One last note on the fat kid/junk food thing...

kittycarr

I don't recall having the utmost of healthy food choices in my house growing up.  There was mac and cheese, ramen noodles, twinkies, hamburger helper, frozen pizzas - all that crap.  Maybe mom did buy it because it was cheap.  But my brother and I were skinny.  But we also didn't sit at home and do nothing but eat.

When I went out on my own, I was poor as sh*t.  I had two min wage jobs -one paid rent and the other paid daycare.  I had Ty at 19yo.  I bought the cheap stuff then too because it's all I could afford.  Ty and I ate religiously hot dogs with pork and beans, ramen noodles, hot dogs iwth mac and cheese....never had soda in the house.  I had WIC so I had milk and eggs and cheese - those types of things I didn't have to pay for.

I never got fat.  Ty never got fat.

Fast fwd to not being poor anymore like I was and...

I'm fat now because I made bad food choices in very high quantities.  I'm changing now though.  Ty had a fat period himself but that's past as well. 

So you can be piss poor with nothing but the cheap stuff to buy and manage to not become food for the worms before 5yo. 

ans1999

I don't think it is all about your weight or looking skinny. You can still consume the appropriate number of calories while eating junk. But you aren't very healthy while doing so. You need the nutrients from healthy foods. I was very poor while single (20/wk for food) and still managed to eat healthy. You just have to prioritize.

KrisBriMcBunny

I was the same exact way not just because I was poor when I had Josh I was also a junkfood junkie.  Not my mom's fault...she made good healthy meals.

Its finally caught up with me just like you because of the quanties of crap that I eat.

shopgirl_07

The thing is, genetics play a huge role in this. Lots of kids can eat very poorly, lots of junk, etc. and still be skinny. But some kids (like Jodi's) just can't get away with that. It svcks if you're the one predisposed to obesity but if you are then you have to eat differently.

DandelionMom

Ditto Shopgirl.

And some kids just eat large portions.  If we have pizza, my younger two eat a piece and are done.  My oldest will eat 5+ pieces if we let her.  So on pizza nights I make a point to fill her plate up with salad (she loves salad) so that she fills up on that before she has the pizza. 

Angela814

I agree that you can eat poor quality food and not get fat. Portion size plays a large roll along with genetics. I also agree with the poster who said that being thin or skinny doesn't mean you are healthy. We've all grown up in a society that's obsessed with being thin. Food is for nutrition and health. We look at it the wrong way when we choose to equate food with weight.