Fat Children - should their Moms be reported to CPS?
I went to a friend's son's 2nd birthday party yesterday and I think I sweat ten gallons of water. The party was held outside at a State park in Maryland and it was 95 degrees and slightly humid. Too add insult to injury the park was full of rolling hills and valleys and my son wanted to climb up and down each and every one of them for pretty much the duration we were there, almost 5 hours. There was a ton of food though. My friend's mother likes to "throw down" at cookouts so not only were there burgers and hotdogs but fried chicken and fish fried fresh at the scene. Oh yes, she bought a big vat of oil and placed it right on the charcoal and cooked! I didn't eat as well as I should have but I reserved my points to do so. Actually, now that I'm thinking of it I didn't do too bad really. I ate one piece of fish, three pieces of chicken (wingettes), and one hot dog. I skipped all the potato salads and macaroni salads and all the other salads (none of them had green in them). But I don't think I'll have to worry about water retention because I sweat ? sweated? um...perspired so much that even though I drank four bottles of water I never had to pee once. I'm still feeling thirsty and I've had a ton of water to drink since then. Plus that cardio workout my son gave me...phew! My weigh in (God willing) should go pretty decently tomorrow...I hope.
Anyway, to the subject of my blog. I didn't really know but a handful of people at the party so when I wasn't chasing my son around I just sat down and listened to other people talk. The subject of fat babies and kids had come up. One lady was talking about her friend's baby who was 2 months old and she swore he weighed very close to 20 pounds. She said that her friend would put a bottle in the baby's mouth every time he started fussing and that the kid could eat 8 ounces every hour. She says the baby is so big that he even breathes funny and is wearing 6-9 months clothes already. Another lady pipes in about a 3 year old girl who is in her son's daycare who is about the size of three children that age, the size of children who are often guests on Maury for being overweight. The daycare provider feeds the children breakfast as part of their plan and she says the little girl can eat six grownup sized pancakes in a sitting and still want more to eat. Both women (and many other women in the group) agreed that this was ridiculous. Then one woman suggested that they call Child Protective Services on the mothers! I was like ??? And other mothers agreed! They said that allowing your kids to overeat and feeding them to the point where they are unhealthy and big is child abuse. One guest argued that CPS would get called if someone was underfeeding their child so why not for overfeeding? She said that even though one might kill the child faster than the other the risks to their health were the same.
I don't know how I feel about that. Granted, overfeeding your child is a shame but should you be reported for that? On the other hand, would reporting Mothers who overfeed their kids help to lower the obesity rate among kids in America? Maybe CPS should have a different entity within the organization whose purpose is to educate. Maybe then if people reported these Mothers instead of reprimanding them they could come into the homes and teach parents how to raise their kids with healthy eating habits.
I'm on the fence about the whole thing because although I see some good points in it I worry about where the "line" would be drawn. What's too fat? What's too thin? My son is very thin, only in the 10th percentile for weight. He is just a picky eater and he doesn't like to eat much. Could I get reported? My brother's baby is 2 months old and 15 pounds, already in 3-6 month clothes. Could he get reported?
Anyway, I just thought this was interesting and would love to hear other opinions on the subject.
*UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I weighed in on Sunday and lost 0.6 pounds for a nice, round total of 18 pounds since starting WW. I am so close to 20 pounds gone that I can taste it. To be able to say I lost 20 pounds of my own accord without the help of surgery or pills or any of the other things I used in the past will be a great accomplishment for me. Hope everyone else had a good weigh in!
My son won't leave my side today so if it's not me carrying him around it's my hubby. It all started when we saw my brother's baby son, 2 months old, and the whole family took turns holding him and cooing and gushing over his infant cuteness. All that must have really set something off in my son because now he wants to be held like a baby, demands our constant attention and has even tried to get me to feed him like a baby. I hope lugging his 21 month tush around all day earns me some activity points!
Ah, the grills are going. I can smell the wonderful scent of burgers in the air. It's KILLING ME! LOL! I don't really talk to my neighbors but I'm so tempted to go out and be Ms. Friendly and introduce myself to a burger or two. I mean NEIGHBOR or two! We are going to have hamburgers ourselves tonight but since we don't have a grill they will be broiled. Not nearly as tasty as the ones infused with charcoal smoke (I hate propane grills-- I need to taste the charcoal!). I'm waiting for hubby to come home and take over the lug-Bailey-around shift so I can start house cleaning. Again, I hope that earns me some activity points.
