It's really crazy how your eating habits are influenced by your parents. My mother is really into eating really healthy and both I and my sister eat healthier by choice now. I remember when I was really young my mom's friends were impressed that I willingly ate vegetables...they were actually impressed by that! I would always notice the look on my mom's face like "...uh why wouldn't he?" It's really kind of sad that eating your vegetables nowadays is impressive.

As an overweight parent, I know I'm overweight and am working to change that, with slow, but steady results.

I've always been very conscious of my child's weight, because I don't want her dealing with the same feelings of shame, discomfort, lack of energy, etc. that I went through as a kid, or to face the medical problems later in life that I'm now working hard to avoid. This is, for me, a Really Big Deal. Being overweight sucks. I want better for my kid.

If anything, having a kid has helped me, because teaching healthy lifestyle and eating habits by example is far better than telling her one thing and doing something totally different, myself.

On the other hand, I have an overweight friend with a 100+lb, average height, 9yr olds who will argue all day that the kid "isn't fat."

That is certainly what my money would be on. Below a certain age, kids don't tend to become fat unless their parents let them (that whole being provided for thing sees to that).

I wonder how much of this effect is just due to the fact that admitting the child is overweight would be tantamount to admitting that they themselves are overweight. Without making any moral statement whatsoever, that's simply hard for people to do.