by Lokemun Magar

Created on: December 22, 2011   Last Updated: December 27, 2011

Your child cannot be overweight without you noticing that something is amiss. Unfortunately, signs that your child is overweight can easily be missed out or ignored when you have grown so used to them or when you have accepted them as part and parcel of your lifestyle or your family's.

* Your child is much bigger and more fleshy than his peer. Your child may not be the biggest child in his class, but as long as he looks like an overstuffed turkey, it is time for you to take drastic measures and curb his overgrowth. Otherwise, in the long run, your child will develop deadly illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

* Your child cannot find clothes in the children's department and can only wear tailored clothes or those in the men's department at shopping centers. If your child is exceptionally tall but lean, you have much less to worry about. However, being overweight and having to wear clothes many sizes above what children your child's age are wearing is a sure sign that your child is overweight.

* Your child finds it very difficult to stave off hunger pangs and binge on starchy food. Children who do not keep to regular meal hours are likely to be consuming more than they can burn off. Healthy children within acceptable weight ranges may crave for a snack in between the five regular meals that include breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper, after rigorous exercises and physical activities. However, if your child sleeps in between meals and yet craves for food, watch it, as he is likely to be grossly overweight and not burning off the excess calories consumed.

* Your child abhors plain water, and goes for sticky fluids such as sugared fizzy drinks, iced milk and chocolate blends, and artificially sweetened and flavored drinks instead of pure fruit juices. He is likely to finish a pint of rich creamy ice-cream on his own too. Such drinks and ice cream contain calories that are often unaccounted for because the fluids they contain give you the false impression that your child is only taking in fluids and not solid food that will turn into fats.

* Your child eats more than your husband or twice as much as you, and asks for even more food - at every meal and in-between meals. If your child is consuming much more than any adult in the household but is not physically active at school or at home, watch his waistline. He is likely to be expanding at a rate that is abnormal. He cannot be carrying puppy fat beyond the age of puberty.

* Your child breaks every spring weighing machine you buy. A regular weighing machine does not measure any weight beyond three hundred pounds. If your child's weight is beyond those for his height as shown in these charts or similar ones found in your country, it is a sure sign that you have to take your child's growth seriously.

* Your child prefers fried and oily foods and shuns steamed or broiled items. What you eat becomes you, ultimately. The same reasoning applies to your child. If he is not eating healthily, it is unlikely that he is growing healthily as well, and if he is craving for unhealthy foods in large amounts and shuns exercise, it is likely that he tips the weighing scale as well.

Overweight children grow into adults with multiple health and psychological problems. It is best that you monitor your child's weight seriously to ensure that your child grows healthy and strong and into a physically fit adult. He is more likely to enjoy life when he is trim and fit.

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