I remember when my son Hunter was just a few weeks old and his eyes would follow my every move. As our kids get older, we forget those days and we especially forget that they watch and see everything we do.

As parents it’s easy to skip meals, eat processed foods and miss workouts; we’re all busy! The challenge is that our food and fitness habits influence our kid’s habits. Your kids are following your example and this is how they begin to develop their relationship with food, exercise and their body. In essence, they will most likely emulate what you do.

Your body’s fat cells are primarily developed during adolescence and once you have a fat cell it doesn’t go away. So it’s crucial that kids learn how to eat now so they prevent unnecessary fat cells from ever forming.

This is why Kelli Bonomo’s story touches me so deeply. She was a dieter. She struggled with her body image and grew up without any real understanding of food. But Kelli decided to break the trend and stop the yo-yo dieting cycle in her family by empowering her daughter Kaytlyn. Kelli simply led by example and showed Kaytlyn the way by focusing on 3 things:

1. Leading By Example – you must show your kids the way
2. Engaging, not Pushing – telling your kids they need to lose weight doesn’t help anyone. Instead engage them in the experience by creating healthy habits together, like going grocery shopping, cooking healthy foods and working out.
3. Making it Fun – we all like to have fun, so keep it fun! Try new tasty foods, experiment with different sports and get creative with calorie burning family activities instead of zoning out in front of the TV.

The power of improving your health with your kids is one of the most incredible experiences you will ever have, just ask Kelli!

Watch Kelli and Kaytlyn’s powerful story on our New HLN weekly series, “Transformation Tuesdays”.

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