Are your children or pets overweight?

[sleepyjean 0]

I have a cat. And I refuse to let him get fat. He's not in any danger of that, but when I first adopted him, the vet said to make sure he didn't get bigger, so I definitely keep an eye on his little tummy.

It makes me glad I don't have children, because I would probably turn into some diet nazi and preach to my kids that they have to be thin thin thin "so they don't turn out like mommy" and then they'd probably develop anorexia or some equally heinous eating disorder.

A random thread, I know. But I'm curious. What's the situation in your house?

Are your children or pets overweight? And if they are, has that changed as you've changed?

[migbt 0]

Good Question!

I have two sons, 20 and 22. Neither of them have wieght problems, but I didn't either until I was in my 30's. My Dad and brother are 'husky'. When my kids were younger and I was dieting, of couse they ate better and really didn't feel deprived of junk. Today, hey will reach for a fruit or yogurt as a snack and be happy with it!

Let's hope it stays that way.....

:nervous

[Sunta 5]

I have two cats and neither of them are overweight. I don't have any children.

[Alexandra 55]

It makes me glad I don't have children, because I would probably turn into some diet nazi and preach to my kids that they have to be thin thin thin "so they don't turn out like mommy" and then they'd probably develop anorexia or some equally heinous eating disorder.

I worried and worried about my children long before I had them. I even considered not having children at all because of the miserable memories I have of being an obese child and teenager. It took my husband to talk me through that fear.

And as it turns out, neither of my kids tends toward chunkiness. I often marvel at their lithe bodies and am wracked with regret that I wasn't born with that opportunity. I can't say that I am at all responsible for the way they're shaped, though; we do our best to feed them well but as anyone with kids knows, what they eat is pretty much up to them.

The amazing thing is how little they need to get by and be healthy. DH and I force ourselves to understand that half a small bowl of oatmeal really is Breakfast for a 4 y.o. if she says it is. And it is!

Being a diet nazi doesn't work, I know this from my own childhood. Most of my young years were spent being told what NOT to eat. So I'm profoundly glad that I don't have to stop myself from letting the kids eat too much; nature blessed them with normal satiety signals and all I have to do is step back. :clap2:

[Guest Kira M]

One son, three cats. My son does not have a weight problem. However all three cats are tubby.

[NJChick 3]

My dd is on the chunky side, but mostly its because she's not active. My mom who watches her is 80 so she doesn't get enuf exercise. This year she will be in a day care that has lots of physical activities so I'm hoping she will natually slim down. Her dad is very active and always has her running and playing.... I'm more of the slug b/c of my weight but dang...thats gonna change

I do not preach to her about food b/c I don't want her to suffer the same child trama as I did, so behind her back and never making an issue out of it I give her healthier stuff. When we have parties, I have baked chips instead of regular and if she wants a cookie, I give her those 100 calorie packs... she has no clue. She doesn't drink soda except on special occasions so her staple is Water and unsweetened tea.

I want her to live a normal life.....as normal as can be.

Oh and my dog is not fat, she's very fit. Gets alot of exercise and we watch what we give her to eat.

[HunnyBun 2]

I started having weight problems around the age of 12. My son was born when I was pretty heavy at 200lbs. I was young and short, so 200 was a lot for me at that age.

He is pretty active and at a healthy weight. He does love to eat candy and ice cream, but I don't usually allow much sweets.

We do not have salty Snacks like chips in the house. He likes to drink Sprite, but I only allow it once or twice a day.

[j.s. 0]

I have 2 cats, one is a sleek, mean, mouse-eating machine (she dont really eat mice but it rhymed). The other one is a porkchop (that is her nickname). I just put brandi on a diet this last week which she does not like one little bit, and I am the food nazi, I have to watch them when they eat or she will eat most of her food then push Katie out of the way to get her bowl eaten up and then go back to finish her own again.

[Nykee 13]

I knew the moment I had kids that it was my lifes mission to make sure they never got fat.

I never thought I might fail. I knew it was under my control as well as my duty.

I did a very good job..

No one really understands how its ALL because of my constant efforts that my kids were always fit and lean and 'perfect'

Most think its just how it turned out. But I know differently.

I did not feed them healthy, good meals, balanced diets.. That was too much for me, They had junk all the time. There was no real rules on food.

But what I did do, saved them from being chubby or obese.

None of them were skin and bones. None of them had high metabolisms.

They all ate alot. They could have easily all been fat raised by me.

