My 8 year old daughter just keeps gaining weight no matter how much i cut her food back. any ideas on what could be wrong?

In and outs: Except for very rare diseases, found mostly in very short kids (below normal), obesity is a matter of calories in vs calories out. She "must" be ingesting more than she spending (tv, video games, etc contribute to inactivity). Always check labels for caloric content of any food (you might just be amazed). Talk to your doctor if an honest look at calories in/out still leaves u concerned.

Drinks? portions?: Weight gain means more calories are consumed than are burned. I ask my patients to measure-not estimate-the amount of each food and drink consumed for 3 days. Calories are often hidden in drinks and servings are often larger than we realize.

Is this obesity?: It is important to know if your child's growth is normal. Pediatricians measure height and weight each time they see your child and plot the numbers on a graph. If your child's height is normal but her weight increase is above what it should be, then you could be dealing with obesity. If her height growth is not appropriate, then it is important to have her seen to look for other problems.

Energy imbalance: There are many things we don't understand about weight gain. However, people will gain weight when they take in more calories than they burn off. Likewise, weight loss occurs when one burns up more calories than is taken in. It would be a good idea to take your daughter to her doctor to make sure there are no medical issues, though a pediatric nutrition evaluation is also necessary.

Low Glycemic Index: Current science is revealing that not only is it important to consume low glycemic foods and beverages, but we must avoid diet products, artificial sweetners, and sugar free products. Consequently, a zero calorie beverage such as diet drinks containing artificial sweetners are extremely fattening. "sugar free" is no bargain, because it contains artificial ingredients which are more detrimental.