How many calories does a 13yr old boy need each day

I wouldn't focus on calories for him, he's far too young. Just focus on feeding him healthy and nutritious foods. Cook healthy meals, leave healthy snacks for him to eat, and teach him the importance of good food. See if maybe he wants to take up a sport perhaps? Or go on family walks together. Just focus on healthy habits, not calories.

does he sit inside when he's not in school? if so, get him outside playing soccer or basketball or something for a few hours a day. and try to keep him away from refined sugars.

there must be something physical he likes doing enough to do every day.

in reality every person should raise their heart rate through some type of physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day. our bodies weren't evolved to be sedentary for almost all of the day.

Mmmm, I agree with the above poster who said the calorie controlled diet for a kid isn't a good idea. I would also recommend focusing on making sure they are eating things at the bottom/middle of the food pyramid 90% of the time and getting them doing some physical activity they enjoy (eg. competitive sports, athletics, etc)

I don't know how you can make them eat things they don't want to though, when I was a teenager I was overweight and wouldn't listen to anyone

i agree on not focusing on the cals....i wonder if you can create a profile for him, even though you are the one to use it, and you log what you know that he eats all day, and you can see where he already is on a daily basis. Then you'll be able to easily see what he is doing, and as you increase good stuff and see what you can replace with healthier versions....I think it would be so empowering for kids to log their own food...just for the educational aspect, but of course, they are so young and that is just a different ballgame.

My son is 21 and eats horribly and i worry....but i do find if i do things like grill veggies, or use whole wheat bread and pasta etc...he will eat it...so that could be a start ;-)

I totally get you. My son is 10 and out of no where went from a bean pole to a chubster. He hates sports, fruits and veg, and any type of cleaner eating. Doesnt like going outside and being active, only stays on his laptop or playing video games. On my days off, I get him outside and let him ride his bike but he tires rather quickly.
It is frustrating but I'm hoping that I can slowly get him to eat differently and that he'll have a massive growth spurt and thin out.

My son will be 13 in 3 mos... and iis 173-175 lbs and 5'7 or 5'8 (he was 5'6 same as me in April at his birthday but now he is taller than me :brokenheart: ) and plays soccer, hockey, basketball and is very active. He has always been a "big" boy - not fat, but TALL and muscular as he was 9lbs 4oz and 22.5 inches at birth and always off the scale in the percentile used by the doctor..but his weight always fit with his height, so it all balanced out.
You can't keep them away from all junk forever but it's important to keep them active and if they eat junk to balance that with good foods as well - my son loves lamb, raw baby spinach, fennel, olive oil and other "weird" stuff other kids wouldn't touch...

Good ideas above! My suggestions: with exercise - try some gadgets for the bike - recording heart/rate - speed and progress on the computer usually appeals. It motivates most people - not just children- to see progress made and have something to 'compete' with/aim for. With healthy food I suggest making it fun in any way you can. An apple a day is healthy did get a bit dull. We went for variety and had more success- adding something small but odd and new to try each day. (+ awarded 'man points' for courage in the face of such dangers) It has become part of the routine here - and report back time is usually quite a joke session. Our foster children unpack their school lunch looking for the day's adventure food are disappointed not to find anything odd enough to shock their friends with! The result - a greater willingness to accept new tastes and textures in other meals. Sometimes they actually meet a new food they love (who would have thought that dried seaweed would be so popular?) Smoothies are easy to make and low calorie and filling. Ours will eat anything made into soup - and again it is a low calorie filler and always there to dip into as pots can be kept in the fridge. I find that anything (however healthy) made 'bite size' or not requiring any chewing is popular as a snack food.

Doctors generally don't recommend monitoring a child's calories due to the fact that there bodies are growing. I have an overweight child and underweight child. I just get rid of all the junk in the house, feed them the meals I make for myself, and give the underweight child larger portions. Also, encourage your son to be more active. Sign him up for a sport. Or you could teach him about weight training. My youngest daughter recently took an interest in weight training and I bought her some light weights.

I think you need to focus on healthy food choices as well as serving sizes. My weight problems started when I was very young, and most of my issues were from eating too big of portions. My mom always cooked and we ate out very rarely, but I always had seconds and ate big portions.

This is one thing that I work on teaching my normal weight 5-year-old daughter. When she finishes something that tastes really good to her and asks for more, I am trying to teach her that just because it tastes really good, we don't need to eat more unless our stomachs are still hungry.

I actually flipped out on my ex because he was buying her not only a happy meal at McDonalds, but an extra cheeseburger as well. There is just no need for a 5-year-old to eat two cheeseburgers for dinner. We are on the same page now, and we both try to limit the fast food to once a week or so. She really doesn't get sweets at my house, because I don't want them around, so she gets them a few times at his house.

I think it's more important to talk about the health effects of certain foods, but to also learn to eat proper portion sizes, even of healthy foods. I don't buy unhealthy snacks, but I do keep a variety of healthy snacks (individual pkg of peanuts, kids Cliff Bars, individual packs of Goldfish) on the "snack shelf" in the pantry and fresh fruit in the fridge so she can help herself when she is hungry, but I also try to limit the "boredom snacking" if I notice her doing it.

I never want my child to have to struggle with weight the way that I have, but I also don't want her to become too body- or weight-conscious and lean the other way either. I really try to focus on health as much as possible, and remember that I am the grown-up, so I control what comes into my house and what my daughter ultimately eats.

You can make sweet potato fries as a healthy delicious snack. They also sell "Banana babies" which is a frozen banana covered in chocolate treat...it's in popsicle section at the grocery store.

I have two 13yo kids. Actually, my son I'm not too concerned about, he balances good food choices with good exercise. But I am concerned with my daughter. She has always been very thin but all off a sudden she's got a butt and thighs. I know puberty has a lot to do with it but I'm still concerned, I don't want her to have the same weight issues I have.
Like you, most of our meals are healthy, homemade meals. One thing I do is limit portion sizes. Of course they get enough to eat but I pay attention. Are they taking seconds because they are still hungry or do they just want to eat more because it's yummy?
You say your son is a computerhead and you've started limiting that time. Could he earn more time if he goes out and does something active? Just a thought.

Calorie recommendations for a boy, sedentary lifestyle, age 9-13 is 1800, age 14-18 is 2200. Add 0-200 calories for moderately active lifestyle. It's a common activity in health classes for kids that age to log a typical day, so you aren't going to scar him for life if you log a few days and see if he is eating the recommended number of calories and looking for trends such as servings of dairy, sodium, etc. and you just might create an opportunity to teach him a bit about making healthy food choices.

If he likes being on the computer and video games, for every hour of it make him get out and play or ride a bike, exercise, play basketball,catch, whatever just get him moving!! My son is 14 and overweight also but is now logging his meals and exercise on a website and has been steadily losing weight but he also joined football so he works out at school everyday so I guess it is the combo of being aware of what he is eating and more exercise that is working, and the website will let him know if he is over or under the the daily limit for his age weight and height or weight loss goal,I will have to ask him what the website is can't think of the web address but will post later.