A family affair

This post is long, but I have to share:

My daughter Chloe has always taken after my side of the family in regards to size. She is tall and unfortunately has a slower metabolism like me that makes it easy for her to gain weight. My 10 year old son Austin has always seemed to be more like my wife in terms of size. He is on the shorter side and always was little. Since my wife is all of 5'2" and 120 pounds, I just assumed he would luck out and not have weight issues. I was wrong. Over the last couple years he has steadily gained weight. He has many of the traits of a condition that naturally leads him to not like many different foods. So his diet for the past several years has been composed of mainly processed foods. Plain cheeseburgers, cheese pizza, mac n cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs and pizza rolls pretty much summed up the only main foods he would eat. Mixed in through the week, we can get him to try a few things here and there, but not as much healthy stuff. He once went almost 2 days without eating when I told him eat some veggies and chicken breast or nothing...for fear of him collapsing, I gave in first.

It was our fault for feeding him this crap, but we really just didn't know how to get him to eat better. We did get healthier varieties at least. Reduced fat, no sugar added, sugar free and reduced calorie options were the priority, but it was still processed crap. Thank God that yesterday Austin had an epiphany about his weight gain!

After seeing that none of his jean shorts or khaki shorts fit anymore (he has been wearing out those grow with ya gym shorts), we had to go clothes shopping. It was such a defeated look on his face when I told him that the pair of shorts he was trying on was the biggest size in the boys section. Moments later, he had one of his rare asthma attacks. It had been years since he had one, but he has had two within the last month. When me and him got by ourselves, just us men you know, we had a talk. I told him that the recent rapid weight gain can cause his breathing issues. I also told him that all the sugary foods he should lay off on could eventually make his blood thick like jello and hurt his heart and body over time (Yes, two scary bold things, but 100% true). I asked him if he would be willing to not go on a diet, but just start eating a few more good foods and a few less bad ones. He started asking about what foods so I knew he was close to agreeing. For the first time he talked to me about his weight. He said he knew he was bigger because one of the parts of his playground he now has to turn sideways to fit inside. He also said he didn't want to be called fat in middle school. That killed my soul just knowing my shy little boy had been called fat no telling how many times and just had kept it bottled up. I kept my composure though, and told him that by August he would be much healthier and feel better if he followed our new habits. Austin agreed to do what me and Chloe (and the wife since she is supporting us too) are doing.

Today he ate carrot sticks, fruit packed in water, reduced fat string cheese and every other healthy food he could. So tonight he is going to bed full and only had about 1300 calories! I don't have him on a strict calorie count as he is only 10 and I am not 100% on recommendations for that age, but he is on a common sense food total. I couldn't be more proud that he is wanting to get healthier too, along with the rest of us!

Tonight we went on what probably was a 3 mile walk. It was so great that all of us were like ducks in a row walking around the neighborhood. We about killed ourselves on big hills, but feel all the better because of it. The lady at the gas station bragged on us for trying to get fit as a family and wished us luck. That made me even more proud of how we are living now as opposed to just a few weeks ago. If we can make these positive changes, anyone can. Don't wait for tomorrow, or Monday or the first of the month or whatever your excuse is. Start now! If you need support or encouragement to get started, but can't find anyone to talk to about it, we are more than happy to be there for you...just email me at pusserwade77@yahoo.com or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/friendsoflosingit.