My 8 year old is starting to get a little chubby

She has always been average weight, and a picky eater. SHe likes unhealthy foods best (of course). Up until now, she has been pretty consistent in the amount of food she eats, but this summer, she has started eating a lot more, a lot more often. She wants to snack constantly, and asks for stuff like chips, sweets, etc. I offer fruit instead, and that sometimes works, but then she is back 10 minutes later asking for something else! She seems to have gained some weight already (she looks chubby around her tummy now) and I am just worried it will get worse. I wasn't an obese child, but I was a little chubby as I entered my teen years, and it was a source of real discomfort and low self esteem for me. I don't want the same to happen to her.

Anyone have ideas of how to handle this? I haven't spoken to her about it, because I don't want her to have weight issues at her age. I have also not wanted to be really restrictive of sweets and snacks, because my parents didn't let me have sweets, so I snuck them, and I have the worst sweet tooth to this day (not sure if the two things are related).

I have to control my DD's daughter for medical reasons. My best advice is watch what you bring into the house. If it's not there, she cannot eat it. Also, find some yummy, healthy snacks that are low in carbs. Carbs are your enemy- they are pure sugar and turn to fat. Apple slices with peanut butter, celery with light dip, I buy bread that has only 7g of carbs per slice, cheese sticks, any fruit, greek yogurt with granola, Readywhip adding to anything is awesome, popcorn...it's all portion control and getting enough protein in her to fill her up. There are frozen carbsmart chocolate bars that are low in sugar, fat and carbs- like 5 net carbs that she can have for dessert too.

Having junk in the house and boredom leads to unnecessary eating. Make sure she is not bored and has something to take her mind off food.

Also, feeding her 5 times a day, small meals can help.

Thanks NBP! Those are good suggestions. She is a total carbaholic. I guess the whole family is. I will try to find other alternatives. Your suggestion of apples and peanut butter is a good one.; she will eat that. She just eats so few things that are healthy, it is really frustrating. THe other problem is, that with school starting, she gets chocolate milk every day with her lunch (the school cafeteria provides it). I used to not worry about it, but now I am concerned it may be too caloric.

Chocolate milk is the equivalent of giving her a full sugar Coke at lunch. It has nearly 30g of sugar. I would tell the school she cannot have it. It causes a huge amount of insulin to be released and it will put weight on her. They shouldn't be allowed to serve it.

My grocery store sells a chocolate milk beverage made by Hood that is called a Dairy beverage, not milk. But it is with the milk. The first ingredient is water. It only has 7g carbs per serving which is lower than most drinks. It is really good though. I only buy caprisun roaring waters, low sugar apple juice and that milk. Drinks have a ton of carbs and can put weight on quicker than food.

I wish the school would get rid of it, and lots of parents have tried! The school says they would rather have kids drink chocolate milk than no milk. :sigh: I could ask her to only drink it twice a week or something, but I can't enforce it, and I am afraid she would just sneak it anyway.

At home, we drink some juice and milk, but mostly just water.