Living without shame: How we can empower ourselves | Whitney Thore | TEDxGreensboro

PO3 Steven Sherrill: Petty Officer Third Class Sherrill: We can lead by example. And, we can love our children as we love ourselves. HOPE this helps. -Margaret

One of the ways that parents can help their kids have a healthy future is to be active with them when they are young. My dad used to take us on long walks and bike rides when we were little, now all of us love being outdoors. A couple of us have little more weight on us than we should, but we are still very active.

Set the example from a young age. Preach sometype of physical activity if they are not interested in sports. Metabolisms are high at a young age but try your best to not let them indulge too much. I know as a kid I had too much soda/snacks which are all empty calories. All good then but it caught up with me in my 30's. As far as image goes everyone is different. I constantly try to tell people I want to lose weight and they look at like I am crazy. I have a lot of running and cycling in my life and the more weight you have, the more you have to carry...essentially making you slower. Not saying that it is right or wrong but it is what works for me to stay fit.

As far as the individual in the video who I have seen on TV, she has her own body image. Now personally I do not consider it healthy and at some point down the line she is going to run into health issues. This is my opinion but once you get up to that weight you start to lose sight of certain things. I think she gave up somewhere down the line and came to terms with it. Now she is trying to say to others in her situation that it is ok to better their self esteem. How do you fix that...I dunno. A life changing event will usually do the job to give you a reality check.

All we can do from a parental perspective is to enstill good values, diet, and the importance of physical activity in order to prevent things like this from happening. We need to stop using convenience as an excuse to take oursleves and kids out for fast food. Kids are always watching not only us as parents but everyone else as school and in the community as well. If they see the masses do it, they get it in their head that its a good thing. Hopefully by the time children leave households for careers or college they will responsible enough to make the right decisions on their own.