How to Help a Kid Lose Weight Fast

If your child is overweight, it's most likely because he's been eating fattening, calorie-laden foods and not getting sufficient exercise. To determine whether your child is overweight, a pediatrician will compare his weight to other children of the same age and height. If your child is heavier than 95 percent of other kids, he's considered overweight. To help your child lose weight fast, you should have him eat healthy foods, without drastically restricting calories.

Instructions

1

Ensure that the whole family eats healthier foods, not just the overweight child. Make losing weight a family effort, because most likely, if your child is eating unhealthy foods, the rest of the family is doing so as well. Eat meals together as a family at the dining table, so the focus is solely on the foods consumed.

2

Provide healthy fare for your child to eat. Include foods from all food groups, including vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, grains, beans, unsaturated fats and dairy products. Avoid frying foods; steam, broil or cook them instead.

3

Give your child occasional indulgences, so that her healthy eating habits are easier to maintain for the long run, and so that she doesn't feel deprived. Provide the occasional pizza slice, ice cream and birthday cake. Limit fast food to once a week.

4

Allow no more than two hours a day for watching television, playing video games or surfing the internet. Motivate your child to get more active. Join school and community sports programs such as basketball, volleyball, soccer and baseball. Go on family walks or bike rides.

5

Work together with your child's pediatrician or dietitian if your efforts aren't working, or your child refuses to cooperate. Have the doctor talk to your child, because children sometimes listen to outsiders more readily than they do their own parents.