@ARCEKU21 posted:Yup, 20 minutes here also. Been trying to get him to eat between school and practice, but they barely have enough time to change and get to the field.
I've been giving my son extra breakfast and then he eats a protein bar on the way to school. Someone else mentioned eating a snack between classes. My son's school does not allow them to do that. Masks on when not sitting at lunch. He'll also eat between school and the gym.
As mentioned it would be a caloric surplus. An athletic body type adult male in the 5'10-6'1 range would need around 2500 cal/day to maintain. Monitor it thru an app for about a week to 10 days with him eating normally. Find out what the average is and add 500 to that number. If it's 1700, 2200-2300 sounds about right. There is more high level stuff like calculating TDEE, but for now I'd keep it simple and stick with a 500 calorie surplus.
Just make sure it's decent food and not pop tarts. Carbs are fine, especially when the goal is weight gain, just stay away from a ton of processed sugar.
For my kid it basically became a hard choice...eat like it's a crappy job now to get his calories or get slow gains. It took him several weeks to breakthrough but now he is getting well spaced out calories on the weekend. The weekday it is a bit of a struggle with the strict eating rules his school has but he does get the net calories by days in and the appropriate macros. There are a lot of good suggestions here but if your kid is serious about this he has to treat eating like his workouts.
disclaimer: I'm not a nutritionist and have no background in it.
with my son (6'2"/180), me was struggling to get and keep weight. always has. he eats massive amounts but tends to only eat 3x/day. i started him eating a little more often and it seems to have worked. it's tough, though, bc his diet and body aren't exactly programmed that way.
currently, he's still at online school. he had dipped down to 172 following oral surgery (wisdom tooth extraction does not play nicely with trying to gain weight). he starts at 9, goes to noon, lunch until 1230, school until 2. after that, he lifts in the garage, does homework, then either does skills work or practice. dinner is in there, depending on practice time.
he wakes up at 730 and i've gotten him to immediately eat a banana and drink a glass of milk. then he does his morning routine (why does a 15 year old feel compelled to shower before a zoom call???) and eats breakfast (usually leftovers from dinner last night). between his first and second class, he eats a gatorade protein bar. lunch at 1230 (more leftovers). snack or shake after class is over. then a pre-workout drink. shake after lifting, dinner. shake before bed.
with this eating schedule, he's eating a little less volume at each meal but only by slightly. he also (just my observation) spending less time "getting rid of" excess calories via the plumbing. my theory is the body can't handle too many calories at one time so it rids itself of them. by spacing out the calories more, he's more efficient in absorbing them. again, not a dietician/nutritionist/doctor.
in the past month since surgery, he's up to 183. hopefully he can hold it and keep up his eating schedule.
Lots of great advice on here already. Only other items I would add are:
How does he gain weight? The calories that he's taking in have to be greater than what he's burning. If he's maintaining weight, that means he's not eating enough. If he's losing weight, that means he's not eating enough. You have to take in more than what you're burning.
So this topic got me wondering what all my son eats/drinks to gain weight. Here are just a few of the things he consumes: ton of white milk, almond vanilla milk, honey roasted mixed nuts, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe, chicken breast, fish, 5 or six eggs a day, peanut butter, salad with organic romaine lettuce, cheese, tomatoes with Caesar dressing and croutons, honey wheat bread, snack peppers, grilled cheese with ham or bacon, and protein shakes. If he goes to eat out somewhere he doesn’t drink any soda...just water. He’s 17 so I was lucky to get that info out of him. I’m sure there’s more than just those things.
One of the problem we run into is that my son is a picky eater. Doesn't like milk, eggs, bananas, avocados, etc. He is a plane jane type of eater. The only time he consumes anything with milk in the name is a milk shake. We have been trying to get him to drink protein shakes at night.
Thanks Everyone. Lots of great advice!!! I already started sharing this info with him and we are working on a plan. So glad to know we are not the only ones with this issue...
My son is the same way. I finally started making him drink an Athletic Greens drink every morning. He asks at least once a week if he can skip and I tell him, sure, if you start eating all of these different things. Add to it, my wife grew up a very competitive gymnast and doesn't support the eating for sports mentality. A lot of the girls she competed with had major issues with eating later in life. She'd let him eat poptarts every day if she could.
