that with age everything will pass and the extra pounds will dissolve by themselves. Of course, such a happy end is not excluded, but unlikely. About how to help your child to cope with completeness, AiF.ru told the author of the method of losing weight "Minus 60" Ekaterina Mirimanova.

No sudden movements

If the mother decides to put the child on the right path and abruptly deprive him of some product, this is the path to nowhere. For example, your child drinks tea with 5 tablespoons of sugar, one day you say that you need to stop such excesses in food, and deprive him of sweet tea. What will happen next: he will drink tea without sugar for two days, and then he will begin to steal it from somewhere. Do everything gradually: first remove one spoonful of sugar, a second after a week, and so on.

Learning to read the label

It is important that children from an early age know how to read labels. For example, carbonated drinks contain a lot of sugar, and if there is a "light" category in Europe, then in our country it is almost nonexistent. You can clearly demonstrate to your child the amount of sugar that he eats with some food or drinks with a drink. For example, 100 grams of cereal contains 40 grams of sugar! One teaspoon holds 8 grams of sugar. Offer to eat all that sugar - five tablespoons, just like that. It is unlikely that he will agree.

Scales in the house

Teach your children to weigh themselves. My daughter does it every day, I have almost no control over her. Thus, if she sees that she is recovering, then she refuses sweet in the evening and allows herself it only in the morning - a couple of kilograms immediately leaves.

Snacks, not over-eating

Another big problem is snacking. Some mothers encourage this, saying that the child should have a fractional meal. And so the child asks - now a candy, now a sandwich, then a cookie, and when it comes time for dinner, he declares that he does not want to eat. Mom, so as not to put pressure on the child, shrugs her shoulders and finally allows her not to have lunch. And the child should eat normally three times a day.

TV and food

The favorite feature of children is to eat in front of the TV. A child watching a movie, a cartoon, or a favorite show can eat endlessly. Remember the appetite with which we eat popcorn in the cinema, although in ordinary life we can hardly overpower a whole bucket of popcorn. Try to prevent children from eating in front of the TV.

You should lose weight

It "touches me" when my mother wraps up dumplings with mayonnaise in the evening, plops down in front of the TV, and then says to the child: "You should lose weight, go on a diet." Have you set an example yourself? Even if the parent has no weight problems, he should be a role model. When they tell me that obesity is inherited genetically, I always object: no, it is not inherited genetically, the metabolic rate is inherited. The fact that you have a size 56 ass is not genetically inherited; habits that you have seen since childhood are inherited. If mom gave you half a bite for a snack, then you will continue to snack on them all your life, believing that this is normal. When a parent is eating well, the child will tend to do the same.

Overeating

Teach children not to overeat. Don't let your child sit down with a huge pizza and eat it all at once. It is better to initially buy him a small pizza, make small portions. Even if he did not have enough, he is unlikely to go to warm up for himself more, and even more so to cook something.

Chocolate taste

At the other extreme, mothers forbid eating chips, chocolate, soda and other children's pleasures. But when you really want something, you still find a way to get it. As a child, I had a terrible neurodermatitis, and my parents did not allow me to eat sweets. I ended up stealing candy while no one saw it and throwing the wrappers behind the closet; or she came to her grandmother and begged for chocolates from her. From such restrictions, children grow up with an insane desire to eat everything harmful and forbidden. When a mother proudly says, “My child doesn't know the taste of chocolate,” I always answer: “So what's next? Then he will recognize him and will not be able to stop. "

Walking in pleasure

Physical activity is important for any child. I walk for 1.5-2 hours, and my daughter doesn’t like to do this, but she knows that if we go together, we will chat, be secretive, I can devote this time to her - in the end, she goes for a walk with pleasure, because she is interested in talking.

It's great to go out with your family. Of course, there are situations when a child in adolescence begins to be capricious and say that he will not go anywhere with you, he is tired and wants to stay at home, that is, if translated into Russian, this means that your child will lie on the sofa and will watch TV. We in our family have solved this issue simply. Once we went on a small trip with my husband without our daughter and began to send pictures to her phone with beautiful places that we met, interesting toys that we saw, food that we ate. Everything that she could have received, but did not receive, because she stayed at home. Now there is no such problem in our family. We need to motivate the child.

