The treatment of obesity in children or adolescents mainly consists of making a healthier diet and practice some physical activity daily, so that there are fewer calories being stored, facilitating the process of weight loss.
However, when the child does not lose weight with these changes in diet and physical activity, it is important to check if there are other causes involved, such as hormone production problems. If after 6 months of treatment the child continues to gain weight or is at high risk of complications such as diabetes, the doctor may indicate some medicine to help you lose weight.
All these forms of treatment are important and should be evaluated by a pediatrician and nutritionist in each case in order to avoid the occurrence of health complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure and even heart attack or stroke.
What to Eat to Lose Weight
This is the most important step in reducing the amount of calories in the body and is intended to help the child or adolescent to make a healthier diet. Some essential steps are:
- Do not spend more than 3 hours without eating some healthy food, but in a small amount;
- Eat fruits and vegetables at least 5 times a day, which means eating these foods at almost every meal of the day;
- Drink about 1 liter of water a day, and do not drink tea with sugar, fruit juice or soda;
- Eat the main meals in smaller dishes, to reduce the amount of food;
- Do not watch television or play video games while eating, to focus attention on food.
Also, it is important to avoid having too calorific foods at home, such as cakes, cookies, sweet popcorn, with lots of salt or with bacon, candy, chocolate and soda or pack juice. Check out the top 4 eating errors in kids.
How to trade the industrialized for healthy food
One of the biggest difficulties parents face is switching from processed foods like biscuits, burgers, ice cream, chocolates, and fast foods to more natural and healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, brown bread, and cheeses.
In order for this process to be successful, parents must have enough patience to introduce healthy foods into their child's diet. At first, the child should be asked to let the salad at least in the lunch box or at least try to put the fruit in the mouth, for example, without charging him to eat all the food that was offered.
This slow process is important because healthy eating should be a child's choice, not a reason for her to quarrel with her parents. If eating fruit is always accompanied by screams and promises of punishment or getting sick, the image of the salad will always be linked to bad times in the child's life, and it will reject this type of food automatically. Here are some tips on how to make your child eat.
Example of what the child can eat
Here are some tips on what foods to eat at each meal:
- Breakfast - eat bread instead of chocolate cereal, because it is easier to control the amount, and use skim milk because it has less fat.
- Lunch and dinner - Always eat vegetables and prefer whole foods such as brown rice, for example, because it helps to decrease appetite. Meat should be cooked low in fat or grilled, and the best options are fish or chicken.
For snacks it is important to have healthy foods available, such as skim milk, plain yogurt, no sugar, peeled fruit, bread with seeds or toast, for example, as it is easier to make a healthy meal when healthy foods are available.
What to take to school
Snacks at school are often a challenge for parents as it is a time when their children are in touch with the eating habits of other families, which are not always as good as they should be.
However, talking to the child and explaining the importance of each food placed in your lunchbox is a strategy that can be used to understand the need to eat fruits, yogurts, wholemeal cookies, and healthy sandwiches.
Watch the following video and see 7 healthy snacking tips to put in your child's lunchbox:
How to ensure physical activity in the child
Enrolling the child or teenager in classes such as karate, soccer, jiu-jitsu, swimming or ballet, for example, is very important to burn accumulated fat and improve child development, creating good habits that should be maintained also in adult life.
If your child or adolescent does not like any activity, you can try doing some kind of exercise with him, such as riding a bike, playing ball or even walking, so you can start to enjoy moving around and then soccer school, for example.
Get to know other examples of the best exercises to practice in childhood.
When to Use Remedies to Lose Weight
Weight-loss medicines are usually only used after age 18, however, some doctors may advise using them after age 12, especially when treatment with dietary changes and regular exercise is not showing results.
This type of remedy helps the body to spend more calories, decrease appetite or, therefore, decrease the absorption of nutrients, especially fats. During its use it is very important to maintain the care with food and exercise.
The use of stimulants, such as thyroid hormones, amphetamines, fenfluramine, dexfenfluramine or ephedrine, is totally contraindicated for children, as they can cause dependence and physical problems such as breathing difficulties and mental problems such as hallucinations.
Treatment for childhood obesity is not easy to achieve because it consists of changing the eating habits of the child and the whole family, so it is very important to seek to prevent overweight in childhood by encouraging children from the first years of life to make a healthy diet.
How many kilos a child can lose per month
There is usually no estimate of how much weight a child can lose per month, but it is generally advised that she only maintain weight while growing in height, which over time causes her to move out of the overweight range or obesity and return to adequate weight.
In addition to maintaining weight as a strategy, children older than 5 years and adolescents, when directed by a doctor and nutritionist, can lose about 1 to 2 kg per month without impairing their normal development and health.
Watch the following video and see other tips that can help your child lose weight:
