Obesity in Children

[chris L]

dont judge a person till you have walked in their shoes ! a doctors kid from ct that explains it . have at it !

[FishermanTim]

One of my mottos has always been "Everything in moderation!"
Another is "A body at rest tends to stay at rest, while a body in motion tends to want to stay in motion".

I can't prove this, but I believe that by letting kids stay inactive and possibly overweight through their "growing/developmental" years is bad. This allows their bodies to develop a "foundation" based on carrying extra pounds. When they get older, it becomes next to if not impossible to lose and keep off any weight since their bodies developed around a frame build on extra girth.

I was always active as a kid. Walking miles a day was nothing, heck we walked EVERYWHERE. I can recall walking into the city from Jamaica Plain, or walking home from Downtown Boston. Sure, I was tired, but I didn't mind.
As an adult reaching middle age, I don't walk that far, but I try to walk a mile each day (while working out with 5lb weights).
I feel great, my clothes fit better, and what surprises most of my friends and coworkers is that I weigh MORE than I look.
At 5'11", at 46 yrs I top out at around 275lbs. But look like I would weigh less than 240 easily. (I attribute this to the "walking workouts", and that muscle weighs more than fat.)
I try to watch what I eat, and will "explain" why I buy/eat what I do so that my family might get the hint and try taking better care of themselves.

The bottom line is that if the kids don't build a good body "foundation" now, they'll be in for more "repairs" as they get older, and you'll hear "I wish I had taken better care when I was younger".

[PaulS]

I work at company that doesn't have enough parking spaces so people can park on the private roads. Early morning when there is still lots of spots, you can watch the fat people parking on the road to get closer to the door. Then they come in and walk by the stairs and take the elevator up to the 2nd floor. What comes first the chicken or the egg - did they get fat from being lazy or they got fat and refuse to exert any energy.

Also how many times have you seen someone waiting for someone else to load things into a car so that they can park close to a mall. You pass them and there's a spot 10 cars back. You park and walk by the fatso still waiting.

What do you think their kids learn?