How many calories should my daughter take in?

Is there some medical concern? Her weight sounds normal for her height and age, so why would you count calories for her?

are you trying to set her up for a lifetime of eating disorders?

she sounds fine LEAVE HER ALONE!

TavistockToad wrote: »

skylimit719 wrote: »

So I want my kids to be healthy and I was just wondering. She is 5'4 and 112 pounds and 12 years of age. She swims (competitively) 4 days a week for an hour and a half. I guess her metabolism is relatively fast. So should she eat more calories on the days she does exercise and less on the days she doesn't? How many?

She shouldn't count calories. You shouldn't restrict her diet in any way, especially if she swims competitively.

+1

If she swims competitively and does not yet have a plan from her coach regarding eating, let her eat. If there is a reason to follow a specific diet plan, her coach will let you know.

Just make sure she develops (or keeps) healthy eating habits. No need to count calories if she limits junk and eats lots of fruits, veggies, and protein.

SMH

When I started counting calories to help me lose weight, I told my daughters (ages 12, 11 and 8) that I was trying to lose weight because I wasn't at a healthy weight for my height, and I wanted to get healthier. I have told them that they are at a healthy weight, so they don't need to be as careful as I do about how much they eat. We do stress, though, that because they are so active (the older two play on competitive sports teams year round) they need to make healthy food choices most of the time so that their bodies have the right fuel. My sister and I both had body image issues for years, so I'm hoping to avoid passing that on to my girls.

My DD is a similar age/height/weight and swims one day a week less than yours. I really encourage her to self-regulate - eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, never finish anything you don't want (even though my mother's voice in my head goes crazy over throwing away perfectly good food!).

Some days, she's ravenous and eats an enormous quantity of food. Some days, she's less hungry and doesn't eat much. Swim days do not necessarily translate to hungrier. Her coaches suggest full-fat chocolate milk as a post-workout drink. There are days when the 16 ounce bottle is empty before we leave the parking lot, and days when she barely has a sip.

I do eyeball her school lunch calories strictly for the purpose of making sure she has enough - if her normal lunch is 800-1,000 calories (which it is, and many days she eats every scrap) and she says she just wants a baggie of dry cereal, I'll pack extra food just in case. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes she doesn't.

She has a couple of friends who already have signs of disordered eating. We talk a lot about listening to your body, both for hunger and for satiety, and giving your body the energy it needs to be healthy and strong. She's aware that I count calories because I ignored my body long enough that I don't recognize hungry and full all the time, and that counting calories is inappropriate for her because she needs to listen to her body.

She's 12, leave her alone. She doesn't need to count calories and you don't need to count them for her.

3bambi3 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

She's 12, leave her alone. She doesn't need to count calories and you don't need to count them for her.

+1x1000

+1X10000

Maybe I give people the benefit of the doubt too much, but I wonder if OP is worried about giving her ENOUGH calories? I worry about this with my wisp of a 5 year old. She eats like a bird and doesn't ever sit still. I worry that she isn't eating enough, some days.

I think that the parent in this situation could just be curious about monitoring, to ensure she isn't getting too much or too little without communicating that to the kid.