Got Weight?

There has been several threads on this topic as many have had to tackle this one.

The answer is the obvious one of increasing calorie intake to exceed what he is burning. It took a long time for my son to figure out that he had to eat MUCH more than he had even considered before. Now, that it has somehow clicked with him, the amounts of food he eats is often a topic of humorous discussion among his friends. BUT he has put on over 25lbs of "well distributed" mass in his first year of college life despite all the physical challenges and scheduling needs.

He has to decide to eat more to fuel his growth, really it's that simple and won't likely happen until he decides to do so..

Prime's post is 100% accurate.Many don't grasp how much they have to eat/supplement with caloric weightgainers/protein drinks etc.The running really burns the calories.

Until he can grasp a large caloric intake for most it will be an upward battle.

If in the dorms,he needs to have a small refrigerator for milk,yogurts,cottage cheese,string cheese etc. As well as get to the grocery store for snacks.I know the places on campus are closed sometimes.Peanut butter, and jelly, wheat bread can become a great staple.

research on here as Prime said lots of threads devoted to this topic.Some good reading for sure.

Most cant do it on three meals a day.You have to increase to eating several tie=mes a day.Snacks,milk, etc.

Turn 40

What has been said is very good.

Meal frequency doesn't necessarily matter, except for a growing athlete, it may be difficult to fit all the food he needs into just three meals with no snacking/eating in between.

Young men can sometimes burn astronomical amounts of calories, so urge your son to eat more than he thinks he needs and see in a week or so how he looks in the mirror and what the scale says. I tell him to look at the mirror because it is feasible that he'll gain too fast and be getting more fat than he wants - many competitive athletes are genetically predisposed to not put on much fat when they gain though, so its a trial and error kind of thing.

If that kind of strategy isn't working or your son is a*n*a*l about these things like I am, counting calories is not that hard. There are websites, iphone apps (some do both) and other things that make counting very easy. Just keep in mind that athletes need much more protein than the government recommendations specify - someone working a desk job and playing a college sport just have different dietary needs. I've done a ton of research on this, so if anyone wants any more specific information I'd be happy to help.

As far as the supplemental stuff, just treat it like food. There are two main reasons that could be useful to your son. If the college cafeteria does not have many options for protein dense foods (like meats, basically), then it may be necessary to add some through supplemental means. If son is feeling like he has to force feed to gain weight, eating a higher calorie "gainer" can alleviate that problem. Just be careful, because some of these get many of the extra calories from sugar and you probably can find better ways to have heaps of sugar.

Energy drinks( such as protein shakes , not red bull) help alot. Look up Michael Phelps diet, he's at 12,000 calories a day to keep his weight up.

Son had this problem in the fall. Unfortunately he's a picky eater, but in a good way. (Doesn't like sweets or soda for example, certain energy bars, or drinks either) Keeps noodles handy, peanuts, peanut butter, trail mix, and drinks chocolate milk whenever he can.

Peanut butter, chocolate milk, and start eating when you wake-up in the morning and keep eating until you go to sleep at night. Breakfast is mandatory as are late-night snacks.

My son drank shakes with protein to get from 135 to 160 when he was in high school. Make sure of the ingrediants in the protein to make sure they are legal. I would trust Whole Foods a lot more than GNC.

No magic bullet I guess. He eats all the time. It sounds like he's just full and feels he cannot eat anymore. The M.Phelps example is good a one. I'll pass it along

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:
Turn 40

Heck it was 25 with me. Coincidentally it was the time I married a Sicilian girl.

So introduce him to an Italian girl. They put the weight right on you.

A hunk of mozzerella - the size of a softball - every day.

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Twelve or sixteen inch?

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My roommate in college back in 1984 was a red shirt player on the football team. He was redshirted because he was too small. They had him on an eating program to go with a lifting program. The coaching staff had a menu that he had to eat based on what the cafeteria was serving and it was part of his football to eat like they told him to do. It was an insane amount of food. It took him about an hour and a half to eat every meal. He went from around 165 to 215 in one year. Started at safety the next year. It still amazes me. You have got to fuel the fire.

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"You have got to fuel the fire."

Fuel the fire? Right on Spudley! Which bag should I save for tomorrow?





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quote:

Originally posted by dswann:
No magic bullet I guess. He eats all the time. It sounds like he's just full and feels he cannot eat anymore. The M.Phelps example is good a one. I'll pass it along

To give you an idea of how much he should eat; just left seeing PrimeJr. play last weekend scrimmage before Series opener next weekend. We (he, his girlfriend, mom & I) had dinner at Applebee which isn't exactly prime eating BUT, cost us $90.00 and Jr. ate two appetizers; his pasta meal, half his girlfriends club sandwich, all her fries, all my mashed potatoes, one of his mothers fajitas and topped it off with a chocolate brownee/sundae combo.

As we were leaving he was saying he might need a snack later tonight!

So, be careful what you WISH for when talking about eating more calories but that's the path to weight gain for a Varsity athlete that probably burns in excess of 6000 calories a day!!!