Child constantly hungry but never gains weight

[Iusedtobeanicegirl]

My son is eleven and eats almost twice as much as me each day, and still doesn't gain weight. Does anyone have any experience of this and whether it could indicate a problem? His ribs are all clearly visible, and though his body looks healthy it does concern me the amount of calories he is consuming to maintain this weight.

Just to give an idea.
Breakfast, large bowl of porridge with honey and half a banana. Hard boiled egg.

11am he's asking when lunch as usual!
Has half tub of hummus, quarter of a cucumber, two corn crackers with a large dollop of almond butter, a banana, packet of crisps, a smoked mackerel, a carrot, oat cracker, some cashew nuts and a date. Says he wants more lunch.

Is hungry again at 2pm. So has a hard boiled egg and an apple. Smoothie made with avocado, milk kefir, berries and almond milk.

At 4pm is hungry so has an orange and two oat crackers with slices of cheese.

At 5pm has three plates of dinner - this is the same every night - and he would eat whatever is available. It was stir fried rice with lots of egg, cashews and loads of veg. But he's like this with any meal, and we eat well so I know it's not the food not being calorie dense enough. He always says he's still hungry and wants fruit or something else afterwards.

He's very energetic child and we home educate so he spends a lot of time outdoors which I am aware would burn off a lot of energy. But his appetite still seems extreme compared to all the other kids we know who have a similar lifestyle.

Any thoughts appreciated, thanks.

I should add some days we'll have a cooked lunch and he'll eat something like three jacket potatoes /sweet potatoes, a pile of cheese, pile of beans, tuna, sauerkraut, loads of salad, etc. It's usually.a good 2-3 pasta full. Then fruit. And at dinner time (when I'm still full from lunch!) will still eat three large plates of food and ask for fruit afterwards.

*plates full, not pasta!

if he is 11, he is probably on the verge of a big growth spurt, his body is begging for nutrients to support what's upcoming as well as all his current activity.

You could practically see my brothers grow at ages 12-13. my mom bought one of my brothers a new pair of trousers every other week, always long enough to walk on the hems, and then passed them on to an older, shorter brother as the hems approached his ankles. it was the year I went to college and he went from being about as tall as to look directly at my chin in August, to being tall enough that I looked at his chin at Christmas. and he had new little fluffy whiskers I harassed him about. :-)

my son turns 12 in 3 weeks, and eats much like your son. within 30 minutes of any meal he is raiding the fruit bowl or making toast and peanut butter. He has started growing at that frightening rate. We were packing for his P7 trip last week and I had to go out and buy new sweatpants and such as I swear what he had still fit at Easter but they didn't now.

Can I come and eat at your house?

If he is healthy I would put it down to a growth spurt. I ate more than my dad at that age.

My brother ate like this from 11-16 and was skinny as could be. No health issues, just endless growth spurts. If you can afford it, just let him eat what he wants when he wants. It sounds pretty healthy.

Does he drink a lot? Urinate a lot? My friends dd was same when 7, and it turned out that she has Type 1 Diabetes. It is under control and she is thriving and young adult now.☺

That doesn’t sound like an unusual amount for a growing 11 yo. If he’s active and otherwise healthy it isn’t even an issue. My 7 yo neice is constantly running / playing sports and has a similar diet; doesn’t gain weight either and drinks a lot of water.

There are hardly any carbs there.

I think it's the age they're at. My just turned 12yo has gone from eating very little to eating like a horse all day every day.

I'm trying to give him lots of protein and good carbs to fill him up! He likes
Filled Wraps or pittas, toasties
Home made flapjacks and cake
Cheese and oatcakes
Peanut butter and veg sticks
Eggs, beans and toast
Tortilla chips and hummus
Almonds and dried fruit

I look back to what I used to eat as a child with horror sometimes - I ate so much. I could never eat that quantity of food now. And I was always famished

I would eat huge breakfast, snack, three course school dinner with seconds, huge bowl of cereal after school, huge cooked dinner and more cereal before bed. And I was always so thin.

I think growing takes a lot of calories.

Seems very veg heavy which is not so calorific. Is he getting a lot of carbs and protein

Actually saw eggs, nuts, avocado etc. Which sounds good but is there much bread, pasta, rice?

