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!

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/health.clevelandclinic.org/why-extra-protein-for-your-child-is-unnecessary-and-possibly-dangerous/amp/

I read this, but it is backed up by the NHS daily portion recommendations. A child of a normal weight doesn’t need more than that.

My DS is like this. Hes 6, but v tall and wearing an age 10-11 clothes, quite active but not as much as those doing team sports etc - would literally eat from dawn to dusk if given the chance. Sometimes hes negotiating what tea will be whilst eating his lunch hes all in proportion. I think its just a growing child thing to be honest. I often just direct him to the fruit bowl, or a yoghurt. It can get quite frustrating though - constantly asking 'what can I have next'.

I dont have the answers but am not looking forward to the teenage years!

I am always agog at how much MN children seem to need to eat. We never ate anything like this much as children or teens

Also that you must allow them unlimited amounts of food without question and 'just keep buying more'. Doesn't matter if you are bankrupting yourself trying to fill a greedy bottomless pit.

Also that you must allow them unlimited amounts of food without question and 'just keep buying more'. Doesn't matter if you are bankrupting yourself trying to fill a greedy bottomless pit.

Some of it is thinly disguised bragging, though. At some point in the last thirty years, a protein-rich diet became a status symbol, and carbs verboten. What some of these people are really saying is, “Look how rich we are: endless chicken breasts as a snack, mountains of new potatoes, sacks of chickpeas. It’s like reading an adult Enid Blyton novel, only without the irony of “Five Give Up the Booze”.

New potatoes, of course, or jackets. Chips are carbs. New “pots” are like chicken breasts.

potatoes and potato products are not just carbs
they contain a good amount of protein too.

carbs are not bad, especially not for growing children.

orangeshoebox

I know.

I know hercule some people are seemingly so anticarb it hurts :o

I have an 8 year old, he eats well, I am very fortunate in that he is not a picky eater so we all eat the same meal. But he doesn't eat the amount mentioned by some on this thread, when do your children have time to eat so much? My son has breakfast, then off to school, lunch at school, then he has after school activities 4 out of 5 evenings a week. Just enough time for dinner, reading and a small amount of homework before bed each day. Not enough time for dinner + desert + post dinner toast before bed at 7.45pm.

Weekends he has team sport on a Saturday and does park run on Sunday but still not loads of free time to eat! Could it be boredom or thirst rather than hunger?

orangeshoebox

Oh yes, I see. Agreed. And it’s not good for their kids, actually.

Another myth highlighted here is that women need 2000 calories per day. That's just not true. We all have different minimum needs based on weight, height and activity levels. The elusive 'average woman' someone once based that calculation on is not representative.

Mine's only about 1450. My 11 year old needs at least 1000 calories more at a minimum due to his activity levels.

You can check yours here: tdeecalculator.net/

Another myth highlighted here is that women need 2000 calories per day. That's just not true.

I only need about 1,500, too.

You've had some fantastic suggestions but I'd suggest moving meal times to later too.
A bowl of porridge/weetabix after school and dinner at 7pm.

My daughter has always eaten later as I've always worked full time. She gets a snack at after school club (toast, cereal, cheese and crackers) then a proper adult portion of dinner followed by a small something sweet.
She is 9 and eats far more than me...but then again she is running around all day while I sit in an office. She is still growing and I am not. She does two swimming clubs, gymnastics, drama and street dance and I just do one swim and 3 runs a week. The girl needs filling.

DD won't eat meat, she loves fish though and will fill up on whole grains, veg and lentils/pulses. plenty of slow release carbs and fibre...and I make sure she drinks plenty too.

If she is going through a particularly hungry period I always have lentil and veg soup in the fridge. I find warm things fill her for longer

just a little add...we should encourage everyone to eat until they are satisfied...NOT FULL as this is bad for digestion. Kids should be allowed to be a bit hungry (i'm not saying starved of course)

Another myth highlighted here is that women need 2000 calories per day. That's just not true

I'm a slightly larger than average woman, 12 stone, 5'7, who is not particularly active. TDEE calculators and the fitness watch that I wear says I use 2200 to 2500 cals a day, so it seems about right to me, anyone taller and/or more active will use more and smaller women will use less. You'd have to be very small and/or sedentary to use significantly less than 2000.

It's for illustration purposes only to compare portions

Okay bluejag. Love the strategically placed chopsticks 😂

BarbaraofSevillle
You'd have to be very small and/or sedentary to use significantly less than 2000.

What a strange thing to say. Like the range can only be from 2000ish upwards. I'm 5 2, and verging into the overweight category of bmi. Small, but not tiny by any means. There are millions of women shorter and lighter than me who need even fewer calories. There's nothing wrong with me for needing fewer calories and nothing wrong with anyone who needs more

Your boys sound quite normal and you're not providing unhealthy food. You have to go with it, they're growing and will have enormous appetites.

well, if they eat constantly and are slim

give them more filling food at meal times.

"You'd have to be very small and/or sedentary to use significantly less than 2000."

I calculated TDEE for a fairly average woman

Age 40, 5'4", 9 stone (BMI 21.6), sport 1-3 x weekly

TDEE = 1686

4 haddock fillets and 6 eggs in the whole thing. It was between 4 of us (recipe served 6 according to Google!)

My DS would have polished off 2 of the fillets and 3 of the eggs himself at that age. He was also very active, played organised sports all during the school year as well as being out running around, riding his bike, swimming in summer, etc.

If your boys are lean and active and seem hungry, just provide them with healthy meals and snack options.

I found, incidentally, that my DS always chose a more substantial snack than any of my DDs would. But carbohydrates are not the enemy of the growing child whether boy or girl.

I was at an event around Christmas with a friend, an afterwards found out that she and I had both been thinking the same thing about a family we had observed of four boys probably aged aged under five, two of them very clearly twins. We were both visualising the mounds of food the boys would demolish at every meal when they got to the preteen and teen years.