Public Opinion: Obesity

Should obese children and teens be sent to weight loss camps?

How about all obese people?

No.

Weight loss camps? Hell No! If they want to lose weight and want help, we can offer it but it should be up to them. What happened to "their body, their choice?" If people are content being fat, let them be fat. It's not as if underweight models don't have their share of health problems too. We should encourage a healthy body weight but we shouldn't mandate it.

As much as I hate seeing obese children its up to the parents to see that their children don't get that way.

I think most of the time, children are obese because their parents let them get that way. What's a fat camp gonna do if as soon as he comes home, it's to the same bad habits, attitude and environment? 9/10 the parents need to attend these camps with them.

It all starts at home. If the parents are cooking and giving fatty foods to the kids then the kids will be fat. They lose weight at camp, then come home and gain it all back.

^^^^Not to mention so many parents rely on the crap schools call school lunches.

No, camps fail most because they get home and are back to the same diet and activity level.

I do, however, support insurance companies better basing rates on weight and overall health.

If they wanna go. I think promoting a healthier lifestyle and giving people more OPTIONS to do it would be more effective.

I think the whole family needs to be educated. Fat camp might be a temporary fix, but those kids will go right back to the same lifestyle once they go home. There was a family at the daycare I worked at years ago and both parents were morbidly obese - barely 5 feet tall and probably weighing close to 400 pounds each. The sad thing was, it was their daughter who was educating them and she was only 2 1/2 at the time. Every morning they'd grab breakfast at McDonald's and she'd often have McNuggets or other equally unhealthy food for lunch. They came in one day and were really embarrassed because when they'd take her to the supermarket, she'd point to fruit and ask for it - we always had healthy snacks at the daycare - and they'd have the cart piled with junk food. The sad thing is, I can see this little girl growing up just like them if things don't change.

I think the whole family needs to be educated and encouraged to lead a healthy life style. It's ridiculous that schools are expected to do it all. We actually have daily mandated physical education because parents aren't getting kids involved and we have a healthy school policy that has gotten rid of all junk food in vending machines - no pop, no chips, that kind of thing - fruit brought into the schools on a bi-weekly basis. Kids talk about going home and spending hours playing video games. Yes some kids are active, but not enough of them.

RedBedroom wrote:No, camps fail most because they get home and are back to the same diet and activity level.

I do, however, support insurance companies better basing rates on weight and overall health.

Basically. I was chubby as a kid, when I was 10 years old I went to summer camp (not a fat camp, just a regular summer camp) for three weeks and wound up losing 15 lbs....just because of the controlled meals and physical activity. When I got home, that 15 lbs. was back in probably less than two weeks.

Fat camps would only help me lose a pound cause my digestive system sucks.

I don't think anyone should be forced to go to a fat camp.

I do have to comment that I think it's a shame that so many kids are overweight these days. When I was in school maybe one or 2 kids out of every 100 were overweight. Of course growing up in the 70's and 80's we didn't have the internet or a plethora of TV channels or X-Box and so on, so went outside and burned it off.

I'm an avid jogger, so when my son was growing up and he would stay with me, he'd go jogging with me, so he grew up with that "need" to be physical. My point is, it starts in the home. Parents need to teach their children a fun, yet healthy lifestyle. Of course, if the parent aren't into it, then.........

^^^^I think people still exercise a lot. Kids are always in sports and such. I think the food has just gotten worse. Forget about McDonald's and BK, the meals we eat at home tend to suck. Processed foods are almost impossible to totally avoid and they come loaded with stuff to make you fat. I think if the food we ate was better, we'd be thinner without changing our activity level.(Changing that of course would help even more)

Depends on the kids. In the middle school I work in, the majority of the kids spent most of them time playing video games after school. There are some who are involved in sports or other activities that keep them moving, but most aren't active. This school is pretty typical, too, and I live in an area that has lots of access to outdoor activities and really encourages an outdoor lifestyle.

^^^^With homework and the sports obsession, I never do understand how kids how so much time to play video games. Maybe some kids do, but I think for most, their time playing is exaggerated.

I agree with just about everybody who said it would be a waste of time if the kid is gonna come home to the same atmosphere that made him or her overweight to begin with. Most overweight kids I know spend entirely too much time at home on their butts and are inactive. If parents want to combat that then they will alter the household food habits AND make the kids get out of the house.

