Advice for helping an overweight child

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Advice for helping an overweight child

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If you have an overweight child at home and clearly that person, that child is overweight, you know that, you've checked it out, you've talked to your physician about it, there are things to do. It's time to get into action mode, even if the child's 7, 8, 6-years old. I've worked with children as young as one-year old who was 100 pounds. I've worked with a 100 pound one-year old, 300 pound five-year old; there are some really significant problems out there in very young children, and these children are not old enough to participate very actively in a weight-control process. It's not so much that they'll develop eating disorders, it's just that they don't get it; they're not motivated by it, they don't know what you're talking about. So you gotta keep them on the periphery and take action as a parent. And as a parent, it's important to learn how to do this. So my book, The Wellspring Weight-Loss Plan, would help with that so yo'll understand what the principles are. But for openers, you get rid of all the fat in the home environment; you aim for a zero-fat diet. And the next step is to really try to get very active as a family; promote activity at every turn. Then when the child is old enough, like 11 or beyond, really is an important age to think about. 11, 12, when they start being more social, being more interested in the opposite sex, this is the time when you can start enlisting their cooperation fully in the process. But in the meantime with the very young ones, even 1, 2, 3-year old who are clearly obese, parents take action. Change that environment. Get into a very low-fat environment at home, when you go out to eat. This is a radical change. This is nothing like your neighbors and friends do, but it will make a huge difference in your child's life.

View Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, PhD's video on Advice for helping an overweight child...

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Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, PhD

Weight Management Expert

Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, PhD, ABPP, is the President of Wellspring. He was Director of the Eating Disorders Program at Northwestern University Medical School, where he is Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Kirschenbaum is a Fellow and Diplomate in Clinical Health Psychology in the American Psychological Association and former president of its Division of Exercise and Sport Psychology. Dr. Kirschenbaum has provided invited addresses at many professional conferences world-wide, received numerous grants for research, and published 10 books and 150 journal articles on weight loss, sport psychology, and related topics. His books include: the first book published for professionals on the treatment of pediatric obesity - Treatment of Childhood and Adolescent ObesityWeight Loss Through PersistenceThe Sierras Weight Loss Solution for Teens and Kids (2007); and, The Wellspring Weight Loss Plan. Dr. Kirschenbaum’s research on sport psychology won the top prize for research on the mental game of golf from the World Scientific Congress on Golf (St. Andrews, Scotland) and Golf Magazine; in 2000, the American Council on Exercise and its Board of Directors unanimously endorsed his book, The 9 Truths About Weight Loss, as "the best book ever written for the public on how to lose weight and keep it off."

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