I found a protein brand called Garden of Life that my son actually really likes. He eats the bars all the time for snacks and drinks the shakes like it was chocolate milk.
my 2022 has had major problems gaining weight. He has been stuck at 6'1", 165 for one year now. Lifts 4-5 times per week. He is strong , but lean. He used to have huge meals, but then would spend forever on the toilet, and couldn't seem to gain. Finally has started to have a big breakfast. 3-4 eggs and a large amount of oatmeal with bananas or other fruit in it. Glass of milk. His goal is to ingest 3000 calories/day. If he doesn't, he simply won't be able to put on weight. He is naturally lean...strong, but lean. If he didn't have ambitions to be an athlete then i would be fine with him staying just the way he is.
When i was his age I weighed the same or even less, then went to work on a dairy farm. Would wake up at 4 am, have a quick slice of bread, then milk and feed. Would come back in at about 9am, and eat about 6-8 eggs, 6-8 pieces of toast, maybe some ham or bacon. Depending on the time of year, would go out to work with a sandwich, as I was often out in the fields and didn't have time to come back. Would have a snack before afternoon milking and feeding, then a big dinner around 8pm. Sometimes had to work afterwards. It was a lot of work, and lot of food. I shot up to 180 in 6 months.
Some of my son's teammates have no problem putting on weight, and are already close to 200 lbs. When they hit the ball it simply goes farther. My son will be lucky to get to 180 lb by the time he is a HS senior, but if he gets to that he will be an impressive blend of speed and power. Pitching is a whole different story. I think that weight gain helps there, also, but I know of quite a few kids who can really sling it, and they are skinny as hell.
@ARCEKU21 posted:One of the problem we run into is that my son is a picky eater. Doesn't like milk, eggs, bananas, avocados, etc. He is a plane jane type of eater. The only time he consumes anything with milk in the name is a milk shake. We have been trying to get him to drink protein shakes at night.
My kid as well but he had his come to Jesus moment when the trainer told him about calories and getting the most out of his program. He told him all the hard work can't be just in the gym. He did it and praises the gospel of the trainer and I am left biting my tongue for being ignored again.
I absolutely HATE protein-powder that contains sweetener or flavor of any kind. There are a few companies that sell unsweetened and unflavored products. One company I like is Naked Nutrition -- www.nakednutrition.com. They have a product called Mass-Gainer. Some of their flavored products are called "Less-naked" meaning they have added a little sweetener and flavoring--these taste much better than other products. My son had a lot of difficulty gaining weight--still does. It is essential for a player to EAT a lot and EAT proper foods. This can be supplemented with protein shakes and it helps if they taste good!
Of course the EASIEST way to gain weight is to turn 50.
Or 40 and 30 
@ABSORBER posted:Of course the EASIEST way to gain weight is to turn 50.
For me it was 60.
The reason to have kids is the opportunity to say dad stuff and embarrass them. After my kids grew and before they filled out (daughter was 5’10” 120, son 5’11” 135 after big spurts) they were built like rails. If it got windy I would yell, “Tie xxxx to a tree before she/he blows away.”
My boy does not easily gain weight, despite eating up to 5,000 calories per day. A month before he turned 18, he started taking the low dose of creatine (5 g) once a day. This did seem to help him add upper body muscle.
Be sure to read up on creatine if you decide to have your boy take it.
@Texas1836 posted:My boy does not easily gain weight, despite eating up to 5,000 calories per day. A month before he turned 18, he started taking the low dose of creatine (5 g) once a day. This did seem to help him add upper body muscle.
Be sure to read up on creatine if you decide to have your boy take it.
I want to mention that creatine is safe if taken correctly, but isn't really for gaining weight per say. Weight increase will usually happen as muscle mass increases, but most athletes take this to help them get over a plateau that their current program has them at. The real problem with creatine is that some idiots think 5 scoops = 5x stronger. Went to school a few years back with a genius like this, and it landed him in the ER with kidney issues that required IV fluids to flush.
@ReluctantO'sFan posted:I want to mention that creatine is safe if taken correctly, but isn't really for gaining weight per say. Weight increase will usually happen as muscle mass increases, but most athletes take this to help them get over a plateau that their current program has them at. The real problem with creatine is that some idiots think 5 scoops = 5x stronger. Went to school a few years back with a genius like this, and it landed him in the ER with kidney issues that required IV fluids to flush.
I agree.
I'll also add that in my limited experience (from years ago) 5 scoops = 5x time spent sitting on the toilet!
