Teen eating SO much

[GlitteryFarts]

I'm at my wits end with my 14yo ds.
I have 4 boys, ages 6, 8, 12 and 14. The 14 year old is an actual bottomless pit.

For example, on Monday I spent £50 stocking the freezer with a variety.of ice lollies to tide them over the summer holidays. I've just looked and there are about 8 left.

Yesterday we went to the beach and I bought the most humongous watermelon ever before hand for the picnic. I cubed it and we shared a quarter of it between the 5 of us (it really was that big) along with other bits. This morning he ate the other quater to himself and I've just caught him in his room with the remaining half.

Every time I stock up on things to last us the week, the wrappers are in his bedroom and cupboards are empty within a couple of days.

I know the usual consensus is to simply stop buying things but its so unfair that his younger siblings should miss out because he is so greedy. He can't say its hunger because ice lollies and watermelons aren't filling! Its just that its there and he wants it.

The biscuit jar will be empty within 2 days of it being filled and the younger ones may have had 1 or 2 each, they get sweets for their birthdays from family and they go missing and nobody knows where until I search his room and find the empty wrappers. He will sneak down countless times of a night to get toast, crisps, cereal, anything.

Ive bought microwave popcorn at 25p a bag, healthier and fills a large bowl, he was over it in 3 days and back to normal taking everything else. Ive bought rice crackers - he ate the whole pack in a night. I bought pot noodles as a carb fix - he ate 3 in a night.

His portion sizes are huge, I try to fill him at mealtimes with lots of protein, veg and carbs to avoid this but he just inhales his food within 30 seconds and is on the mooch for more an hour later.

He is 6ft tall and as thin as a string of spaghetti, he doesn't have worms as I deworm us all regularly due to letters from school. I don't think he has any kind of illness unless sheer greed is an illness and I'm at my absolute wits end. He is costing me a fortune and it isn't sinking in! I've explained how much I spend, how selfish it is etc, he just stares at me and either agrees or says he's hungry when he isn't!

What can I do except put a lock on my kitchen door which I absolutely won't as its our home! I hate the thought of not buying as much over the holidays and the younger ones missing out on treats because he can't bare to eat only his fair share.

Any advice please?

If he's thin then he obviously needs what he's eating, if he was overeating he'd be gaining or overweight????

14 year old boys are famously hungry! He probably really is. I wonder if he needs more protein though? That might help him feel more satisfied. Can you get big tubs of Greek yogurt (cheap in Lidl and Aldi) that he can help himself to?

It sounds like the portions that suit you and the younger DC just aren’t enough for your 6ft tall young man. I mean really OP things like watermelon just aren’t very filling, I could eat a quarter of one alone no problem!

Teen boys in puberty often eat like bottomless pits for a while before a growth spurt. If he’s getting through dinner in seconds and then looking for more, he sounds genuinely hungry. What healthy and filling food is available to him in unlimited quantities?

He is a teen
They eat and eat
Bulk buy cereal

That's teenagers for you, always hungry.

If there are specific treats where everyone needs a share, then allocate a portion for each person to eat at their leisure. We would have things like each person gets 2 ice lollies because there were 8 in the box and 4 people in the family.

he needs to have access to filling food. Sit down with him and come up with some ideas for things to keep stocked that he can have free access .

Try increasing protein, boiled eggs can be stored in the fridge for snacks. Maybe a pasta salad with sliced /chopped sausage and vegetables.

Watermelon, lollies and upf snacks aren't filling, so of course he will eat his way through them. He needs carbs (pref. wholemeal) and protein.

He is on a seefood diet - see food and eat it. He is eating it because it’s there. I would stop buying in bulk and just get enough to last a couple of days.
Agree this would drive me mad. DH and I are runners and our kids are sporty too so food never lasts long here and it does get a bit ‘survival of the fittest’.

Watermelon, ice lollies and biscuits are never going to make him feel full so he will be able to eat massive amounts of them.

Protein will make him feel fuller for longer, alongside complex carbohydrates.

Eggs, eggs and more eggs! Nutritious and should help fill them up.

I always keep one of those huge tubs of Greek yoghurt in the fridge along with oats and berries for him to have.

His portion sizes are huge im not exaggerating he has a mountain on his plate.

He has a lot of protein, will eat scrambled eggs on toast or omlette for breckfast every day. Embarrassingly we do have meat with every meal and he has more than probably all of us put together on our plates.

The fridge is always stocked with plenty of fruit (he will eat an entire punnet of grapes within hours of me unpacking the shopping before anyone else gets any), cheese, meat, yogurts, eggs etc.

I honestly don't think he's hungry he just sees food and has to shovel it down before someone else can. I can only shop once a week because of work and by the third day the fridge is empty except raw ingredients.

