How Do You Motivate a Couch Potato Child?

Oct. 21 -- Though he is only 10 years old, Garrett Larson recognized that the hours he spent surfing the Web and watching television were hurting him physically and emotionally. But he couldn't stop.

"People make fun of me because I can't run fast enough or I get out of breath and can't run as far as I used to," Larson said in a home video that his family shared with Good Morning America.

Larson admits that he is a couch potato who watches too much television.

"Like if I'm depressed or something, I go straight to the TV and just watch TV," Larson said.

Good Morning America asked weight loss specialist Jorge Cruise to visit the Larsons and try to help. At that point, the family was already clearly concerned about Garrett's frequent TV watching, and overeating.

TV and Childhood Obesity Linked

Garrett's mom, Sheila Larson, had been trying to keep him away from the television set as much as possible — even if it took a bit of scolding.

"Get out of that chair and turn off the TV now," she said on one home video.

"Garrett, quit munching," she says at another point.

If Sheila Larson sounds stern, it is because she is concerned about her son's health.

"I'm worried about the fact that … he's starting a pattern here," she said. "Where he'll be heavy and having to battle it all his life."

She and Garrett's dad, Jim Larson, were at their wit's end with the all-too-familiar combination: a kid who gets no exercise, and who loves to eat.

Studies show the incidence of obesity is lowest among children who watch one hour or less of TV per day, and it is highest among those who watch four or more hours. But children who like television can trick parents into thinking they're not watching.

"He'll shut the TV off in this room and I think he's outside playing," Jim Larson said. "And next thing I know, I'll go in our bedroom where we have another TV set and he'll be in there watching the same program."

Physical Complaints, Plus Teasing