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.

My just turned 10 year old is fairly skinny.
A typical school day:
2 slices of toast with butter and marmite.
No mid morning snack (school would allow him to have one)
Lunch: ham sandwich, cucumber and pepper strips. Half a packet of cripis or similar amount of crackers etc. Half an apple and some other fruit (raisins, grapes or berries usually), chocolate biscuit like a penguin.
After school snack - probably half the time - home made cake or biscuit.
Dinner: whatever we have. Usually homemade. Try and get cheese in most days, as it's the only time he will eat dairy. Fruit for pudding - melon, kiwi, pineapple, mango. Only drinks water.

My very skinny 12 year old would add a glass of milk at breakfast(and probably switch the marmite for jam or honey), a chunk of cheese at lunch, and cream on his fruit in the evening. Rare for him now to have a post school snack.

I'd try and reduce the snacks - maybe start by turning them to fruit and veg, and see if he loses interest in eating then. If you ate dinner a bit later, and added the apple as pudding, could you loose the before bed food?
Also, switch the tube and fromage frais for adult yoghurt. Read the packets - go for something with more understandable ingredients. The yoghurts aimed at kids often have loads of thickeners and additives added.

Similar to others, that's a lot of treat foods in a day. Would you be able to replace the Soreen bar on the way home with a banana which would add more fibre and is less calories?

For morning snack, what about wholegrain crackers with cheese to add more fibre and protein? The other way I add protein with toast is peanut butter, if your DS will eat it. Mine would only get one of the three puddings your DS gets, so not an apple plus 2 fromage frais. Mine are frequently hungry again after dinner, but I am to cook enough dinner they can have a second helping rather than going for toast as dinner would normally be healthier.

Thanks @myfuckingfreezer

He only has the toast at bedtime once a week or so and a frube is only 34 cals. I just checked as I was a bit horrified by that!

So I think it’s just a tiny bit extra every day. Which is why he’s putting it on slowly but surely.

Interesting to see where it’s all coming from. Thank you.

Try veggie sticks with hummus
Fruit
Make homemade flapjacks - can adjust sugar amount and the oats are good plus it will feel like a treat. Can add sultanas/apricots etc
Use adult yogurts rather than kids ones. Can add fruit to sweeten it.

@myfuckingfreezer One Frube has about 40 calories, not 100. Also 2 slices of bread isn’t 300 calories. Maybe it will if you add lots of butter. @DancesWithDaffodils your DC don’t have much calcium. It’s essential that growing DC have adequate amounts of calcium to prevent weak bones. Bit weird you only give them half an apple.

Sorry OP I got confused between drives and 2x fromage frais while trying to do it on my phone!

My DS8 (almost 9) is a bit on the chubby side at the moment but I think is in the midst of a growth spurt.

Things I do are to choose the crisps carefully, space raiders & quavers etc have fewer calories than hula hoops & normal walkers etc. Also sweet & salted popcorn is only about 65cals a bag. Swap the penguin for a viscount or a mini pick up about 50cals.

My DS usually has a cheese sandwich (wholemeal bread) for packed lunch with a chunk of cucumber, a cold sausage, popcorn & viscount biscuit. He has grapes or an apple at break time.

If he's hungry after school (normally!) I do a little snack plate of a few small cheese cubes, few mixed nuts, apple slices & a big breadstick.

He's got a bigger appetite than his older brother & sister but also a completely different body shape.

I try to give him protein & veg as snacks.

[quote CutieBear]**@myfuckingfreezer* One Frube has about 40 calories, not 100. Also 2 slices of bread isn’t 300 calories. Maybe it will if you add lots of butter. @DancesWithDaffodils* your DC don’t have much calcium. It’s essential that growing DC have adequate amounts of calcium to prevent weak bones. Bit weird you only give them half an apple.[/quote]
You're right, I started off including the butter then changed. Sorry OP I've been less than helpful!

He's probably just filling out before he sprouts up. I wouldn't worry about his diet tbh. It looks fine. I'd just focus on the activity.

Obviously you are going to be the best judge of what he is eating. I wouldn't purposely start cutting snacks out as some suggested as with times like after school, most kids come home starving as they have been concentrating and been a while since lunch that a snack is good for their mood else they are stroppy. But obviously a good healthy swop will help him. My only suggestion would be making sure he is getting enough milk, yoghurt etc if not keen on cereal. And if does like cereal mine would have cereal before bed if still hungry. Usually due to sports training or a grow spurt due. Just remember when he has evened out a bit, all kids fill out a bit and eat more before a growth spurt

No, that was helpful myfucking

Honestly, that doesn't sound like a great deal of food unless his portions are huge. My 10 year old eats loads more than that and is very thin. What are his activity levels like? Mine wears a fitness tracker (because he's a bit of a nerd) and goes running up and down the stairs at the end of the day if he hasn't done 20,000 steps.

Hungry in my house gets directed to the fruit bowl though.

