The Winter Weight Worries

I love Christmas especially catching up with friends and family I have not seen for ages. For many of us this involves eating out or having fancy extras at home. So come the 3rd of January getting on the bathroom scales is an unpleasant experience. It is not surprising that new memberships for both gyms and slimming club increase in January every year!

And each year it seems harder to get back to that pre-Christmas weight. Did you know that the average weight gain for an adult over the festive season is 7lb (half a stone!), many children can put on 4-5 lb – I’ve know one child who put on 14lb over the 2 week Christmas holidays - and remember it is much harder for children to lose this extra weight.

So why not take a few moments this year before the Xmas partying season starts to consider how you and your family can avoid the post Christmas Santa tummy syndrome.

At the Children’s Weight Clinic we would like all families to have a great Christmas but we would also like to help families this Christmas be aware of just how much extra energy – which can so easily turn into extra weight - you and your children could be eating on the run up to Christmas and on the actual day.

This Christmas meal below would give the average adult their daily energy intake in one meal – think how many Xmas meals you may have had out on the run up to the day it’s self – and we have not included the alcohol.

Extra goodies such as crisps, nibbles, fancy biscuits and cake are often put out every time a guest arrives over the festive season. Think smaller amounts and think do we really need to eat this. Consider how many selection boxes your child eats before Christmas lunch. Just look at the amount of activity you need take to burn off 2000 calories.


Typical size selection box can range from 500 calories to over 1000 calories.

This typical Christmas day lunch menu contains around 2000 calories and 85g of fat.
Prawn cocktail
Turkey, stuffing kilted sausages
Roast potatoes, carrots,
Bread sauce
Christmas pudding, custard
Christmas cake, mince pie


Figures for meal based on averages and may vary depending on cooking methods and portion sizes.

How much physical activity is required to burn off 2000 calories is set out below

Walking briskly around 6 hours
Swimming around 4 hours
Cycling around 5 hours
Ice skating around 6 hours
Skiing around 2 hour


Activity figures are approximates and are based on averages and will be lower or higher depending on age, weight and level of intensity.


Here are the Children’s Weight Clinic’s top ten suggestions to avoid a winter weight worry -

Suggest to other family members and friends that only Santa should bring the kids a selection box this year
Agree with the kids that they will not eat all of the selection box on Christmas day
Ask family and friends to give the kids toys that promote activity and fun e.g. football, goalie gloves, skipping ropes
Go for a family walk on Christmas day
Give the kids Satsumas in their stockings from Santa
You cannot eat it if you don’t buy it – reduce the amount of food you buy
For a starter have home made vegetable soup
Only use low fat products in cooking
Have the Christmas cake or the mince pie - not both
Don’t eat the whole meal again on Boxing Day !!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

To join our blog world email us at enquiries@childrensweightclinic.com

Politicians taking weight seriously

Last week I attended a reception for Slimming World hosted in the House of Commons. Not only was it fun to visit Parliament but also to meet up with people who were so enthusiastic about managing weight and helping families to promote enduring healthy lifestyles.

Having politicians on side and ready to voice the need to have well funded weight management services and to ensure that all health staff have the appropriate training is very important. We at the Children's Weight Clinic have been talking to a number of MSPs about these very issues. We will continue to approach interested MSPs to forward our vision of a creative weight management strategy for Scotland.

If you wish to join our blog group please email us at enquiries@childrensweightclinic.com

Worried about your families’ weight ?

Edinburgh’s Children’s Weight Clinic is always looking for new ways to help parents and families promote a healthy family lifestyle. We are delighted to announce our new classes for parents who are concerned about their family’s health.

The first class will be held on Thursday 24th January 2008 at 6.45 - 8.15 pm in St George's West Church, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh West End. The group will run each week for 8 weeks. (No group Thursday 14th February).

Places are limited so register now!

To book your place email - enquiries@childrensweightclinic.com or phone 07707878789

Classes are for adults only and are open to mums, dads, grandmothers, grandpas, aunts, uncle or even older brothers and sisters. At our classes you will have a chance to speak with one of the UK’s leading dietitians Laura Stewart who will expel the myths surrounding food labels and dieting as well as a number of other topical issues. You’ll also have the chance to meet with other parents who feel just the same way you do.

Sessions will be practical, enlightening and fun covering -
Present family lifestyle
Parents as the agents of change
Making successful family lifestyle changes
Healthy diet and good nutrition
Reading food labels and shopping
Menu and meal planning
Be more active as a family
Sharing successes and challenges
£10 registration and then £5 per evening. Or £40 for all 8 classes paid in advance.
Please bring a pen !

