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Children normally need a certain number of calories each day (energy allowance) that their bodies use as energy for normal daily activities (walking, breathing, etc.). This ranges for boys from 2000 calories for a 7-10 year old, 2500 calories for an 11-14 year old, and 3000 calories for a 15-18 year old. For girls the ranges are from 2000 calories for a 7-10 year old, to 2200 calories for an 11-18 year old. These are only estimates and some children need more (fast metabolism) or less (slow metabolism) of an energy allowance for daily activities.

If a child consumes more food and calories than is required by their energy allowance, than those excess calories are converted to fat for storage. Conversely, if a child consumes less food and calories than is required by their energy allowance, than their body fat is converted to energy for the needed calories.

In most of the study participants, body mass index increased through puberty and adulthood. By the time they turned 50, 60% of men and 41% of women were overweight. Body mass index in childhood was related to adult body mass index, but body mass index at age 9 and adult body fat percentages were not significantly related.

Obese teens tended to become obese adults, though. The most overweight 13-year-olds were twice as likely as the rest of the children in the study to be the adults with the highest percentages of body fat.

Being thin in childhood doesn’t necessarily protect your child from developing into an overweight adult either. The thinnest children tended to have the highest risk for adult obesity. Regardless of the child’s weight in childhood, a higher body mass index and percentage of body fat at age 50 were both strongly associated with a higher risk of disease.

The basis of treatment for obesity in children and adolescents involves diet changes and exercise. It is important for parents and the adolescent to be ready and willing to make the change. Generally, weight loss is not recommended for babies and young children who are still growing and developing. The goal of treatment for these children is to maintain their weight while they continue to grow taller. Weight reduction may be recommended for obese adolescents who have completed their growth.

Child Weight Management Tips:

1.Limit time in front of TV, computer, videogames to less than 2 hours per day
2.Encourage active play
3.Provide suitable healthy food and drink choices in and outside of home
4.Be a good role model for your child
5.Look for nutritious filling snack options for morning and afternoon tea such as low fat yoghurts, wholegrain crackers with topping, toasted sandwiches, flavoured milks and low fat muesli bars. Highly processed rice crackers, muesli bars, chips, chocolates and fruit snacks are not filling.
6.Swap all dairy foods including milk, yoghurt and cheese to low fat varieties.
7.Encourage your child to eat more vegetables. Very few children eat the required number of vegetables every day. One way to encourage children to eat their vegetables is to involve children in preparing them.
8.Read your food labels and try and choose foods with “Less than 10 grams of fat per 100 grams”.
9.Always ask your children if they are hungry before offering them food. If a child says he or she is hungry after their meal, offer only extra salad or vegetables. This will tell you if your child is really hungry.
10.Where possible, choose grain based breads and breakfast cereals. Wholegrain products are more filling than more processed white varieties. Some examples of wholegrain breads and cereals include multigrain breads, WeetbixTM, Mini WheatsTM and Just RightTM.
11.Encourage water as the drink of choice. Soft drinks, fruit juice and cordials all contain a lot of sugar and are not suitable for children.
12.Have set meal and mid meal times when food is served and times when food is not. This helps to teach children that there are times for eating rather than encouraging a “grazing” eating style.
13.Make sure that your child eats breakfast. Some quick, nutritious breakfast options include cereal and low fat milk, fruit or liquid meal replacement drinks such as Up & GoTM.