@CutieBear it is totally possible to meet the daily calcium requirement without dairy - indeed, much of the world doesnt consume dairy in the way the British do. While I totally get dairy is widely used as a calcium source, personally I dont eat much dairy (cheese, chocolate and icecream are about it), DH only put milk in his tea, and DS2 generally avoids the stuff. I suspect we are all slightly intolerant to something in unprocessed milk - not something I thought of until first weaning experience resulted in a hospital trip with swollen airways, and a dairy free weaning process (fully bf, and I have a low dairy diet) made me suspect my body disagrees with milk, and I think of me being fussy rather than having an intolerance, but perhaps I'm fussy about dairy because it disagrees with me?

They dont want more than half an apple. Believe me, I'd love not to slice and core the damm thing every morning!

This is totally normal- kids fill out before the shoot up. He possibly needs more protein in his diet but FFS don't restrict his food- he's 9!

OP I wouldn't panic kids often get a bit chubbier before a growth spurt. If you do want to make improvements I would take out the crisps and cereal bar. Toast could be replaced with porridge or ensure the toast is wholegrain with some seeds. Make sure he has protein in the morning.(Cheesy toast?). Drfinitely give him a snack if he's hungry just make it a little more healthy. Fruit? Home made muffins with less sugar and whole meal flour/oats (if you have time)? No added sugar yogurt.

Sorry if this sounds patronising, but good for you for trying to change things for him. Overweight in childhood almost certainly leads to overweight in adulthood. I know it’s so hard to keep children’s eating on track though.
He is having a lot of sugar that will be causing spikes, making him feel more hungry. I would change the breakfast to complete wholemeal (some are better then others, research this) with peanut butter (look for a good one with no added salt). Even though peanut butter has lots of calories, it’s much more filling and more protein compared to marmite.

Lunch, again can you do a wholemeal wrap? Wholemeal pasta salad? Wholemeal crackers? Then do cheese, veg, hummous, eggs etc. Ditch the chocolate if you can, if not look for dark chocolate (sainsburys do dark chocolate corn thins and dark chocolate rice cakes). Yoghurt as well, it’s very sugary. Have you tried plain yoghurt with some fruit?

After school is always so tough. I would bend here and have a pepparoni or something for him and a banana.

What does he drink, juice? That also causes sugar spikes and hunger.

I appreciate these are drastic changes and impossible to do them all in one go! My children eat relatively well like this 80% of the time, I’m defo try not perfect but I try and stick to it best I can. Can he help you food shop and cook? Teach him about food, the stuff they learn in school is rubbish. Don’t label things healthy and unhealthy or bad and good but teach everything in moderation and why we should choose certain things over others.

Can you get some more veggies in his packed lunch, carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes etc. Make sure you give him a child's portion at tea time, its easy to give them a plateful if they eat it. Other than that its not awful, to be honest at that age as long as they are moving enough they should be able to eat anything so I think his exercise needs to be increased.

Eggs are also a great snack OP!

Frube, penguin, soreen, 2 fromage frais and an extra snack at school is way too much. To be honest, it's to much even for an adult.

I'd say less processed foods, more vegetables and fruit. Eggs are high in protein and low in fat.
Maybe try to change things gradually. Eg cutting down to one fromage frais for a week or so and making another shall change the following week.

I agree with others that you don’t need all those snacks in a day. I’m only now feeling more relaxed about my kids eating crisps more than once or twice a week and they’re teens! They do eat biscuits every day and now seem to buy themselves rubbish food when out.

At that age breakfast would be cereal or some kind of bread product like toast or bagel or crumpets. Eggs sometimes or pancakes.

If they had a packed lunch it would be pasta or sandwich. Carrot and cucumber, a piece of fruit and a flapjack or biscuit.

After school they’d have a biscuit or two. Then dinner would be bolognese, curry, meatballs, chicken and rice etc always with tons of veg.

Two kids eat plenty of fruit. One doesn’t like fruit at all but does eat veg.

I’m surprised school allow crisps and cereal bars as snack!?
All the schools round here allow fruit or veg only.
That would be the one thing I’d change.
Also not quite sure why he needs supper if has eaten properly during the day? My daughters are a similar age and they have milk before bed if they want it but nothing else.

What are dinner portion sizes like OP? For example pasta/spaghetti is quite calorific and people don’t realise.

I am guessing the ham you give him is just sliced sandwich ham? This doesn’t have much nutritional value, maybe switch to chicken or tuna for protein? Which will keep him fuller for longer. Definitely don’t restrict certain food groups but find a balance. Boiled eggs are great snacks and fruit such as apples.

Also OP what does he drink?

there are a few easy swaps to make - morning snack just fresh fruit or veg perhaps - but agree not to panic too much. I have seen loads of my DC's friends kids grow out before they grow up, somewhere around age 9-11. Now aged 14 all the chubby ones have had their growth spurts and are back to the normal healthy shape they had as younger DC.

If you want to increase his activity levels a fitness tracker might help. I just bought one (cheapo non-brand, £22) and 10yo DC2 decided she wanted to spend her pocket money on one too. She's definitely more up for exercise since she has a daily goal.