Healthy eating habits should be established as early as childhood. If a child eats a lot of fatty or sweet foods, inevitably, after a while, he easily gains extra pounds. Obesity in children and adolescents requires a very different approach than in adults.

Principles

Considering the peculiarities of the structure of the child's body and the functioning of all body systems, it is impossible to use adult diets. The child's psyche is very labile and depends significantly on age. The methods that will work for toddlers of preschool age are completely unacceptable for schoolchildren, and even more so for adolescents.

The only age throughout life when a person cannot become obese is the period from birth to the first feeding. The baby at this time receives food only through the mother's milk. Breast milk is an excellent source of all nutrients, vitamins and trace elements in the ideal proportion for growth and development. It is absorbed by the child's body by 99.9%.

After the introduction of complementary foods, the number of overweight children increases markedly. Mothers try to feed the baby as much as possible. Many people explain this by the fact that they want to finish breastfeeding faster, because the baby is already receiving complementary foods. This is a fundamentally wrong belief.

All pediatricians are unambiguous in their opinion on the issue of breastfeeding. The longer you breastfeed your baby, the less pain it will have and the less risk of obesity. Complementary foods up to 8 months are only auxiliary sources of nutrients, giving the lead to breast milk. Only closer to the first year of the child can you reduce the number of breastfeeding and switch to regular foods.

All children's diets that are designed to reduce body weight are based on the same principles:

Balanced diet. The correct ratio of nutrients with the predominant inclusion of protein products (up to 50% of the total diet).
Fractional nutrition. It is set depending on the age of the child. Children under one year old should eat every 2-2.5 hours. From one year to two - 5-6 times a day. From 2-3 years old - 5 times a day. After three years - 4 times a day.
Daily calorie content... It is also calculated using special tables (according to the age of the baby).
The right combination of dishes exclusion of foods that contribute to weight gain.

We take into account the age

When drawing up a diet, be sure to pay attention to the age of your baby.

All types of weight loss are strictly prohibited for children under the age of five. At this time, all systems of the body are still being improved and changed.

The abrupt cancellation of some foods in the diet of such a baby can lead to an imbalance of nutrients, which can negatively affect the metabolism as a whole. In the future, the child will have big problems: it is difficult to normalize weight if the metabolism has been impaired.

If you observe that your child began to gain weight at the age of 5-6, pay attention to what you give him to eat. At this age, harmful sweets and carbonated drinks should be completely excluded. The huge amount of sugar provokes sudden jumps in insulin, which can lead to obesity and even diabetes. All cakes, sweets and chocolates are strictly prohibited for overweight children! Only natural fruits and berries. Encourage your child to eat them instead of dessert.

Children aged 7-8 should exercise more. This time is the beginning of school. Previously, a more mobile child sits more at a desk and at home, doing homework. This leads to childhood hypodynamia and contributes to weight gain.

Be sure to send your child to the sports section. This will help increase your baby's physical activity. After physical aerobic exercise, metabolism is activated, and extra pounds literally start to burn! Choose sections strictly according to the wishes of your child. In no case do not force the kid to attend classes against his will. It is better to choose a new sport that he likes and will bring joy.

Children aged 9, 10 and teenagers usually spend a lot of time at the computer playing computer games.

The second important reason for weight gain can be an excessive love of fast food and fatty foods. Children of this age are very fond of various snacks and chips with bright salty flavors.

The abundance of flavorings whet their appetite, and they can eat a huge pack in just a couple of minutes. Such nutrition, in combination with physical inactivity, contributes to the deposition of extra centimeters on the hips and abdomen.

Contraindications

When planning to choose any diet for weight loss, be sure to consult your doctor. A child may have various diseases in which it will be simply dangerous to lose weight.

Among the common contraindications for losing weight:

Exacerbation of chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract(chronic gastritis, colitis, enteritis, pancreatitis and many others).
Cardiovascular diseases(arrhythmia and other heart rhythm disturbances). In such cases, a cardiologist prescribes a diet.
Diabetes mellitus type 1. In this disease, endocrinologists prescribe insulin injections. It has a lipotropic effect, that is, it breaks down adipose tissue. Children with diabetes are strictly prohibited from using any type of diet. They use a special system for calculating carbohydrates and bread units.
Malignant and benign tumors. In such cases, it is very important to have an adequate supply of nutrients to strengthen the immune system. The use of conventional diets is prohibited, only special medical food prescribed by an oncologist.

Is extreme weight loss harmful?

Losing weight quickly, especially rapidly, is strictly forbidden for a child's body! Losing weight quickly without harm to the body will not work under any circumstances. The breakdown of fat is slow.

Only 1-2 kg of fat can be burned per month with diet and exercise. Everything else is water or muscle. Rebuilding lost muscle tissue is much more difficult than losing it.

It is important to remember that you need to lose weight at home slowly but correctly. Be patient and support your little one in all stages of weight loss.

Types and types of diets

All diets can be conditionally divided into several types:

Low in calories. They imply a decrease in daily calories. The body perceives a lack of calories as a stressful reaction and begins to activate all forces to maintain the desired level of energy. Fat stores are an excellent source of energy. With a decrease in calorie content, the child loses weight.
Monotonous low-calorie. These diets include eating the same foods for a long time (for example, only buckwheat porridge or cottage cheese). Such diets are strictly prohibited for use in childhood. Fasting days are allowed, but only for adolescents over 13 years old. This can only be done once a week. At this time, the child can be offered 800 g of cottage cheese and a liter of kefir for the whole day. Before prescribing mono-diets, be sure to consult with your pediatrician or endocrinologist.
Correct healthy diet... Includes fractional meals every 3-3.5 hours (only permitted foods). All fast food, sugary soda, fatty and fried foods, chocolate bars and chips are strictly prohibited. Such food should include a lot of healthy protein products, cereals, fresh fruits and berries in season, an abundance of vegetables.

Sample menu for a week

Monday

Breakfast: Homemade granola made from multi-cereal flakes with milk.

Lunch: Banana.

Dinner: Vegetable soup with chicken. Tomato and cabbage salad dressed with yogurt.

Afternoon snack: A glass of low-fat yogurt.

Dinner: Chinese cabbage salad with herbs and turkey meatballs.

Tuesday

Breakfast: Cottage cheese with dried fruits.

Lunch: A handful of walnuts.

Dinner: Soup with mushrooms and vegetables.

Afternoon snack: Rice pudding with pear.

Dinner: Hake meatballs with cucumber and tomato salad, garnish - buckwheat.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Fruit salad with whole grain crackers.

Lunch: Apple.

Dinner: Vegetable and turkey soup.

Afternoon snack: Grated carrots with raisins and yogurt.

Dinner: Baked chicken with fresh vegetable salad.

Thursday

Breakfast: Cottage cheese with dried apricots.

Lunch: Dried fruits and green tea.

Dinner: White fish dumplings with boiled rice.

Afternoon snack: Low-fat kefir.

Dinner: Chicken with cabbage salad.

Friday

Breakfast: Oatmeal cupcakes with kiwi.

Lunch: Pear.

Dinner: Chicken balls with tomato salad.

Afternoon snack: Low-fat cottage cheese with yogurt and strawberries.

Dinner: Stewed cabbage and chicken cutlet.

Saturday

Breakfast: Buckwheat flakes with boiled quail eggs.

Lunch: A handful of almonds.

Dinner: Tomato salad with veal meatballs.

Afternoon snack: Grated carrot with green apple.

Dinner: Steamed white fish with boiled rice.

Sunday

Breakfast: Homemade granola with berries

Lunch: Low-fat kefir.

Dinner: Mushroom noodles with cucumber salad.

Afternoon snack: Kiwi.

Dinner: Cabbage and turkey salad.

Should I use vitamin complexes?

The appointment of any vitamin preparations should be carried out only by a pediatrician. The child's body does not need to constantly take vitamins. Even during weight loss, with proper nutrition, a sufficient amount of all necessary vitamins and minerals is supplied.

Vitamin complexes should be taken only during colds. This will help strengthen your immune system and prevent infection.

How to stimulate a child?

