Teenagers need a calorie surplus? for real?

ferd_ttp5

Does really teenagers need a caloric surplus? Example a 21 year old Male 5'8 height 69kg and a sedentary person needs about 2000-2110 calorie per day, if the teenager is the same in size to 21 year old male and same activity will the teenager need to eat more than 2000-2110? Will they dont gain much weight in the long run? I driven out to ask this question because i got a nephew training and playing table tennis with me and i find out that his appetite was so very very large and im getting worried if he will get overweight or obese in the long run. The example above is just a imaginary equation just dont mind that papers, me and my nephew was so very active lol.

StealthHealth

teenagers are still growing: Making bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles etc. They need more calories.

ferd_ttp5

StealthHealth wrote: »

teenagers are still growing: Making bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles etc. They need more calories.

Yes probably, but in my case back to old days when im still a teenager im probably overweight i was just eating big like a normal active teen boy, my peers when i was on that time got the same big appetite because we're teenagers athlete but me keep gaining weight and them instead of gaining weight they are gaining more height and maintaining at normal weight

Fuzzipeg

My grandsons seem to grow in spurts. They stay one height, fill out, one does particularly, then they grow all at once. Developing does not follow a given schedule, a one size fits all continuum. An 18 year old male is very much a work in progress, even a 21 year old has probably not reached his adult skeletal structure with the attendant ligaments and cartilage etc.

jemhh

Active teenage boys need a lot of food. That's the prime age and demographic for growth. I remember having friends over and making a roast, potato, salad, rolls and veggie side. I thought we'd have leftovers. Ha ha on me. I hadn't factored in their 16 yo hockey player son. He was not a glutton; I just hadn't realized how much food would be normal intake for him.

kwtilbury

Teenage bodies are growing. Growth takes a caloric surplus.

wellthenwhat

Now our teen girl's bodies take any calorie surplus and turn it into fat, lol

Need2Exerc1se

People of the same size and activity don't necessarily need the same calories regardless of their age. But, as has already been pointed out, teenagers are growing and that requires energy beyond daily acitivity.

pinuplove

They require more food *before* hitting a surplus. There's a difference.

Theo166

I'd say teens in school are hardly sedentary, lightly active as a min.

reachingforarainbow

ferd_ttp5 wrote: »

StealthHealth wrote: »

teenagers are still growing: Making bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles etc. They need more calories.

Yes probably, but in my case back to old days when im still a teenager im probably overweight i was just eating big like a normal active teen boy, my peers when i was on that time got the same big appetite because we're teenagers athlete but me keep gaining weight and them instead of gaining weight they are gaining more height and maintaining at normal weight

You are not your nephew! He may have a different metabolic rate than you. Don't worry about him becoming overweight until he becomes overweight. It's good that he is eating if he is hungry. Otherwise he'd be damaging his metabolism.

cwolfman13

A surplus? No...but an active teens maintenance is going to be higher. Teens are still growing and developing...I also would have never considered myself sedentary as a teen. I ate a crap load of food as a teen and was always hungry. I was like a buck 35 soaking wet and I ate like a horse and always had issues keeping weight on, never mind gaining weight.

I was so skinny going into the Marines that I was put on double rations.

MityMax96

Do they need a surplus??
Are you saying they need to eat till they get fat?

What you think may be a surplus in calories for you, may not be a surplus at all for them...but purely maintenance...if not below.

When I was a teenager I was doing cross country, basketball for school, as well as in my neighborhood, not to mention a part time job

So the amount of food I was eating may have been a surplus for others, but for me it may have barely been maintenance.
I graduated H.S. at 6'0" and about 135 lbs. I was a string pole.

richardgavel

Surplus = more calories than needed to maintain current weight. Growing (up, not out) generally means increasing in weight. So yes, a surplus should be expected.

cmtigger

wellthenwhat wrote: »

Now our teen girl's bodies take any calorie surplus and turn it into fat, lol

No, not all, very few actually. Girls just tend to have a more distorted view of what is normal. They don't need as much as boys, but they need more food than an adult of the same size.

I was eating whatever I wanted and was underweight or barely in the healthy BMI until my late 20's.

ferd_ttp5

wellthenwhat wrote: »

Now our teen girl's bodies take any calorie surplus and turn it into fat, lol

Even in some boys lol because not all male genetics got a more muscle mass than fat some of boys has low muscle mass and got a moderate fat then if they eat on calorie surplus they will get more fat. I'm the kind of that genetic

RoteBook

Yes, teens generally need more calories than an adult of the same height and weight, especially males. Many males don't reach their final height until 20 years old, or even 21.

So (reading between the lines of your previous posts), please DO listen to the doctor, parent, or counselor who is telling you that you need more calories to be healthy.

wellthenwhat

cmtigger wrote: »

wellthenwhat wrote: »

Now our teen girl's bodies take any calorie surplus and turn it into fat, lol

No, not all, very few actually. Girls just tend to have a more distorted view of what is normal. They don't need as much as boys, but they need more food than an adult of the same size.

I was eating whatever I wanted and was underweight or barely in the healthy BMI until my late 20's.

Then my whole family must have been an exception to the rule, lol. Because we all got chubby during puberty. We thinned out because we actively were careful to eat less in our later teen years.

Luckadea

I would say it depends on the teenager. I remember my brother, who today is 6'4 would eat a dozen eggs in one sitting... as a snack! He was never fat one day in his life, but he did eat like he just came out of 50 years of famine when he was around 16 years old and it felt like he was growing 3 inches a day as he wasn't a very big boy before his teens. He wasn't what I would call active. Even with his eating splurges he never got fat, just taller. So I think it depends on the teenager and on several other factors such as their genes (how tall, bone structure, muscle content etc.)

cmtigger

wellthenwhat wrote: »

cmtigger wrote: »

wellthenwhat wrote: »

Now our teen girl's bodies take any calorie surplus and turn it into fat, lol

No, not all, very few actually. Girls just tend to have a more distorted view of what is normal. They don't need as much as boys, but they need more food than an adult of the same size.

I was eating whatever I wanted and was underweight or barely in the healthy BMI until my late 20's.

Then my whole family must have been an exception to the rule, lol. Because we all got chubby during puberty. We thinned out because we actively were careful to eat less in our later teen years.

It doesn't mean you can't overeat, but you need more than someone who isn't growing. (Fwiw, my sister is 5'6", I'm 5'10". )

RoteBook

JerSchmare wrote: »

They need more calories than a 50 year old. Yes. But not a surplus. They just need more because they are growing.

Go to MFP, and change your age to 18. You will see your calories probably almost double. At least, they do for me.

His age is 18, according to his profile and his previous posts about his eating disorder.