To lock up all the food.

[bristolianpielover]

I have two DS's, aged 7 and 9. They are both healthy weights (recently checked at medical apt's, so I'm aware of their centiles, I'm not just kidding myself!), and both extremely lean. But they eat CONSTANTLY. Fruit, toast, cereal, yoghurt, fruit loaf, cheese etc. I don't have sweets and chocolates in the house, but I know that these snacks are far more sugary than is ideal.
They eat a proper dinner. Tonight was fish fingers, home made chips an peas. None of us have huge portions, but they can eat as much as me. 10mins later, the elder one was making toast with peanut butter. A little while after that he nicked one of his sandwiches that I'd made for tomorrow's packed lunch.
Boxes of cereal and tubs of yoghurt just vanish before my eyes. I've moved stuff onto higher shelves, but the little one just climbs up to get it. Argh!
They are really active and do a tonne of sport over the week, so they burn it off. But I am genuinely perturbed at times at how much food they can get through. Notwithstanding having to replenish stocks far more often than feels normal. I do tell them to stop and wait. But then I feel bad if they say they are hungry. But they shouldn't be hungry because they've already eaten loads. Help!

@bristolianpielover. In honour of your name maybe you should get down o the Clarks pie shop

That should sort them out

My DS has my old Fitbit and I'm amazed by how much he does during the day. His log shows several sessions of exercise throughout the day as unless he's actually in class time he's moving. He's 10 but it says he burns 1700-1900 calories a day. That's as much as an average adult woman. I don't give him adult sized breakfast or lunch because he doesn't eat it but dinner is adult sized usually with a snack of toast and peanut butter later, as well as a bowl of yoghurt and fruit.

Bear in mind, they need to eat excess calories to grow too. Same as losing weight, to gain muscle, every pound is 3600 cals over their maintenance cals.

Why are ppl policing what children eat, poor things. Vegetables, pasta, eggs, frozen or tinned fish are cheap.

I've done a bit of google-generated maths.

Looked up the weight/number of fishfingers in a pack - Bird's Eye Pack of 30, weighing 840g. This means each finger weighs 28g. They contain 58% Cod.

Which means they get the princely amount of 16.24g uncooked weight of fish per finger, or 65g in a portion of 4 of the things - or when they're cooked, just 14g of protein in the lot - which goes some way to explain why the eldest is seeking out high protein food almost immediately he's put his fork down.

Assuming these figures are accurate, the things are pretty much breadcrumbs, air and a sliver of fish. Great for sticking in a sneaky white bread and butter sandwich, but not as filling as a portion of actual fish would be.

www.mynewroots.com is awesome as a starter for making raw foods. I started there with her bliss balls and now just sort of throw stuff into the blender till the texture is right.
Chocolate version - 2-3 tbs protein powder, 2 tbsp cacao powder, 1 cup of cashew/pecans/almonds , plus about 20 dates, and 4 tbs coconut oil plus 1/2 cup dried apricots/goji berries/dried apple, 2 tbsp maple syrup. Blend. If too sloppy I add almond meal, to dry- more coconut oil. Blend. Roll into balls. Fridge.
"White version" - 14 dried figs, 2-3 tbsp protein powder, I cup cashews/almonds, half a cup shredded coconut, 5 tbsp coconut oil, 2 tbs maple syrup, half a cup of almond meal,1/2 cup dried apricots or apple. Blend.Same deal with texture as with the chocolate ones - these ones need more coconut oil usually. I roll them in coconut after shaping the balls. Then fridge

I'd follow a recipe once, so you get the gist of what the texture should be like and then go wild. You always need dates or dried figs as the base.

Oh how I wish I'd written this on a non-fishfinger day!!!

My two boys are the same. Just keep eating. We have a rule that with every portion or snack (they probably seek food every hour on weekends) they need some carb some protein some fruit or veg. So long as they stick to the rule I let them eat.
They are splendidly healthy and sporty. At least there is no waste!

I guarantee that if you added a cup or two of red lentils to a bolognaise or chilli, they wouldn’t notice and you would get double the portion.

I do wish they would put all the empty packaging in the bin and not back in the cupboards!!

i hope you realize that they will eat even more in the next few years.
really what made you think children eat like birds? yes they eat and eat all day and evening. did your parents not feed you or have you no brothers? what about your partner does he not remember eating all day and never being full?
i hope this is lighthearted because otherwise this is very sad and blurgh to fish fingers and chips with peas....add on some carrots at least.

Wholewheat pasta
Brown rice
Baked potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Roast veg, mountains of it.
Bulk all your casseroles and stews up with different beans.
Humous with brown bread and veg sticks.
Beans on toast, egg on toast, soup as snacks either after school or as a supper.
Too many carbs make you more hungry. Extra protein and fat is much more satisfying.

Why? All it's showing is that something you would quite reasonably think - because it's what the manufacturers tell you - is a full portion, is actually next to sod all for two very active children.

It's not an attack upon your parenting/catering.

Some people crave and need carbs more. DP is like that and gets most of his calories from carbs (wholemeal preferably) and some fat. I need protein and veggies to feel full - I'm one of those people who build muscle easily and, if my food consists of largely carbs, I'm frequently glaring into cupboards and the fridge an hour later, wondering why I feel so desperate for more food. DP would feel full and energetic solely existing upon Haribo, Pringles and Strawberry milkshake - I'd be shaky, permanently starving and fantasising about chicken and savoy cabbage.

Almost everything you describe them as going for is high in protein - as long as you don't go overboard, it wouldn't hurt to try upping the intake in their normal meals to see if it helps a bit with reducing snacking.

I remember being at college (residential) and in the mornings we could have cereal, toast and a cooked breakfast
Equestrian so it was a physical course, plus some of the guys were on a rugby course. They banned unlimited toast after one of them ate 10 slices plus cereal plus a cooked breakfast. I watched him eat 24 bags of crisps one evening. He's 35 now and still about 9 stone wet through I swear he has worms

Perhaps more vegetables will help - a portion is the same size as a fist, their meal should contain at least 2 portions. Good for them and cheap.

I must admit I have girls, now grown and they still eat like sparrows

How is your 13-year olds baby-led weaning going BlueJag?

Only gets worse, my DS has been 6’4” since he was 14 not an ounce of extra weight but my god he can eat!! Fortunately he’s always been a huge fish eater and veg and if peckish has a huge bowl of cornflakes. Active young kids are bottomless pits, encourage drinking water as much as you can, also bowls of rice aren’t a ‘dinner’ that’s a snack, be better with 10 fish fingers 😃 would they eat soup as a starter to fill them up?

I think the issue here is the mistaken belief that kids should require fewer calories than adults. My 11 year old is extremely active and needs about twice as many calories as I do (being a sedentary 40 year old).

Your children need more food. And it's normal and absolutely OK that they eat more than you or your DH.

@BlueJag That's a lot of fried food and sugary fruit there. Not much carbohydrates? I would reduce the fruit and add veg to that. Fruit is good yes, but contains a LOT of naturally occurring sugar and destroys teeth.

It’s a joke Queen because it looks like the kind of food you give babies. It’s ok. I still eat like that sometimes!

I can’t imagine that crispy bacon slices from Tesco as mentioned by a pp have any nutritional value whatsoever...

Just wait a few years, my two teenagers eat pretty much every hour, they grab some sort of food from the fridge to eat while they are deciding what to eat, they then find something else to eat while their food is cooking. They are both slim and active but often have two breakfasts, pre lunch snack, lunch, post lunch snack, warm up dinner, dinner, post dinner snack and supper, somewhere in amongst that they eat more fruit than seems humanly possible and a few bowls of cereal.