Helping Your

Overweight Child

WIN Weight-control Information Network

Healthy eating and physical activity habits are key 

to your child’s well-being. Eating too much and exercising too little may lead to overweight and related 

health problems that may follow children into their 

adult years. You can take an active role to help your 

child—and your whole family—learn healthy eating and physical activity habits that last a lifetime.

Is my child overweight?

Children grow at different rates at different times, so 

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 tell you if your 

child’s weight and height are in a healthy range.

How can I help my overweight child?

Involve the whole family in building healthy eating 

and physical activity habits. This 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, special, 

and important. Children’s feelings about themselves are often based on how they think their 

parents feel about them. 

■ Accept your child at any weight. Children are 

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.

U.S. Department of Health 

and Human Services

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
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Encourage Healthy Eating Habits

■ Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables

(fresh, frozen, canned, or dried). Let your child 

choose them at the store. 

■ Buy fewer soft drinks and high-fat or highcalorie snack foods like chips, cookies, and 

Healthy Snack Ideas

Your child might enjoy trying the following 

foods:

■ 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. 

■ Low-sugar, whole-grain cereal with 

low-fat milk.

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.

candy. These snacks 

may be OK once in a 

while, but always keep 

healthy snack foods 

on hand. Offer the 

healthy snacks more 

often at snack times.

■ Make sure your 

child eats breakfast 

every day. Breakfast 

may provide your child with the energy he or she 

needs to listen and learn in school. Skipping breakfast can leave your child hungry, tired, and looking 

for less healthy foods later in the day.

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

food restaurant, encourage your family to choose 

the healthier options, such as salads with low-fat 

dressing or small sandwiches without cheese or 

mayonnaise. 

■ Offer your child water or low-fat milk more 

often than fruit juice. Low-fat milk and milk 

products are important for your child’s development. One hundred percent fruit juice is a healthy 

choice but is high in calories. 

■ Limit the amount of saturated and trans fats in 

your family’s diet. Instead, obtain most of your 

fats from sources such as fish, vegetable oils, nuts, 

and seeds. 

■ Plan healthy meals and eat together as a family.

Eating together at meal times helps children learn 

to enjoy a variety of foods. 

■ 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. 
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■ 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. 

■ Be aware that some high-fat or high-sugar foods

and beverages may be strongly marketed to 

kids. Usually these products are associated with 

cartoon characters, offer free toys, and come in 

bright packages. Talk with your child about the 

importance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and 

other healthy foods—even if these foods are not 

often advertised on TV or in stores.

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 child sees that you 

are physically active and that you have fun doing 

it, he or she is more likely to be active throughout life. 

■ 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, such as playing tag 

with friends or siblings, jumping rope, or dancing 

to his or her favorite music.

■ 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, a family bike ride, or a walk through 

a local park. 

A pre-adolescent child’s body is not ready for 

adult-style physical activity. Do not encourage 

your child to participate in activities such as long 

jogs, using an exercise bike or treadmill, or lifting 

heavy weights. FUN physical activities that kids 

choose to do on their own are often best.

If you think that your child is 

overweight, talk to your health 

care provider. He or she can tell 

you if your child’s weight and 

height are in a healthy range.
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Kids need about 60 minutes of physical activity 

a day, but this does not have to happen all at once. 

Several short 10- or even 5-minute periods 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.

Discourage Inactive Pastimes

■ Set limits on the amount of time your family 

spends watching TV, playing video games, and 

being on the computer.

■ 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 TV. 

■ 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 often mimic 

what they see. Choose healthy foods and active 

pastimes for yourself. Your children will learn to 

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. 

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 weight-control program should do:

■ Include a variety of health care professionals 

on staff, including doctors, registered dietitians, 

psychiatrists or psychologists, and exercise 

physiologists. 

FUN Physical Activity Ideas

Your child might enjoy trying the 

following physical activities:

■ Riding a bike.

■ Climbing on a jungle gym.

■ Jumping rope.

■ Playing hopscotch.

■ Bouncing a ball.

■ Dancing.

■ Playing catch.
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■ Evaluate your child’s weight, growth, and health 

before enrolling him or her in the program. The 

program should also monitor these factors while 

your child is 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. 

Additional Reading From the 

Weight-control Information 

Network

Helping Your Child: Tips for Parents is a brochure that provides parents with in-depth information about healthy eating and physical activity for 

children. 

1–877–946–4627 or http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/

publications/child.htm 

This brochure is also available in Spanish. http://

www.win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/su_hijo.htm

Other Resources

BAM! Body and Mind answers kids’ questions 

about health, including physical activity and nutrition. It also offers a “Teacher’s Corner” for educators. 

http://www.bam.gov

ChooseMyPlate offers information about making 

healthier food choices and being active. 

http://www.choosemyplate.gov

Fruits and Veggies—More Matters is a joint initiative from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Produce for Better Health Foundation to encourage Americans to eat more fruits and 

vegetables. The initiative’s website offers nutritional 

information, recipes, and tips. 

http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov 

KidsHealth offers nutrition and fitness information 

for kids. 

http://www.kidshealth.org

Kidnetic provides tips on healthy eating and physical activity for kids and parents. 

http://www.kidnetic.com

National Diabetes Education Program

provides information about diabetes and children to 

parents and health care professionals. 

http://www.ndep.nih.gov/diabetes/youth/youth.htm 

Verb is a website that encourages kids to be 

physically active.

http://www.cdc.gov
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WeCan! Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition is a national program designed for families and communities to help children 

maintain a healthy weight.

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/index.htm

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:

http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov

The Weight-control Information 

Network (WIN) is a service of the 

National Institute of Diabetes and 

Digestive and Kidney Diseases 

(NIDDK) 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-todate, science-based health information 

on weight control, obesity, physical 

activity, and related nutritional 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 of 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.

This text is not copyrighted. 

WIN encourages unlimited duplication 

and distribution of this fact sheet.

NIH Publication No. 08–4096

July 2004

Updated January 2008