Children and diet
Children and diet
As children are still growing, they may need to follow a special kind of diet to make sure that they are still getting all the nutrients they need to develop healthily. If your child is overweight or obese, consult your GP before making any significant changes to their diet.
Increase your exercise
Research suggests that increasing the amount of exercise you do is an effective way to lose weight, and the results are even better when combined with changes to your diet.
The advice from your GP about exercise will vary depending on how fit you are to start with, and what it is safe for you to do. You should start by decreasing the amount of time you are physically inactive, such as how long you spend watching television or sitting at a computer.
You should then build up slowly to 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise on at least five days of the week. Moderate intensity means that you are breathing slightly more than normal, but you can still comfortably talk as you exercise.
Your 30 minutes of exercise does not need to be completed in a single session. If you prefer, it can be split into three 10 minute sessions. When you are able to, you should consider extending the amount of exercise to 45 minutes, and then keep increasing this as your fitness level improves.
Types of exercise
The most effective types of exercise are ‘aerobic’ activities. Aerobic activities are any kind of rhythmic, moderate intensity exercises that use the large muscles in your legs and buttocks. The exercise should raise your heart rate and make you breathe harder.
Recommended types of physical exercise include:
- activities that can be incorporate into everyday life, such as brisk walking, gardening, or cycling,
- supervised exercise programmes, and
- activities such as swimming, walking (where you aim to walk a certain number of steps a day), and stair climbing.