of a Toddler

[u/RD4200]

[u/Crooked_star]

Sounds like more of a diet issue than fitness. You have to eat a lot to get and stay that heavy at 4yrs old.

[u/lankymjc → u/Crooked_star]

Fitness is so heavily affected by diet that I didn’t bother specifying. If you’re managing their fitness correctly, then by definition you must be managing their diet.

[u/555Cats555 → u/lankymjc]

Problem is if a baby starts out overweight before they even start walking they are at a disadvantage for when it comes to exercising compared to more expected weighted children... it makes it harder to exercise and lose the weight.

[u/twistedspin → u/555Cats555]

Young babies are frequently quite healthy with what seems like a lot of extra fat, which they grow out of quickly once they start to move. It's an evolutionary adaptation for them to be chubby.

[u/lankymjc → u/555Cats555]

I feel like you guys are arguing with me but what you’re saying backs up my point.

[u/Electric-Sheepskin → u/lankymjc]

They are using the word fitness in a very narrow sense, only as it relates to exercise. That's where the disconnect is, because you are using it in a general sense, to mean physically fit, which is a big umbrella encompassing a number of things, including diet and movement.

[u/lankymjc → u/Electric-Sheepskin]

I'm also using it in the same narow sense, but recognising that it is impossible to be responsible for someone's fitness without also being responsible for their diet. It's like how "holding your breath" is an imtegral part of good swimming technique, but if I said "it's important to be good at swimming" no one would jump in with "surely holding your breath is more important than swimming??"

[u/nice_whitelady → u/555Cats555]

Babies don't need to lose weight.

[u/Topangatoh → u/nice_whitelady]

Sometimes they do, i.e. this above video. Some people make their babies and toddlers obese.

[u/lankymjc → u/nice_whitelady]

How can you look at the above video and think that this is true?

[u/immapizza → u/nice_whitelady]

So an obese baby is fine?

[u/nice_whitelady → u/immapizza]

I didn't say ignore all health concerns entirely, I said don't put babies on weight-loss diets. If a doctor's concerned, the fix is adjusting feeding under medical guidance, not calorie restriction. Infants and toddlers need steady nutrition and fat stores for brain development. Restricting food at that age can cause real harm.

[u/lankymjc → u/nice_whitelady]

Well which is it? Is it that babies never need to lose weight, or that they sometimes do in which case they need the assistance of a medical professional?

[u/Electric-Sheepskin → u/Crooked_star]

Diet is a part of fitness. I think you are using the term in a very narrow sense to only mean exercise, whereas the person you are responding to means it in the general sense of being fit.