My son is overweight

[aoneseller]

Gents,

My son is 6 years old, 130 cm tall, 40 kg. He was in Thailand until age of 2.5. He was overweight. After that he stayed with my mother in my home country for a year, he lost his weight, he looked normal thanks for my mother for daily walking and controlling his diet. When he came back to Thailand he started gain weight again. Most of the time in Thailand he stayed with my MIL, but no exercise and eating Thai food. Because of our job abroad with my wife we could stay with him just a couple of months per year. I am back now in Thailand since January and trying to loose his weight with swimming, bicycling, walking. The only thing is improved that he is no longer short of breath, can do more distances and he doesn’t snore that loud like before. He is quiet a good boy,good at school and behave well. He eats regularly, I wouldn’t say he eats more than other kids. He wouldn’t eat any vegetables dough. But still he is fat. I do not know what I can do more. Any suggestion?

[SiamBeast]

One thing that you should pay attention to is drinks. Many kids eat healthy Thai food and do exercise but drink sugary drinks, defeting the whole thing. Make sure he only drinks water and exercises daily. If he does all that and is still fat, you should have him checked by a doctor, as there's likely to be another underlying problem.

[daveAustin]

I was also going to say the sugar aspect... worse than fat it is. I also believe Thai food is not all that healthy, loaded (generally) as it is also with sugars, salts and flavourings, not to mention oil. 

[transam]

Yep, it's diet.....Fizzy pop, palm oil, crap nice flavoured stuff, chips....You must be cruel to be kind....Forget about the tantrums if any...

[SiamBeast]

The problem is that the ever-increasing cost of life forces people to cut corners in exchange of a few extra money. Before,  when you ordered orange juice, you got pressed orange juice. Now you get orange flavoring, fructose syrup, and water. Costs less to make, more profit, no need to give a sh!t about everyone's health. When you ordered fried rice, you got real rice fried in healthy oil - now some places serve GMO rice in cheap oil with MSG to enhance flavor.

 

The best idea is to cook your own food, this way you know what goes into it. Use organic ingredients, remove sugar, and everyone will be healthy.

 

BTW, the world's #1 worst food that someone can put in their body is Pepsi. There's no reason why anyone in the world would drink sugary soft drinks when there's sparkling water + lime available.

 

In our home, there's no drink with sugar that goes through the door, exception is wine. No soft drink, fizzy pop, sweetened fruit drink, HFCS, sweet green tea, etc. will ever enter our fridge. If the kids throw a tantrum, so be it, but do not fold. Sugar is addictive - the ONLY gratification you get from drinking sugar is the instant gratificationon your tastebuds. Once it's down your throat, it's like swallowing a pile of garbage.

[vogie]

1 minute ago, transam said:

Yep, it's diet.....Fizzy pop, palm oil, crap nice flavoured stuff, chips....You must be cruel to be kind....Forget about the tantrums if any...

But on the plus side Trans, if your fat enough the army will not want you.

[transam]

7 minutes ago, vogie said:

But on the plus side Trans, if your fat enough the army will not want you.

Not sure about that.....

[aoneseller]

He doesn't drink soda.He drinks 2 low fat plain milk and two low fat ovaltine a day, the rest is water. I guess just keep exercising for a few months more and if still no change I will take him to the doctor.

[canuckamuck]

Low fat is meaningless, what you want is low sugar. You could definitely get rid of the Ovaltine.

[aoneseller]

Still taste less sugary than the original one. Personally I can't stomach any ovaltine. But I can't go cold turkey with a kid.

[vogie]

1 hour ago, transam said:

Not sure about that.....

Yes it happened to a friends son of my wife, he went to report and they sent him home saying he was too fat.

[transam]

Just now, vogie said:

Yes it happened to a friends son of my wife, he went to report and they sent him home saying he was too fat.

Result....

[TumblinDice]

Is he involved in soccer/football?
Get him in a Muay Thai boxing club, not only for the exercise but also self defence benefits.


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[TumblinDice]

And take away any computer games. Get him outside more.


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[Sheryl]

40 kg 130 cm is not overweight! That is a perfectly normal weight for that height.

 

And you describe him as not overeating.

 

Why exactly do you think he is fat?

[SiamBeast]

That's a BMI of 23.6 which is considered average, but we should be aiming more for 20 - which I'm struggling to do but getting there.

[aoneseller]

Because he looks fat. His waist around 80 cm. And people call him อ้วน.

[Sheryl]

Are you sure the height is 130 cm? That  is exceptionally tall for a 6 year old (he'd be towering over his classmates) and at that height, 40 kg would not be overweight...and he'd be very unlikely to have a waist circumference of 80 cm.

 

Suggest you take him to a good pediatrician for thorough check up and can evaluate his nutritional status at that time. It does not sound like he is eating too much and the numbers given don't add up.  Possibly some other factor is giving him a big belly (worms, disease)

 

 

[aoneseller]

Yes, the numbers are correct. 

