The Weight Watchers (WW) App and Your Child's Weight

• Are you afraid your child is gaining weight?

• Have you been thinking you need to help your overweight child lose weight?

• Googling “safe weight loss for overweight kids”?

Then perhaps you’ve heard about the new Weight Watchers (WW) app. WW has been around for a very long time, and in August of 2019, launched Kurbo, a new weight-loss app aimed at ages 8 to 17.

Kurbo uses a green light, yellow light, red light system to indicate which foods kids are allowed to eat freely and which they should limit. Children need nourishing diets that are full of healthy fats, yet the app villainizes such important foods by placing them in the red (unhealthy) category.

Experts are warning that using such apps without proper guidance could result in children developing an unhealthy relationship with food. I argue that even with proper guidance, there is a high likelihood that using the app could result in eating problems, and even weight gain in the long run.

Clearly, you want your child to be healthy. So, if your child is overweight, it can be frustrating if he or she, with your help, is trying to lose weight and the scale isn't budging. It can also be concerning, of course, given what is known about the health risks of obesity in children.

Knowing more about common setbacks and ways to help your child be successful can go a long way. It's also important that you work with your child's pediatrician to determine a proper weight loss goal. Because children grow at different rates, it is not always easy to figure out whether a child is overweight or at a healthy weight on your own

Help your child with their weight: By signing up for the new WW app?

The company claims that 8 out of 10 kids who try the app lose weight, but the Kurbo app has come under fire from parents and experts who say a weight-loss app aimed at kids sends the wrong message.

Two of my colleagues have weighed in, and rather than reinvent the wheel, I am posting them here for you to read. The first is from Jessica Setnick, a Registered Dietitian and nutritionist in Texas who specializes in disordered eating:

I was staying out of the whole child weight loss app mess until I had time to investigate it myself. Well now that I have, it's such a PR nightmare that I'm fascinated by how it ever got greenlighted (pun intended).

First of all, this is such an obvious money grab. Only the affluent could ever afford the fee, so there is no way this is a "public health" issue as claimed.

Second, is there anyone anywhere who thinks the solution to anything is for kids to spend MORE time on their screens? Without adult supervision? CHATTING WITH STRANGERS???? (Parents are explicitly barred from getting involved.) That should have been enough, but sadly there's more absurdity lurking on the website.

The "coaches" are recent college graduates with no healthcare experience, but we are assured that they will "pick up on signs of disordered eating or unhealthy weight loss." And do what? Celebrate? Disordered eating and unhealthy weight loss are THE WHOLE POINT OF THE PROGRAM. Shouldn't we be working on PREVENTING disordered eating rather than causing and then detecting it?

I agree with Jessica. For over 35 years, I have only worked with clients with disordered eating, and the one thing every single client has in common is that their food issues started with some form of food or body size manipulation. Back in the 80s, it was called dieting. Now it is called “eating healthy,” but the goal is the same—to monitor food intake to manipulate body size.

Kids that come to my office for disordered eating are trying to eat healthy. When I ask what that means, they say, “I avoid junk food and eat healthy food.” When I push for further clarification, I always find that “junk foods” include any high calorie food, and “healthy foods” are low calories. This focus on eating lower calories foods has multiple problems, impacting kids’ physical and psychological well-being, and lands them in my office struggling to manage their food intake and their weight.

Jessica continues:

And lest I complain without suggesting an alternative, let me tell you what kids (all kids, not just big kids) need: better access to food and safety, ways to put their love of all creatures and the earth into action, sensitive adults to support them through their challenges, and more focus on what they feel like than what they look like.

If you are not yet convinced, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Christy Harrison, takes a hard look at the research in her aptly titled NYTimes article: I Help People Recover From Disordered Eating. Don’t Give Your Child This App.

She says:

Efforts to lose weight are likely to be ineffective and can be harmful to people of all ages, but they are especially troubling when imposed on children who aren’t in a position to make their own choices and who haven’t had the opportunity to develop a peaceful relationship with food and their bodies.

For more on how to support your child to grow up without eating and weight related problems, read:

By Kathy Kater, whose website has good info:
Real Kids Come In All Sizes
Healthy Bodies; Teaching Kids What They Need to Know

By Ellyn Satter, who also has a great website filled with information:
Secrets of Feeding A Healthy Family
How to Get Your Kids to Eat, But Not Too Much

Also, check out resources on this site at Kids, Eating and Weight.

About Eating Wisdom and Drs Karin and Hannah

We are two PhD level Registered and Licensed Nutritionists whose passion is to help others escape diet culture and to learn to use their natural, innate Eating Wisdom to, finally, find peace with food, eating and weight.

Check out our course, Intuitive Eating: How to Escape Diet Culture and Become an Empowered Eater,. plus we have lots of info and handouts (including the original Hunger Fullness Scale) at our website, www.EatingWisdom.com. We also offer 1:1 nutrition therapy. Take advantage of our combined 40+ years of experience and reach out today!

© 2018 Karin Kratina, PhD, RD, LDN.