H

U.S. DEPARTMENT

OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Helping Your

Overweight Child

WIN Weight-control Information Network

EALTHY eating and physical activity habits are key

to your child’s well-being. Eating too much and

exercising too little can lead to overweight and related

health problems that can follow children into their

adult years. You can take an active role in helping your

child—and

your whole

family—

learn

healthy

eating and

physical

activity

habits that

can last for

a lifetime.

Is my child overweight?

Because children grow at different rates at different

times, it is not always easy to tell if a child is

overweight. If you think that your child is overweight,

talk to your health care provider. He or she can

measure your child’s height and weight and tell you if

your child is in a healthy range.

How can I help my overweight child?

Involve the whole family in building healthy eating and

physical activity habits. It benefits everyone and does

not single out the child who is overweight.

Do not put your child on a weight-loss diet unless

your health care provider tells you to. If children do

not eat enough, they may not grow and learn as well

as they should.

Be supportive

■ Tell your child that he or she is loved, is special, and

is important. Children’s feelings about themselves

often are based on their parents’ feelings about

them.

■ Accept your child at any weight. Children will be

more likely to accept and feel good about themselves when their parents accept them.

■ Listen to your child’s concerns about his or her

weight. Overweight children probably know better

than anyone else that they have a weight problem.

They need support, understanding, and encouragement from parents.

Encourage healthy eating habits

■ Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables (fresh,

frozen, or canned). Let your child choose them at

the store.

■ Buy fewer soft drinks and high fat/high calorie

snack foods like chips, cookies, and candy. These

snacks are OK once in a while, but keep healthy

snack foods on hand too and offer them to your

child more often.
2

Healthy snack foods

for your child to try:

Fresh fruit

Fruit canned in

juice or light syrup

Small amounts of dried fruits such as

raisins, apple rings, or apricots

Fresh vegetables such as baby carrots,

cucumber, zucchini, or tomatoes

Reduced fat cheese or a small

amount of peanut butter on

whole-wheat crackers

Low-fat yogurt with fruit

Graham crackers, animal

crackers, or low-fat vanilla

wafers

Foods that are small, round, sticky, or hard to

chew, such as raisins, whole grapes, hard

vegetables, hard chunks of cheese, nuts, seeds,

and popcorn can cause choking in children under

age 4. You can still prepare some of these foods

for young children, for example, by cutting

grapes into small pieces and cooking and cutting

up vegetables. Always watch your toddler during

meals and snacks.

■ Eat breakfast every day. Skipping breakfast can leave

your child hungry, tired, and looking for less healthy

foods later in the day.

■ Plan healthy meals and eat together as a family.

Eating together at meal times helps children learn

to enjoy a variety of foods.

■ Eat fast food less often. When you visit a fast food

restaurant, try the healthful options offered.

■ Offer your child water or low-fat milk more often

than fruit juice. Fruit juice is a healthy choice but is

high in calories.

■ Do not get discouraged if your child will not eat a

new food the first time it is served. Some kids will

need to have a new food served to them 10 times or

more before

they will eat it.

■ Try not to use

food as a reward

when encouraging kids to eat.

Promising

dessert to a

child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the

message that vegetables are less valuable than

dessert. Kids learn to dislike foods they think are less

valuable.

■ Start with small servings and let your child ask for

more if he or she is still hungry. It is up to you to

provide your child with healthy meals and snacks,

but your child should be allowed to choose how

much food he or she will eat.

Encourage daily physical activity

Like adults, kids need daily physical activity. Here are

some ways to help your child move every day:

■ Set a good example. If your children see that you

are physically active and have fun, they are more

likely to be active and stay active throughout their

lives.

■ Encourage your child to join a sports team or class,

such as soccer, dance, basketball, or gymnastics at

school or at your local community or recreation

center.

■ Be sensitive to your child’s needs. If your child feels

uncomfortable participating in activities like sports,

help him or her find physical activities that are fun

and not embarrassing.
3

FUN physical activities for your

child to try:

■ Be active together as a

family. Assign active chores

such as making the beds,

washing the car, or

vacuuming. Plan active

outings such as a trip to

the zoo or a walk through

a local park.

Because his or her body is not

ready yet, do not encourage

your pre-adolescent child to participate in adult-style

physical activity such as long jogs, using an exercise

bike or treadmill, or lifting heavy weights. FUN physical

activities are best for kids.

Discourage inactive pastimes

■ Set limits on the amount of time your family spends

watching TV and videos, and playing video games.

■ Help your child find FUN things to do besides

watching TV, like acting out favorite books or

stories, or doing a family art project. Your child may

find that creative play is more interesting than

television.

