Hi!!! This seems like a pretty cool site. Let
me introduce myself. My name is Christy and I am
from Missouri. I am a divorced mom with 2 young
sons, ages almost 9, and almost 5. They are my
absolute life-it was because of them I had the
courage to have weight loss surgery last year..
I could just see myself dying and not being
there for them. I could never, ever stick to a
diet, and by having the surgery I know I kinda
cheated, but I felt it was do or die. I was
380lbs and am now 217lbs. I seem to be stuck, and while I would love, love, love to get down to
at least below 200 lbs, I'm just happy I am in
a fairly safe weight zone now.

Two things bring me here-for myself, to see if I can budge those extra pounds, and mainly for
my main concern, my 4 year old son. He is very
large, 47-48" and 106lbs. I have to get defensive
here for a minute and say that though I have
always had a weight problem, I always swore I
would never let my kids become large. I always
sort of blamed my parent's for "letting" me get
fat. When I was much larger, when I would binge
and eat bad things, I did it in private. It
was a shameful thing that I did not allow my kids
to see or do. I did not want my kids to form my
bad habits, or think less of me. I've always
tried to keep just the healthy stuff at home.
Sure, on Friday's when I get paid we go get ice
cream or something special..but it is not something we keep on hand that he can just get into...(sheesh, this is turning into a book..)

ANYWAY ( )my son has had blood tests and his blood tests show that he has liver problems, or as a doctor told me, more likely insulin resistance disorder, or syndrome x-which can actually cause obesity, not the other way around. Your body doesn't work effeciently and stores the fat, carbs,and junk you put in it as FAT. ..which brings me to the conclusion of this very long and boring introduction-if he is obese from heredity, and syndrome x, he needs a low fat, high protien, low carb diet. Searching for that on the internet, it brought me to this neat page, and it looks like its going to be a lot of help.

Has any of you had a young child that you put on this sort of diet? Does anyone out there have an obese young child that I can talk to? Which one of these diets work the best? Oh, I could go on and on, I have such a tendency to rattle on!!!

Nice meeting you and would love to hear from any and all of you!!!

God bless you all!
Christy

Welcome to the forum Christy!

I have no children, but I have a few suggestions. Read the books Protein Power and Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. You need to have as much information as you can get to understand how low-carbing works. It all pivots on insulin. Consider it seriously for yourself as well. With low-carbing you are never hungry and after getting used to it, you will have a tremendous amount of energy. Which is what you need for two young children!

I can't give medical advice, but I would start him off slowly by eliminating these things one at a time: sugar or anything sweet, flour, refined grains, fruit juice, pop, and fruit, and replacing them with low-carb vegetables and occasionally a few whole grains . The whole family can benefit from this. One of the things about a low-carb way of eating is that you need adequate protein, not an overwhelming amount, but adequate.

Fat does not get stored as fat. Carbohydrates that are not used for fuel get stored as fat. But, there are good fats and bad fats. Bad fats are those that are hydrogenated (you see this in a lot of baked goods and margarines) and the good ones are those that occur naturally in vegetables, nuts and seeds such as flax and olive oil.

Keep us posted on how you're doing.

Karen

Wow...

Although I do have 2 children, neither one has 'syndrome x' so I can't really give you any advice, sorry. I'm sure it must be very difficult for you to not have many resources out there.

What kind of surgery did you have? Did they doctor's put you on a prescribed diet to follow post op? Also, how long ago was the surgery and how long have you been stalled? Maybe your body is just trying to catch up?

One thing I do know is that you will get lots of support here, the people here are just wonderful and extremely knowledgeable. I'm pretty new here also and I have learned soooo much already.

Welcome.

Jennifer

I had the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass on April
12th of last year. The weight did come off
pretty quick, and I know you do reach plateaus.
The size I am now is what I was all the way
through high school, before my bad eating habits
started. The diet they put you on is mostly
protien, and very little, because you just can't
hold it like you used to-you really don't have
a stomach anymore...they disconnect it and
create a pouch by pulling up your intestines(after
cutting off 7" of it) to your esophogus. Very successful, and you must take vitamins for the rest of your life, but its worth it. I don't get my protien in like I should because it just doesn't agree with me. I'll go days where I don't eat much of anything, and then days I eat all day long--not much at a time, because I can't, but munching all day even in small amounts adds up! I just want to rededicate myself to losing the weight right, and since this page seems to be high protien friendly, I thought, hey. Plus, it sounds like it would be good for my son. The doctor I have taken him to right now says Atkin's is too restrictive for a child so young, BUT, to me, his weight should come off, and then we'll put back in the other foods, but I speak to a dietician next week..I don't know anything. All I do know is, I heard a story about a young 3 year old girl around his size and they took her away from her parent's and put her in foster care on a 500 calorie a day liquid diet..now, if they had to put her on something so restrictive, how was that her parent's fault? She wasn't losing it any other way. So, if that kind of diet is not too restrictive for a 3 year old, I don't see how the Atkin's diet is any worse for a 4 year old.

My sister believes in this diet, I'm not sure what its called, I thought it was Atkin's, but I guess not, where they eat only protien all day, and then they have a "golden hour" where they eat whatever they want in an hours time..it was on Oprah. Anybody know anything about that one or have you had any success on it?

Thanks for the welcome!
Christy

Hi Christy,

I believe the program you are talking about is Carbohydrates Addicts Diet or CAD.

I follow the CAD program.

I've lost 15lbs in 2 months. That's probably not as much as some others, but I'm happy with it, and the plan allows me to have some carbs per day.
Originally, when CAD first came out, they weren't really clear about that 'golden hour' and some people totally binge during that time.
In subsequent releases of the book, they fine-tuned the program and now state that the meal should be balanced (side salad or side veggies, 1/3 of the plate should be protein, 1/3 low-carb veggie, and 1/3 carb).

Although, after being on CAD for two months straight with no problems, I finding that I'm craving protein more, and carbs less. So there are some days for me that I eat even less carbs than what I'm allowed. Which is good because it helps with the weight loss.

Chris

christy, i'd like to welcome you! i don't really have any advice for you except that this site is wonderful for support! we've a great bunch here!