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help lose weight

Does anyone know how to help my son keep his weight down. Being in a wheelchair is a big problem, his only exercise is swimming. He doesn't eat big but doesn't eat veggies apart from cucumbers.

He is becoming selfconcious of his weight aswell. Any ideas??

Lisa

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Permalink Reply by Cori on October 7, 2010 at 2:44am

Lisa, my Trey is still a youngen but he has been on steriods for awhile now (prednisone) and we haven't seen any weight gain whatsoever. I believe it is because we push HUGE amounts of water (48 oz) daily and he is only 44 pounds and we keep his sodium below 1000 mg daily. This being said, no chips, no pizza, no salting anything, no salty nuts, etc...we do animal crackers, graham crackers, veggies (I know your son doesn't like), lots of fruit, we don't eat out except for once a month and don't eat anything out of a box, except rarely...I really think it isn't the calorie intake with these boys (unless the are ravenous due to the steriods) it's the medicine 'pudgy'...and the water and very low salt helps tremendously with that. hope this may help you. And good luck! Cori

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Permalink Reply by Michael Piacentino on October 22, 2010 at 11:53pm

Well, if he's on steroids and been on a steroid for a while then he might have developed type-II diabetes; yep is not commonly discussed, but it's a side effect of long term steroid use. So, see your doctor ( his doctor) have him checkes out, fairly simple then likely he's be put on a strict diet and given some meds, weight will come off slowly, but it will come off if the type-II is the problem. Been ther done that and after 11 months saw a 17 pound dreop in weight that has been maintained for 3 years, but it does take a while.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Malka on August 27, 2011 at 4:23am

Hi, My son is not on steroids, he took them for a year at age 8 now he's 13. We stopped them because his face got really swollen and red and he seemed to get out of breath quickly.

I've been trrying to keep his salt intake down but he's a very fussy eater and at a very difficult age!

Thanks for your ideas

I'll keep trying

Lisa

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Permalink Reply by Joshua's mom on August 28, 2011 at 7:42pm

Corie is right, increase the water & reduce the sodium and starch. Whether he is on steroids or not, his activity is limited so adjusting the diet is really the only way to go. Let him eat what his body can use easily. Those are my thoughts.

Naomi

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Permalink Reply by Michael Piacentino on August 29, 2011 at 6:22pm

Still, you should see a doctor and have both his current blood glucose checked and his A1C which checks his overall blood glucose over the last 3 months. Why, well because he may be suffering from type 2 diabetes. If that's so he might also be causing increased troubles with his cardiac and renal systems. It's an easy set of tests. Many parents don't know about all the systems that can be effected by this disease, literature on the whole impact is sparse or wholly non-existent, which is unfortunate. Please do get your sons tested, you may be helping them with longer quality of life which is everyone's long term goal.