Need Diet Ideas for My 9Yr Daughter

Hi L.,

I encourage you to turn up the music and DANCE. Just adding a upbeat tune and a few uptempo steps in her day as you two do chores will help her burn off extra calories in a FUN way. She won't even see it as exercising and you will have an energizing way to kick her metabolism into high gear. It's fun. She won't mind.

Hope this helps.

I have an almost 10 yr old son that is going through the same issue... (be aware most kids go through a "pudgy" stage around this age..) He buys his lunch at school and since I can see what he is buying I monitor his account for any "extras" and only allow a cookie or ice cream twice a week... Otherwise at home, we got rid of 99% of the junk in the house.. replaced it with TONS of fruit and fresh veggies.. Lately he loves eating apples (lots of fiber to fill him up) with peanut butter or a banana... I leave low fat string cheese, light yogurts, etc in the fridge so if he wants a snack he can get something that isn't going to make things worse.. (watch sugar intake as well.. lots of foods like granola bars have a lot of sugar in them) I try to keep him busy running around outside playing catch, riding his bike while I walk/jog and he just started doing sit ups/jumping jacks/push ups too... Get her a jump rope and have her jump (if she watches TV) between segments of the show during commercials... (I have done this for about a week and actually lost about 4lbs myself in a week's time.. lol)

It's hard but portion control is key when she does eat meals.. my son can EAT!! And when I started monitoring how much he was eating at a sitting he would follow up a meal with a piece of fruit or yogurt as dessert... He's only lost a couple lbs so far, but he's on his way.. Good luck!!

Hi L., good for you for working on this! It's so hard, when there are temptations for kids everywhere you turn. I have an 11 year old son and he is about 10 lbs overweight and I have helped him to lose about 5. I didn't even say a word to him about it, I just started making small changes. I pack his lunch almost everyday because school lunches can be really fattening and they eat a lot of empty calories and sugar, especially if they purchase any extras. Also, I changed the bread on sandwiches to "calorie light, which is half the calores. Then I buy pretzels instead of chips. Some people would not agree with this suggestion, but I buy diet sodas to let them have at home(but not everyday, just a couple of times a week) and then when we go to restaurants they get water, since diet drinks are not as readily available and regular soft drinks are loaded with calories. Also, after school I make all my kids have a fruit or veggie before they can have any other snack. Then if they are stil hungry they can have one small snack before dinner. Also, try serving dinner on a salad size plate, because on a full size plate, it's easy to eat way too much. I know you asked mostly about exercise, but it seems like even if kids are very active it can be hard for them to lose weight because most of them eat more than we realize. I found this with my son because he is an extremely active boy, more than my other kids and yet he seems to be the one to retain weight. I think it's a combination of bad genes and also he loves to eat and has a really hard time controlling his portions. I hope this helped, it's a real struggle for a lot of kids and parents these days.

Have you taken her to the Dr. yet? That would be the first thing that I do and if he agrees that she needs to loose some than maybe enroll her in a sport like soccer or gymnastics.

But I would definately take her to the Dr. first. She might just grow out of it.

Turn off the TV, computer, and video games! These are the biggest cause for weight gain in America - even greater than fast food. Encourage/require your children to play outside every day. This should not be organized play but time when the child(ren) use their imagination and the toys you have purchased that just sit in the backyard. Allow them to get dirty. Physical playing helps children exercise their bodies and being allowed to use their imagination will help exercise their brains. Good luck!