Fat Camp Articles

How to Help Your Child Lose Weight

By Jane St. Clair

Over the past few decades, many pediatricians and nutritionists have advised parents to allow their children to eat what they want, when they want it, and in whatever amounts they want.

This is called the "Trust Theory" of feeding children, and it refers to the principle that the human body can regulate itself to maintain its ideal weight. However, we are now in the middle of an epidemic of childhood obesity, and experts have begun to question the "Trust Theory." Left to their own devices, many children are eating all the wrong foods, filling up on fries and sweets, and ignoring fresh fruit and vegetables. Some are "self-regulating," only to maintain weights that are too heavy for their frames.

Experts in childhood obesity are now calling for parents to intervene in order to help their children achieve and maintain healthier weights. However, most research indicates that nagging children about food or putting them on weight-reducing diets are mistakes that can backfire and make the situation worse. The truth is that there are only a few scientifically proven ways to help children achieve healthy weights - these include family-based interventions, immersion therapy, bariatric surgery, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

According to an article entitled "Self-regulatory failure: A review with clinical implications," that appeared in a 1987 edition of the Clinical Psychology Review Dr. Daniel Kirschenbaum of Northwestern University's School of Medicine is one expert who believes the "Trust Theory" is an "ineffective model based only upon anecdotal evidence."

Kirschenbaum and his colleagues designed an approach to childhood weight reduction based only on those strategies that have records of proven results. His plan for parents includes a seven-level hierarchy. Parents are instructed start with Level 1, and should only move to the next level if the previous one did not produce the desired results:

Level 1: The first step is to enlist the support of your doctor in your child's weight management. Your doctor may not want your child to lose weight, but simply to maintain his weight until he "grows into it." Your doctor should check your child for weight-related health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, joint problems, and heart disease. Your doctor should help you and your child come up with a program of good nutrition and exercise, and should schedule follow-up care for your child as you work together as a team.

Level 2: Education is the second step in weight reduction. Find out why it is important to choose foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals. Learn how to plan meals that provide proper nutrients in the right combination of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Your doctor can supply educational materials, or you can find them at your local library or on the Internet.

Level 3. No child can remain slim and healthy in an obesity-promoting home. Step 3 is to involve your entire family in creating an environment that promotes weight loss.

First, try to help everyone in the family become more active. Limit time in front of computer and television screens, and put exercise equipment in front of the television set. Take up a sport together, or just do more walking instead of taking the car everywhere.

Second, promote healthy eating. Eat meals at home as a family. Get rid of sugary drinks and make water your beverage of choice. Don't keep sweets and junk foods in your home - instead, keep a supply of healthy snacks, such as fresh fruits and vegetables on hand.

Level 4: If Levels 1 through 3 are ineffective, you and your child might join a support group in your community. Weight Watchers and Keep Off Pounds Sensibly are two popular groups that provide support and nutritional information. Some YMCAs and community colleges offer support groups. A parent should attend meetings with the child.

Level 5: If support groups and the other interventions do not produce the change you need, then you may consider short-term, goal-oriented cognitive behavioral therapy. A skillful therapist will encourage your child to stick to the new regime, and help him question his negative assumptions such as, "Nothing works, I can never lose weight," or "My parents are fat and so it is hereditary."

Level 6: If none of the previous levels have worked for you, then you may want to consider an "immersion program" for weight loss. This means placing your child in a comprehensive weight loss environment, such as a summer camp or therapeutic boarding school for overweight children.

The best youth immersive weight loss programs incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy, healthy meals, education, and an excellent physical education program. There must be follow-up care that involves the entire family so that the child can make a successful and healthy transition back home. Look for a program that has a record of successful outcomes, and that will provide references from parents of current or past students.

Level 7: Surgeons have been performing bariatric surgery or stomach banding on overweight adolescents in increasing numbers. According to a March 17, 2009, Washington Post article, past, the number of teenagers who underwent such procedures increased from 14,000 in 1998 to nearly 178,000 in 2006.

These operations are controversial because no one knows if the results will last through adulthood, and Dr. Kirshenbaum advises that bariatric surgery be undertaken only as a last resort by those who have not found success during Levels 1 through 6, and whose obesity has put their health at risk.