From Thomas, Child's Age 15 - 04/01/08 - IP#: 71.114.171.xxx  Click here to reply  
I'm beginning to worry about my fifteen year old son, Kaleb. He was always a pretty chubby kid growing up. Ever since he hit the kindergarten age, he's seemed to have been putting on a little bit too much weight each year. He only weighed about 130 pounds or so by the time he was eight years old in 3rd grade, and somehow really packed on an excessive amount of fat over the course of the next seven years. He now weighs about 305 pounds, according to the last time he weighed himself, which was a few days ago. He does like to eat a lot, he'll usually help himself until he feels as if he's gotten all the food he can get down. He doesn't excersise much, as he wears out very easily, but he does have gym class every weekday at school. His stomach does have stretch marks, I'm guessing from putting on so much weight, and he does have very large man boobs. He doesn't seem to be very embarrased by his weight, he'll swim with his shirt off, and will eat whenever he feels hungry. He does seem to want to eat a lot though, and that is my biggest concern. I know teenagers go through that phase of having a very large appetite, and I think he's been going through that for the past couple of years especially. We usually go to IHOP every Saturday and Sunday morning, he'll want to get the big buffet of eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, etc., the usual breakfast stuff, but he'll complain only about an hour and a half to two hours later that he's hungry again, when I just ate the same meal and am still stuffed. Then he'll go about his usual routine of snacking on whatever I happened to buy that week, between lunch and supper, and also he'll traditionally have a dessert of some sort after dinner, which I also sometimes take part in. I think he may have taken after his older brother though, who is seventeen and weighs about 225 pounds. They are both pretty short; Kaleb is 5'8", his brother Adam is only about 5'4" tall. They both have grown up being fed unhealthy food, and getting minimal excersise and now I'm afraid the damage is permanent. Kaleb has asthma, which doesn't allow him to do much walking or jogging, he also takes a steroid to help him breathe easier, and weight gain, and increased appetite are both side-effects of the drug that he has to get every check-up. Anyway, what should I do to help my youngest son? Remember, he IS a teenager, and will basically just refuse to do what I talk to him about, so how can I help?