My 13 year old is the same. He’s always liked his food but he is on a mission to eat at the moment. Lots of protein helps but he’s also got nothing on him and does tons of physical activity so I think he genuinely needs the calories at the moment. I do try to steer him towards healthier options where possible.

I've never thought of it as greed I'm afraid op, it's just what teens eat.

They're growing, bones getting denser.

My rule is as soon as dd gets to her third punnet of fruit now in a snack period, she has ti accept she's hungry and switch ti actually having a meal.

I batch cook every week about 10 portions of eg beef stew, and she has that on top of the normal 3 meals a day as her snack.

All kinds of things are going on that take calories - brain development, bone growth. It's may also be that there is a growth leap coming. My best advice would be larger carb portions at meals and a dessert after dinner to make up more calories.

Actually OP, nows a good time to use that Too Good To Go app. You can get mountains of food on the cusp of going out of date for a few quid. Loads of those 7-11 style shops are in on it and you tend to get a mix of healthy stuff - certainly plenty of stuff to bulk make sandwiches, yoghurt, cooked meats etc, though it's all pot luck. Worth trying a few local ones see whos on it locally - Spar, Budgens, local garages etc

he's hungry

but he's also rude.

you need a new strategy, also keep in mind that you will soon have 3 more bottomless pits.

3 teens here, one of which seems to be over the worst (hopefully)
we have a drawer of healthy-ish snacks, nut bars for example, that we fill once a week. once empty that's it. however, my teens are good at sharing between them.
in addition there is of course a fruit bowl.

special occasion snacks are specified, i.e. 3 ice lollies each this week.

plus bread & cheese & (microwave) toastie maker
and eggs & frozen veg for a quick omlette

3 Grandsons ..age 15 16 and 18.. all tall and thin.. yet my daughter can't fill them.
Proper home made meals..
Chicken roasts with Yorkshire puddings..
Bolignase
Home made burger n wedges etc.
Cereal and toast at breakfast.
Sandwiches n soup at lunch.
Yet they eat crisps/ biscuits/ pot noodles/ donuts/ more toast in between..bottomless stomachs.
I couldn't believe it.. having had two girls.. so different.

I remember those days! Firstly, just to reassure you, it’s perfectly normal so don’t worry (about anything other than your massive grocery bill/empty fridge). DS would clear the fridge after a big shop like a plague of locusts. Meat for a week’s meals would be cooked for a light snack - it’s infuriating!

Sit him down and set some boundaries. Tell him what is off limits. Explain that there are five(?) other people in the house, so he only eats his share of the fruit etc. Encourage him to fill up on toast or whatever when he’s hungry. He’s old enough to learn the cost and the inconvenience when he eats other people’s shares of the food. If it’s any consolation it only usually lasts for a year or two, until they’ve reached their adult height. It’s so bloody expensive though! Good luck!

If he walks a lot he could be needing 3000 calories a day. It is a lot of food.

When I was training and eating 2000 calories it was 2 breakfasts, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks. For 3000 calories you'd probably need to add dessert onto dinner, and 3 high calorific snacks. Healthy fats are good as take longer to burn - nuts, peanut butter. 1 gram of fat is 9 calories whereas 1 gram of carb is 4 calories.

I honestly don't think he's hungry he just sees food and has to shovel it down before someone else can

He's not overeating though. If he's 6ft tall and slim - he must just be hungry.

I had a boyfriend at uni who was like this - thin as a rake and a human dustbin. It was a standing joke in his family; his very weight- and health-conscious parents and younger brothers would regularly tease him about it in ways I find quite uncomfortable to look back on.

He’s now in his mid fifties and obese. He has additional challenges as he is ND but I’m convinced the teasing did him no good at all and would probably have met current definitions of emotional abuse.

OP I’m not suggesting you are anything like my ex’s DPs, but if I have any advice it would be to make sure you’re not turning food into a big ‘thing’ in your house, just make sure what you’re providing is nutritious and filling.

My 15 year old DS is like this. He makes lots of protein and fruit rich smoothies with Skyr yogurt (I get the 400g pits when on offer) or overnight oats and then anything else he can lay his hands on. Lots of carbs (pasta mainly) and eats hard boiled eggs straight from the fridge. He eats the biggest main meal of the whole family. As others have said, he doesn't gain weight, so obviously needs it. A growing lad!

Slow cooker is your friend. Slowcooker chilli, fajitas, curry, with loads of beans and pulses all chucked in in the morning and ready for them to fill up on with loads of bread/ microwave rice later if that’s easier.

Can’t believe you’re calling your 14’yrsr old son a greedy pig 🙂 when you’ve admitted hes thin! He is hungry and its your job to provide nutritious filling foods! Not his fault you filled the freezer with ice lollies if I was hungry and that was all there was I would likely eat them too.
His body is trying to grow into a mature man that takes energy/ calories!
Look at providing plenty of nutritious filling foods.