Weight Loss and Healthy Living for Children & Adolescents

Do you think your child might be overweight?
Is it causing emotional pain or distress?
Or maybe their body weight seems normal for their age, but are you concerned about their eating, exercise habits or their use of food for emotion management?

Talking to children about their body weight or helping them become healthier can sometimes be difficult for parents. However, Potomac Psychiatry will work with you and your child to effectively eliminate bad habits, and promote a healthy lifestyle now and into the future, through scientifically proven and effective methods.

What are some of the signs that may lead to child obesity?

Poor eating habits
Overeating or binging
Lack of exercise

Family history of obesity
Medical illnesses
Stressful life events or changes
Family and peer problems

Low self-esteem
Depression or other emotional problems

Potomac Psychiatry can help you develop a customized plan of attack that will get you and your child the realistic results you want. We will develop an age-appropriate individualized plan that is not just ‘short-term’ (i.e. diet) but one that you and your family can maintain for life. We provide child and family weight-loss and healthy lifestyle therapy.

Potomac Psychiatry will work with your child and you to achieve his or her weight loss goals, mindful of your financial resources, and respectful of your limited time, to create a realistic therapy program that works.

At Potomac Psychiatry, our therapists are trained in behavior change, emotion management strategies, age-appropriate communication, how to improve family functioning to support weight loss/healthy living, and how to set up a support system for success. Plus, they are great to work with. Using a therapy-based approach for child-weight loss/healthy living ensures that positive strategies for life are instilled and uniquely customized for each child.

Family based treatment deemed most effective. The most effective weight-loss strategies for children involve their parents. In fact, improving the health of the child can also improve the health of the parents (and vice versa). Research has found that children and adolescents are two to five times more likely to be obese if one parent is obese when compared to youth in families with “normal weight” parents⁴, and the risk for obesity increases 60-80% if both parents are obese^5,6. Since we often learn our eating and physical activity habits within our family, this is no surprise. Therefore, therapy for weight-loss/healthy lifestyles that include children are best served to include the parents or even the whole family, when possible.

Potomac Psychiatry has a menu approach to helping you. We do a comprehensive initial assessment of each member of the family’s:

Coping skills (i.e. emotion management);
Cognitions around food & body weight;
Stress management skills;
Family relationships & support structure;
Control (or feelings of lack of control) around food;
Lifestyle behaviors (diet & exercise);
Past history & family history;
Satisfaction with work/school & leisure/fun activities;
Current life goals; and
Other relevant information that can inform our treatment plan.

At Potomac Psychiatry we provide an individualized approach that can range from weekly individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), that focuses on changing thoughts and behaviors to effect positive change; all the way through arranging for a comprehensive team including personal training, nutrition planning, medical management (if applicable), CBT, and family therapy. We also offer group therapy centered around obesity reduction, healthy lifestyle behaviors, and cognition & behavior change around food and body weight (please reference our adult weight loss and healthy living page)

We will then work together with you to develop the best plan of attack for accomplishing the goals that are most important to you, your child and your family, and we will actively work with you to help you reach those goals.

Meet Dr. Liz Pollock

Potomac Psychiatry's weight loss and healthy living program is directed by Dr. Liz Davenport Pollock. Dr. Pollock received her Ph.D. in Family Science from the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland. Dr. Pollock is passionate about helping people lose weight, gain body image, and become the healthiest they can be. Her compassionate, accepting yet challenging approach sets the tone for the program – each client’s needs and goals are her priority and she helps develop plans that are motivational, manageable and can be maintained over the long run. There is no "one size fits all" approach and each meeting is specially designed to help you move closer to your goals. Additionally, she is a certified personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise and understands how to motivate individuals to achieve their goals.

(View complete curriculum vitae for Liz Davenport Pollock, Ph.D., MS, LGMFT, ACE-PT)

Click here for information on our adult weight loss and healthy living program.

Call us at 301.984.9791 to discuss your needs or to schedule an appointment.

