To be worried about the lack of understanding around how many calories children need?

[MandalayFray]

I’ve seen a few posts over the last few weeks that have really concerned me around how adults, and parents at that, genuinely seem to have no idea how much food or how many calories the average child needs.

On the pizza thread the other day people were saying 2 slices of pizza and a few nuggets was more than enough for a teenage boy, that they couldn’t eat more than that as a grown woman.

Failing to understand that yes, because the average teenage boy need almost double the daily calories compared to an adult woman.

The average teen boy needs between 2,800-3,000 calories a day, moderately active ones 3,000-3,300 a day, very active ones 3,500-4,000. So no a 500 calorie dinner wouldn’t cut the mustard.

Same again today on a soup thread, apparently half a tin is MORE than enough for a child. The recommended calorie intake for a 4-5 year old is 1,400 calories! So no, a 200 calorie lunch is most definitely not ‘more’ than enough.

I know this site is known for ‘disordered’ eating posts at times but this is genuinely confusing me, do people not look into how many calories they should be feeding their kids as a baseline?

And yes before people start, I know they could be eating an entire pack of aunt Bessie’s pancakes for breakfast and a whole hog roast at tea, and yes I know your kids might be tube fed and need 5 calories a meal. But if we look at averages this doesn’t stack up with many posters views on here.

We aren't talking about toddlers, we're talking about teenagers. Of course a toddler doesn't need as many calories as a 15 year old boy

Ds was underweight for years, due to a medial problem, as in kilos underweight, not putting on weight when he was growing - it was a real issue. The amount on praise I got was ridiculous because he was all arms and legs. Endless compliments I got on his model looks when I was trying to find a way to get thermal socks to stay up because he was always so cold actual made me grateful he was a boy because I could imagine how it would go with a girl.
he’s a healthy weight now (according to medical professionals who are not worried about hurting my feelings) and also heading into puberty and people are using phrases like “filled out” and “useful on the rugby pitch”.
I am no expert but I spent years (and tears) making sure his diet was right (he’s not a fussy eater/AFRID etc) so I know there’s no point in a bowl of soup for lunch when he’ll be scavenging the fridge at 3 o’clock. I do think there’s a lot of people who are just plain wrong in things and I can see how disordered eating and obesity happens without anyone noticing. I also remember being starving as a teenager because my parents didn’t eat until lunch so neither did I, so once I had money I bought crisps and crap at the shop on the way to school.

I think calorie counting is pointless. The quality of food matters. That's what I said on the other thread as well. More fruit and veg. 5 a day. Who actually wastes brain space counting calories? I suspect very few people do, and that's the real reason no one has any idea how many calories various ages of children 'should' eat.

And I live in a deprived area @SheWoreYellow. I know a lot of teenagers because I'm a mother of teenagers. I know two who are overweight. The rest of them are very slim.

Anyway, the issue is not the terrible parents of overweight teenagers, the issue - that the OP raised - is that a lot of mothers on MN have a very poor understanding of how many calories children need.

And this thread is absolutely making her point.

I'm reminded of a woman I know who is wealthy and fairly well educated. She suffers from orthorexia and her daughter suffered malnourishment as a child because she was so worried about her getting fat. Many women pass their own disordered eating onto their children, particularly their daughters.

Maybe you're talking about teenagers. The OP (and the soup thread referenced) also mentions young children aged 4-5, to which my example may also apply.

There tends to be more overweight as the age increases though, not less. Overweight 11 year olds don’t become healthy weight teens.

Where did you get the 15% from, @MandalayFray

I agree that the quality of food is important - of course it is but with your average teenager, those calories are in the real world not all of great quality it is a tale as old as time surely, teenagers and their consumption of junk.

People fail to see it’s what people eat more than how much that truly fuels the obesity crisis for children and young people

No it’s just calories at that age 🤷‍♀️

Yanbu. This place gets weirdly competitive about how little people should eat.

If my mother wasn't so rubbish with technology, I'd swear she was a regular poster.

It’s a lot easier to eat too much crap than too much lentils though.

Great, another thread for the teeny tinies to gorge on

I'm reminded of a woman I know who is wealthy and fairly well educated. She suffers from orthorexia and her daughter suffered malnourishment as a child because she was so worried about her getting fat. Many women pass their own disordered eating onto their children, particularly their daughters.

My DC have never been overweight but I've had to stop people commenting and trying to feed diet food/restrict food to my DC in "normal" times when they haven't been overweight. It's usually turns out the person in question is dieting or thinking they should - it's projection and then they hide behind well children these days are overweight - well yes but not mine (not driving means shit tonne of walking) - and then rest of time they are the ones pushing sugary fatty snacks on my kids.

Few times they have been chunky and I've started to worry they've had massive growth spurts and then been very thin.

I think there is a lot of disorder eating and lack of knowledge around not just on MN but in wider world.

www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/dec/poorer-teens-substantially-greater-risk-obesity
Thus has 1/3 of teens overweight or obese by 17, but much higher in deprived areas.

Tinned soup doesn’t have much in the way of nutrients in it, nor bread and butter, especially if you are giving them white bread. Hardly any protein either. I wouldn’t give that to a child to eat. Throw in a boiled egg or a lump of cheese and some carrots and apple plus a yoghurt and you are looking at a more rounded meal. If I just ate soup and bread for lunch I’d be starving an hour or so later. Kids burn a lot of energy as well and they need a decent lunch to keep them going for the afternoon.

According to eatright.org teenage boys need an average of 2800 calories - that's an average which means half of them actually need less.

It depends very much what pizza it is as well, a meat feast pizza has 631 calories apparently per slice, so two of those and chicken nuggets would be plenty - if very unhealthy. But who actually counts calories anyway?? I just eat when I'm hungry, stop when I've had enough and try to avoid too much junk.

People think that eating half a tin of Heinz soup is what you should have because that is what it says a serving is on the side of the tin. Although as I said in the other thread that is probably more to do with Heinz trying to make the large salt content look normal then any kind of useful guide. Also people were talking about having the soup with bread and butter which would increase the calories and I doubt it was the main meal of the day so dinner would likely be a lot higher in calories.

I don't the general population struggle with getting enough calories into their kids. Obese children everywhere which makes me sad for them.

I wouldn't give my DD, who is 4, a tin of soup due to the salt content.

She does eat home-made soup which is lower in salt.

She rarely eats it with bread and butter, as when she likes a soup she just wants soup and not the bread and butter.

Your second point isn't entirely accurate, of course half a tin of soup isn't enough calories. Buy half a tin of soup with bread and butter is plenty and what I have for my lunch most days. Only difference being I toast the bread.

But you're not a growing child.

Yes, you are not a teenager presumably so you don't need as many calories proving OPs point. I don't know any adult that eats as much as my 15 year old because the adults I know would put n weight with his eating habits.

There are many overweight and obese adults and children in society which in turn will affect future health. It’s more concerning how so many adults don’t understand what portions of food children need and over feed their children, surely this should concern you more OP.

I've always relied on my kids knowing if they were hungry/full. I thought if you didn't have food issues that was reasonable. They all grew up a healthy weight so it seemed to work.

Amen to that, I've got a sporty GS of 17 living with me. He's like a bottomless pit and very slim.

I think it depends. One of mine was a healthy weight in year 6, by the end of year 8 he was 6'3" and had a BMI of 17 and you could count his ribs from the other side of the room. I think if he'd been a little overweight at 11 he'd have been fine by 13. Of course not all of them have a growth explosion like he did.