Opening Up About Obesity.
Tweens and teens share their struggles with weight issues.
by Children’s PressLine

TWEENS & TEENS News December 2006

While experts debate about what has caused the four-fold rise in childhood obesity over the past 25 years, kids are left to deal with the stigma and health problems. Children’s PressLine spoke to a few of the 16 percent of 6-19 year olds who are obese or overweight.

Danica Rauch, age 15, Camp
Pendleton, Calif.
I’ve been overweight for quite a while. I was always bigger than everybody else; even in kindergarten I was bigger than the other kids. By 7th grade, it was a major problem.
Recently, I’ve been drinking weight-loss shakes from Costco. I drink two shakes a day and four bottles of water. The shakes are chocolate-flavored with vitamins and minerals.

High school hasn’t really been that hard. It was middle school that was a challenge. I went to school on a military base, and there were only about 500 kids in the whole school. For middle school, there were about 50 students so everybody in school knew you. There was a lot of teasing. A lot of mean things were said, really hurtful things about me and my Mom. I’d come home crying every day that I didn’t want to go to school. Because I didn’t like anybody, I’d try to get out of my classes by saying, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Being overweight has stopped me from some things that I like to do. I wanted to play softball and volleyball but my school has really small shorts. I had signed up for the team, but then I saw what the team wore so I didn’t show up for the meeting. I don’t like wearing really revealing clothes that show my skin. I always wear a jacket— that’s pretty much what makes me feel a little bit confident.

A couple months ago, in my cooking class, I was wearing one of those cute, long spaghetti strap shirts that everybody’s wearing. I wanted one of those really bad and so my Mom got it for me. Well, this guy who is really mean— he’s always made fun of me— was like: “I knew you were pregnant! Look everybody, she’s pregnant.” That was pretty embarrassing. It seems like when I change anything about myself, everybody has to make a smart remark about it.

My goals for the future are: I want to get thinner, go into cosmetology, be captain of my color guard team and learn how to skateboard— that’s a big one. I’ve seen lots of big women do cosmetology. I especially want to be thinner, which would be a really big life-changing thing.

Katie Clark, age 13, Kingsley, Iowa
People will say anything that comes to mind. They’ll make fun of how I laugh or what I’m doing or for being in marching band.

I have a hyperthyroid so I’m taking this pill that’s helping me to not eat so much. I don’t think I need to be in a weight-loss program. I can do it on my own. My best friend and I will go to the track if she’s in the mood for it. So far, I’ve lost 20 pounds.

Ever since my Mom had her weight loss surgery we’ve been eating a little healthier, and it has helped me a lot. It’s stopped me from eating junk food. I used to eat a lot of junk food. I want to lose more weight. I’m really not satisfied with how much I’ve lost so far. I like it, but I want to push it a little bit more.

David Allen, age 11, Rogersville, Tenn.
I think I eat too much. I don’t have as much of a social life as everybody else. Other kids think that I’m not as good as other people. I don’t feel comfortable in public. I feel like everyone is staring at me.

Katie Lieb, age 15, Grove City, Ohio
Sometimes I feel like I’m nobody and I have no friends and nobody likes me because of my obesity. In the past, I’ve felt really depressed. I’ve been trying to change that feeling by doing more activities and trying to lose more weight so I can feel better about myself.
I noticed I was becoming overweight when I was 13. I realized that I had trouble getting involved in sports, and I figured that I would need to try to change my weight so athletics would be easier for me.

Both my parents had gastric bypass surgery. I’ve thought about having it, too. Once you have the surgery your life changes, because you can’t eat the same amounts of food that you used to eat. You can’t have a full meal, because your stomach is smaller in size, and you can’t eat certain kinds of foods. I have given it some thought but I’d rather exercise and diet.

Everybody picks on kids because of their weight. I try to hold the sad things inside but it hurts me so bad that I don’t know what to do with these feelings.

Megan Lynch, age 18, Dallas, Texas
I noticed I had a weight problem when I was 8 years old. My parents had divorced and I started to gain a considerable amount of weight because there wasn’t a lot of parental supervision around and I would just always eat. I was always in the pantry. I’ve been dealing with it ever since.

I think it’s much harder to be overweight when you’re younger, before you even get to high school. People are less mature and they seem to taunt more, make jokes and point at you, whereas when you get to high school there are typically more educated people who sometimes look beyond your physical appearance— and actually look into your heart.

I work out at the gym every day, and I probably do about two hours of a cardio workout and lifting weights. It’s a great way to burn calories and stay in shape. Even though I was overweight my whole life, I actually did play sports. I played soccer for about 13 years. I played softball for eight years. I’m a power-lifting champion, which means I lift weights for high school. The one thing that has definitely helped me in sports is that I can run faster. I don’t have big problems with my asthma and I no longer have knee problems.

I have lost about 60 pounds in about three months. I am getting older and I want to become a nurse; I can’t have lots of problems with my knees as a nurse. I don’t want to suffer from health problems that other people in my family have, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I definitely wanted to take charge of myself. I needed something that would help me to reach my potential, so I chose surgery.

My future goal is to lose 100 pounds. I’m looking forward to being able to shop in junior size clothes again, not in like the plus size sections, being able to date and not be self conscious of who I am, and just living life to the fullest.

Children’s PressLine is a youth journalism organization in Manhattan that trains kids to interview their peers on issues that affect them. This story was reported on by Shukria Akhtar, 15; Karla Cano, 13; Kevin Cano, 11; Surico Carela, 16; Zechariah Copeland, 14; Gabe Decker-Lee, 10; Catherine Guzman, 12; Laurence James, 13; Alejandro Ortiz, 10; Jonathan Ortiz, 13; Kristina Rembert, 15; Krystal Rembert, 15; Nathalia Rosario, 15; Ana Rodriguez, 17; Jake Sidransky, 10; Jared Trombettas, 12; and Kai Walker, 12.