Research Findings

If your child is overweight or obese, Potomac Psychiatry can help. Child overweight or obesity is usually determined through a rough estimate called Body Mass Index Percentile. Due to a child’s continuous development, their body weight and height are compared with age and gender specific growth charts and a Body Mass Index Percentile score is created. If you are unsure if your child is overweight or obese, use the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) online calculator¹. Use the following chart to interpret the Percentile score you receive:

Weight Status Category	Percentile Range
Underweight	< 5th percentile
Healthy weight	5th percentile
Overweight	85th to < 95th percentile
Obese	≥ 95th percentile

Source: (CDC, 2011)¹

Research shows that engaging in healthy behaviors in childhood and childhood body weight are significant predictors of adulthood body weight. In fact, research has found that if left unchecked, children and teens who are overweight are much more likely to be obese in early adulthood2, and that rates of obesity double from the twenties to thirties3. Therefore, reducing Body Mass Index Percentile score and increasing healthy behaviors in childhood is KEY to normal adult body weight and health.

¹ Centers for Disease Control (2010). Healthy youth! Childhood obesity. Retrieved May, 2011 from http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/obesity/

² Serdula, M. K., Ivery, D., Coates, R. J., Freedman, D. S., Williamson, D. F., & Byers, T. (1993). Do Obese Children Become Obese Adults? A Review of the Literature. Preventive Medicine, 22(2), 167-177

³Gordon-Larsen, P., Adair, L. S., & Suchindran, C. M. (2007). Maternal obesity is associated with younger age at obesity onset in U.S. adolescent offspring followed into adulthood. Obesity, 15(11), 2790-3796.

⁴ Yoon, P. W., Scheuner, M. T., & Khoury, M. J. (2003). Research Priorities for Evaluating Family History in the Prevention of Common Chronic Diseases. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 24(2), 128-135.

⁵ Garn, S. M., LaVelle, M., & Pilkington, J. J. (1984). Obesity and living together. Marriage & Family Review, 7(1-2), 33-47.

⁶Gordon-Larsen, P., Adair, L. S., & Suchindran, C. M. (2007). Maternal obesity is associated with younger age at obesity onset in U.S. adolescent offspring followed into adulthood. Obesity, 15(11), 2790-3796.

Potomac Psychiatry is conveniently located in Rockville MD, near the intersection of Rockville Pike (MD 355) and Montrose Road. We are walking distance from the White Flint Metro Rail Station (Red Line). We serve the Suburban Maryland, Washington DC and Northern Virginia area.

Our offices are conveniently accessible from the following communities:

Maryland (MD):

Bethesda 20814 - Bethesda 20816 - Bethesda 20817 - Chevy Chase 20815 - Colesville 20904 - Cabin John 20815 - Glen Echo 20812 - Gaithersburg 20855 - Gaithersburg 20877- Gaithersburg 20878 - Gaithersburg 20879 - Garrett Park 20896 - Kensington 20895 - Montgomery Village 20886 - Olney 20830 - Olney 20832 - Potomac 20854 - Potomac 20859 - Rockville 20850 - Rockville 20852 - Rockville 20853 - Silver Spring 20903 - Silver Spring 20905 - Silver Spring 20906 - Silver Spring 20910 - Takoma Park 20912 - Wheaton 20902

Washington DC:

Crestwood 20011- North Capitol Hill 20002 - Cathedral Heights 20016 - American University Park 20016 - Columbia Heights 20010 - Mount Pleasant 20010 - Downtown 20036 - Dupont Circle 20009 - Logan Circle 20005- Adams Morgan 20009 - Chevy Chase 20015 - Georgetown 20007 - Cleveland Park 20008 - Foggy Bottom 20037 - Rock Creek Park - Woodley Park 20008 - Tenleytown 20016

Northern Virginia:
McLean 22101- McLean 22102 - McLean 22106 - Great Falls 22066 - Arlington 22201 - Arlington 22202 - Arlington 22203 - Arlington 22205 - Falls Church 22041 - Vienna 22181 - Alexandria 22314