Finding Balance with Overweight Children

I have a daughter who is slightly overweight. She also is on a swim team and practices between 6 and 8 hours a week. We control her food intake and make sure she eats a healthy mix of foods. We've been trying to insure that she eats healthy most of her life. She loves food, especially starchy foods like potatoes, chips and pasta.

In the last year, she's become very sensitive to anything we say concerning her eating. When we tell her she can't have thirds, she becomes sad and defensive. She's told us on and off that she wants to diet; she wants to stop eating totally. Yesterday, she confessed that the kids at school are teasing her. I've told her many times that I don't think it's a good idea for her to diet, she still growing and she may need that little bit of fat as she enters puberty. I tell her to just eat healthy and continue exercising. I tell her some people are just meant to be on the heavier side. I tell her she looks fine, only a little overweight.

Today she went to one of her doctors and she brought up her weight. He isn't her pediatrician, but she does see him regularly and he weighs her every time. He told her that he thought she looked fine, a little overweight maybe. He explained to her that kids just like to tease. I was so relieved to have someone else, someone she respects, reassure her.

It's hard to find that balance with my children. I don't want them to be so over concerned about their bodies that they damage their health trying to achieve unrealistic goals. I also want them to know how to take care of themselves, how to live a healthy lifestyle.