I've been starving this week and going into my flex points every night. I finally realized why when I looked at my calendar. My TOM is due next week. I usually get that "endless pit" thing the week before and nothing seems to satisfy me. Luckily I've made pretty wise choices calorie wise but had lots of salt on my food. I'm trying to drink lots of water to make up for it but I won't be surprised if I have a gain this week because of it. I can't help it, I crave salt and sugar when I'm PMSing and I'd rather have the salt than the sugar.
Anyhoo, my son is wanting me to go watch him play with his toys. Not participate, he just wants me to watch, LOL! The little showboater! Have a happy 4th y'all!
Oh I almost forgot! I remembered what it was I was I forgot the other day. If you are looking for a low points hot dog or hamburger bun buy Nature's Own Whitewheat brand. The buns (both) are just 1 point each. The hot dog buns have 80 calories, 4 grams of fiber, and 1.5 grams of fat each. The hamburger buns have 100 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of fat each. Their sliced sandwich bread has 0 points per serving! I meant to post this just in case there were some WW'ers having a cookout and needed low point options since most buns are at least 3 points each. I'm a little late for the 4th but just in time for the next bbq!
We aren't, thank God! Since the holiday is on a Wednesday no one in my family really wants to do anything. I have been invited to other bbqs but I'm trying my best to resist. The urge is strong, though. One of my friends is even having CRABS! I know I could go and just exercise control but I know me so it's better to stay home. I think I will just focus on getting to a good spot to see the fireworks. I'm just over the water from DC so I know a great spot where I can watch the show (that you all can see on PBS if you're interested). This will be my son's first fireworks show so I'll make that my "something to look forward to" instead of ribs and chicken.
Thank goodness for the fruits (and vegetables) of summer! July and August could easily be the best times for me to be on a diet because both my favorite fruits -- watermelon and peaches, and my favorite vegetables -- tomatoes and corn on the cob, are in season and tasting fine and low in WW points! I could eat those four things for every meal every day. So my plan for the upcoming weekend is to find a local farm and go pick fruit. I could take the easy route and just hit a farmers market but I think a trip to the farm would be a fun weekend activity.
Old age is no joke! I wanted to get on a blog at this time of the night because I had something I wanted to post. Now I can't remember what the heck it was! I should have opened with it but I distracted myself. Jeez, if I'm like this at 33, how am I going to be at 60? Well, I'll probably remember as soon as I sign off.
Could anyone please send me their favorite low fat recipe? I'm all cola chickened out and need something new! Alright, I'm off to go get my anime fix. I'll be on at a more decent hour to go check out everyone's blogs. Hope everyone is doing well!
Okay, so I weighed in today and after a week of eating horribly and a week of trying to get back on track I've lost 0.4 pounds. It's not as high as I would like but I'll take it because the way I had been eating for a while could have had me go totally in another direction. My leader congratulated me on losing weight even though I had gone away. So I'm proud of my little loss. In the inches department I only lost a total of 1.25 inches. I am a little suspicious that my husband doesn't take my measurements correctly because I weigh less than I did a couple weeks ago but some of my measurements went up. Maybe, but I doubt I gained 3-quarters of an inch everywhere except my hips. Usually my hips are the first place inches pile on. Oh well, I still like to see the numbers drop so 1.25 inches down is better than up. I'm motivated to work extra hard this week because I'd like to see myself get out of the 240's. A little over 2 pounds will get me there. I did not work out at all last week but I will bring it back into my routine this week.
This is going to be a short blog today as I am about to run out the door to Grandma's house. Since the 4th has decided to fall in the middle of the week this year we are doing our celebratory thing today because who wants to travel on a Wednesday?
I hope all of you who weighed in this week got great results! If not, remember there's always this week!
I'm guessing that the 10 pounds I gained must have been water weight because when I weighed myself this morning I dropped about 7 of those pounds. The good news is I didn't gain 10 pounds. The bad news is that I could have still gained 3. We'll see at the end of the week. I'm still drinking a lot of water and eating very healthy, no cheating, no dipping into my flex points, so I'm hoping that my weight will go down a little bit more before Sunday's WI.
