DS (11) what's a normal food intake for a day?

[Irisbouquet]

Ds is constantly hungry and can eat lots, getting a bit worried as he's looking a little overweight atm.

He is tall for his age, quite stocky, needs age 14 for length but they're not massive on him either.

Do I feed him for his height or age? He eats more than his friends but is also taller.

Disclaimer I come from a v slim disordered eating family, DH family are mostly bigger, I'm struggling to see what's normal and don't want to give DS a complex about it.

What's a normal daily food intake, including a packed lunch, for a tall, fairly active 11 year old?

My 11 year old barely eats and is very skinny

today :
cereal for breakfast
sausage in a bun for lunch
Roast dinner tonight he probably will only eat a bit of chicken and one Yorkshire
maybe a slice of toast before bed

I'll also give him full fat chocolate milkshake to try and get the calories in him

Concentrate on type of food, not amount.

Limit junk food, high fat and high sugar snacks and drinks.

Let him have free access to fruit and veg.

Protein and fibre will fill him up so make sure his meals/snacks have enough.

Keep family exercise levels high.

At that age, DS would typically have:

Breakfast: 2 x weetabix and milk

Mid morning snack: banana or cereal bar

Lunch: sandwich (2 slices of bread, but he’d only eat half) an apple, crisps

After school: Usually chocolate from the shop walking home with his mates

Dinner: pasta and sauce, or chicken/potatoes/veg or 2 sausages mash & beans, typical dinner stuff I guess.

Before bed: yoghurt

DS is slim as he does a huge amount of sport (c.20-30 hrs a week). He could probably do with putting a bit of weight on, but he’s fit & healthy and has the energy he needs so it seems to be about right.

Average height, active 11 year old.
With the packed lunch request, when he goes back to school next week, I'd expect:
Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with butter and topping (ham, honey, marmite). Water to drink.
Lunch: 2 slices of bread into a sandwich, usually with ham or cheese, slices of pepper and cucumber, chunk of cheese if not a cheese sandwich, handfull of pringles if a PE day, Biscuit, apple, carton of fruit juice.
Snack: often fruit wen he gets back from school.
Dinner: nearly as much as (overweight) meof a family dinner - stir fry, baked fish with potatoes and veg, toad in the hole with veg, chicken and rice. Maybe more fruit.

Probably far too high in carbs, definitely high in sugar. Skinny, full of energy, eats a fraction of his super skinny older brother who adds in eggs at breakfast, and often something after dinner too.

Dts are 11, in term time

Breakfast is instant porridge or a piece of toast with marmite or peanut butter, maybe some fruit or a smoothie

Snack - piece of fruit

Packed lunch - cheese or ham sandwich or wrap, or hummous and carrot, yogurt, babybel, yogurt

Crisps or ritz crackers

Dinner can be anything, stir fry, pho, curry and rice, pasta, they will eat Greek salad with anything. Some times they eat larger portions or sometimes less. They are very active.

My son is ten. He would snack all day if I let him. Today he has eaten a bowl of cereal for breakfast followed by a flapjack. He’s also had some crisps and a Kit Kat and a banana and a bowl of tomato soup with 2 pieces of toast. For tea we will have spaghetti bolognaise and he won’t each much because he isn’t a fan of actual meals but much prefers to snack all day little and often like some kind of bird. He is tall and skinny and does a moderate amount of sport.

DS2 is 11

he would eat
breakfast- either weetabix or egg on toast or bacon sarnie

lunch - often doesn’t have if at home but something like a prawn roll, or some steamed chicken dumplings or soup.

dinner - bit of a veg dodger. His face meal is Mexican so fajitas or chilli burrito etc

snacks - as many chicken legs and cheese strings as he can get. Will do crisps and chocolate or fruit but chicken/meat and cheese is his go to snack.

My 12 year old is always hungry. I couldn't tell you what he eats, as he helps himself. My 11 year old, doesn't eat so much yet. It sounds like puberty to me.

My older son went through a more filled out stage around then, but really slimmed down again very quickly.

Don't limit his food, his body is working hard. Have lots of protein rich foods available to fill him up, fruit, veg and reasonable carbs available too like toast, cereal, etc. Milk is really good, whole milk especially.

Thank you, really appreciate it, it's given me some new ideas.

I don't think what I'm giving him is much different to the norm, except we do a small pudding after the evening meal, I'm going to switch this to fruit instead. Maybe my portion size is too big, but then he says he's hungry...

He hates breakfast, so generally grabs a brioche to eat on the way to school, will switch this to wholemeal toast to take.

I don't think a summer of grandparent treats has helped tbh.

My 11 year old GD eats quite a bit, and when she's here, will have :

2 Weetabix or some Shreddies
2 slices of toast with butter, or 2 crumpets
an apple

a ham or cheese sandwich
yoghurt
banana
some grapes
packet of crisps
Penguin or similar bar

dinner might be
home-made chicken pizza with salad or
home-made spaghetti bolognese then
a Cornetto or similar

Mine also eats because he’s bored a lot I find.

Mine would eat:
breakfast - scrambled egg on toast or avocado on toast; small bowl of berries or melon; smoothie or water to drink
lunch - tuna sandwiches (two slices of bread) or chicken salad wrap or tuna pasta salad; water to drink
after school snack - chicken wrap or bowl of soup - not every day - just on hungry days
dinner - home-made pizza and salad; roast chicken with potatoes and veg; chicken fajitas or enchiladas
snacks throughout the day - fruit; popcorn or crisps, sometimes muffin

My DS is around this age and quite overweight. I'm struggling to know how to best deal with it to be honest. He's very un-sporty but walks quite a lot every day so does get some exercise. On school days he eats something like this:

Breakfast:
Big bowl of fruit and fibre cereal with milk.

Lunch:
Cheese sandwich on brown bread.
Little pot of olive and tomato salad.
Packet of crisps.
Slice of buttered malt loaf.

Snack:
Apple or a biscuit... although I know he also shares sweets with friends after school and rifles through the cupboards at home when he gets a chance.

Dinner:
Chickpea, spinach and tomato curry with rice.
Live yoghurt with fruit and honey.

On weekends/holidays he will have a 2nd breakfast of toast or a croissant or something and a cake, ice cream or drink of coke or juice as a treat when we're out and about. Most days he only drinks water and the occasional cup of tea.

On paper he eats the same if not less than his super skinny (but much more active) younger sister. We're all different I guess.