How To Determine If Your Child Is Overweight
There are many reasons why it is important to evaluate if your child or teenager is overweight or even clinically obese. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of children who are far beyond their healthy weight range in this country and the health consequences are becoming more and more chronic and emotionally damaging. The consequences include diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, sleep apnea, and many more. Because of this, as parents we have the ultimate responsibility for taking the initiative in solving the problem if our children are overweight. So before you send your child to a summer weight loss camp, follow these instructions to evaluate if your child is overweight.
Being overweight is clinically defined by having a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 25. You can find out your child’s BMI by simply knowing his current weight and his height. There are many BMI calculators over the internet and you can always visit your doctor to find out your child’s specific number. Now, having said that, some children naturally have a higher BMI, like those that are very athletic and carry a lot of muscle weight. Keep that in mind.
Once you know for sure your child is clinically overweight, you must ask yourself this question: did this ‘problem’ occur just recently or has your child always seemed a bit bigger than other kids? This question is incredibly important. Many kids follow a healthy and natural growth curve that is higher or lower than other children in their same gender and age category. To know for sure, ask your doctor for your child’s growth chart. If the line of growth is above the other lines (above the 85th percentile), but has been consistent (no big jumps in the last year or so), then your child is likely just fine. However, if your child recently gained more weight than usual and has not been very active in a long time, then unfortunately your child is likely overweight.
There are many reasons why your child is overweight, including emotional disturbances, an unhealthy diet, and lack of physical activity. Usually, if you ask someone how to get your kid to lose weight they suggest a diet, but in reality there isn’t really a kid out there who loves going on diets. Instead you might consider fitness camps to get your kid to naturally become more active.
The evaluation of if your child is overweight should not be done on a whim. For example, if everyone in your family is thin and your child seems to be a little thicker than what is normal in your family, that does not mean your child is overweight. The evaluation should be done professionally and preferably from multiple sources, as these days not everyone doctor or nutritionist tends to agree. All of this is crucial because in almost all cases, parents do more harm than good by enforcing some extreme fitness routine. Again, one very nice option is a fitness camp where children and teens are monitored closely both to make sure they are losing weight safely and also to make sure your kid is having fun.