Welcome to Mackie Shilstone's Body Plan for Kids

The Mackie Shilstone Body Plan For Kids site was created to assist families in identifying and addressing the growing problem of childhood obesity. If not corrected, the growing problem of childhood obesity in the United States will imperil our society through unnecessary disease and shortened lifespans, and will rob us of our future leaders: our children.

Body Plan For Kids will facilitate positive change by allowing families to first determine if their child is overweight and whether adult family members might be a contributing factor to the problem. We believe that it is easiest to affect this positive change in children between the ages of 8-12. At this age range, children are most reliant on their families for support, and more easily able to learn and adopt healthy values and habits.

The Body Plan for Kids site is a collection of nationally-accepted resources that parents can use to learn how to affect these positive changes by becoming their family's trainer. As trainers, parents can implement a family-based positive lifestyle management program to correct weight problems with their children and make the entire family healthier in the process, following these basic steps:

• Assess the situation
  
• Determine that change is necessary
  
• Consult your doctor
  
• Commit to affect positive lifestyle changes in your family's diet and activity levels
• Use the resources on this site to help you create and follow through on action steps, including:
• 20 to 60 minutes of family-based activity at least 5-6 days per week
• Teach your family how to get active in their daily living (not just in exercise sessions)
• Make better food selections
• Eat as a family at least 4 times in the week
• Keep a daily record of progress
• Create non-food-based family rewards for progress
• Create a support network (other families, school, grandparents)

We'll continue to add new resources weekly and want to let us know. if you have feature requests or come across links we need to add. We'll be adding videos, a "Frequently Asked Questions" section, Mackie-approved recipes, and new "Ask the Doctor" and "Ask the Pediatrician" sections in the near future, so check back often to see what's new.