snack for Ds 10 who is putting on weight

[PhoebeMcPeePee]

Ds (10.5) has gradually been putting on weight over the past 4-6 months and I'm pretty sure it's down to snacking & general over eating. He is sporty but does less in the summer (although still has activities 4 out of 7 days plus PE) but since he's started walking home on his own I think he's getting in & gorging on biscuits before I get home with siblings! He was walking home via the shop and buying crisps and sweet but we've nipped that in the bud . We're not talking massive weight gain but enough to go from very lean & slim to having a little tummy and noticeably chunkier so I'd like to try and introduce some more filling, healthy snacks without being too obvious! He also has quite a lot of milk so should I drop to semi-skimmed? Likewise we use butter for toast & sandwiches not low fat spread. I doubt he'd notice these changes but I guess could make a difference when he's a pint a day. I've always been a bit anti low fat for kids but

A typical day for him is:
Cereal inc porridge, shred dies, Cheerios with FF milk + piece of w/meal toast with butter and marmite or honey
Lunch: ham or chicken salad wrap with a little Mayo, piece of fruit, frube and something like quorn scotch eggs, chicken drumstick, sometimes crisps
After school: when I'm there it's drink of milk, piece of fruit + soreen, cheese crackers, biscuit or similar when I'm not it's biscuits & chocolate milk!
Tea: normal food such as spag bol, chicken & rice, fish stew, sausage & mash etc and we don't usually have pudding so yogurt or ice cream occasionally.
When he has an early tea then a late activity he comes in hungry so will sometimes have cereal or toast before bed - obviously not helping but not sure what to do about this if anything?

Anyone with constantly hungry boys who aren't putting on weight please advise

It sounds fine to me. I'd drop the frube as they are mainly sugar, and go for semiskilled milk. Soreen is also very sugary.
Eggs might fill him up more in the morning. My two eat lots but are very active.
Biscuits don't last long but in this house once they are gone, they're gone until next week.
He may just be changing shape a bit?

I would bin the cereal. It's horribly sugary and not greatly filling.

I can definitely do eggs on toast for breakfast some days and more porridge less processed cereals. What do you give your DC for a filling after school snack and any other suggestions for lunchbox to go with wrap/sandwich and a piece of fruit? I sometimes do soup with bread & butter which he loves but he wouldn't want it everyday!

Eta he's a bit of a pain with fruit as all the things I'd put with porridge (bananas, berries, prunes etc) he won't eat so ends up adding honey! He eats apples, oranges, melon, kiwi etc just not the obvious ones to sweeten yogurt/porridge

I do grated apple in porridge, seems to sweeten it quite well.

His diet sounds quite healthy apart from the biscuits. Can you have a chat about healthy choices and say it's fine to have them once a week or 1 thing from shop but ask what he'd like to have in as an alternative? Are you sure he's not buying stuff from the shop?

I would tackle this before going for low-fat dairy options.

It's a good variety of food, but it sounds like it could simply be too much. Do you ever check the daily calorie intake?

A chicken wrap could be anywhere between 200 and 500 calories, a lot of the other things you list are up at about the 200 calorie mark.

Don't tell him you're doing this, but could you track his intake (weighing/measuring accurately where you can) and see what it really adds up to?

I sweeten DD's porridge with cinnamon sometimes.

Packed lunch can be tricky. I like to do stuff on a stick for DD, i.e. Chicken, tomatoes, cucumber chunks or strawberrys on a wooden kebab skewer (I cut sharp end off to prevent any pokey stick incidents)

Following because dd9 is mysteriously putting on weight, she doesn't seem to eat very much to me but like bread & anything carby & has to be convinced to eat veggies

Thanks some really helpful suggestions will be trying them all (by stealth )

I wouldn't go for low fat dairy or things like spreads. Protein will keep him fuller for longer. Eggs in the morning as good and don't take long to cook (omelettes, scrambled, poached If you could drop the scotch eggs etc in his lunch and replace with veg that would save calories and be more nutritious. My dd likes sliced cucumber, carrots, cherry tomatoes etc but also could do sliced peppers, small side salad. Veg tends to be lower in calories than fruit so I would try and offer veg as a snack too. You could make it a family thing and each pick one new type of veg a week. If he as a large portion at dinner time then watch that, again fill up the plate with veg if the carbs are taking over. Now just to take my advice for myself to shift my weight lol