What do your 15 year old boys eat in a day?

[Shoppingforclothes]

I'd like to get an idea of what's within the range of normal. So if anyone doesn't mind sharing. Breakfast lunch dinner, snacks. Please be honest if you could, not the edited healthy version.

I'm asking because I could do with a bit of perspective and also hopefully get some ideas.

I'm struggling to fill ds up but getting him to eat decent, filling food is difficult. I know the right things for him to eat but he's constantly taking everyone else's snack type food and nothing I've tried will stop him doing it.

There's a huge backstory of possible disordered eating. I don't want to go into explaining g it all because it's long winded.

Mine's 16 and this is a typical day:
Breakfast: huge bowl of porridge, with banana. Sometimes eggs or bacon on toast
Packed lunch: tuna sandwich, cereal bar, pork pie, salami snack, tangerines
Dinner: usual, spag bol, jacket potatoes/protein/veg, curry, fajitas, roast etc
Snack a couple of choc bars, another sandwich if hungry before bed

He's just starting lifting weights, and the appetite seems to have increased

I have a 13 year old son who eats pretty much all day. Far, far too much crap in my opinion. However he also loves good nutritional food too, so overall he gets what he needs. He’s sporty and very slim. Genetically so, I doubt he will ever be fat.

Breakfast: between 2 and 4 weetabix with whole milk
lunch: cream cheese sandwich (whole meal) with piece of fruit + piece of cake
Dinner: pizza / lasagne / spaghetti Bol + fruit; chocolate and or biscuit and/or cake
snacks: breadsticks and peanuts

he’s really skinny. I don’t restrict food at all but do remind yo eat protein and plants at meals.

Cereal, milk, juice, 2 eggs possibly slice toast
Crisps for snack
school hot lunch (this is the big mystery - potentially a massive amount and three courses judging by what is on offer)
chocolate/sweets/pastry from shop by school before after school sport or club
fruit as soon as come home
typical early dinner - huge serving of pasta and meat or vege and meat : large adult man serving
Icecream and fruit
late snack - toast or bagel and butter, nuts, fruit or biscuits

16 year old ds. Breakfast is 2 weetabix, he takes to school a cereal bar and banana and sometimes pasta or a wrap but not every day. After school a cheese toastie then supper of what ever i cook but pasta, risotto, casserole. Normally a couple of biscuits before bed. He is sporty and recently i am not sure he eats enough so am making have vitamins.

I should add he does about 6 hours of organised sport a week and 5 hours of social football. 5’11 and very slim and muscular. He wasn’t growing much so we added in the evening mini meal before bed of about 500 calories and he shot up…

14 year old.

Weekdays -
Breakfast - weetabix or granola or occasionally scrambled eggs on toast
Lunch - ham/turkey sandwich or leftover dinner. Nut/protein bar.
Afterschool snack - noodles and chocolate milk
Dinner - whatever we are having. Pretty mundane - chicken and veg curry, roast dinner, spag bol etc. Will eat veg in dishes or carrots and broccoli.
Supper - more cereal or popcorn

At weekends he might make French toast and have more snacks.

I wish he would eat more fruit and raw veg.

Teenage boys need a lot of calories. The NHS has a guide https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/how-many-calories-do-teenagers-need/. He should be eating more than a typical adult male.

My teenager eats a lot. He needs large snacks around 4pm and 8pm, on top of normal mealtimes. He snacks are things like peanut butter sandwich, bacon sandwich, scrambed eggs, muffins, crisps, cereal bars, cereal and milk. None of these are enough on their own - he'll have a sandwich + crisps + muffin

Mine's 16 and this is today's menu but would have eaten this at 15

Breakfast : breakfast bar and smoothie
Break (at school): curly fries, water
Lunch (at school) pesto chicken wrap, small packet of Doritos
After School: Beef burrito , some biscuits
Dinner: Ribs, brocolli, baked potato
Before bed (I'm guessing here ) : pot noodle and rest of the biscuits

@Clingthefilm you're right, my sister is a hospital dietician and she bemoans the fact that many people don’t realise their active teenage sons often need more food than adult males. I have been distressed but haven’t dared interfere when I’ve seen slim friends of mine with possibly disordered eating (very restricted what they will eat, no more than two meals a day etc) try and get their sons to eat the same and the poor skinny lads are STARVING

I don't have disordered eating but I find it hard to know if he's eating because he's hungry or bored. My son wears men's medium so I assume he's eating fine but I find myself unsure of what to think when he's rummaging through the cupboards.

Breakfast - usually crunchy nut cornflakes or 2 weetabix or 2 slices of toast.

Lunch - sandwich or roll with ham and/or cheese. Cereal bar. Yoghurt. Crisps. Fruit.

Dinner - whatever we have. Could be anything from roast dinner, pasta dishes, rice dishes, oven food.

Usually followed by a couple of biscuits. Sometimes cake if we have any.

