Monday, September 29, 2008

My child and weightloss

When we moved to Northern Ireland a nurse came to see us to check that my daughter had all her injections and if she needed any special care.
My daughter has been generally healthy except for two episodes of croup - something her father had and grew out of by the time he was 10. Thank goodness it seems she has already outgrown it.
Anyway, she asked if I had any concerns. I spoke of the fact that my husband and I are struggling with our weight and that she has now become slightly overweight and despite the fact that I try to boost her self-esteem and encourage her to eat healthy - I suspected that she was starting to develop a negative body image.
This led to a visit by the school nurse and subsequent appointment with a dietician. My husband had to go to that appointment because I had a job interview at the same time.
She came back very motivated to make healthy choices and to exercise. We are supposed to keep a diary.
I misplaced and so alas I am only starting it today.
Yesterday she wanted me to exercise with her but I didn't feel like it - so I managed to get kicking a ball around outside while I read my book and watched her.

Today she wanted to walk to school instead of driving - my husband walked with her-took them 30min.
I walked to walked to my volunteer job - that took me 20min.
Then the idea is I walk to her school and then walk home - it will take about 35-45min due to the fact that it will mainly be uphill. We walked home last week Tuesday.

I need strenghth to become a positive role model for my daughter. Its so easy to become distracted and neglect yourself - unfortunately the after effects / consequences do not only affect you but the people around you too.
As a child I was slightly chubby but after 10 I lost a lot of weight and for the next 8 years I was really slim - the next 6 years I struggled to stay under 60kg but I did it and then I went on the pill - ballooned - went off fell pregnant went to 89kg - after that I have just steady lost and then added on extra weight till the all time high this year of 111kg.
My daughter has only known me as overweight.
She has seen me camp, hike, play a little bit of sport now and again, do some open swims and 5km walks.
But she has also seen me go through a deep depression and struggle with food choices and continually eat incorrectly.

She came across the Biggest Loser program one day - and became almost obessessed about weighting herself. The scale is now broken (I secretly suspect my husband of sabotage - he refuses to replace it).
We have decided to use the Biggest Loser program as a motivator.
We have begun today!!! All of us.

1 comments:

Hanlie said...

You're very wise to include your whole family in a healthy lifestyle change. Body image is such an important thing in a girl's life and they learn a lot from their parents about that.