What You Should Know About Childhood Obesity.

What You Should Know About Childhood Obesity

Your child must lose…to win!

Childhood obesity can have long lasting effects . Many young children have no clue on what harm they are doing to there body. Do you know that more than 17% American children and adolescents suffer from childhood obesity? In fact, the problem of obesity or abnormally high weight is continuously rising among children. This has resulted in a growing concern for both health care providers and the parents. What is even more alarming is that not many people are fully aware of the consequences of this problem. The complications which may arise due to uncontrolled obesity include diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, sleep apnea, arthritis, and reduced mobility and life expectancy.

For the same reason, it is vital for the parents to address the issue as early as possible as, after all, prevention is better than cure. Read on to discover some simple, easy and cost-effective measures to deal with the condition.

So, what makes your kid fat?

Your child’s body gets the energy it needs from the food he / she eats (Input). This energy is used to perform physical activity (Output). The unused energy is stored in the body is stored as fat. Therefore if, for some reason, this input is more than the output, it will cause your kid to become fat or obese.

What are the risk factors?

• Some common factors that may cause your child to become overweight or obese include:
• Food preferences: Foods rich in fat and sugar
  Lack of physical activity: Sedentary lifestyle
• Family history: If parents are obese, children have more chances of being over weight

What you can do?

Remember, being closer than anyone, parents have the main influence on the diet and life style pattern of their children. Therefore, simple measures and easy tactics in the home can have a significant impact on reducing your child’s overweight or obesity. It is always better to address the problem as early as possible as most overweight children become overweight adults as well.

Following recommended measures are of utmost importance in managing the overweight or obesity of your child.

Enhancement in physical activity

TV viewing should be limited to no more than 2 hours per day, discourage TV in kid’s room.

Plan and execute activities that kids and family view as fun. Walking the dog is great daily exercise that also teaches children about having the extra responsibility of something in their care.

Develop plan for increasing activities, such as family outings to parks. Alternatively, you can suggest indoor activities such as dancing or jumping rope. Children also love to play games like skipping, hide and seek, hopscotch and tag.

Suggest gifts/rewards that promote physical activity, such as active games, music CDs, or DVDs. With a little incentive you could get the kids doing chores like sweeping the yard, cleaning the family car or even weeding the garden.

It is, however, important to remember that when you child is involved in long exercises; they should include a gradual warming up and cooling down periods. Examples of warming up exercises are brisk walking or jogging on the spot. Similarly, when cooling down, stretching exercises help to restore the muscles resting length.

Improvement in eating habits:

You should choose a balanced diet for your child, essentially representing the major food groups of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes. It should also include dairy products, fish, meat and poultry.

Look for unhealthy dietary habits. Limit fast foods or providing lower fat alternatives, eliminating soft drinks or switching to low calorie drinks, changing to 2% or skimmed milk, substituting low-calorie, high-fiber snacks (low-fat popcorn, fruits, or vegetables) for the high calorie ones.

Never let your kid skip his / her breakfast.  However, you should limit your kid’s daily food consumption to frequent small meals instead of a fewer large meals. A difference of three hours between two meals is mostly recommended, constructing 4 to 5 small meals each day.

In short, if managed early and properly, childhood obesity can be successfully controlled. Necessary measures, if taken early by the parents, can change the outcome for obese children or even prevent it happening in the first place. However, such change should be gradual and parents must plan for small, single changes at a time.

Will I Lose Weight If I Cut Calories?

Will I Lose Weight If I Cut Calories?

The bio-mathematics of weight loss

Many people have concerns about there weight. With fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King every where you look. Its hard to keep the calories intake down. However if you are overweight or obese adult, you probably eat too much i.e. more than you actually need. Lets face the facts most of us eat more calories than we realize. As a matter of fact, your body needs a certain amount of calories to keep itself functional and active, and if you eat or drink more than that, you will likely gain weight. Likewise, if you consume fewer calories than you expend, you will lose weight.

So, the question is, what number of calories you actually need to consume daily to lose weight?

If you are one of those billions around the globe who are trying their best to get or maintain an ideal body weight and minimize extra body fat, this is the first and the most vital aspect you should consider.

The answer:

Your recommended per day calorie intake primarily depends on your age. If you are an adult man with average height and built, you need to take 2,500 calories / day. Similarly, if you a woman with average weight and height, you will need to take 2,000 calories daily. Do remember; however, that these calories should come from cumulative sources i.e. you should eat a healthy, balanced diet consisting of foods from all major groups e.g. proteins, carbohydrates, fats, nutrients and minerals.

If you are eager to lose weight, a good rule of thumb is that a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories leads to a weight loss of approximately one pound. Therefore, you could begin by taking five hundred less calories day, providing you are taking a healthy, well-balanced diet and performing your physical activity / exercises regularly. Simply saying, to get rid of one pound per week, you need to reduce your calories by 500 per day. There are two simple ways of doing this; eat / drink 250 lesser calories daily and burn additional 250 calories by performing physical exercise (e.g. walking or jogging for 2 to 3 miles daily).

Another way to cut back on calories is to watch your portion sizes. Go for relatively smaller, leaner, pieces of meats, perhaps. Eat as much vegetables as possible as they are low in calories but contain higher quantities of vitamins and nutrients) and avoid deep fried food (cheese burgers, fried chicken, French fries etc.). Doing these easy things will have a dynamic impact on your weight.

It’s important to remember that you don't have to starve yourself to lower your calorie consumption. As mentioned above, just take smaller portions of the foods you currently enjoy. If you need to burn those extra calories, again, you do not necessarily need to run miles a day or join a fitness club. Just remember to use the stairs, or park your car away from the door when going to work.

Last but not least, calories - knowing how to find them, how to count them and how to cut them, are key to lose weight on your own. By doing simple mathematics and implementing your diet and exercise plan accordingly, you can successfully lose your weight and maintain it for long term.

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