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Should You Lose Weight With Your Kids?

Should You Lose Weight With Your Kids?

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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9 Comments

  1. Lisa

    As a child I was always very skinny and my mom was ALWAYS on a diet. I supposed that it’s no big surprise that as soon as I started ‘dieting’ I started gaining weight in earnest. My mom was big on cleaning your plate so I swore I would NEVER make my child eat. Yeah, that didn’t really work out. My son will be 7 next month and he weighs less than 40 pounds. I know lots of people think that if a kid gets hungry enough he will eventually eat…but not my kid. He will literally go from morning to night with nothing to eat. So now, I make him eat. Sometimes.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yep, I come from the “Clean Your Plate” generation too. I remember vividly despising ham and not wanting to eat it at all but I had to sit at the dinner table until I finished it. It was hours. They turned the lights off in the kitchen and everything.

  2. DefineDiana

    This is a very interesting topic. I think that leading by example is a good way with food. I also think getting them involved with “healthy living.” If you have them help you in the kitchen and teach them about what they are eating, they are more invested. Finding activities that they like to do and doing it with them. its finding ways to make it work for each family indiviually, but I do think that involves some education on the parent’s part. It gives the kid power to make better choices for themselves.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I think leading by example is important too, and that’s my hope for when I have kids. I think my parents tried to “lead by example” but they used too much force in it. Food as “bad.” Food was the enemy–eat fake food. Do sports, even if you hate it, instead of finding a fitness I enjoyed. I don’t want to be like that…

  3. Jane Cartelli

    Lisa,
    I think you will raise vibrant, nutritionally sound and emotionally whole children because you are so aware of all the things that do not work in this labyrinth of maintaining weight loss. I am not happy with how I struggled through my children’s younger years. Now I can only hope they find their path into a healthier lifestyle before the opposite behaviors destroy their bodies. There was never a lack of love but there was a serious lack of understanding.

    You can give your future children what they need. I have faith in you.

    Jane~
    Keepingthepoundsoff.com

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That is my hope Jane. I don’t want to give my kids body issues like I had or be food Nazis like my parents were.

      What do you wish you did differently with your children?

  4. Debbie

    Hi Lisa. I love your website. You’re journey is very motivating. I’m exactly where you were before you lost weight. I was looking for someone that was in the same boat that lost weight and got fit in a healthy way. Thanks for the inspiration! As for your question about kids and parents dieting together, I would never tell my kids they need to diet or even tell them I was dieting. My kids should both lose about 10 – 15 pounds to be a healthy weight. I would never tell them that, by the way! I am buying better food, and telling them we are eating healthier. There are still plenty of treats involved, just not all treats! I also ask them if they want to walk, rides bikes, swim, etc. with me. Not only is it great for all of us to get away from the TV, but it is so much fun to spend time with them and encourage an active lifesytle. (My husband/their dad is encouraging of a healthy lifestyle as well, as long as it there is still ice cream involved!)

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hi Debbie, glad I can inspire you. I hope you find some helpful info here. And I’m glad that you aren’t giving your kids a complex, instead just making smalls changes to encourage healthy living.

  5. Carlo Vanelli

    I’m glad you changed your mind about martial arts. How can not knowing how to defend yourself be a bad thing? It could save you. And besides that, the overall benefits it has in your life renders it worth it

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