None of mine have ever been into snacking, but will sometimes have a cereal bar or another pack of crisps. Fruit if there's nothing else.

Today was toast with cream cheese and ham for breakfast

Cheesy chips for lunch as we were out and he'd done gymnastics

Banana

Chilli with rice and tacos for dinner.

Thank you this is really helpful.

Today ds has eaten.

Breakfast 3 weetabix with milk.

School, a ham roll on wholemeal bread, cheese string, packet of crisps, an orange. Also bought a panini from the canteen.

After school, half a sub roll with cheese and meatballs, a big bowl of chopped fruit and yoghurt, a macaroni cheese mugshot, a muller corner yoghurt.

Dinner, jacket potato with cheese, beans and fish fingers.

Doesn't this seem a lot? He's very slim.

@Shoppingforclothes

Thats fine, why are you concerned? He’s a growing boy who is very slim.

@Shoppingforclothes ds would eat all that and be sniffing around for an evening snack too (you’ve not asked for a critique so apologies - but would he usually eat more vege? We try and get 5 servings of vege in, in amongst all the other crap he eats!)

I think that's quite normal. Mine does an awful lot of exercise, including competitive games, and lift weights 6 days a week.

He eats:
3 or 4 weetabix with oat milk, sometimes coco pops or porridge

Snack of hobnobs (4)

Lunch of ham or tuna roll, bar of dark chocolate, banana, bag of crisps

More hobnobs

Dinner of fajitas/spaghetti Bol/Chinese chicken/ some other chicken & veg concoction. With rice or pasta, occasionally oven chips

2nd dinner - massive bowl of pasta with a protein

I have a just turned 14 yr old swimmer….he’s very slim but increasingly toned and trains 16 hours / week in the pool. I kid you not, he is always hungry and we have actively been increasing his protein intake to ensure he is getting the right nutrients and to fill him up a bit longer.

As an example today when he’s had 4 hours of training,
pre swim (5am) banana
breakfast - baked chocolate oats, full fat Greek yogurt, berries and honey. Protein milk shake.
mid morning - pancake with Nutella
Packed lunch - wrap with veggie chicken pieces, hummus and salad, pack of crisps, apple, nut bar, mini malt loaf, juice
after school (before training) 2 slices Nutella on seeded bread
dinner - tofu and veg noodles in satay sauce, bang bang cauliflower on the side and probably birthday cake for dessert
before bed he might well have a yogurt as training again in the morning

writing it all down, I hadn’t actually appreciated how much he is eating, and I understand that not all teens will be exercising as much, but this one has always been a hungry one since birth! My husband also said he’d eat loads after school (always been as skinny as a rake)

Pretty normal in my experience.

two ds here and they were the same. Still are now at 18 and 20yo. Very slim.

Tbh what he us eating is pretty good. And my first reaction was that his lunch was pretty light compare to my two!

Very reassuring so thank you.

Tonight's dinner was a bit of a quick rubbish tea we usually would have some proper veg with it.

Btw one thing my ds have always complained about is that there wasn’t enough protein in our meals. And I’ve always out more than your dd is eating.
I found that more protein is keeping them full for longer too.

My 15 year old ds
Often no breakfast
Packed lunch with tuna/cucumber roll,chip choc brioche, dairylea dunker
Main meal early,like 4.30,lots of risotto,stews etc with spinach and veg
Snacks are tin of peaches,pineapples, he will make a smoothie, pot noodle,fried eggs,biscuits.

Breakfast - 2 sliced of buttery wholemeal toast with marmalade or jam, plus two satsumas

Lunch - school lunch

5.30pm snack - 2 small packets of cheddars, an apple and a couple of chocolate biscuits

Supper - e.g. two pork and pepper kebabs, chips and broccoli
or chilli con carne, rice, cherry tomatoes and cucumber

followed by two hot cross buns and a pear. Plus lots of water

My biggest worry is all the sugary stuff he eats I forgot to say he took two cake bars to school too.

If I don't buy any then everyone else misses out but if I do ds takes it all before anyone gets a look in. So I'm trying to find the balance where there is nutritious stuff to eat in but he will ignore a fridge full of eggs, meats, salad, Greek yoghurt and go for the snack food.

I forgot,a couple of bowels of cereal before bed.
He stops eating g as soon as he is full( not like me) and does boxing twice a week and slim.

@Shoppingforclothes his food today doesn't seem an excessive amount based kn what my teenager and his friends get through. They are all slim too, but seem really good at self regulating their food.

Does he have free access to snacks, is he allowed to serve his own food at mealtimes (so he's not being given what you think he should eat), is he able to leave food on his plate if he's full (he doesn't get told off for not clearing his plate)? If you say yes to all this, then I wouldn't worry about him as he has the tools to self regulate his food. Obviously if all he starts to eat is cake and biscuits, you'll need a conversation.