[Sheryl]

Then he is exceptionally tall for his age.

 

Actually checking against charts specific to children, a BMI of 23 , while normal for teenagers and adults, is overweight for his age.

 

Either he is eating things you don't know about, or there is a health problem as the intake you describe would not account for this. Are you sure he isn't consuming any junk foods outside of meal times? As with Thai children that is the usual culprit....

 

 

[MaprangHolmes]

3 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Then he is exceptionally tall for his age.

 

Actually checking against charts specific to children, a BMI of 23 , while normal for teenagers and adults, is overweight for his age.

 

Either he is eating things you don't know about, or there is a health problem as the intake you describe would not account for this. Are you sure he isn't consuming any junk foods outside of meal times? As with Thai children that is the usual culprit....

 

 

He is very over weight at that height and weight it gives him a body mass of 99th percentile for his age. He certainty is not eating the same as other kids if he is maintaining this amount of weight. Ask the school to try and keep an eye on him for snacking because if he is maintaining the weight he is eating food from somewhere.

[aoneseller]

Junk food like kfc macdonalds?no never been their either. He eats at home and the school only. At school apperiently there is a 5 baht snack business going on among kids exchanging snacks. But I think its the daily rice consumption. When he was skinny in my country he ate rice seldom.

[Sheryl]

Junk food like the cheap packaged stuff sold in 7-11s and by small vendors all over the place. If he has any money on him, very likely he is buying and eating these.

 

Just how much rice is he eating? All Thai children eat rice daily, usually 3 times a day, but it does not make most of them fat - must be a portion issue. Try to limit him to one serving spoon helping per meal.

 

Your problem of course is that if you are here only temporarily, even if you are able to limit him to one serving of rice per meal, you may not be able to get your MIL to follow suit after you leave.

 

Having been overweight at a very young age, alters the metabolism such that he will tend to put on weight easily. Unfortunately, many Thais think fat babies and toddlers are "cute" and do not realize the damage it does.

[Rob13]

On 4/16/2017 at 1:48 PM, aoneseller said:

After that he stayed with my mother in my home country for a year, he lost his weight, he looked normal thanks for my mother for daily walking and controlling his diet

 

Talk to your mother and follow her advice. Sounds like she's on to something.

[balo]

Forget the idea about rice , all Thai kids eat rice without getting fat.

No this is caused by sugar content and fat combined with the boy probably not getting exercise.  You could take him to a hospital for a health check .  

  

 

 

[FruitPudding]

On Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 2:01 PM, aoneseller said:

He doesn't drink soda.He drinks 2 low fat plain milk and two low fat ovaltine a day, the rest is water. I guess just keep exercising for a few months more and if still no change I will take him to the doctor.

When they take out the fat they add sugar. Otherwise, without fat and sugar, it would taste like crap.

 

Full fat without sugar would be better for him. Fat doesn't make people fat, actually. Google this. Most people aren't aware of this.

 

And carbs=sugar too.

 

I would take him to a doctor, simply due to the fact he weighs 40kg. To put that into perspective, that's almost as much as my GF weighs (42kg). I have a 5 year old daughter. A little shorter than your son, she's 17kg. She is even getting a little chubby around the arms and face (not much, but still). She eats lots of crap, too.

 

 

[FruitPudding]

On Sunday, April 16, 2017 at 8:48 PM, Sheryl said:

40 kg 130 cm is not overweight! That is a perfectly normal weight for that height.

 

And you describe him as not overeating.

 

Why exactly do you think he is fat?

I just added those details into the NHS BMI calculator and it said, "very overweight...body mass is in 99th percentile for this age"

[tonray]

On 4/17/2017 at 5:00 PM, balo said:

Forget the idea about rice , all Thai kids eat rice without getting fat.

No this is caused by sugar content and fat combined with the boy probably not getting exercise.  You could take him to a hospital for a health check .  

  

 

 

 

white rice has a glycemic index of 72 compared to 100 for pure glucose. It's almost like eating pure sugar.

[FruitPudding]

14 minutes ago, tonray said:

 

white rice has a glycemic index of 72 compared to 100 for pure glucose. It's almost like eating pure sugar.

 

Yeah.

 

Carbs in general are worse than table sugar.

 

2 slices of wholewheat bread is higher than a Snickers bar, actually.

[MaprangHolmes]

2 hours ago, FruitPudding said:

When they take out the fat they add sugar. Otherwise, without fat and sugar, it would taste like crap.

 

Full fat without sugar would be better for him. Fat doesn't make people fat, actually. Google this. Most people aren't aware of this.

 

And carbs=sugar too.

 

I would take him to a doctor, simply due to the fact he weighs 40kg. To put that into perspective, that's almost as much as my GF weighs (42kg). I have a 5 year old daughter. A little shorter than your son, she's 17kg. She is even getting a little chubby around the arms and face (not much, but still). She eats lots of crap, too.

 

 

17kg at 5 years old is on the light side when the average for a 5 year is 42lbs or around 19kg