9 yr old is putting on weight. Help me tweak his diet?

[4PawsGood]

Want to nip it in the bud before it becomes a bigger issue, he has a bigger tummy than he should and very small boobs. We’re trying to up his activity levels but I feel a bit stuck on food. Current average day is below. I’d be keen to add lower GI food (slower release energy). I just don’t know what he’d eat instead of toast for example.

Two pieces toast, butter, marmite,
Glass of milk

Snack at school, crisps or Stoats cereal bar

Packed lunch
Mini wrap, two slices ham
Chunk cucumber
Frube
Grapes
Chocolate bar

After school Soreen bar

Dinner
Normal dinner, eg stir fry, spaghetti bol etc not a massive amount

Apple and two fromage frais before bed. Two slices toast on his request if he didn’t eat enough dinner.

So any swaps you can think of? I’m expecting comments of ‘too much sugar’, ‘too many carbs’
But I don’t want to restrict food and make an issue of it and I don’t want to make too may changes at once, for the same reason.

Any thoughts very much appreciated.

He's not having a lot of protein so might be feeling genuinely hungry.

More eggs...hard boiled are easy. Porrige is a better breakfast than toast...more nuts fewer frubes/fromage frais/chocolate and crisps.

I'd allow one of the yogurts OR crisps OR chocolate in a normal day...not three or four items of that type.

If you don't want to make too many changes all at once, try keeping his breakfast toast but not giving him crisps and frubes and the stoat bar....

Change them up. Give him some more fruit and a serving of cheese instead.

He can have his usual dinner but not toast in the evening or two fromage frais....make his evening snack something like scrambled eggs or fruit and nuts.

He’s 9, his diet doesn’t Sound awful tbh. Perhaps cut out all the yogurts and toast before bed. Find another snack, weetabix? He’s having up to 4 slices of toast a day plus wraps and pasta for tea sometimes. Is this a case of filling out before he shoots up in a year or 2? Most boys I know where exactly the same at his age.

Have you swapped out white bread and wraps for seedy or wholemeal? Butter for lower fat marg, whole milk for semi?

Instead of the fromage frais I'd compare the sugar and crap to a more grown up version, kids stuff can be packed full of sweeteners and sugars

For school / after school snack I'd do one fruit, one Soreen bar. No crisps and he has to have fruit at one or the other.

How big is the chocolate bar at lunch?

What's his eating like at the weekend? What's he drinking?

Thanks everyone.

Toast in the evening in only maybe once a week.

Chocolate bar is a Penguin. I worded that badly!

What do you mean by a piece of toast? A slice or a half-slice?

The obvious thing to go is the bar of chocolate - what do you mean by a bar? A Kitkat? A Mars bar? A slab of Dairy Milk? And the glass of milk could go. Would he eat porridge instead of toast? The Frube and Soreen bar should go too.

At the weekend he eats the same but lunch is only a ham sandwich and a chunk of cucumber.

More dinner and less supper
He doesn’t need all that food before bed

First thing I’d swap is the chocolate bar in the lunchbox. I’m surprised you get away with it, to be honest. How about a small bag of sweet and salty popcorn, caramel rice cakes or, if he must have chocolate, a coco pops cereal bar.
Stoats cereal bars are very calorific. My DC have one of the following for snack at school: fruit winder, cheese string, yogurt covered raisins or breadsticks.

Slice of toast is one piece of bread.

Chocolate bar, sorry, a ‘penguin’, so biscuit bar.

I was thinking at least the milk is protein so might keep him full longer.

Wish there was an edit button on here!

Bread is 50:50. He won’t eat seeded :-(
Haven’t tried seeded wraps actually.

Interestingly a penguin is 130 calories, compared to the chocolate biscuits we get which are 70. That seems like an obvious swap.

Mine like scrambled eggs for breakfast (done I the microwave, so it only takes a couple of minutes).
School snack is breadsticks and fruit.