If you want to join our blog please contact us at enquiries@childrensweightclinic.com

Do you know what you are eating !

I read an interesting article in the Guardian newspaper last Saturday (10th November) about calorie creep in popular foods. Basically the article stated that the calorie content (energy) of a number of food products has increased over a number of years due to changes in manufacturing techniques.

For me this highlighted how difficult it can be for busy parents to know when they are giving their family the best products for their weight and eating lower energy foods .

To help parents with this issues at the Children's Weight Clinic we offer supermarket tours, discuss the 'ins and outs' of food labelling and the importance of being aware of portion sizes. These can all be complicated areas for many parents and we aim to demystify the subject.

Check out our website for information on the services we offer - www.childrensweightclinic.com

To become one of our bloggers email enquiries@childrensweightclinic.com

Small changes BIG benefits

Last week I wrote a mouthpiece for the Edinburgh Evening News about the latest health report on excess weight, diet, exercise and prevention of cancer. I discuused the main conclusions of the report and then outlined the lifestyle improvements the report had recommended.

The editor gave the article the headline - 'Simple tactics will win battle of the bulge'.

My first thoughts were that's not the right message and then I realised that the editor had perhaps got the message right. Most of us know the healthy things to do but what stops us from getting off the bus early and walking or taking a piece of fruit for a snack instead of a package of crisps?

What stops us that it can often be easier to stay the same than to change. If we have unhealthy aspects to our lifestyle these are usually long standing and we feel comfortable with them.

To be healthier, feel fitter and more confident we need to step outside of out comfort zone. At the Children's Weight Clinic we help children, parents and families make these changes by giving them a supportive atmosphere to explore possible lifestyle changes, considered how they can fit into their life and then help them set realistic targets to meeting these changes.

To find out more about our programme visit our website www.childrensweightclinic.com.

Laura Stewart
Independent Consultant Dietitian
CWC

I've just read the last blog on parent's responsibility. Although I think RuthM is right - it can be very difficult to get the kids to be more active especially in the darker cold nights. Wouldn't it be great if there were more free activities after school that were not competitive sports so that our kids with a weight problem could happily join in.

Parents responsibility

I believe that parents need to set an example to their children. If we want our children to be active and enjoy exercise and sports then we need to get involved too. If your children see you watching hours of TV every evening then that will see normal to them and they will take on these bad habits too.

The Foresight report on trends and drivers of obesity has been published today. It certainly gives politicians and individuals food for thought on the increasing number of overweight people in the UK.

The report touches on the important role of energy balance and the need to enable people to make the right lifestyle choices. We know that this subject is not always easy for families and children. Indeed many people do not know where to turn for help. We offer support to worried parents by holding parent only sessions when we will explore the family lifestyle as well as direct sessions with the child and family.

At the Children's Weight Clinic we use behavioural change techniques to both motivate and encourage the whole family to make positive lifestyle changes in diet and physical activity levels that will promote weight management. We believe that families and children should not be told what to do or not to do - but be helped and guided towards taking lifelong responsibility for their lifestyle choices.

We use a traffic light healthy diet scheme which allows children and their families to appreciate high energy foods they may be eating and to take responsibility to restrict them.

We encourage at least 1 hour of hot and sweaty physical activity per day and reducing watching the TV/playing on computer, etc to less than 2 hours per day.

The Children's Weight Clinic

Once again obesity and childhood obesity are all over the media. Only a few weeks ago Scotland was named as second only to the USA as the most obese nation in the world.

The forthcoming Foresight report is currently being reported in the media as forecasting astonishing levels of obesity that can be expected in the UK if we do not reverse the increasing trend in weight and waist size now!

The Children's Weight Clinic is the first independent dedicated childhood weight management clinic in Scotland. Over the last year we have been raising the importance of a healthy family lifestyle - highlighting the need for simple healthy cooking classes for parents and exercise programmes aimed at children who are already overweight.

There is an urgent need for obesity to be tackled at a national and governmental level as well as at the individual and family level.

The Children's Weight Clinic

Welcome to the CWC's new blog !

We hope to use this site to comment on issues that are raised in the media and to help inform the debate on healthy family lifestyle in the modern world and how we can all help children to successfully manage their weight.

We welcome comments for everyone but to post comments you need to register with us through enquiries@childrensweightclinic.com

We look forward to having interesting discussion with the blogging world.


Laura Stewart
Director and Consultant Dietitian
The Children's Weight Clinic

The new Children's Weight Clinic blog is now online!