Help me fill up 11-year old dd

[letsmargaritatime]

I have been inspired by the support I have had on my other two threads about my overweight 11-year-old dd. She has three very slim siblings and is a completely different size and shape (technically obese, cellulite, chafing rash ) She has a hearty appetite but doesn't appear to eat any more than her siblings, they are all always starving though. I cook mainly from scratch and am happy to do so, although also work full-time so would appreciate quick meal ideas too for the days I've run out of freezer stuff.

She is very active and her size doesn't appear to affect her sport in any way so no breathlessness or lethargy (cycling and swimming mainly so gets very hungry)

I basically want to help her feel full on as few calories as possible so please help me!

She loves chicken, tuna, salmon, pasta, bread, cheese

She will eat pork, beef, prawns, eggs, most vegetables

She won't eat onion, leeks, anything with that texture. Also always leaves salad.

Please give me some ideas! Tia

Stir fries could be a great one - you can do chicken, prawns, beef etc - serve her up about a quarter of the plate with whatever protein you choose, then 1/4 of rice or noodles and the remaining half plate fill with veg - i tend to do my own instead of buying the bags (things like carrot, peppers, babycorn, sugarsnap peas - make it as bright as possible) but no problem with buying bags if you prefer

I give my 11 year old a sachet of porridge with coconut milk when he complains about being hungry.

Another good one is stuffed vegetables -if you make (or buy) a tomato and veg sauce (like for pasta) - ideally a good chunky one - and then mix in tuna and stuff into hollowed out halves of aubergine or whole peppers, sprinkle a little grated cheese on top and then bake in the oven for about 40mins - they are nice with couscous or quinoa and a green veg

Protein is a good way of filling kids up, You can buy protein pasta in waitrose which is really good for fussy eaters.

No don't buy protein pasta - you don't need to and you don't really want to start buying special foods just for her- just make sure each of her meals and snacks contain some form of protein

Are your portion sizes correct OP? I'm wondering if your other DC aren't eating it all whilst she is? Or are they a bit older and need more?

This may sound harsh but maybe she needs to get used to being hungry, also not always feeling very full after eating. Both of these are totally normal and healthy.

Might be worth encouraging her to up her intake of water as that might help her to fill fuller for longer.

Switch to wholemeal bread, pasta, rice. It makes you feel fuller for longer.
Smoothies are great for adding extra fruit and veg. Add some oats to make it more filling.
Have apples and bananas on the table for snacks.

Can you post a typical days intake?
Will she eat beans and pulses?

How about chunks of chicken breast dusted with Cajun spices and threaded on skewers with courgette, peppers and cherry tomatoes.
For pasta based meals use a mix of half regular spaghetti/tagliatelle and half spiral used veg (carrots/courgette).
When you say she doesn't eat salad is that any form of raw veg or just leaves you mean?

Gaps between eating (of 3-4 hours, and 12+ hours overnight) are sometimes helpful in appetite regulation. Broth/soup or salad in a small portion before a meal is filling. As pp's may have said, combos of protein and healthy fats are very filling, things like hard boiled eggs and chicken, a spoonful of full fat natural yoghurt with crushed nuts, poached egg and a bit of avocado.

Just wondering OP, if she's eating the same amount as her siblings at home and they aren't overweight, is the issue maybe what she is eating at school / with friends? I only say this as I was very overweight as a teenager, and although my Mum tried her best to provide healthy food, what she didn't know was that I was buying sweets / cakes every day on my way back from school.

Thanks so much for all the advice, we have seen a dietician and they she just needs to eat less, they didn't believe the food diary I kept. I don't think she is sneaking food unless someone at school is giving it to her, obviously I can't be completely sure. In short we don't know why she is overweight, but I guess the first step is to address the meals.

Thank you for all the ideas, someone in my other thread suggested low carbing, does anyone have experience of that with kids? I limit her bread quite considerably already, but she does love pasta and spuds!

Ok so average intake (I will do today)
Breakfast - poached egg and leftover gammon on toast
Lunch - wrap with ham and cheese, very small amount of mayo
Dinner- chicken breast wrapped in one piece back bacon, little sprinkling of cheese, baby corn and carrots, fry light chips. After she was still hungry and had seconds of veg and chips.
She has swum 1200 metres today, and is always really hungry after swimming , I find it so hard to say no to seconds when she seems genuinely hungry still.

All the things I know are very high fat/ calories (like cheese, mayo) I do very sparingly

Did you see doctor in the house on BBC 1 on Monday? If not I'd have a look on iPlayer they looked at an almost identical situation

I wouldn't do low carbing for an 11 year old, just try to manage her portion sizes. I guess the first thing that pops out at me from the average day's food diary is that there's not much fruit and veg in it. Adding some extra fruit / veg into her meals would help fill her up without adding much extra in terms of calories. Could you for example do egg on toast but with mushrooms / tomatoes instead of gammon? And add some fruit into her lunch? And maybe give her fruit / low fat yogurt for pudding after dinner if she's still hungry rather than give her extra chips?

Is it possible to up her fruit and veg consumption? Both are quite bulky therefore would help fill her up without adding lots of calories.
I've no experience of low carb with kids but maybe you could try swapping to whole grain or removing carbs from one meal, e.g. Make b fast eggs, gammon and toms.

X post withKitkat!

Maybe look at replacing the cheese in the wrap with tomatoes or grated carrot. She is getting lots of protein already.

I think that's quite a lot of processed meat ( gammon, ham and bacon) and cheese twice in one day. We have to watch what ds eats and today he has had; bagel with butter and glass of juice, a piece of fruit mid morning, chicken pasta salad (tomatoes, cucumber)for lunch with skinny popcorn and an apple, dinner was 2 small lamb chops with couscous and salad followed by strawberries. Only water to drink except juice for breakfast (weekend only).

How big are her portions OP? And how old are her siblings?

II would avoid the low carb approach if I were you - you don't want to start instilling food rules with her - or making her afraid of certain food groups - it will just set up her for problems in the future.

You don't mention drinks - what does she tend to drink in a day?

What you've posted doesn't look a lot quantity wise but there are some tweaks you could make

1. I'm not sure what sort of bread/wraps you are using currently but could you swap to wholemeal ones?

2. Try and make sure she has at least one portion of fruit or veg at each meal - e.g. an apple at breakfast time, some cucumber and cherry tomatoes with lunch etc - I would avoid peas and sweetcorn though and keep bananas to one small one a day

3. For snacks, try plain greek yoghurt and fruit such as berries - her day today looks very low in calcium so this will help towards making sure she has enough

4. Portion sizes - you might find this helpful www.cwt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/CHEW-5-11Years-PracticalGuide.pdf

It might be worth you weighing the portions you serve her for a few days - it can be SO easy to go overboard - especially with foods like cereal and pasta

Yes OP...it's very often portion size that's causing issues. I've asked before but you might not have seen...are her siblings a fair bit older than she is?

If so you need to mind that you're not giving her the same amount as her siblings at meals.

My sister's youngest DD got quite overweight and she realised when a friend pointed it out..that she'd been serving an 8 year old girl the same amount as a 20 year old man! My sister has three kids...a 21 year old DD, 20 year old DS and her youngest DD is only 8.

Sister had just been whacking out meals of the same size.