What I did do, was use sugar free foods and fat free foods and all kind of things like that, ever since they were little, they never knew what 'fat free' and 'sugar free' was. They munched on sugar free Gummy bears and fat free fudge cycles, pop was always diet and kool aid was always gugar free, mayo was fat free, milk was skim, icecream cones was fat free soft serve frozen yogart cones, cheese slices were fat free and hot dogs were low fat, butter was lite but rarely used, cerial was not the junk kind and they never put sugar on anything, at resturants that glob of butter on pancakes was immediately tossed in discust, yogart was fat free, Jello was sugar free, cream cheese was lite, I could go on and on and on.

These things made a Huge difference and I know it. I cant even imagine the amount of sugar and fat that they avoided.

It was kinda funny when friends would come over and say "these gummy bears taste funny, this cheese is rubbery, you only have DIET pop?, wheres the sugar for the cerial, this milk looks like water"

My kids were clueless.

I also made sure they took every sport.. and ran and excersized and at constant play. My kids did it all. I made sure.

LAST thing I wanted was slim kids who were slow and lazy and weak.

That almost bothers me more than a fat kid who is.

So..

I know all this shouldnt matter so much.. But as an obese person and having felt fat my whole childhood and beleieved it ruined my life..

I think many of you can understand.

yes, I obsessed alittle.. I really tried to keep my neggative thoughts to my self.. plus I didnt talk about the 'diet' foods like they were always on a diet .. I tried so hard NOT to give them eating disorders.

BUT, I HAD eating disorders for them.. DOES that sound crazy?

With My middle child. She was skinny, but not a toothpick. In fact, I saw fat on her all the time. I often worried about her going through a growth spurt and becoming bigger. I wanted to to stay alittle underweight so that when she had a growth spurt she had NO chance of being chubby at all.

Then, I would see a picture of her at the lake, all ribs and bones. I often thought it was just a freak picture. She didnt look like that all the time.

She was always told she was skinny, BUT thats cuz almost all kids had a tad bit of fat on them even though they werent fat one bit.

She was NOT a skin and bones freak.! I woudnt of wanted or liked that.

In 5th grade. I went to the pool with her school and I was shocked. She was the skinniest girl, and small too.. I never saw her like that at home.

I didnt see a girl who was so slender and petite.

This was when I began to wonder if I had an eating disorder in her honor.

She got some chub at age 16.. Lost some for about a year, and is now officially fat. She is 18 and weighs about 160 pounds. She is 5foot6.

Thank god I made sure she had the best self esteem I ever saw.

She rather be smaller, but she doesnt let it hold her down.

BUT, SHE CANT GET ANY BIGGER, OR I will have to WAKE her up!

My oldest son was real chubby as a baby and I was paniced. He was so cute but everyone called him fat (like it was cute).

By age 9 my son had a six pack and a body a boy is lucky to have never gone through a ugly or gangly or awkward phase.

He was adored by girls and guys alike.. Seems like every kid has something wrong with them, my son was just right.

Around age 14, I noticed he had stopped taking off his shirt at outings. (this was a boy who lived in shorts and sandles all his life)

He was NOT fat, but he wasnt fit.. and it was ME who had kept pointing it out, I bought him a weight set, he played video games. I thought he WANTED a nice body, I was wrong. He didnt care about those things. He had always been fit but he didnt see himself in those ways (I tried to make my kids humble and naturally great,,lol)

NOW, My son who never lacked any confidence of anykind.. suddenly felt ugly or not good enough..

OMG, I hated myself.. HE WAS GOOD ENOUGH, He was still better than most but I had made him think FINE was substandard.

This was when I thought I had an image disorder in my sons honor.

My son is almost 19 now.. at 16 he got all lean and fit and hard bodied again... then he went shot up to 240 last winter and then this summer he got back to around 220.. a good size for his 6 foot 4 frame. (He is flabby)

No one considers him fat, but us.

My youngest was always normal sized. she wasnt thin, she wasnt fat. She was perfect. I always thought she was kinda fat, but NO ONE else did and I knew it was all in my head.

I feared a growth spurt and what happened with her was she got big boobs, and a hourglass figure. Much different than my middle childs skinny muscular flat frame. She had some flab on her belly that I just HATED. I had always had a flat tummy and my middle child still does.. She was easily able to hide it, she still looked fine in two peice suits, BUT when she lounged around the house, and I saw that flab, it was hard.. I knew it was heriditary and nothing much could be done, so I tried not to give her a complex. She was lavished with praise for her looks all the time and she didnt like it or care.

She kinda got one anyway, even though she had the body every girl dreams of, she thought her sister was so skinny and she was so fat, they wore the same size for a while and sadly she became convinced she was fat. SHE WASNT. Then her gma died and she gianed 20 pounds and became about 145 pounds at 5 foot 2 or so.. last year

Now she is 135 about, age 15 and thinks she is so fat, but she has decided to just deal with it..