Anyone on here take chromium picolinate and/or l-carnitine to boost their weight loss? My SIL suggested that I give it a try because she attributes her getting to her goal weight in 6 months to those supplements. She said not only did she get a boost of energy but her appetite was suppressed. I did some research and found that John Goodman from the Roseanne show also took the supplements and he lost a good amount of weight as well. It's also in drugs like Herbalife and since Herbalife did nothing for me I don't know how much of it's effect is mind over matter? If you've used it let me know.
Taking a page from other bloggers I've decided to list my top 5 reasons for wanting to lose weight. I've read many of your lists and I'm right there with you and I have a zillion more but these are my top 5.
#1: I don't want to be the butt of "Yo Mama" jokes. God forbid my son has to defend my honor in school when the kids start with the "Yo Mama is so fat...."!
#2: I don't want to be the fat person who gets ushered off the rollercoaster ride. I had the pleasure of going to King's Dominion a few years ago and watched not once but three times wannabe rollercoaster passengers make it through the 2 hour line only to be ushered out because the lap bar wouldn't close properly on them. I haven't seen such a horrible Walk of Shame in a long time. They had to walk past others waiting to get on the ride behind them. If the seat looked too small for my butt no matter how long I stood in line I would politely decline to get on using "fear" as my excuse.
#3: So I can visit my Korean relatives without worrying about getting ridiculed or bringing shame on my Mom. A lot of Americans might not understand this and might even get upset about it but it's a different culture over there...a size 0-1 culture. Their large sizes are a little better than a medium over here. My family would accept me and be nice to be if I went however I know there would be talk and they'd probably harass my Mom about my weight. I would like to make it over to the place I was born and see the family I haven't seen since I was five but I have to feel good enough about my weight first or else I'd spend the whole trip self conscious and embarassed.
#4: I want to park myself at a table at Phillips Seafood buffet and not leave for hours. And when I do it I want to hear people say "Damn, that skinny girl can really eat!". Truthfully it could be any buffet. I just want to eat without guilt. Just once.
#5: Skanky clothes! Okay, maybe not skanky but sexier clothes than I can wear now. I know they sell some sexy items for us big girls but really, when you see big girls wearing some of those clothes what do you think? Riiiiiiiiight. I want to be able to sport a short skirt or a low cut top and look classy sexy in them. And to wear sexy high heels shoes! I wear heels occasionally now but by the end of the day it looks like the loaves of bread are done and baked over the pan! So I need to drop this weight so I can get in these clothes!
Okay I thought of one more that I haven't seen on anyone's blog. Not for the faint of heart!
#6: Kinky sex positions! I have the Kama Sutra and I can maybe do a few but that's it. Doesn't every woman have a desire to be carried off into the bedroom? Or held up against the wall? If you are my size (unless you are incredibly agile or your man is strong) sexual positions are limited to what is attainable. Lord knows we've tried to be adventurous but having to hear "Phew...hang on...I can't breathe!" cannot be a turn on for anyone! Breathless from passion is all good. Breathless from lack of oxygen flow because you tried to throw your leg over your head and the fat cut off the air is not.
Yes and no. Although I did better than I thought I would I did have my moments. Unfortunately those "moments" were biggies.
THE GOOD: I did very well with the breakfast buffet. They had imitation eggs (none of the workers could tell me if it was Eggbeaters or some other fat free brand) so I didn't eat much of those. Just a spoonful. Then I would get two link sausages or a spoonful of corned beef hash. I never ate bread or pastries, I stayed away from the juice, and I definitely didn't help myself to the decadent fresh made Belgian waffles. Factor all that in plus the fact that I had a 21 month old who wouldn't sit still for long you'll see I didn't eat much.
Lunch and dinner was eaten in the company of my SIL who is back on WW after having her 3rd baby. She is a Lifetime member so being with her kept me eating on track, mainly because I didn't want to disappoint, if that makes sense. That and the fact that she cooked most of the time. She prepared WW friendly meals and would give me the point count per serving so that I could keep track (I wasn't but I didn't tell her that.)
The one time we ate out was at a Chinese restaurant and I did very well there. I usually order General Tso's chicken or egg foo young or something full of fat but since SIL was there I ordered the curried shrimp, extra spicy. If you've ever had Chinese curry you'll know that it's full of veggies and the sauce isn't decadent. I ate half my bowl of rice with most of the veggies, not a lot of sauce. To prevent temptation I gave away the rest of my food and rice.
