From Matthew, Child's Age 16 - 03/26/15 - IP#: 198.50.233.xxx  Click here to reply  
My son 16 year old son has always been in great physical shape. We all take great care of our health and he has two older brothers (17 and 19) who also continue to exercise and stay trim. Carter has always very skinny, healthy, athletic and usually one of the best on every sports team. About 6 months ago and almost as if overnight, he had quickly deposited a very generous amount of subcutaneous belly fat, a full set of belly rolls and his chest fattened into mounds. He is a very smart kid, gets good grades and he basically said he didn't feel like doing any of the sports he was the team captain or a lead position on and decided to get lazy, eat more snacks than any person could ever need and lay around in his bed and play his xbox.
Within 4 months my boy had put on over 40 pounds. He'd never gained any weight before but last summer he couldn't even run a normal speed or keep up with me and his mom because he'd start huffing and puffing and just struggle to move his own body....my very athletic and energetic boy had just put on so much fat that his muscles/any bones or signs of his rib cage were covered and the poor kid would start to run and his giant pot belly would bounce up and down and weigh him down until he could barely breathe....his brothers, his mother and I didn't once bring up his belly until he complained about it to us. but for all of us it was sad to see how quickly our super star soccer player/basketball team captain/ and active outdoorsy kinda kid had fattened himself up and become a grouchy couch potato. OF course I wanted to say something when he'd just look so unhealthy when he'd come with our family in public...we didn't want to force him to stop feeding himself enough junk for 10 people.... His face eventually started to fatten up and he started to have people not recognize him at the mall or have high school buddies come up from begind him and reach under his shirt and squeeze and "truffle shuffle" handfuls of his belly. I felt bad for him because I know that all the guys from his high school really started to tease him and pat his belly or even call him "the face/neck fat in public when he started growing himself a double chin and really started to bother him when his tshirts and clothes got so tight on him that the poor thing couldn't even button up his pants and his shirts were nearly all skin tight.... I remember taking his close buddies to the beach and all three of his friends actually started asking him how much he weighs these days and then his best friend jason asked him without any hesitation how it must suck to always have been athletic and good looking to now be the fattest and doughiest dude who's belly got too big even close his surf shorts, they just cling to your gut.
Carter couldn't believe someone really called him out and didn't sugarcoat it....and basically before we left the beach the three of them told him how shocked they were to their baseball/soccer/football/basketball teammate and their good friend become so heavy and just so fat and out of shape....I didn't say a word but I knew that my boy didn't like being the bloated ex-athlete friend, and he sure hated his friends always pinching into his belly or trying to jiggle his blubber. When we all left I know he finally took a good look at himself in the mirror and felt vulnerable.
He asked me the next week if I would help him to start exercising. I said, I'll get him working out but he had to stop buying 5/6 or more snacks and scarfing in as much fattening junk as he'd been putting away. He really tried his best to work out but it was hard to get that belly off of him, even after six months of running, climbing, biking, lifting, and playing a little bit of soccer he's definitely gotten more fit, and his face arms and legs have toned up but he's still sporting a round little pot belly, probably 15lbs, but he just tries to suck it in to try and stop his belly from poking out especially because he feels a lot more confident that all his friends think he's back in perfect shape when hes in clothes....he knows he doesn't have the discipline to stop feeding that wicked appetite of his but he understand that his weight is his responsibility.