ALL THAT SAYS that NO my kids are NOT fat, BUt I sure do have alot of fat issues about them dont I??

I am lucky they are all so happy with themselves. Really good self esteems compared to how I was or how so many teens are today.

None of my kids are especially good looking, THATS NOT whats important.

Its that they are all happy with their looks and like themselves just fine.

THAT I DID TOO.!

[DevilMayKare 1]

I have two sons who were different from the moment they were born. The oldest was a chubby baby on breastmilk (exclusively for 10 mos) and could never get enough of it. I did not even let him have chocolate until finally pressured into it when he was FOUR. He is 21 and chubby now. My younger son was also BF a long time but never cared less about eating and still does not. He is skinny as a rail. He just does NOT CARE about food!!

I was always chubby, my brother was always skinny. My dad was chubby, his brother was skinny. My Grandmother & her brother were chubby and their sister skinny. There is NO QUESTION in my mind that the tendency towards poundage is in our genes.

As are many other things. Both my sons are very intelligent and I think they inherited that as well!

But my cat... oh she's dumb and very, very fat. She's a 16-yr-old fat, happy cat and lucky to live in a world where the other cats don't make fun of her.

[princess_n_thep 2]

Nope, my son is pure athlete. He has always been lean. I was very strict on his meals though. I fed him healthy while I ate the crap. My son thought a Ritz cracker was a cookie until he got into Kindergarten. Damn teacher ruined it for me!!! Even still, he isn't much of a candy, chocolate or junk eater. He loves those sweet tarts though. He won't touch a soda, only gatorade/water/lemonade/milk.

[DevilMayKare 1]

Hope you don't mind if I take this opportunity to post a pic of my skinny son...

[Nykee 13]

princess, thats what I would of liked to have done.. I did in my own way low level way, but the ritz cookie is hillarious.

My famiy fattness:

My moms wasnt fat until she became a mother. Her highest weight prolly 225, her average 180 and NOW she has been kinda skinny for a couple years around 165.. 5 foot2

Her family has some obesity, mostly old people getting fat.

My dad was fit, he ran marathons and such. But now he is like OLD and getting alittle fat in the waiste from all the beer. Prolly weighs 190 or something. 5 foot 11

My dads brother, my uncle is the only other obese family member besides me. He is jolly and everyone loves his fattness. His daughter was fat until she was 19 and then she got all skinny and has stayed that way.

Most of my family is thin. Like normal on the charts or maybe 20 pounds overweight. I have a ton of family that gets together at christmas on my dads side.

I am the most fattest family member

.. I have been since it happened when I was 19.

Everyone has been decent to me, but I always felt so HUGE

They are good people for the most part who take care of themselves and I know they never understand how I could of let that happen to me and continue not to do anything about it. Its not like we ever spoke of it.

My sister wasnt fat as a kid.. got fat in pregnancy, hovering around 180 to 240 UNTIL this summer and now she is 165 pounds and So skinny.

My other sister has never known a fat day in her life and SHE happens to have a major eating disorder (excersizes 3 to 6 hours a day to work off a whole bag of candy or such) and has the lowest body image of us all and just got liposuction on her thighs and knees..

Hummm. Yes it does suck being the ONLY obese person in your family.

It sucks too that everyone who was overweight just happens to be getting skinny when I get the band.

[maudeispam 2]

One Basset Hound who is slim and trim and healthy and One Black Labrador is is on the husky side, but healthy as a young pup. (The Lab will be 11 on August 4th!) No children in our household yet.

[FunnyDuddies 6]

Our daughter was born a week late, and was still tiny. She is a rail, and eats like a horse when she has her growth spurts, but like a bird the rest of the time. She is all legs, and at 4 years old she wears 6 year old clothes due to her lankiness.

The boy is kinda weird. (in more ways than one!) He has fat cheeks. And he is broad shouldered and tall for his age too. He was a month early and weighed 8 and a half pounds!! But he never has a belly except just after eating. His legs and arms are skinny rails, and after waking up every morning he comes running out of the room with his ribs showing. And the boy can EAT!! He eats more than his mom and dad put together! LOL But he is really active and burns weight off like crazy.

The dog is skinny too, but he is a border collie and runs with the boy. Both of them seem to be dead set on running their dinner off when ever possible.

The cat is a big fat tub of fur. His name is Elwood. His stomach touches the ground when he walks. He gets spoiled because of the kids, who give him way more food than he should get. He is old, and happy to be fat and slow and a major snuggle bunny.