Lunch similar.

What does he do after school? Active of computer games etc?

My daughter got a bit chubby around age 9 but she didn't eat much. It just seemed to be a case of filling out before growing several inches in height.

Bit of a mixture after school. Two clubs a week, but apart from that he is very much a homebody/screen addict. We drag him out at the weekend and holidays!
He does walk a mile to school and back and run around most playtimes. We are forcing him into the garden after dinner to play football.

So every day he's having crisps, a chocolate bar, a frube, a soreen bar and 2 fromage frais? Those are all treat foods really and I think all of them in one day is too much.

He’s barely eating any protein and fibre which is why he’s hungry. Try weetabix with milk or eggs for breakfast, chicken or tuna wrap for lunch (more protein) with fruit and yoghurt for lunch, and then more protein for his dinner. Morning snack could be a banana or mini Soreen bar as crisps are void of nutrients and won’t fill him. Apple and yoghurt sound good if he’s hungry a few hours after having dinner, but he doesn’t need the toast.

@tiredanddangerous

So every day he's having crisps, a chocolate bar, a frube, a soreen bar and 2 fromage frais? Those are all treat foods really and I think all of them in one day is too much.

Yes. Although chocolate bar is a biscuit bar.

Does seem a lot, listed like that, although some of those are worse than others.

Does he really need all morning snack, afternoon snack and before bed snack? Or if he does, can't it just be fruit or veg sticks?

I've got a 10 year old and there's no way i'd let him have crisps, cereal bars, penguin, 2 fromage frais, Soreen bar etc every day. Maybe 1 from that list each day.

His meals look fine (bar the penguin) but the snacks and treats seem to make up half his intake!

@CutieBear

He’s barely eating any protein and fibre which is why he’s hungry. Try weetabix with milk or eggs for breakfast, chicken or tuna wrap for lunch (more protein) with fruit and yoghurt for lunch, and then more protein for his dinner. Morning snack could be a banana or mini Soreen bar as crisps are void of nutrients and won’t fill him. Apple and yoghurt sound good if he’s hungry a few hours after having dinner, but he doesn’t need the toast.

Thanks. I don’t think we’re that different to your suggestion for protein though? Happy to be corrected.

Glass of milk for breakfast
Ham in the wrap
Meat at dinner

Fibre, I agree with.

He gets really shitty if he doesn’t have the snack on the way home from school. Not because he’s throwing a strip about the snack, but just mood wise.
At school they all have a snack.

Throwing a strop, not a strip!

It’s a cereal bar or crisps, but yes, it does looks lot. Thanks. I’ll try and adjust.

My 9yo DD was looking a bit chubby earlier this year and she's shot up recently, I've noticed all her leggings are suddenly too short and she's looking leaner. She's not looking taller than her friends so I imagine they're all experiencing similar?
I would focus on exercise.

I get him being hangry after school op, I think the issue is just in the context of the rest iyswim. You need to try and look it as a whole and work out what treat foods he's allowed over the day and fill and gaps with healthy foods - fruit, veg, boiled eggs, small portion of nuts etc.

He is eating a lot of food OP. Is it habit rather than hunger?

Without dinner he's eating 1700 calories a day. So with dinner, maybe 2200 ish? And hidden calories in squash, treats etc.

A 9yo should eat about 1800 a day. The extra 400 cals a day is enough to put on a pound of weight a week. Is he very active?

Eg (estimates)
Breakfast - 500 total
2 pieces of toast - 300
Butter, 10g is about 100
Milk - glass of semi skimmed is 90

Snack - 200 for stoats bar

Lunch - 450
Mini Wrap - 100
Ham - 40
Grapes - 50
Penguin - 140
Frube - 100
Cucumber - 20

Snack 100 soreen

Supper 450
Apple - 50
Two fromage frais - 100
Two slices toast - 300

I would remove the chocolate bar, that might even be enough to solve the issue.