7-Year-Old Boy Weighs 254 lb.!

Posted by Alex in Baby & Kids, Medicine on March 28, 2007 at 3:37 pm


A mother in Polk County, Florida, may lose custody of her 7-year-old son Justin, who weighs a staggering 254 lb. ( 115 kg)!

Joyce Painter’s seven year old son, Justin, weighs 254 pounds. She says the Department of Social Services is threatening to remove him from her home if he doesn’t lose weight.

Painter says she first noticed her son’s weight gain when he was three, "He played T-ball and soccer, did things just like every other kid, but he was gaining weight." Painter says she’s taken Justin to doctor after doctor over the past four years, but nobody has been able to pinpoint the cause of his rapid growth. She’s been told it could be genetic, it could be hormonal or it could be his diet. Painter says she’s regulated Justin’s meals for a while now, "I’ve got him on three meals a day. A meat and two vegetables, that’s it. There’s no snacking, I removed all the chips and cookies. I quit buying it." Despite those efforts, Painter says her son continues to gain weight.

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17 comments to "7-Year-Old Boy Weighs 254 lb.!"

  1. biltmore
    March 28th, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    Wow, that's just out of control. The parents should be fined or something, this is just rediculous.

  2. billy
    March 28th, 2007 at 5:27 pm

    it's amazing/crazy that the Department of Social Services will assume this is abuse and not a medical condition. i'm sure being deprived of his family will fix that boy up just right.

  3. Miss Cellania
    March 28th, 2007 at 5:36 pm

    Wow, he weigh 5 times as much as my nine-year-old.

  4. Ali
    March 28th, 2007 at 7:56 pm

    He's like a miniature Don Vito from Viva La Bam....it's scary.

  5. Leah
    March 28th, 2007 at 7:59 pm

    Sounds to me that it's more than likely a medical problem, not a diet/exercise issue. I can't remember what the name of it is now, but there is a rare disease that causes people to rapidly gain weight. Unfortunately, doctors rarely want to believe anyone has it! (But then again, that tends to be the case with many diseases/doctors) I find it very sad that this mother may lose custody of her child when she may not have done anything wrong. That's just screwed up.

  6. Jimbo
    March 28th, 2007 at 8:29 pm

    Wow, this is 8 week old news!

  7. rek
    March 29th, 2007 at 4:44 am

    The correct spelling is 'ridiculous'.

  8. gjd
    March 29th, 2007 at 7:24 am

    Holy f*ck, it's Cartman.

  9. ted
    March 29th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    How is it possible for the kid to get that big on a proper diet?

    Sounds like he may be sneaking snacks.

    And the correct spelling is "Holy f~ck".

  10. Malignant Monkey
    March 29th, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    Somebody get that boy a blue and yellow poof-ball hat!

  11. Sid
    March 29th, 2007 at 3:30 pm

    If this is the same story, that was in the press a couple of weeks ago, the mother was a rather "big gal" herself which makes one kind of wonder exactly what her idea of "healthy eating" is. These cases almost always turn out being the kid's diet being horendous. I'm betting if he gets rigorously monitored for a couple weeks, he will eithe rlose a LOT of weight or they will soon figure out what the problem is.

    PS - deep fried Twinkies are not a vegetable.

  12. pookey
    March 29th, 2007 at 9:36 pm

    That is just heartbreaking. He looks so sad. Obviously, either the parents are lying or there is some undiagnosed metabolic disorder. I just feel sorry for him and hope he can lose the weight before it kills him.

  13. Arielle W.
    March 29th, 2007 at 10:10 pm

    they're covering that in the news around here because they want to send him to UNC-Chapel Hill for study.

    But that boy has been to 5 doctors and his family has him on a strict diet with food journals and everything.

    It would be one thing to take him from the family if there was proof that the family was not doing everything they could to try and help him.

    This is sad, but definitely not a reason to take the poor child. I'm sure he gets enough crap from people his own age.

    There's no reason for all of you to be insensitive and attack a small child about this.

  14. Sid
    March 30th, 2007 at 8:07 am

    #13:
    I don't think anybody is attacking the child. Rather, we consider it very likely that his mother is full of crap, and is shoveling him with food despite what she says.

    There are all sorts of crazy (or at least semi-odd) people out there. In gradeschool & highschool, I had one good friend who was *perennially* (all 12 years) the fattest kid in the class by a long shot. This was back when most kids were NOT fat, so "Bob" was mocked constantly (kids are sweet, huh?). Anyhow, for whatever reason, Bob didn't want to be fat and ridiculed, so he actually tried to cut back and control the quality of what he ate. But his mother was intent on making him eat a lot! It got to the point that he asked his friends to lie if his mother asked if he had eaten while he was out with us. We were supposed to say that "we all had pizza". Otherwise, she'd be stuffing him with food as soon as we walked in the door.

    Nonetheless, ultimately, it up to these parents to raise their kid(s) in whatever (screwed up or not) manner they feel best. It's gonna be tough for Eric, er... Justin to undo this when he is older, but a lot of us didn't have perfect parents. If you start taking fat kids away from their parents, skinny kids are next, and then kids who climb on rocks and kids with chickken pox. Where does it end?

  15. Peter B
    March 30th, 2007 at 1:19 pm

    The problem Leah is trying to recall is Prader-Willi Syndrome which it may well be however since there are no easy tests for this it is hard to say.

    If it is PWS then three normal sized meals a day will be far too many calories. I've worked with PWS sufferers who've remained extremely fat on diets of less than a thousand calories a day. The combination of a disorder that means the body needs almost no food and yet tells the brain it is constantly starving always seemed very cruel.

    I only hope that the cause is something more treatable and that his parents are able/willing to deal with it.

  16. .:DataWhat?:.
    April 2nd, 2007 at 11:44 am

    "I’ve got him on three meals a day. A meat and two vegetables, that’s it."

    Not to sound like Beavis and/or Butthead, but isn't "Meat and Two Veg" British slang for male genitalia?

    HehHehHeh...HehHehHeh

  17. Nancy
    November 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    I have heard Sumo wrestlers eat one large meal a day. From everything I've read, the key to losing weight is to eat 5 or more small meals a day. No, that doesn't include anything wrapped in cellophane or a foil pouch. High fructose corn syrup could be the culprit, too. And, hey, is there soda in that fridge? Is he drinking water? I feel badly for this kid. Nutrition taught in school is completely wrong. They don't address beverages, or cutting back on bread. My kids, thankfully, are perfect weight. If my kids were at risk for being taken away from me, I would learn EVERYTHING about weight loss and hire a personal trainer. I'd rather sell everything I own than lose my kids.


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