Thank you for bringing this up Num1Stunta. I am the parent of a CP with a weight issue (noting I have two CP but just one has this issue). We are not at your level or age (she is young - about to turn 9 in April). She has loved to cheer and has been cheering since she was 5. She was always small and then boom out of no where a huge weight gain (she is about 20 pounds over the 8 year old child). I am following this story closely because I would like to help prevent injury and help her understand that even larger girls can hit the floor and tumble like there is no tomorrow. We have been to the peditrician, blood tests, etc. Everything comes back normal. I as her mom want to help her and always offer words of encouragement to her. She is now self consious in her uniform and her tumbling has taken 3 steps back. However she loves to cheer, in the gym 3 days per week and is a very active child. She does not over eat and seldom eats sweets (I say seldom because she is a child :)). I am now wondering if I should take her to another physician for additional blood testing (which I will research this weekend). All I can say to you, is what I tell my daughter. Everyone is different (body, shapes, colors, etc) and you are beautiful person no matter what you look like. And if you have a dream - follow it! You can do whatever you put your mind too. Nothing is impossible. I will continue to follow your progress and wish you continue success at the weight loss. Congrats to you for following your dream!
Thank you so much! I will certainly post updates (I basically live on the boards if you haven't figured that out lol)
You know, I always feel bad with the skimpy uniform trend in regards to kids like your CP... you never want a kid to feel self conscious when they are doing something that they love, especially when the weight problem may be something out of their control. I have a girl on my team who has a weight issue, and we bought her a black leotard to wear under the top, so it looks like part of the uniform. She won't wear it. She is completely comfortable in herself, and I can admire that. I always worry about the psychological effects of the short tops and skirts on teen and pre-teen girls...
My college uniform showed about TWO INCHES of stomach, and I felt absolutely naked in it. I am 5'9" and built like a house, never "overweight" but just not ever flyer-sized. I got out of control with restricting meals and taking diet pills, because I thought I had to look perfect in my uniform. I dropped 3 skirt sizes in a semester, but I was SO weak that I was practically useless to my team. I had gone on and off like that since high school, and finally was forced by my college coach to go to a nutrition center. It was a huge wakeup call when they told me all of the damage I had done to my body- 19 with a skeleton of a 47 year old for goodness sake! No wonder I kept getting injured. Everyone is different, but for me it was cheerleading that got me back in one piece. When the realization came that I wouldn't be able to continue cheering in that condition, it changed my whole outlook on things. Being at my healthy weight, which I still viewed as too heavy at the time, is beyond appealing to me now lol. It sounds kind of cheesy, but I owe my life to cheerleading, which is why I am just so beyond in love with the sport!<3 It KILLS ME not to cheer anymore! (sorry, tangent)
You are clearly very supportive of your CP, and have given her the right way to see things at such a young age. My mother was a different story- very obsessed with body image. I'm glad to hear that you are so positive with her, and so keen on building her confidence in herself for things that are not related to her size.
My advice would be to definitely take your CP to another Dr if you want to get more tests done. This process has taken NINE MONTHS to figure out... very frustrating, indeed, and there are other coinciding problems that are still not even figured out yet. I had to go through multiple rounds of blood, urine, and saliva tests.... catscans, and even an MRI. There are so many causes to rapid weight gain- thyroid, dietary, ovarian, metabolic, endocrine, genetic, etc.... I guess it's not that easy to pinpoint! I see an endocrinologist now, who seems to think that I have had this problem since puberty, but because I was constantly going through those cycles of taking pills/not eating, the rapid weight gain and other side effects didn't start until well after I was fully recovered from those eating issues. I am so happy to just have an explanation for it... all this time, I was eating whole grains, soy products, fat free yogurt, fruit, granola, etc, and thinking that I was eating healthy for the past 6 years, and wondering how I was still gainging weight, even though I was exercising at times- those are all things containing carbs and sugars, which I now learned that I can only eat a very limited amount of... the road to hell is paved with good intentions lol
Sorry, I ramble... good luck, feel free to PM me for whatever reason:)
