Teenage Boys Weight

[jackofall]

My 16 year old has always been a "big lad" and struggled with his weight. He put on a lot of weight over the summer after GCSEs and is struggling to lose it despite walking 2 miles a day, playing sport three times a week and going to the gym once a week. He is just over 6ft tall and fluctuates between 16.5/17 stone. He has a juice for breakfast (one of the jason thingy ones), sandwich, fruit and water for lunch and a normally pretty healthy dinner. He promises he's not eating anything else... It's really getting him down and I know's feels self concious... Will his height catch his tummy up ? (he's got size 11 feet), when do boys stop growing? Should i take him to the GP ? Already feel like this is a real issue for him and don't want to make it worse - especially as he has a skinny, less healthy younger brother

DS2 had a bit of a weight problem but that was just before his big growth spurt. He exercised madly and ate healthily without actually dieting. None of that seemed to make a difference. Now 6'3" he's 10.5 stone and stick thin, also size 11 feet. When he grew upwards he just shed the weight. I have to say he ate much more than your DS though. He also has a much skinnier brother so I know how hard it can be to handle sensitively

I am saying this because it sounds as though your DS has probably done most of his growing. I don't believe that exercise, important as it is, makes a deal of difference to weight. It's much more what you eat. The diet you describe just doesn't sound much for a teenage lad? Apart from the juice breakfast,(loaded with sugar and not filling) it sounds fine. Are you sure there isn't more to it?

Sorry but that doesn't sound much for a 6ft boy as it is, I think there's more to it.

Really doesn't sound enough food to cause weight to go on.
Is he drinking sugary drinks or snacking in secret?

There is almost no way he's not snacking on that amount of food, I would be hungry and I'm neither a teenager, nor that tall. think he probably needs a bigger, porridge type breakfast instead of a juice but everything else looks fine so he must be getting calories from elsewhere. Either the calories come from food or from sugary drinks.

Can you say to him to have a day he can eat whatever he wants no restrictions but to record everything he can remember. Then have a look at it and that will probably be what he's actually eating and then add a bit.

Then you can work out a proper plan. He's probably binging on rubbish because he's hungry, if you can fill the snack gaps with decent nutrition he'll see better results (slow but better) but the first thing is getting him to be honest and that's going to be the hardest bit. You'll have to go in with no judgement, no being cross or frustrated just a totally clean sheet and work from there.

Thanks all - i also think there is more to it hence the comment about taking him the to GP. It literally makes no sense - he's either lying about what he's eating or there is an underlying health problem. ps the juice for breakfast is normally spinach/pineapple/lime etc or beetroot based so shouldn't be too bad... he's not eating much as he really wants to slim down - having a 40 inch waist is no fun when you are his age and aside from his self image its also his health i worry about.
when do they stop growing? Secretus when did your boy have his spurt?

Great advice Enb76 thanks... i'm very aware that this has become an "issue" and just want to help him - i will def try the eat what you like idea and see what comes back x

When do they stop growing? Varies.
Feet grow first.
DS1 had very early growth spurt and was 6' tall aged 12 and grew perhaps another 1" by the time he was 18.
DS2 didn't grow much until 15.5 then within a year he went from about 5'6" to 6'3". He's 17 now and I don't think he'll grow much more. His feet were size 11 a couple of years before the big growth spurt.

I think other posters have agreed with my comment that your DS doesn't seem to eat much for a teenage lad. Both of mine ate relentlessly for a period of 2 or 3 years. Nothing filled them and they could eat any old junk. I made sure they had three healthy meals a day and as long as they did that they filled up with snacks at other times.
It's hard to imagine how much they would have needed to eat to put weight on as well as growing.

It's really, really hard to have these conversations with a self concious teenager, but in hind sight my DS was immensely grateful for my help and honesty. He was glad to talk about how he felt about his weight and felt we worked together on it.

I've been using a calorie counting Ap lately which has been really good for making me realise exactly how many calories I do eat. You can also tell it how much exercise you've done to get a "net" calories figure. I thought I was reasonably clued up about healthy eating but have learned just how easy it is to eat far too many calories on what seems like a reasonable diet. I've managed to lose about half a stone on it, but that's required 1200 calories a day (net) for about 3 months, which really isn't 3 what I would call normal meals.

You could see if your DS fancies trying something like that? If it appears to show that he is eating as little as you say, I would suspect he's not being honest with you. But it might help him to be honest with himself.

So... we were all right... he wasn't being honest.. Secretus he was getting hungry and as you quite rightly said wasn't making the right food choices when he was.. I have told him that it's fine and I totally understand and we have agreed he'll get up earlier and have a proper breakfast to help him through the day and take some nuts etc for snacks in day... hopefully this will put him back on track!
Thanks again all x

well done for getting him to open up. Good luck to you both!

Good luck. It's hard for them.

I have 15 and 14 year old boys. They basically eat the same and do similar amounts of exercise. DS1 is 6'2 and slim, DS2 is 6 foot and currently a bit chunky. In Rugby terms DS1 is very much a forward and DS2 a back (although neither of them play). DS2 will never be the same build as DS1 as he is broader across the shoulder and just a different shape. He had a bit of a spurt at 12/13 and really slimmed down but has gradually built up again - I am hoping the next spurt sorts him out as he is overdue growing again. He is quite conscious about it but it is difficult to cut down what he is having as both boys are permanently hungry and on the same diet DS1 remains slim. I know he isn't having extras as they have breakfast, dinner and supper at home and take a packed lunch. They don't leave school as there is literally nowhere they can go to buy anything and get back to school in time - i.e. 40 minute lunch, nearest shop is a 25 minute walk. His pocket money is paid into the bank and he never withdraws cash. They both get the odd pound to get a drink and packet of crisps if meeting friends at the park.