My daughter is becoming obese.

I dont want to destroy her ego. How do I broach the subject? Has anyone been in the same situation?

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how is your weight? if you happen to also be a bit overweight you could suggest you both go on a diet. I think it is possible to discuss this with her, I am not a big supporter of this "body positivity , everyone is beautiful " attitude. I find it self serving. you tell someone overweight that they are fine and beautiful and sure they will love you for it, but then their health will suffer. I prefer to say it like it is, softly. I am a nutrition consultant, amongst other things. with a safe diet its possible to lose between 1 and 2 pounds a week, more than this is unhealthy and for many reason don't work long term. its more about changing eating habits forever and allowing a controled degree of cheating than starving for a few months and then jumping back into the bad habits. exercise is important to increase metabolism and increase general wellbeing, since bad eating is often related to trying to feel good, but don't count on exercise to actually burn all those calories, aim for weight loss coming from 70% diet and 30% exercise, 100 push-ups is 100 calories and one pound of fat is 3500 calories. see what I mean... the foods that need to be monitored are the carbs and fat mostly with a good portion of protein at every meal to help satiation. eating too much sugar or carbs creates an unbalance in the blood sugar which causes constant craving. the more you eat carbs and sugar the more you want to eat more carbs and sugar. the problem with fat is that its very high in calories. fats need to be carefully measured.

JimboSaturn · 51-55, M

@reflectingmonkey Great idea thanks

reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M

@JimboSaturn sorry for dumping all that info on you, if you get through to her and you guys want to get on it, write down everything each of you consumes for like 5 days, as precise as possible (food and amount) and send it to me, I can take a quick look and give you some tips. of course I cant do a full case study on you because I do this for a living but I'd gladly take a quick look and give you a few tips to get going.

JimboSaturn · 51-55, M

@reflectingmonkey She has taking ro cooking her own food. Which is not good choices

reflectingmonkey · 51-55, M

@JimboSaturn sugar, carbs, fat and salt are very intense sources of pleasure, this is why fast food and junk food focus on these things because they're like a drug that keeps you wanting more. I advocate a lot for changing lifestyle, not just food, because if more healthy hobbies and exercise are introduced then automatically we start craving good things. also, we need to obseve the effect of foods but if someone is always feel tired or depressed its hard to notice the effect of bad foods because we already feel bad, we have no reference. if you exercise, plan out some outdoor activity, eat healthy food even for just a day, and drink plenty of water, maybe temporarely take some vitamin suplement, then you start to feel good and you notice it "wow, that walk in the mountains made me feel great", then you eat fast food and you notice the good feeling go away and then you feel tired and depressed and unmotivated. that's when the real change happens, you suddenly realize that eating well and exercising makes you feel good and then you have a good reason to do it. people see dieting as privation and then they think " the hell with that, I want to live and enjoy myself" but really the reason for eating better and exercising is specifically to live and enjoy life. its just a deeper understanding of what actually leads to more enjoyment. when I go to the gym, I do it because I remember how I will feel good after. the reason I avoid bad foods is because I remember how I will feel after. food should not be too much of a source of pleasure, good food and exercise are pre-requisits to go find the pleasure in life.