How is putting a child, who is still growing, on a plan to lose weight different than an adult?

With childhood obesity, we still have to take into account their growth and nutritional needs. With kids depending on their age, we want to focus more on them growing into a healthy body rather than weight loss through elimination diets and calorie restriction. A lot of the diets that adult use to lose weight can actually be more dangerous for kids, lead to vitamin deficiencies and disrupt their normal growth and bone development.

With kids that are at higher levels of obesity, we can focus more on a gradual weight loss. Depending on their age, a safe loss would only be about a pound a month. I also encourage parents to get involved by being positive role models, helping the child to learn healthy eating choices and behaviors that they can then carry on into their adult life. And then also increasing how much physical activity they're getting, decreasing sedentary activities like the TV and video games.

So even though it's a little different with how we treat childhood obesity, it's still important to get their healthcare provider involved and then you can work together to determine the best path forward for them.