Weight Issues

While the entire nation of US is fighting against childhood obesity, we are having the reverse problem in our household. Sanjay is underweight and Sarath though not underweight could do with eating a few more calories to sustain himself through the day. I took Sanjay to his 3 year check up last month and the doctor said that he gained a fair amount of height but did gain enough weight for his age. He was supposed to have gained at least 5 lbs in the last year instead he gained only 2 🙁 So, now, I am in the process of trying to give him a few extra calories through out the day. The problem is that he just got used to eating less and when I try to get him to eat a bit more, he complains. It really bothers me to see how little he eats for lunch. When he was in daycare, he used to eat little breakfast at home and then gobble up on the mid morning snack they gave at the day care. I think due to that he probably never was much hungry at lunch time. Now, I make sure he eats a heavy breakfast but, he just does not want to eat any snack between breakfast and lunch. The doctor specifically told me to give him 3 meals and at least 2 snacks. At lunch time, he eats a little and does not want to do anything with food after that.

Food with Sarath is a whole another issue. He was always a good eater as a baby and toddler. Now, though he does not eat properly. Breakfast is okay but lunch is really bad. They get around 25 min for lunch and more than half that time is spent in chit chatting with friends. He hardly empties his lunch box. Whenever I ask him why he did not eat, his answer is “no time amma.” I tried giving him incentives and everything but nothing changed. Most of the days by the time he comes home, he is starving and ends up throwing tantrums because of that. Finally last week, I got really tired about all this and told him that if he does not finish everything at lunch, he is going to lose his TV privilege on the weekend. Even after this he did not eat on Friday. I did not let him watch TV the entire weekend. He was very furious about it. It was a torture for him because usually weekend is the only time he gets to watch some cartoons. So, on Monday morning, I reminded him again that he needs to eat everything in his lunch box otherwise, he is going to lose his TV or some other privilege again and this time it worked. He eat everything and so I continued the same threat yesterday and it worked again. As happy as I am that he is eating his lunch, I wish I had done this sooner. This is the last week of school and I am not sure if this threat will work again when school starts in September.

On the other hand, myself and S can do with some weight loss. As hard it is to get the kids to eat, it is even harder for us to eat less amount of food at every meal. The last time I went for a check up my doctor told me that I am pre-diabetic (not surprising seeing that my mom has diabetes). I took all the advice I could from her and started modifying our eating patterns and the type of food we eat. It is just not easy. Added to that, the exercise that I am supposed to be doing everyday is not happening for reasons I cannot count anymore. There is just something or the other that keeps me from exercising everyday. I really hate to admit it but it is true 🙁 Same with S. Even though thankfully he is not pre-diabetic or anything, he still needs to lose weight.

With our India trip coming up, I am really concerned about the weight of all of us. I usually tend to gain weight during my India trip – given that I don’t have any work in India and I still tend to eat the same quantity of food, it is not surprise that I gain weight. The kids on the other hand, tend to always lose weight during our India trip. They always end up having a cold or cough or fever and lose weight 🙁 How I wish the reverse was true – I lose weight and the kids gain weight during our trip.. sigh! Anyways, this time around, I have promised myself to eat limited quantities and not gain weight. Let’s hope that happens. As for S, he is the one who has to control himself and there is nothing I could do about that. I just hope he does not gain weight either.