I think it's not unheard of to be that hungry at that age, but I think I would be tracking his weight and height if you are concerned, maybe once you've done this for a month or two, if he really isn't growing height or weight, I'd book to see a GP?

She definitely listed rice. And last I checked potatoes, bananas and porridge had carbs.
I think it's a little low on protein - I'm assuming you are pescatarian from the list of foods...Maybe more fish?
Also, can you give him whole milk to drink. At that age my dc's were drinking 3 glasses a day.

I would add a mid morning snack.
My ds definitely ate more than that at that age and was crazy skinny. Though if you look back at pics of all the men in my family and ds' dad's family, they were all that skinny at that age.

Maybe get him checked by a doctor if you're concerned but it does sound like he's just a growing boy. I agree with other posters and would be adding lots more protein and carbs.
Are you pescatarian?

I think it's a little low on protein.

The body does not need that much protein.

I do, however, think you need to add more carbs: pasta, bread & rice.

That is a ridiculous amount of food how on earth do you afford to feed him.

Try a worming tablet maybe?

I think of be keeping a food diary and taking him to the gp. I've gained 2 stone just reading it all...

@SofiaAmes, that is far too much milk. I really would not be recommending that.

Better sources of calcium are beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables.

I'm wondering if enough carbs for a growing lad, it's a healthy diet for an adult but kids need more energy rich foods as a proportion. Also regular pasta and white rice can be digested very quickly (compared to whole grain) so you feel hungry quicker. Eggs are good don't get me wrong but the trend towards high protein can skew the balance of meals. But might be worth contacting your gp and talk through your concerns - at our practice one of the nurses is a trained nutritionist and you can make a 30 minute appointment to discuss your kids (or your) diet, maybe yours has similar

DS had hollow legs from about age 10/11. At 12/13 he grew 9 inches in a school year. And carried on eating like it until about 21/22.

His diet looks great but I’d add more fat. A decent wedge of cheese with lunch. Some Greek yoghurt and nuts for a mid morning snack.

Thanks all.

Couple of posts wondering if he's getting enough of certain food groups. I'm confident he has plenty of fat and protein (every day has eggs, nuts, oily fish, chunks of cheese, avocado, lots of butter and I put olive oil on nearly everything to increase calories). Also has loads of carbs (large bowl of porridge every day, three jacket potatoes or several servings of rice is usual, plus all the usual veg, oat crackers and fruit throughout the day !).

We do eat some meat, but not loads. If I make a lentil ragu he will easily eat three adult sized portions of that with pasta, but he'd be the same with a beef bolognaise!

So I know he's not short on any food groups and his diet is great. It's more whether it's within the realms of normal to eat like this and still be very slim, so it's good to know a couple of you have kids or family members who were the same. I find the GP pretty unhelpful for this kind of thing unfortunately, which is why I thought I'd ask other parents first (he's pretty unusual in his friendship group so needed a wider sample!). I'll mention it next time we go in though.

We regularly tell him he needs to get a paper round to contribute to his food !!

(Should say, that list of protein above is in additon to what he has in his main meals - so either lots of lentils, chickpeas, chicken, beans, fish etc)

Sounds like he needs more protein and fat.

B: beans and cheese on toast, or peanut butter on toast with a bowl of porridge. Big glass milk. Yogurt if he wants it, needs to be full fat.
Snack : Flapjack, fruit, cheese slices
Lunch : macaroni cheese, maybe with a bowl of lentil and veg soup? Wedge of bread with it? For dessert I'd give him a snickers tbh if he's that hungry.
Snack : apple, banana, oatcakes, hummus, hard boiled eggs etc.
Dinner : lentil bolognaise, make sure it's full fat, served with bread and butter, maybe a slice of carrot cake or something? With another pint of milk.

I remember my brother at that age, you couldn't fill him. He'd have 2 huge roast dinners, a sandwich made from the leftover carrots then half a family sized bread and butter pudding with custard! Then supper!

It was stir fried rice with lots of egg, cashews and loads of veg. But he's like this with any meal, and we eat well so I know it's not the food not being calorie dense enough.

^^

This is fine for a sedentary 40 year old woman : a rampant 11 year old lad? Not so much.