Thankyou for the advice and ideas :) We will be looking into them here....I wasn't actually going to put the nine year old on a 'diet' per say cause I know she needs her vitamins and all to keep growing and all the good stuff at this age but was thinking she could and should have more physical activity in her day versus sitting all day whether she's reading (and that's a good thing I don't want her to get out of either she loves to read and write her own little stories) or sitting in front of a movie....I've started exercising while the 'box' is on no matter what is playing instead of just sitting on my rear in front of a movie....every little bit helps and lol I don't fall asleep watching the movie that way :)
CUDA440 4/20/07 9:43 A
Here are some web sites for kids: www.funtasticfoodtracker.com - this is a $20 kidsfood tracker for kids 6-12 www.kidsnutrition.org - they have serving sizes and such for kids www.deniseaustin.com/fitkids www.kidshealth.org – kids, parents and a teen section www.fitnessandkids.com - this one has a book called Fitness & kids fighting childhood obesity for about $15.00 www.my-gym.com - set up your own workout www.fitnessbeginnings.com - has a BUNCH of kid workout videos some that were hip hop dance, yoga, and others which may be fun to do at home. www.askdrsears.com www.foodfit.com – search under recipes in the right corner, then under specialty is a kid friendly recipes.
I also am reading the Dr. Sears' LEAN kids book and has some good ideas in it. I found it for about $2 from Barnes and nobles out of print list. I am about 1/2 way through it. One thing is to have as much activity as screen time. which includes TV, video games, computer... And not to put kids on a "DIET" give them healthy food choices in the house to eat, and the heavy ones should try and maintain their weight and they will "GROW INTO" their bodies. I think it also mentioned that some kids that follow this can even gain weight. See if you can find this book and maybe it will help with all 4 kids. the other book I have is the family Fitness Fun book by Rose Kennedy about $15. It gives you different games to play with your kids to get them active. Some are for inside, outside, city living, rural living, warm weather and cold weather. There are only a few for kids at 3 years old. More for kids 4-9. Gives you the rules, age range, how many needed.
last night my son made up a new game. Try and step on mommy or daddy's shadow. So kind of like a tag game with shadows. We also ride bikes, take walks, play on the swing set, kick the soccor ball around, chase each other around a tree.
Beckie
LUCKYGIRLLY 4/20/07 12:31 A
I'm trying to learn and incorporate some healthier habits here for our whole family. I have some extra weight I'm hauling around that I'm working on unloading currently, so far I've lost 6 pounds since the 9th, doing my best to stay on track and keep at it here. I'm currently a stay at home mom caring for four children Kody, ten year old boy 70 pounds, Kelsey nine year old girl 97 pounds, AJ six year old boy 50 pounds, and B three year old girl 30 pounds........I have three needing high calorie intake and one that doesn't along with me....It's a challenge at best to get meal time situated here where we are all getting what each of us needs and not overdoing and also working our exercise into a part of our daily routine in our lives to help us be the healthiest we can be too. I am doing my best to learn how to provide all of us the proper nutrition and exercise for us to get healthy and stay there and hoping in the process teaching my children some good lifelong habits they'll carry on too. My nine year old has went up almost four pant sizes since Christmas and is always wanting to eat, we can just have had a full meal where she eats the most generally (my husband refers to her as the 'bottomless pit' at times cause it seems the kid just has to eat till there is no more she can eat, meaning when I say enough already.....the boys are and have always been pickier eaters and the youngest girl prefers fresh fruit and vegetables and can be a challenge to get her to eat the rest of the things, totally opposite my other kids she doesn't care for candy and sweets and has been known to get upset in the store over wanting me to buy her turnips as some kids will do for toys, of course I bought them and she came home and ate them :) I've been eating mainly prepared frozen dinners myself for the past two weeks trying to get a grasp on my portion control and watching the labels and documenting in my notebook everything I ingest each day too to see just where I'm getting fluffier from myself here. The kids have been on spring break from school here this past week and have everyday been wanting to join me in my exercises and we all manage to work out together in our rather small living room or on the nice days in our yard here...they are really into this idea of "Let's all get healthy and learn to keep ourselves healthy together" but some days can be a real challenge here..........my oldest girl that could use the exercise with me is usually the least motivated one to get up and move..I gave all the kids jumpropes for Easter and have had some success with her trying to do that and we play Dance Dance Revolution together with the PS2, we do regular exercises in there as well and I have a Cable Flex personal gym in a bag that I work out with as well. I know frozen dinners can't be a permanent thing for me, I was thinking that's most likely my best chance at loosing my first twenty pounds though with my lack of portion control and so far so good the meals do fill me and there have been only very few I really did not care for here. I need to learn more about actually preparing foods healthy for all of us we can eat together and work on maybe using a measuring cup to put the food on the plates so I know how much a serving I'm actually putting on there or something like that. We have some health issues that run in our family I want to do our best to avoid if at all possible or at least be in the best shape we can be in in the event one of those issues does come to one of us so we may have a better chance at carrying on with it if life hands it to us.
My kids also have a few health issues I have to take into consideration around meal planning here....those things vary from ADHD, immunosystem deficiency, Chrons disease (my six year old), constipation issues (my older two), Gastric Reflux, Ureteric Reflux, so soda, anything carbonated is out of the picture as well as chocolate and caffiene filled items.....we generally avoid the red dyes just because I have some with GI issues and it's just easier to rule that dye out than try to figure out if somethings going on there with the 'after effect'. We generally have had the kids on a high fiber higher calorie diet but know I'm seeing my nine year old isn't needing all the extra calories the other three do, she still needs adequate to grow properly and maybe I just need to get her moving more with some fun exercises, we've had a few 'suggestions' and I'm always open to more...even with them growing up so quickly and having had them a part of my life this long I'm still learning, we learn something new everyday somewhere..........so open to suggestions/advice/support.....any and all ideas welcome here ;)