■ Encourage your child to get up and move during

commercials and discourage snacking when the TV is

on.

Be a positive role model

Children are good learners and they learn what they

see. Choose healthy foods and active pastimes for

yourself. Your children will see that they can follow

healthy habits that last a lifetime.

Find more help

Your health care provider

Ask your health care provider for brochures, booklets,

or other information about healthy eating, physical

activity, and weight control. He or she may be able to

refer you to other health care professionals who work

with overweight children, such as registered dietitians,

psychologists, and exercise physiologists.

Weight-control program

You may want to think about a treatment program if:

■ You have changed your family’s eating and physical

activity habits and your child has not reached a

healthy weight.

■ Your health care provider has told you that your

child’s health or emotional well-being is at risk

because of his or her weight.

✔ Riding a bike

✔ Climbing on a

jungle gym

✔ Swinging on a

swing set

✔ Jumping rope

✔ Playing

hopscotch

✔ Bouncing a ball

Kids need a total of about 60 minutes of physical

activity a day, but this does not have to be all at one

time. Short 10- or even 5-minute bouts of activity

throughout the day are just as good. If your children

are not used to being active, encourage them to start

with what they can do and build up to 60 minutes a

day.
The overall goal of a treatment program should be to help your whole

family adopt healthy eating and physical activity habits that you can

keep up for the rest of your lives. Here are some other things a weightcontrol program should do:

■ Include a variety of health care professionals on staff: doctors,

registered dietitians, psychiatrists or psychologists, and/or exercise

physiologists.

■ Evaluate your child’s weight, growth, and health before enrolling in the

program and watch these factors while enrolled.

■ Adapt to the specific age and abilities of your child. Programs for

4-year-olds should be different from those for 12-year-olds.

■ Help your family keep up healthy eating and physical activity behaviors

after the program ends.

Other resources

■ The Food Guide Pyramid can help you make healthy food choices

for your family. Available from the Center for Nutrition Policy and

Promotion, 703-305-7600 and at www.usda.gov/cnpp/pyrabklt.pdf

■ Tips for Using the Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children 2 to 6

Years Old can help you teach your young child what to eat to grow

and stay healthy. Available from the U.S. Government Printing Office,

202-512-1800 and at www.usda.gov/cnpp/KidsPyra/PyrBook.pdf

■ Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Across Your Lifespan: Helping

Your Child provides in-depth information for parents. Available from

the Weight-control Information Network (WIN), 1-877-946-4627 and

at www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/pubs/parentips/tipsforparents.htm

■ www.kidnetic.com provides healthy eating and physical activity tips for

kids and parents.

■ www.KidsHealth.org provides information about nutrition and fitness

for kids.

■ www.bam.gov answers kids’ health questions about body and mind.

■ www.verbnow.com encourages kids to get physically active.

NIH Publication No. 04-4096

July 2004

National Institute of Diabetes and

Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Weight-control

Information

Network

1 WIN WAY

BETHESDA, MD 20892-3665

Phone: (202) 828-1025

Toll-free number:

1-877-946-4627

FAX: (202) 828-1028

Email:

WIN@info.niddk.nih.gov

Internet: www.niddk.nih.gov/

health/nutrit/nutrit.htm

The Weight-control Information

Network (WIN) is a service of the

National Institute of Diabetes and

Digestive and Kidney Diseases

of the National Institutes of Health,

which is the Federal Government’s

lead agency responsible for biomedical

research on nutrition and obesity.

Authorized by Congress (Public Law

103-43), WIN provides the general

public, health professionals, the media,

and Congress with up-to-date, sciencebased health information on weight

control, obesity, physical activity,

and related nutritional issues.

WIN answers inquiries, develops and

distributes publications, and works

closely with professional and patient

organizations and Government

agencies to coordinate resources about

weight control and related issues.

Publications produced by WIN are

reviewed by both NIDDK scientists

and outside experts. This fact sheet

was also reviewed by Leonard Epstein,

Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Social

and Preventive Medicine, and

Psychology, University of Buffalo

School and Medicine and Biomedical

Sciences, and Gladys Gary Vaughn,

Ph.D., National Program Leader,

Cooperative State Research,

Education, and Extension Services,

U.S. Department of Agriculture

(USDA).

This publication is not copyrighted. WIN

encourages users of this fact sheet to duplicate

and distribute as many copies as desired.

This fact sheet is also available at

www.niddk.nih.gov/health/nutrit/nutrit.htm.

Prepared in cooperation

with the International

Food Information

Council Foundation

www.ific.org