One of the easy way you can find out at home is to find your child's BMI. Body mass index (BMI) uses height and weight measurements to estimate how much body fat a person has.
Remember BMI is a good indicator, but it's not direct measurement of body fat.
Also, BMI is not a diagnostic tool.
I will post BMI chart along with it, you can see where your child fall into.
If you are worried that your child is overweight or obese, make an appointment with your doctor, and see if there are other particular problem with your child's health.
As I mentioned above, BMI is not a diagnostic tool, so you can go see a doctor to determine if your child has excess fat, and do further assessment.
When I was studying for my master's degree, one of my professor was doing a study on measuring people's body fat after Zumba dance class. She used Bod Pod and this is device that accurately measure body composition. I was able to measure my body composition and the information they provide was great help.
It showed body fats such as non-essential fat or excess body fat, total body fats in your body, calories you need to burn for individuals, activity level for individual etc. Maybe, your child can do something similar to this so that you can determine whether the child has excess fat or non-essential fat or not.
Thank you EKing for making me to think more deeper into how we can determine overweight and Obese child.
what a helpful post for parents. I especially like the chart and your suggestions about what to do if a person feels their child may overwt. The chart could also be helpful to parents who want to know whether their child is underwt or if they are just curious whether they are on the right nutritional path (within the healthy range). Great post.
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