Ayden Jane is not "hungry." I mean not hungry in a Prader Willi Syndrome sort of way. She does not have a gnawing hunger, she is satisfied after she eats and walks right past food when she is busy playing. She is of the age where it is expected for her to feel a chronic hunger due to PWS. She is of the age where 'food security' in the form of supervision or at least keeping food out of sight should be a true need.
So when I say she is not hungry I mean not more so than a typical kid her age. Yes, she says I'm hungry sometimes. Yes, when her friends snack she wants to snack too. Yes, she likes to eat treats (I mean her own treats) just because they are good and not because she is hungry.
Now, I don't think her hunger and satiety signals work as well as typical kids, but it is more because the full signal is not really working.
So, why is this titled weight gain? Because we have come to the point where Ayden Jane gains weight easily. Her body, thanks to PWS, excels at storing any excess energy (calories) she eats. We have started to weigh her once or twice a week. At first Ayden Jane, in her competitive nature, was hoping for the highest number possible! We didn't make a deal one way or another about the numbers but I got her familiar with the idea of "healthy weight" and that it is different for different sizes and and ages. We talked about how when we eat more food than we need our bodies store it and our weight goes up. The trouble with this being now we have to carry around extra weight for everything we do.
I think she has it down now. She was at 82 pounds and her weight had a bit of a jump from her eating too many snacks. So it had climbed to about 84. She sorted it out and was really excited she was back down to 83 after being a bit careful for a couple days. Then this past weekend we were on the road and ate poorly. We talked about how the choices we were making were going to add to her weight and she was going to have to work on that. I let it happen in part because I wanted her to see... for herself.
Sure enough Monday morning came and the scale read 85.5. The interesting part about it all is that Ayden Jane has taken it on like a mission to bring it back down. She made extra great choices yesterday and this morning it was down to 85.0.
Okay, so the point to all this is that Ayden Jane is definitely now in the category where weight gain happens so easily. I mean, just a few extra snacks or a couple meals out and pounds are added. So frustrating! On the flip side, Ayden Jane once again amazes me with how she just takes on the challenge. She told me not to worry, asked this morning if she should leave some of her breakfast because she wasn't really hungry and didn't want to store it and told me just to put 2 things in her lunch because after 2 things she isn't hungry any more. All without a worry or complaint.
I have never even heard the words "it isn't fair" from the kid. She just takes on challenge after challenge and is happy as can be.
So when I say she is not hungry I mean not more so than a typical kid her age. Yes, she says I'm hungry sometimes. Yes, when her friends snack she wants to snack too. Yes, she likes to eat treats (I mean her own treats) just because they are good and not because she is hungry.
Now, I don't think her hunger and satiety signals work as well as typical kids, but it is more because the full signal is not really working.
So, why is this titled weight gain? Because we have come to the point where Ayden Jane gains weight easily. Her body, thanks to PWS, excels at storing any excess energy (calories) she eats. We have started to weigh her once or twice a week. At first Ayden Jane, in her competitive nature, was hoping for the highest number possible! We didn't make a deal one way or another about the numbers but I got her familiar with the idea of "healthy weight" and that it is different for different sizes and and ages. We talked about how when we eat more food than we need our bodies store it and our weight goes up. The trouble with this being now we have to carry around extra weight for everything we do.
I think she has it down now. She was at 82 pounds and her weight had a bit of a jump from her eating too many snacks. So it had climbed to about 84. She sorted it out and was really excited she was back down to 83 after being a bit careful for a couple days. Then this past weekend we were on the road and ate poorly. We talked about how the choices we were making were going to add to her weight and she was going to have to work on that. I let it happen in part because I wanted her to see... for herself.
Sure enough Monday morning came and the scale read 85.5. The interesting part about it all is that Ayden Jane has taken it on like a mission to bring it back down. She made extra great choices yesterday and this morning it was down to 85.0.
Okay, so the point to all this is that Ayden Jane is definitely now in the category where weight gain happens so easily. I mean, just a few extra snacks or a couple meals out and pounds are added. So frustrating! On the flip side, Ayden Jane once again amazes me with how she just takes on the challenge. She told me not to worry, asked this morning if she should leave some of her breakfast because she wasn't really hungry and didn't want to store it and told me just to put 2 things in her lunch because after 2 things she isn't hungry any more. All without a worry or complaint.
I have never even heard the words "it isn't fair" from the kid. She just takes on challenge after challenge and is happy as can be.
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