Now, THE BAD: Driving down to NC we stopped at McDonald's and I got the new McSkillet burrito. I passed the hash browns over to my son and ordered a diet coke instead of OJ. I don't know just how bad this was since McDonald's doesn't list the nutritional info for this on their website yet, just the mini sausage ones, but I'm sure it wasn't too good.
We also celebrated my BIL birthday with a dark chocolate cake with vanilla whipped icing. I had one healthy piece of that. I also had more than I should have of a light dessert my SIL served after dinner. Fresh strawberries cut in half, some fat free sour cream, and dark brown sugar. You dip the strawberry in the sour cream and then dip it in the sugar. Sounds nasty but tastes divine. She ate two strawberries. I think I ate about 8. It's about 4 points for what I ate, still not bad, but I shouldn't have wasted calories on that when a taste should have done me fine.
Coming back was the worst. Driving back to DC we stopped at Sonic, which I've never been to. I got excited and wanted to try everything since I didn't know when I'd see one again (there are none in my area). So I ordered the double cheeseburger with cheese and tater tots. That bugger was HUGE. But it was good! I felt guilty though. And of course since I ate that I kind of went on a downward spiral. I ate some sour cream and onion Pringles and when we got home and ordered Chinese for dinner I ate shrimp lo mein, pork fried rice, and swiped a bite or three of my husband's General Tso's, the dish I was so careful to avoid in NC.
All in all I think I did better than I thought I would but I did crash. Since I didn't have any flex points left by the time I left for NC I'm not surprised that my scale at home showed a tremendous gain. According to my scale it says that I have gained TEN pounds since last Wednesday. I truly don't believe that it is humanly possible for me to have gained ten pounds in less than a week so I'm chalking up most of that gain to the sodium in the foods I've been eating. I've put myself on a strict regimen to eat LESS than my daily allowed points and drink lots of water. Since yesterday I've lost three of those ten pounds so I'm optimistic that I'll drop some more. I know that I'll more than likely still have a gain when I weigh in on Sunday but what can I do except get back on the horse?
So I'm back to exercising and eating well. Keep your fingers crossed that I can reverse some of this damage! Hope everyone else did well!
I am hungry today! I was hungry yesterday too! I have no idea what's going on. I can't say it's because of my TOM because that was last week. I have been shoving food in my mouth nonstop which is why I named my blog the way I did. I need to slow down! It's only almost 3 PM and I'm down to 10 points left for the day. Here's the shameful thing...I have no flex points left! Sundays are my "cheat" days so I eat a bit more than I'm supposed to, usually about 10-15 of my flex points and then I use the rest during the week but since I've been so hungry, especially yesterday, I used all my flex points up! And the horrible thing is that it wasn't even on voluminous food! I wasted 7 precious points on a Twix candy bar. I also ate the leftover pancakes I froze from Father's Day, and -eeeek!-- KFC. Three pieces!
So I'm trying to repair some of the damage by sticking to my daily points as much as I can and getting in activity points. I got five activity points today for working out (like a dog I might add!). I made sure to eat a big, filling lunch and I'm making a filling meal for dinner with low points -- lean sirloin and baked potato. I'll just skip my dessert tonight and my evening snack.
A smart chick would have held on to her flex points knowing that she was going down south to visit her inlaws this weekend! Especially knowing that she was probably going to be eating some not-so-healthy things! At least the hotel we are staying at has a pool and a gym and a VCR in the room so I can bring my "Walk Away the Pounds" tapes with me. But the hotel also offers a FREE full breakfast buffet every morning! Did I ever mention how the words "FREE" and "FOOD" together make me do crazy things??? LOL!
I probably won't weigh in this week since I'll be in NC unless my SIL WW meeting place is open. If not I'll be using all of next week to repair any possible damage I've done so that the following week's weigh in will be a good one. I'm hoping that if at the very least I don't gain even if I don't lose this week. I really think I suffer from a mental illness, LOL! I saw a loss and took it as a license to eat. But I swear I FEEL hungry! Or maybe that's in my mind too??
Anyway, I hope you all are doing much better than I am this week. Wish me luck with trying to behave myself!
