"World's fattest kid"
A strange title to bestow on any kid, one that will most likely bring shame and mockery to said child. While the child obesity epidemic has been rampent since the 1960's (citation needed), it really haddn't reared it's head until the late 90's/early 2000's, where mainstream media sought to shed light on the massive pigglets in society either through roundabout methods like investigating schools or fast food franchises. Or by direct methods by looking into the more outstanding, or rather outsitting, individuals who were hundreds of pounds heavier than their peers.
While you might think this essay would be about the late russian Dzhambulat Khatokhov, who was put into the Guinness book of Records in 2003 with the title of "world's heaviest child", at that time he was only around 123 or so pounds at the age of 4, but only really went up to about 500 pounds (230 kg) by the age of 18. His "opponent" and (past) true record holder would be Jessica Lenoard (Gaude).
Jessica was raised in Knoxville Tennessee by her mother Carolyn. When she was a baby, Jessica would cry out in the middle of the night due to stomach pains, and Carolyn tried to silence her the only way she could think of at that time: food.
This would develop into a sort of eating dissorder, as by the time she was 2 she was already weighing 110+ pounds, and over the following year gained 60 pounds. By the age of five she weighed 230 pounds, more than 5 times a girl her age on average weighed.
Social services were called on the home, but the first time Child Protective Services didn't find any sign of abuse due to the family's home being clean and not showing any sort of sign of neglect, not noticing the butterball turkey of a daughter, only that her needs were given.
When she was five she was started to be put on talk shows like Maury to try and publicly shame her and her family. According to a followup from Maury, it worked, as she lost 10 pounds after the show aired, but this would not last long.
Jessica's eating habits at it's worst would cause her to eat every two hours, and her mother could not say no to her. This caused her to, supposedly, eat on average 10,000 calories per day (This number sounds ridiculous, and though possible it was most likely less than this).
This is where, however, information gets muddied.
The facts that are hard to agree upon are as follows:
1) She weighed 400+ pounds at her peak, but reports are mixed on whether she weighed only 400, 410(186 kg), 420(190 kg), or an astonishing 489(!) pounds (222 kg), 11 pounds away from tipping the scales at a quarter ton. The latter weight is the highest of the recorded weights and from my findings, and is usually reported from non-U.S. based sources.
and 2) Her peak weight was achieved when she was around 7/8 years old, but due to the nature of the internet how news spread at the time it was very uncertain of when this was due to her birthdate not being publicly shared.
There is video evidence of her struggling to move, forcing her to do an odd "seatted waddle" to get anywhere due to her extreme weight, and she had to be brought around in a wheelchair when she went outside at times.
By the time her weight was nearing the point it was 10 times the average weight of a child her age, more news reports came out about her. And a point after that, her health took a severe enough turn to require hospitalization due to a respiratory crisis (Sleep Apniea according to one magazine report that was thankfully added to one of my resources), and the doctors there called CPS after seeing her severe obesity.
After this, two major things happened:
1) CPS threatened to take away Jessica unless Carolyn went to a parenting program to teach parents proper methods of keeping a child's weight down and tactics to not give them more food.
2) Jessica was taken to a obesity clinic that specialized with children, and through a strict diet and exercise, was able to lose on her own volition with no surgery required.
While her food-based personality stayed with her for a while after leaving said clinic, thanks to the parenting program Carolyn went to, Jessica was able to keep up her diet. The only issues that had remained were the 20 pounds of excess skin she had and her legs becoming bowed due to her severe weight pressing down on them when she was younger, and the low use they went under years after.
While things can be corrected via surgery, the scars of her extreme weight will still haunt her for the rest of her life. And until a bigger kid comes along to take it, so will the crown of being the "World's Fattest Child".
Now, while the main part of the essay is over, I would like to go over what I would like to call "hypotheticals" on how a child could usurp Jessica and take away the thorny, butter covered crown from her. I'd suggest clicking away at this point as the details here can get "fetishy".
First and foremost would be the enviroment. The child would have to grow up not just in an enviroment that would feed them constantly, but would have to be populated with like-minded individuals who cared not about the dangers of child obesity. An added bonus would be that where they grow up would be mostly isolated from being reached by news/the government, which in this day and age is a lot harder than one thinks.
Second, the rate at which the child gains weight. Jessica shows us the dangers of a child putting on an extreme amount of weight in their early years, as 100+ pounds can be rough on a two year old. The early years, at least until age 4, should have the child gain weight at an above average rate, but only skirting the line of obesity at the heaviest. After 4, however, the child can go "hog wild" on food.
Third is, surprisingly enough, exercise. Inactivity was the leading cause of Jessica not only getting in the spotlight, but also a leading factor in causing her to lose her weight. The child should be moderately active, about 1-2 hours of active play a day to build up muscle. While yes this would mean they gain less weight overtime than just not doing anything, there are other people who are extremely obese who can function mostly fine outside of getting into things they are too big for... and stairs but that's mostly a given at this point (unless they do a lot of leg lifts, that is).
Unfortunately there's no real good way of simulating this, as the only weight gain sim I could think of that lets one customize the calorie intake and exercise is PhET's "Eating and Exercise", a java program that is more suited for grown adults rather than simulating the weight gain/loss and growth of a child, due partially by the fact that changing one's height resets body-fat percentage, which skews results no matter how you work it out. That and it's "Heart Attack" system is chanced based and very simple to dodge with some exercise tacked on (Legitametly one can just dodge the heart attack with only an hour and 15 min of "driving a heavy truck", the lowest amount of exercise possible).
Thus, this all can only be thought of, not plugged into a computer with various variables and hope for a wide outcome.
One last thing: a what if.
What if, Jessica's Sleep Apniea didn't manifest, and nothing serious health-wise happened to her as she continued to get fatter? Would we be reading stories of the Quarter-ton 10 year old? The Half/full-ton Teenager (as teens, being older, have a wider pool for "fattest")? And/or would Jessica's weight be the death of her, an unpercived health problem until too late? Hell, if her respertory issue happened a month or two later she would firmly be in the half-ton range.
But, that's all that it will be: a what if. And nothing more.
