By the time Miaya was 6, she started gaining weight she just couldn’t lose, and it left her with health conditions no child wants to face. Instead of making her feel bad about her weight, her doctors gave another option instead — one that would completely change her life.

So when, a year later, the pandemic hit and her brother started having the same problems, their mom knew just where to turn.

Miaya’s journey

Miaya was just out of kindergarten when doctors started raising questions about her weight.

Like many 6-year-olds, she didn’t want to eat healthy food, and her asthma made exercise that much harder. At one point, she started having asthma attacks every other month, and the steroids used to treat it made her gain weight she just couldn’t seem to lose. Within years, her body mass index (BMI) was greater than 99%, she had developed asthma as well as darkened and thickened patches on skin called acanthosis nigricans, on her neck, which is often an indicator of pre-diabetes.

“I was buying bigger and bigger clothes for her, and finally we went to the pediatrician for help when she was 9,” says her mother, Keisha. “Instead of expressing a lot of concern or making us feel bad, he suggested we try CHOP’s Healthy Weight Program.”

The Healthy Weight Program (HWP) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia works with families to change their lifestyle through healthy eating and exercise. In 2017, Miaya began with screening labs and interventions focusing on healthy lifestyle changes to address issues like picky eating as well as modifications to sleep, meals and activities.

Healthy habits, higher energy

Miaya and Keisha noticed the difference within weeks — not just in how Miaya looked, but her eating habits, energy levels and body image as well.

“The biggest thing for me is that the program doesn’t get kids down about their weight,” says Keisha. “In a society that’s about being skinny, skinny, skinny, they didn’t ‘fat shame’ her because she was big.”

Instead, they taught her how to be healthy, gave her alternatives of what they should eat and fun ways to stay active.

“Now Miaya is 15 and thin as a rail, but that’s not the point,” says Keisha. “She’s very conscious of what she eats and how she moves in a way that isn’t focused on how she looks, but how she feels.”

Micah’s Story

From 2017 to 2019, the program helped the entire Hawk family make meaningful changes. But when COVID lockdowns hit, everything changed.

“People joke about gaining the ‘COVID 19,’ and for us it was no different,” says Keisha. “Everything we learned became a lot harder to put into action.”

Her son, Micah, was in kindergarten when lockdowns started. Before the pandemic he did karate, swimming and soccer. But then everything stopped. For two years, Micah, now 8, was at home instead of in school with full access to all the snacks in the house and fewer opportunities to be active.

Keisha tried to help him herself using what she learned from the Healthy Weight Program with Miaya, but while working full-time, it was hard to stay on top of it.

“At first, when we were making cookies and hanging around the house during lockdowns, I didn’t see the harm,” she says. “I didn’t think it would bulk him up as much as it did.”

By the time Micah enrolled in the Healthy Weight Program in September 2020, his weight was 160% of the 96th percentile and was also positive for acanthosis nigricans. He, like his sister, also battled issues like food sneaking behavior and negative body image.

Since entering the program, his life is completely different than 2020. Now, similar to Keisha, he’s more mindful of his eating and activity. He knows the kitchen closes at 8 p.m., and even though he hates vegetables, he’s more and more willing to try them with each meal. He’s also excited to go to activities and exercise, where he doesn’t have to feel bad about his weight because everyone else looks just like him.

Changes for the whole family

Since entering the HWP, Keisha learned how to talk to her kids about weight and body image, how to shop for healthy food, what ingredients to look for and what to avoid, and what foods may trigger her kids’ asthma.

“I pay more attention to what I’m buying in the supermarket,” she says. “I didn’t immediately pull all the junk food from our home — that would have been shocking and drastic for the kids, and I don’t want to deprive them — but I did start slowly making healthy substitutions. Because I play a role in this, too."

“I can encourage healthy eating and exercise all I want, but at the end of the day my kids are young, and if they have access to foods that aren’t good for them, it’s because I’m buying them,” she adds. “That was a hard pill for me to swallow. So, it involves change on my part, too.”

A new healthy mindset

Keisha is grateful for a program that breaks a toxic cycle around body positivity.

“When I was younger, I was big, and I was picked on in school,” she says. “My mother was always saying, ‘You have to lose weight. You have to try this diet. You have to look this way.’ I didn’t want to do that to my kids.”

It’s been amazing, she says, seeing her children have a better body image than many their age because they focus on health, not weight.

“I wish more people would get involved with this program,” says Keisha. “They don’t say, ‘Your kid needs to lose 25 pounds in the next few weeks.’ They focus on changing your mindset in a way that really sticks. It’s about health, and that type of mindset will last a lifetime.”