Forcing a child to follow a diet is absolutely stupid and fundamentally meaningless. The psyche of babies under 5 years old is designed in such a way that they copy the behavior of adults and peers. They do not yet understand why and how this happens, but in their behavior they are guided by what they saw.

If it is customary in a family to eat wrong and unhealthy foods, to get carried away with fried and fatty foods, then the child perceives this food as delicious. Explaining to children what is useful is a super impossible task! This is not worth doing. Just show by example that wholesome, healthy food can be delicious. If you have salad and a slice of lean poultry on your plate, rather than a fried pork cutlet, your child will eat the same way. Eating habits are best taught from early childhood.

Often, parents do not know how to put a child on a diet. You don't need to plant anyone anywhere! Just revise your baby's nutrition by adding the right and healthy foods to the diet. Discard all prepared convenience foods and meat sausages from the refrigerator. Cook for your baby yourself, do not add a lot of oil during cooking. Bake or bake in the oven. Teach your child the right eating habits (from a very young age). In this case, the problem of obesity will be irrelevant for him.

How to help psychologically?

Support your little one at all stages of weight loss. He is a great fellow to achieve such results. Reinforce your positive attitude with small gifts. Build on the interests of your child. If the kid loves to draw, for the lost pounds, give him beautiful coloring pages or a set of paints. In a word, whatever he likes!

Come up with a "reward system" with your baby. It can even be printed and hung on the refrigerator. For every 2 kilograms - going to the cinema, for every 5 - visiting the zoo. This will help you get closer to your child and gain their trust.

Exercises to help

Exercise is an excellent option for losing weight. If the child does not want to go to the sports section or he is rather closed in himself and prefers to be at home more, then exercises should be done at home.

For children, it is better to choose all exercises from the practice of physiotherapy exercises. They are safe, have been developed specifically for babies and will definitely not harm a small body.

A few simple exercises to remove your belly:

Have your baby lie on the floor. Place a special mat under your back first. It should be soft enough, but elastic at the same time, so that the baby does not injure his back. The legs are bent at the knees, the arms are behind the head. On exhalation - lifting the body to the knees. The head, back and neck form one straight line. On inhalation - return to the starting position. You need to do 2 approaches at least 15 times.
Starting position standing. Hands on the belt. The back is straight. On inhalation, the baby should draw in his stomach and hold his breath. Count to 5, then exhale sharply. It should be repeated 10-15 times in two approaches.
Exercise for the oblique abdominal muscles. Starting position - lying on the rug. The legs are bent at the knees, the arms are behind the head. On exhalation, the baby raises the body and tilts towards the right leg. On inhalation, it returns to its original position. Then the tilt to the left leg is repeated in the same way. Do 15 times in each direction.

Termination

As the ancients said, diet is a way of life. This is true. Any proper nutrition can also be called a diet, only medicinal. The use of such proper nutrition throughout life will help maintain not only normal weight, but also health (this way a person will not be able to accumulate many chronic diseases).

Required control your diet baby. Make up the menu in advance, preferably separately for each week. Follow all the principles of good nutrition. Remember to divide your meals by time. To lose weight, the baby must eat at least 4-5 times a day.
Include more vegetables and fruits in your diet. They have a low calorie content, but perfectly saturate. In combination with protein food, they give the body energy for a long time and without feeling of heaviness.
Watch out for that how much liquid your child is drinking. Often, when water intake is reduced, metabolism slows down significantly. Foods are poorly excreted from the body, which contributes to more pronounced weight gain.
Instill a love of physical activity from your baby since childhood. For the child, classes should become a habit - how to brush your teeth in the morning or wash your hands before eating.
Form the right eating habits. Show by example that wholesome and healthy food is delicious. Don't keep high-calorie chips and soda at home. Only healthy foods should be in your refrigerator.
Become a friend to your child. This will help you more easily motivate him while losing weight and achieve good results. Replace the habit of eating the wrong food with others, such as going out into the countryside with the whole family or going to the pool or water park.

The diet for children should be selected strictly individually, taking into account the existing characteristics of the body and chronic diseases. Losing weight gradually over the course of several months will help you lose weight and improve your baby's health. The main thing in any process of losing weight is a positive attitude and patience.