My son has put on a significant amount of weight in the past two years. I’m worried about his health but it’s obviously a touchy subject. Any ways I can talk with him?

I (M56) am pretty close with my son (M24) as far as parent-child relationships go. We usually share most everything notable with each other and he hasn’t been one to feel uncomfortable to come to me with difficult topics in the past. But over the past couple of years my son has put on a lot of weight. When he began his masters program, I had seen him the summer prior and I know he was around 150lbs then as that’s what he’d always weighed as an adult. I didn’t see him in person again until the holidays that year, but had seen some tagged photos on Facebook as the semester went on and he started becoming hard to find in group photos because he started to look so different. I figured he was just really maturing, but when he came home that December for Christmas, I’d say he had to be at least 225lbs, a huge difference from just the prior summer visit. I figured this was just due to stress and this new chapter in his life. He reassured me everything was okay (in general - I didn’t pry about his weight specifically). I asked if he was getting enough exercise and he said he’s getting used to working with it on a new schedule but was figuring it out. All seemed like I didn’t have to be too worried yet, although it did seem like a pretty big change in a short amount of time.

But since then, I’ve finally seen my son again for the first time since before coronavirus began, and I’d say he’s easily over 250lbs now if not more and he’s not even in his masters program anymore so I’m worried that his adjustment period for keeping up with his health has long expired. I’m starting to get worried for him, just because of the rate of weight gain. I don’t want to sound like I’m fat shaming him or being critical of his appearance. I worry that if a weight gain like this continues at his age, he will start to experience some extreme side effects. I’ve finally had one chat with him this week about my concerns and mentioned his weight and health from the POV of genuine concern. He acted quite ambivalent, even oblivious as to there being any kind of problem. “Everyone gains weight as they age and their metabolism slows, I’ll hit the gym again and be back in shape, this is just a little extra weight” - but come on, he’s very obviously put on at least 100 pounds.

Is this out of my control? Is it wrong of me to push my concern? How can I talk with him? I just want to make sure my son stays healthy. After he had initially gained the weight during his masters program, I at least convinced him to get a physical and some tests when he was home to just make sure everything was okay. Nothing underlying and his numbers were all fine. Which makes me think that he’s living a lifestyle with a really bad diet or something with health effects that haven’t caught up to him yet. He already has this giant beer belly that’s bigger than I’ve ever been and I’m almost 60 and he’s not even 25. I’m just worried about him. What can I do?

submitted by /u/Dodgers994
[link] [comments]

source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/imwlxb/my_son_has_put_on_a_significant_amount_of_weight/