Am I eating too little?

[jackhjharding]

Hi,

I am a 15 year old male. I run at least 11 miles per week. (4 mile runs twice a week and one 3 mile run.) If I have enough time after school I run another 2 mile run. So in total thats 13 miles per week.

I just totted up my daily calorie intake and it comes to around 1,900 calories. Is this too little for someone who is doing the amount of excercise I do?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[NeilPearson]

Hi,

I am a 15 year old male. I run at least 11 miles per week. (4 mile runs twice a week and one 3 mile run.) If I have enough time after school I run another 2 mile run. So in total thats 13 miles per week.

I just totted up my daily calorie intake and it comes to around 1,900 calories. Is this too little for someone who is doing the amount of excercise I do?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks

It doesn't sound like a lot but we definitely need more information. Height, weight, goals and information on other activities (like lifting or sports) would be a good start.

Usually 15 year old males can eat lots

 

[Dale Mabry]

Sending to NUtrition.

 

[jackhjharding]

I am 1.66 metres tall. The other sport I do is go karting which dosen't burn many calories I would have thought. I also play football at school twice a week.

Thanks!

 

[JOHNYORK]

i think u need more cals at 15 ure growing and need more

 

[Emma-Leigh]

Hi,

I am a 15 year old male. I run at least 11 miles per week. (4 mile runs twice a week and one 3 mile run.) If I have enough time after school I run another 2 mile run. So in total thats 13 miles per week.

I just totted up my daily calorie intake and it comes to around 1,900 calories. Is this too little for someone who is doing the amount of excercise I do?

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks

It doesn't sound like it - but it depends on other things...
Wat are you trying to achieve?
How much do you weigh?
What is your BF%?


List what you eat and we might be able to help a little more.

 

[myCATpowerlifts]

Holy shit...
You are running 11-13 miles a week, and you are a 15 yr old guy
eating only about 1900 cals a day??
When I was that old, I only ran about 2 miles a week, and weightlifted and I was eating well over 3000 calories..

Bump it up man.

 

[Seanp156]

Doing cardio for 10-15 minutes makes me hungry as hell the rest of the day... and that's with eating around 4000 cals a day. Like Emma said, what's your weight and BF% (don't need an exact #, approx is fine).

 

[jackhjharding]

My body fat % is 12%. I am 1.66m tall and weigh 108 lbs.

Thanks!

 

[Seanp156]

I guess your are fairly small and lean, so 1900 may not be that far off. As long as you don't get really hungry often, you're probably alright.

 

[kicka19]

dam, i remember when i was 15 all i would do is come home after school and eat for liek 2 hours straight and watch gargoyles(spelling), then goto football, im talking massive amounts of food

 

[Emma-Leigh]

My body fat % is 12%. I am 1.66m tall and weigh 108 lbs.

Thanks!

108 pounds.

Right - Then you need to get yourself in line - you are underweight (unhealthily so). This is not only going to be making your performance in running/karate really poor - but it is also going to have long term health consequences.

I really advise you to slowly start to increase your calories - aim for ~10% every 2 weeks or so. So that means raise this to 2100 for 2 weeks, then increase to 2300 for 2 weeks, then increase to 2550 for 2 weeks... Keep going until you start to gain weight at about a rate of 1 pound every one to two weeks... At your height, you want to have a bodyweight that is about 20 pounds more than you are - so have have a LOT of growing to do - but as you are so young you will be able to grow pretty easily! Which is great!

If you post what you eat each day we could give you more advise about that you could do to improve it.

 

[njc]

if you are fairly lean and are losing or staying the same weight you are eating too little

 

[jackhjharding]

Ok here's what I eat in a normal day: (the dinner will vary obviously as my mum cooks it!! )

Breakfast - 120g Porridge Oats
- 300 ml semi or skimmed milk (whatevers in the fridge!)

Lunch - 2 slices granary or wholemeal bread
- 1 cheese slice
- apple
- banana

Dinner - (last night)
- Tagatelli Pasta with cheese sauce
- Garlic bread

Pudding - 200g Mullerlight yogurt

 

[cha]

Like Emma said, you are way under weight. At 108 lbs and 15 years of age, you can probably get by with eating whatever so long as it's somewhat sensible. I don't think you need to concern yourself too much on a perfect diet. You just need to eat more and more often (every 3 hours). 3 meals a day just isn't going to cut it. I also think you need to up your protein. From what you posted, you aren't getting nearly enough.

 

[KentDog]

Wow.. 108 pounds at over 5'5" is very skinny even for a female. Since you are very active and young, you should definately be eating more. How do you have the energy to survive in football?

Are you trying to gain weight? Lose weight? Neither?

 

[jackhjharding]

I'm not trying to lose weight...I just run a lot coz I wanna keep fit. I don't feel tired and I don't look really bony, and I don't ever feel like I can eat anymore. What sort of foods should I be eating?

 

[myCATpowerlifts]

Eat more...try to eat 5 meals a day...anyone can get 4.

Eat more meats and drink more milk.

 

[Emma-Leigh]

I'm not trying to lose weight...I just run a lot coz I wanna keep fit. I don't feel tired and I don't look really bony, and I don't ever feel like I can eat anymore. What sort of foods should I be eating?

I doubt that you 'do not look bony' - At 108 lbs and your height you will be nothing but bone...

You need to stock up on lots of foods - if you are doing a lot of running and activity then you should have carbs to support that activity.. Things like whole grains (brown rice, oats, barley, corn), fruits (banana, apples etc), legumes (kidney beans, lentils, chick-peas), sweet potato/yam and vegetables. Skim dairy like milk and yoghurt is also good. As you are so active and so underweight then I would also recommend you try things like wholegrain pasta and sprouted breads.

You also want to make sure you get healthy fats. Things like avocado, olive oil, nuts (like walnuts, almonds and peanuts) and seeds (linseeds, sunflower seeds etc) are good for you!! So add some of these to your day too.

Protein is important - things like fish/sea food, lean chicken breast, eggs, turkey, lean game meats (such as buffalo or ostrich), skim dairy (milk, yoghurt, cottage cheese) and lean red meat (at least 93% fat free)...

Try to eat 5-6 smaller meals each day (not 3) and in each meal try to get some carbohydrates (from the list above), fats (from the list above) and protein...

A serve of protein for you,would be 3 oz of chicken or tuna, 0.75 cups of 1% cottage cheese, 1 egg + 4 egg whites or 1 scoop of protein powder. You do not need a lot as you are so small - you would be better off eating carbs/fats for the energy.


You can also read This Thread - it should get you started.