FM - I'm speaking from the experience of working with these kids on a daily basis - knowing that the majority of them are NOT involved in sports or activities that keep them active. Some of the children are involved, but the majority of these kids have working parents who do not have them involved in activities that keep them busy. In elementary schools, the kids are more active,but it really drops off in middle schools. In high school, it's even worse. The grade 10 class I worked with was required to track their physical activity for a period of time. The majority of those kids didn't have activities to track. They were not exaggerating about their lack of activity. Their grade depended on output. For most of these kids, physical activity was walking 5 or maybe 10 minutes to school, at a leisurely pace because they walked with friends.

As for homework? Most kids aren't spending hours doing homework. In middle schools, there isn't a lot of homework assigned and when there is, the majority of kids race through it. Most boys that I've worked with are not sports-obsessed. They prefer video games and the computer to sports. Sure they enjoy PE, but they'd rather be on the computer. Maybe 1/3rd of the boys were involved in sports outside of their PE class and even fewer girls.

I'm not sure where you're coming from with your argument, but I'm coming from my experiences in the middle school system - two years - and from two years prior to that on-call covering all grades.

^^^^Well, where I come from, everybody and their mother is involved with sports. Homework, from what I have seen, isn't just something that you blow through in five minutes. So at least where I come from, I just don't see all this time that they supposedly spend in front of the video games.

I tend to agree that weight camps do very little for kids in the long run, especially if they come from a household where everyone could stand to lose weight. I was one of those overweight kids whose parents rewarded and pacified with food. When I was a kid I spent summers with my grandmother and everyone who lived with her eventually got fat, because she overcooked.

FM - I'm glad that you come from a town where everyone is sports crazy and where "everyone and their mother" is involved in sports. If all over the country, "everyone and their mother" was involved in sports, obesity wouldn't be an issue. There's a reason that obesity is on the rise and our eating habits are only part of the problem.

I really have nothing else to say on this matter and won't keep engaging in a pointless debate with you. Congratulations on living in what must be the healthiest city on the continent, given how everyone in your town is apparently involved in sports.

TSJFan4Ever wrote:FM - I'm glad that you come from a town where everyone is sports crazy and where "everyone and their mother" is involved in sports. If all over the country, "everyone and their mother" was involved in sports, obesity wouldn't be an issue. There's a reason that obesity is on the rise and our eating habits are only part of the problem.

I really have nothing else to say on this matter and won't keep engaging in a pointless debate with you. Congratulations on living in what must be the healthiest city on the continent, given how everyone in your town is apparently involved in sports.

I actually disagree. I feel ball sports are largely an illusion in terms of health benefit. And I frankly don't think getting up at 5AM and robbing a child of 2 hours sleep at least to go to a ball game is really benefitting their health. I think if the food we ate was better, the kids wouldn't be overweight; it's that simple. I don't blame video games, and I don't think average sports help at all.

It's hardly the healthiest city. My point was that kids play sports and they don't get healthier. Video games aren't the problem.

^^^^^^^^^ Eating right will help, but kids need physical activity and it doesn't appear that most are getting in today's society.

tmontyb wrote:^^^^^^^^^ Eating right will help, but kids need physical activity and it doesn't appear that most are getting in today's society.

I don't deny that they need physical activity. I just don't think they're really getting it adequately from "sports." I also think that video games aren't keeping kids from being active. My point with the food was that if it was better, with the same activity level, they'd lose weight. I think kids like being active and will be active on their own more often than they are given credit for.

FM, I have to disagree with you...screens (TV, games and computer) are hugely to blame for lack of activity in today's youth. Where you live has to be a major exception to the rule in America, because I see it more as TJSFan sees it.

Kids in sports do get adequate physical activity. Sure there are "wallflowers" on every team. But in general, kids on teams move and are burning calories. I recently went to a 4-5 year old soccer game. Those kids barely knew the ball from the net, but they ran their tails off.

I have a son entering middle school. I am not exaggerating when I say he has had to "friend hop" all summer long, meaning he hangs at the park or tennis or basketball courts or riding bikes with one or two, then they funk out and want to go inside to a screen. Then he finds a new friend or friends for the next part of the day, and this happens three times per day, most days.

My son is very active, and that is the only way it will be for him.

As far as your argument that kids should not be up at five to go to practice or a sports event, that isn't how I see it. Probably because in rural areas, many kids are up at that time to catch a bus by 6:30. Or kids are up at that time to be brought to a daycare because mom and dad have to be to work by six or so.

I do think there are issues with some parents over scheduling their kids, but that is another subject.