are they meeting lifestyle behaviour recommendations?
Adopting and maintaining healthy lifestyle behaviours can help overweight boys and girls manage their weight and reduce obesity-related health risks. However, we currently know very little about the lifestyle habits of overweight children and adolescents referred for weight management in Canada and whether or not they are meeting current lifestyle recommendations. The objectives of this study were (i) to determine the demographic characteristics and lifestyle behaviours of overweight children and adolescents referred for clinical weight management, and (ii) to examine sex (boys vs. girls) and (or) age (child vs. youth) differences with respect to the achievement of lifestyle behaviour recommendations. Overweight (age- and sex-specific body mass index > or = 85th percentile) children (n = 27 girls, n = 24 boys) and adolescents (n = 29 girls, n = 19 boys) were referred to and enrolled in weight-management programs at the Pediatric Centre for Weight and Health (PCWH) at the Stollery Child