Teens and Food

72lori

I have 4 kids between the ages of 9 and 13. All of them are pretty good eaters and active kids. The one that is 12 is like he's starved all the time. I know that hormones are kicking full swing (he gained like 30 pounds and 5 inches in the last year- at least). Do you limit? I do encourage good choices, but do I tell him he has to stop eating? I don't have the heart, he's hungry. He runs track, he spends hours in the driveway shooting hoops and he's one hungry boy. He's not overweight and has a muscular build (for a 12 year old).

I want to instill good habits in them now. It's easier to learn them at a young age. I also have to understand he's growing and may need food, but I struggle with what is too much. He does love good healthy foods. He hates fast food, thinks french fries are nasty. Just last weekend I made muffins and he ate at least 15 of them in 48 hours. Thank goodness they were lowfat and lowcal. He made eggs the other day and made 8! His afterschool 'snack' is 3 bowls of cereal.

Any thoughts on how to handle always hungry teen boys?

72lori

I have 4 kids between the ages of 9 and 13. All of them are pretty good eaters and active kids. The one that is 12 is like he's starved all the time. I know that hormones are kicking full swing (he gained like 30 pounds and 5 inches in the last year- at least). Do you limit? I do encourage good choices, but do I tell him he has to stop eating? I don't have the heart, he's hungry. He runs track, he spends hours in the driveway shooting hoops and he's one hungry boy. He's not overweight and has a muscular build (for a 12 year old).

I want to instill good habits in them now. It's easier to learn them at a young age. I also have to understand he's growing and may need food, but I struggle with what is too much. He does love good healthy foods. He hates fast food, thinks french fries are nasty. Just last weekend I made muffins and he ate at least 15 of them in 48 hours. Thank goodness they were lowfat and lowcal. He made eggs the other day and made 8! His afterschool 'snack' is 3 bowls of cereal.

Any thoughts on how to handle always hungry teen boys?

FluffnStuff

Feed em.

:flowerforyou:

chantybear

Expensive, but he sounds really active. My brother was not even a quarter active as that and ate like a horse....do not fret, if he keeps eating like that, and stops exercising as much, or starts gaining excessive weight then approach him with the idea that he should eat less!

omid990

sounds like my brother. he eats almost three times as much as i do in a day :laugh:
he sounds pretty active so as long as he's not gaining, i don't think its a problem (aside from being expensive )

dclarsh

Feed them, always feed them. Just make sure what you're giving him is healthy, which it sounds like you are doing a good job of. My son is 8, and he's starting to eat like crazy too. I make sure I keep apples, cut up carrots and cheese sticks on hand so he can help himself when he gets hungry.

greysweatshirt

I wouldn't be too worried, I was totally like that in my teens and early 20s too! I was very active and was hungry ALL the time! Unfortunately, I became less active and kept the eating the same, hence the weight gain!

fullofjoy720

feed them :happy:

wilted6orchid

You know I think any good parent would wonder about it. If he is active (which is is) and he's not fat I would let him eat as much as he wants and continue to encourage good choices. I also know many women who are at the other end of the spectrum. If you had a chubby little boy who always acted like he was hungry and wasn't physically active, I would say put you're foot down. But, that just isn't the case.:flowerforyou:

nikii14

My 15 year old boy eat ALLLL DAYYY LOOONG. I am not exagerating. When he comes home from school he makes a HUGE sandwich, w/ pickles and chips.....THEN....he makes himself a bagel with cream cheese. Maybe an hour later he gets another snack. Then he has dinner. Right now he is sitting on the couch eating a bowl of ice cream. IM SERIOUS!

As long as you don't see an increase in his weight...let him be. He's just a growing boy. Lots of things are going on in his body right now...He will definatley burn it off!!

72lori

That's what I thought. Let 'em eat. It's hard when I have weight struggles to watch them chow down. You can't help but think of what may come some day.

And Yes! It is expensive. We use almost a gallon of milk a day! I bought 6 gallons last Friday and had to go for more today.

I do try to have them make good choices. I'm at the store all the time buying apples and bananas and I've started to try and make things like rice krispie treats, angel food cake, muffins, etc that is better than prepackaged food. Granted if I make it, it's gone the next day, but I try!

songbyrdsweet

When my boyfriend was in highschool, he did hockey, lacrosse, boxing, and football. Since hockey was just a rec sport, that often overlapped with his other sports, so he was active all the time. He ate the same way and had very minimal body fat and was very muscular. It's not as safe to limit the diets of active, growing people as it is to limit the intake of someone who's a fully grown adult. If you were concerned, I would take him to a dietician rather than trying to limit his intake on your own.

mshellclmnt

Feed him. Then if he's still hungry feed him some more! Thats boys for ya.

rstarks54

I have 4 kids between the ages of 9 and 13. All of them are pretty good eaters and active kids. The one that is 12 is like he's starved all the time. I know that hormones are kicking full swing (he gained like 30 pounds and 5 inches in the last year- at least). Do you limit? I do encourage good choices, but do I tell him he has to stop eating? I don't have the heart, he's hungry. He runs track, he spends hours in the driveway shooting hoops and he's one hungry boy. He's not overweight and has a muscular build (for a 12 year old).

I want to instill good habits in them now. It's easier to learn them at a young age. I also have to understand he's growing and may need food, but I struggle with what is too much. He does love good healthy foods. He hates fast food, thinks french fries are nasty. Just last weekend I made muffins and he ate at least 15 of them in 48 hours. Thank goodness they were lowfat and lowcal. He made eggs the other day and made 8! His afterschool 'snack' is 3 bowls of cereal.

Any thoughts on how to handle always hungry teen boys?

My two sons, when in hs, were also athletes, and always hungry...it was nothing for them to go through 2 gallons of milk a day, and yet, remained thin. It is not uncommon for them to burn 3000-5000 calories a day. Feed them, lots of protein, and high fiber foods, and try to buy in bulk, lol, it's the only way you can afford it after awhile...best to you always, Rick

July

My husband talks about how he was always hungry at that age.
Do like you are doing, make sure he's got healthy choices, but don't limit how much - my parents tried to do that with my sister and she's got all sorts of issues now. Don't let him eat in front of the TV or computer, though, because that will create bad habits and he'll want to eat in front of the computer or TV even when he's not actually hungry.

AmyLou9903

I think it sounds like you are doing great!

In college, I knew a girl (yeah, not a boy, but keep reading anyway) who was on the rowing team. She was very fit and athletic and active. . . she ate 4,000 calories a day and didn't gain an ounce during season! And since boys/men tend to have higher metabolism rates in the first place, I'd say your teen is doing great. Just keep those choices healthy and he should be fine! Congrats on the natural born athlete!

AJCM

It will be really easy to see when he's overeating - it will show up as excess body fat!

I say feed that guy! I remember back in high school, my rail thin brother would order two full combos for lunch at McDonald's (not the healthiest example - but sticks out in my mind) and then be starving again after school.

Just part of growth, hormones, and a super-charged metabolism!

Phoenixflame

Yeah! Boys need their food!

Think of it this way: he's listening to his body. As long as it's clear he's eating because he's a ravenous teenager, and not because he's bored, then everything should be fine. Ensuring that he likes healthy foods is the best thing to do.

-sigh- I wish my parents had gotten me into sports at a young age. My metabolism would be badass right now.

hiddensecant

Heh, I think teenage boys are the reason they invented Costco!