I weighed in today and finally saw some progress! 3 pounds down! I was hoping for more but I'll take it! Better than 0.6 pounds any day. And I've lost 2.9 inches, mostly in my waist and hips. I truly believe I have lost because I could tell the difference in my clothes. Even though I had my baby almost 2 years ago I have still been wearing maternity jeans (gotta love that stretch panel!) but they have been literally falling off of me so I think tonight I'll see if I can fit into some regular non-stretchy panel jeans. I'll let you know how it goes.
I had a great find this weekend! You know how I'm always going on about those Laughing Cow light cheese wedges? Well, I got a free 60 day membership to BJs Wholesale (I belong to Costco but it was a free trial and I wanted to check it out) and once there I found that they carried the Laughing Cow brand cheese in two other light flavors, french onion and garlic & herb. Talk about not getting out much! That was the high point of my day! LOL!
Well I'm off to go celebrate Father's Day with my family. Hope everyone had a great weigh in as well!
I had gotten addicted to signing in and reading everyone's blogs but because of things beyond my control (son has been sick, Grandpa in the hospital, etc...and so on) I haven't been able to sign on to read in almost a week! I was going through EP withdrawal! But things are finally quieting down and I figured while my son was eating his lunch I could pop on here, write a quick blog and catch up on what you all have been doing.
So far so good on my end. I'm still exercising at least 5 days a week and I'm hoping that my efforts will finally show in this weekend's weigh in. I am still not in love with exercising however I am starting to feel a little guilty when don't exercise. A good sign, no?
We are going down to visit my inlaws in NC next weekend so I hope my self control will see me through without a weight gain. My hubby is doing the program with me unofficially but I know he won't behave! My SIL is herself on WW so hopefully she can help keep me reigned in. My hubby is doing the program with me unofficially but I know he won't behave!
Hope everyone is doing well. Now I'm off to check out what you guys have been doing!
...but at least I lost. I removed 0.6 pounds at this weigh in. Not great but I'm just thankful I didn't gain. I am hoping that this little loss is because my TOM is due to start in a couple days and that next week my weigh in will be a lot better.
I did what was suggested and dipped into my flex points to eat more but I didn't go wild. By Wednesday I stopped feeling that ravenous hunger I had been feeling the week before so I'm guessing that my body stopped thinking that I was trying to starve it. I didn't exercise every day like I did the week before but I still managed to get in five days of workouts. Nonetheless I still got in some activity because I took my son for walks and stuff but I don't count those towards my activity points because doing those things with him are standard. I only want to count the things I do extra.
I saw a repeat of Celebrity Fit Club and one of the guys on there, a country singer named Cletus, was in the same situation as I was when he started exercising and eating more but the trainer on the show told him not to look for any results for at least two weeks, so hopefully next week will be my magic week.
Three "new" things I implemented starting today: I had my husband take a tape measure to me today so hopefully I'll see results in inches if not pounds; I started a facial care routine. My Mom sent me all these expensive creams and serums from Korea and I never used them but now my skin seems to be turning into crap so I dusted them off. I'll let you know how well my skin does in a month; and finally I started taking my daily vitamins again. Because of my gastric bypass I have an absorption problem and I'm supposed to take all these vitamin supplements daily but I don't. My hair is starting to fall out again and I can tell that my body is in need of certain vitamins - like my eye starts twitching when my B12 is low - so I started them back up.
??? And other mothers agreed! They said that allowing your kids to overeat and feeding them to the point where they are unhealthy and big is child abuse. One guest argued that CPS would get called if someone was underfeeding their child so why not for overfeeding? She said that even though one might kill the child faster than the other the risks to their health were the same. 
We are going to have hamburgers ourselves tonight but since we don't have a grill they will be broiled. Not nearly as tasty as the ones infused with charcoal smoke (I hate propane grills-- I need to taste the charcoal!). I'm waiting for hubby to come home and take over the lug-Bailey-around shift so I can start house cleaning. Again, I hope that earns me some activity points.
I was hoping for more but I'll take it! Better than 0.6 pounds any day. And I've lost 2.9 inches, mostly in my waist and hips. I truly believe I have lost because I could tell the difference in my clothes. Even though I had my baby almost 2 years ago I have still been wearing maternity jeans (gotta love that stretch panel!) but they have been literally falling off of me so I think tonight I'll see if I can fit into some regular non-stretchy panel jeans. I'll let you know how it goes.