Younger brother

Whilst his diet may need altering I was wondering if he is on any medication at all which may be contributing to his weight gain.My 14 year old son used to be on 2 risperidone tablets a day (1 in morning/1 in evening) and whilst he doesn't really overeat he still managed to put on 3 stone in just under a year.

Although some of this gain can be put down to other things such as his age/puberty/natural growth etc and the fact he is not the most active child the medication was one of the factors and has since been dropped to just one a day,plus we have been encouraging him to walk a lot more and also going to the nurses at the gp's surgery for dietary advice he is now slowly beginning to lose his excess weight.

So whilst his diet may be a contributing factor there may be many things contributing overall

He does a few after school clubs, not all of them are sport, but he has done clubs such as cricket, badminton and dance. We have started getting him doing more as you can tell he struggles just walking for more than just a period. 

His main interests ar Dr Who and watching steam trains! Maybe when taking him, parking further away and walking the last few part of the journey could be a good way of helping.

My Mum often does have some things in the house, like a fruit bowl full of apples (which the school have got him to eat but he's often refused to eat them, and other foods at home). In the past I have tried encouraging him but I can see that it may come accross as pressurizing him, but I think I'm letting my desire and emotions to help him get in the way of stepping back and thinking I'm making a bit too much fuss.

I will suggest the fruit in the ice-cream though, thank you.

He is, but to be honest I don't know exactly where he is.

He's 5ft 10in at the moment, but still growing. I do show compassion and understanding, as a kid I had difficulty trying new foods, albeit not to the same extent. I believe I have a good understanding of him and don't think there's much more, although I know he needs to do more physical exercise because currently he does very little.

I'll reply to each of these in turn. No he hasn't yet, but he's going to see a doctor next week. I think to be honest a lot of our family have buried their heads in the sand a little over the problem so so far, nobody has seen a doctor or dietician yet.

Maybe leave different food stuff lying about the house without making a fuss or pressurizing him to eat it. That way he is in control and might decide to put some of the food in his mouth on his own initiative. Or you could try adding some fruit to his familiar ice-cream?

Whether he's on the spectrum or not, and assuming he is overweight for his height, rather than trying to change what he eats, you could try to encourage him to do more exercise.

Is there something he enjoys or has an interest in, that you could incorporate into going out, for a walk?

You don't say if he's on the autistic spectrum, which would affect how people respond to this thread.

Also you don't say how tall he is.  Even at 13 he could be over 6 foot, and some children of that age are taller. Even so 23 stone is big, but is not obesity level III (Body Mass Index) for an adult over 6 foot 2, and would be mid range level II for someone 6 foot 6 (for whom the top of the desirable range would be about 16 stone).

Strikes me four bowls of ice cream is a bit excessive, but the other stuff seems not unusual. There may be more to this and perhaps you need to show more compassion/understanding.