Safe Weight Loss Methods for Children:

Obesity in children is a problem worldwide, but even more so in the United States. It parallels the sharp rise in obesity in adults, and obesity in children often sets the stage for them remaining obese the rest of their lives. This is why the prevention of obesity in children is essential and a serious public health issue. Here are several safe weight loss methods for children.

Increased Activity

There are two ways to lose weight – increase caloric burn rates or decrease caloric intake. For children, increasing activity levels is typically easier. You can achieve this in a number of ways. Ask if your child is running around in recess or sitting on the sidelines reading. Encourage your child to play for 15 to 30 minutes after school before watching TV or homework. Limit all types of screens to two hours a day, so that your child isn’t constantly sitting around watching TV, playing video games, or surfing the internet. Set an example yourself and play with your child or take them on family walks.

Reduce Caloric Intake

Putting a child on a strict diet is difficult and may not be necessary. Instead of banning foods, limit their portion sizes. Replace cookies, chips, and other high-calorie snacks with lower calorie density snacks. For example, get veggie chips or popcorn instead of potato chips. Replace cookies with oranges, apples, grapes, and other fruit. Give them yogurt instead of ice cream. Find cereal they’ll eat without the sugar added and introduce them to oatmeal. Soda goes away while low sugar juices come in. Be careful with diet soda since it may interfere with the body’s signaling as to when someone is full.

Education

One of the ways to motivate someone to change their lifestyle is to educate them about the risks of staying on their current course and the benefits of changing. If you only get one slice of pie or eat fruit for dessert instead, you’ll soon be able to play on the playground and keep up with your siblings. If you skip the soda and drink flavored water instead, you’ll reduce the odds of having cavities. If we go walking as a family, we’ll all look and feel better. Remember that as a parent, your best way of teaching children is modeling the behavior yourself. This means exercising along with your child, limiting your own screen time, and eating the same healthy foods.

Medication

Sometimes, diet and exercise are not enough. You should not give your child appetite suppressants, energy pills or other over the counter medications due to the health risks. However, some weight pills are safe for kids 12 and over. According to an article by CapitalOTC.com, Contrave was approved by the FDA. What separates it from other drugs is that it works by reducing cravings and lessens appetite, and it doesn’t pose the same risk as other medications.

Conclusion

Our modern lifestyle seems designed to make us fat. However, there are changes you can make from diet to activity levels that can help children lose weight. There are times when medication is necessary. Fortunately, there are a growing number of medications that are safe for children who need to lose weight.