I was watching a show on TV that was discussing a 12 year old girl who went in for liposuction at the weight of 219! They gave her the lipo and got her down to 155 and within a few months she was back up to where she was before.
What do the parents do? Send her to Mexico to get the LAP-BAND surgery which is illegal for children that young in this country. This is becoming an all too familiar story these days since the number of children considered obese in our country has increased dramatically over the last 5 years.
But the problem is this. Using plastic surgery as a crutch is a bad mindset to give our children in this country. Saying gain as much as you want and then just get it lipo’d off is insane. There are far greater problems with being obese than just the weight gain (diabetes, heart disease and more).
This 12 year old is a perfect example of why this is a bad thing. Even after getting the lipo and removing over 45lbs of fat she goes right back to her old eating habits and gains all of the weight back. One of the doctor’s said “the lap band is a good alternative because it teaches the kids how much to eat”. I almost fell out of my chair with that statement.
Here is a novel idea, maybe the parents should teach the kids how to eat properly instead of getting surgery to do the work for them. I could not believe that doctor said that but he isn’t the only one that believes this B.S. It is your job as a parent to properly prepare your children for adulthood and if you also have a weight problem than you should consider a nutritionist to teach you so you can teach your kids.
All of my family has struggled with their weight and EVERY ONE of them can tell you why they can’t lose the weight. There is something they are doing that they aren’t willing to stop and that is why they can’t keep the weight off. Having all of the same genes and upbringing I weigh exactly what I did at the age of 18. I have a 30 waist and 32 length on my pants and I weigh between 150-165 (it varies) which is the perfect weight for my height of 5′10″.
Now why can I control my weight when the rest of my family struggles? I decided long ago that I would not follow in the footsteps of my father. He was the same height that I am but he weighed 225lbs, which was about 60lbs overweight. At the age of 42 he had is first few rounds of heart attacks and by the age of 52 he was dead from heart failure. Coincidence?..No.
At the age of 14, I started body building and playing sports. I was so active I had more trouble keeping weight on than keeping it off. This is exactly the same problem all of our kids should be having.
With this 12 year old her doctor said she tried to do sports (run track) in school but the school was afraid she would have a heart attack because she would be drenched in sweat and beat red in the face after just a few minutes.
So that was the reason why she couldn’t use physical activity to help keep weight off. Bad excuse. When you are 219lbs at 12 years old you need to start slow. Walking would be the place to start in this instance BUT the real problem was that they waited until she got too heavy.
If you have a young child that is overweight and your pediatrician tells you that you need to do something with the child’s weight, later is not the time to start! It is our duty as parents to teach our children how to be healthy, happy adults.
Our children learn their eating habits from their parents and if you are obese than the odds are your kids will also be obese. If you are obese than you owe it to your children to improve your eating habits which will improve theirs as well.
Now we have some issues in this country in regards to weight loss. Many women take it too far and wind up with an eating disorder and then you have the opposite end of the spectrum where men and women will say “I am comfortable with myself and don’t care what I look like”.
Now, not caring what other people think about your appearance as long as you are happy, is exactly the mindset you want to achieve. Sounds like I contradicted myself right? Wrong.
Wanting to lose weight should not be for superficial reasons but for the best reasons of all, to live a healthy and happy life. When you become obese a whole myriad of issues arise such as diabetes, heart disease, fat build up around the heart and much more. Most obese people have trouble getting up out of a chair or walking stairs or many other normal activities.
Your goals should be simple; get healthy and teach your kids how to be healthy. I promise you if you change your eating and activity habits, barring a thyroid issue, you can lose weight. Just don’t do it for appearances, that is too easy to dismiss. Instead look up all of the diseases and other issues that come from obesity and if that isn’t enough to kick you in the arse than I am not sure of what would.
I don’t care about my weight, that is/has not ever been a concern for me but the issues that befell my father due to his weight problems was an extreme concern. I intend to live for many years past the age my father lasted.
Here are some tips:
Soda, diet or not……gone!!
Eat small meals 4-5 times a day and drink water before and during your meals (my goal at a restaurant is to eat until I am no longer hungry and to leave with a doggie bag of food which becomes another small meal or two)
Eat LOTS of dietary fiber foods (beans, oatmeal etc..)
You must eat breakfast! I recommend oatmeal topped with a grape nuts type cereal for the grains and then topped with blueberries and honey.
Eat slower! Your brain needs time to register that you are no longer hungry and if you woof your food down it doesn’t get that time (you’ll be surprised how much less you will need to eat to no longer be hungry)
To reiterate – do NOT eat until you are stuffed! Eat slow and stop when you are no longer hungry. Glasses of water really help you get to this point quickly.
Women STOP USING FOOD FOR COMFORT!!!!!!! Food is not your friend!
Instead of using food for comfort use exercise. When you feel sad or upset and get the urge to shovel junk food down your throat, throw on your workouts clothes and walk, run, jog or whatever exercise you enjoy. Get that “high” from the endorphins released during a workout instead of food.
Do NOT diet. Instead decide to improve your health and the weight will fall off on its own as a result. Our bodies are supposed to be fat burning machines not just fat storage.
If you can’t do this for yourself then do it for your family!
You don’t have to cut out all bad foods! You just need to make them occasional TREATS that you use reward yourself for something (not for comfort). I love pizza and when I treat myself to pizza I allow myself a small portion. Remember the key word here is occasional treats not daily
I really hope that someone reads this and takes it to heart and improves the lives of themselves and their children. This is a serious problem and has NOTHING to do with appearance, this is a huge heath and quality of life issue; forget appearances completely.
90% of the people I know that have dieted for appearances sake have failed. All of those that have done it for their quality of life and health or even better their family, has succeeded! You do the math.
Parents take control of your lives and then help your children do the same but you have to start right away! Don’t wait until your child is in the same situation as this young 12yr old girl to act, the younger you start the easier the changes will be.
Good luck to you and stay safe out there!
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