athletic nutritionist for a teenager

[Anonymous]

Is an athletic nutritionist for a teenager even a thing? My concern- my teenage daughter is involved in two cardio intensive sports and I want to make sure she is getting good information about calories and right combos of foods (and possibly recipes?). She isa generally healthy eater and we have never said she couldn't have things but she is burning a lot of calories. Like yesterday, she had both sports practices plus school and had over 30K steps for the day.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Do you want to give your daughter an eating disorder? This is how you give your daughter an eating disorder. You said she eats healthy and you don't limit what she can have. Leave it be.

[Anonymous]

She has asked if there was someone she could meet with because one of her coaches has said “make sure you get enough protein” but she doesn’t really know what that means.

And she has lost weight recently without trying and I think she is not getting the right combo of calories.

This is all coming because she wants to be in great shape and avoid injuries in her sports

[Anonymous]

I see a lot of teenage girls overly focused on what they eat under the umbrella of "I am just making healthier choices" but that's just a guise for an eating disorder. Sadly, eating disorders are far more common than we realize.

Tread very lightly here!!!

[Anonymous]

Two cardio intensive sports one right after another isn’t a great idea.

[Anonymous]

How stupid can you do this to your daughter

[Anonymous]

OP, check out one of Elyse Kopecky's cookbooks from the library and let your daughter take a look. She's a competitive runner/mom now recipe developer and her stuff is packed with nutrition.

If you consult anyone, make it a registered dietician. Nutritionist is not a credential.

[Anonymous]

Have her ask her coach how many grams of protein she should shoot for, then track it (very ballpark!) for a couple of days of normal eating. If she needs to add some greek yogurt or eggs or meat, she'll know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you want to give your daughter an eating disorder? This is how you give your daughter an eating disorder. You said she eats healthy and you don't limit what she can have. Leave it be.

Jesus. Not talking about healthy food is how you get an eating disorder.

Sounds like OP's kid is super active and she's trying to make sure she gets enough carbs to keep the engine going at full speed and enough protein to build muscle.

[Anonymous]

Ignore the haters. Sports nutrition for teenage athletes is definitely I thing. My child (who was trying to gain weight for sports performance) had a few sessions with https://rbitzer.com/team/blair-solberger/

The goal was to build out a diet plan that had enough calories, carbs, protein, etc, to fuel the athlete's body and improve performance - especially during adolescent years when they are growing. It was helpful.

Learning about nutrition and how to fuel an athlete's body is important and helpful information and really has nothing to do with an eating disorder.

[Anonymous]

Hats off to any HS athletes who are mature enough to implement a sports nutritionist’s suggestions.

My teen athletes don’t really have the bandwidth for anymore coaching, between sports coaches and HS teachers. Especially if I’m the one encouraging it.

They know the basics of balanced diets, hydration and sleep. They just don’t want to make the right choices sometimes and that’s them being teens.

I would be wary of a teen doing two intensive sports at the same time.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of teens doing one very intensive or two intensive sports at a time. Nothing to be wary about but nutrition becomes important for this type of athlete

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is an athletic nutritionist for a teenager even a thing? My concern- my teenage daughter is involved in two cardio intensive sports and I want to make sure she is getting good information about calories and right combos of foods (and possibly recipes?). She isa generally healthy eater and we have never said she couldn't have things but she is burning a lot of calories. Like yesterday, she had both sports practices plus school and had over 30K steps for the day.

Any help would be appreciated.

OP I am a sports dietitian and work with a lot of teens in the DC area. Yes it’s a thing. (But note: you want a licensed registered dietitian, not someone who is a “nutritionist.”). It’s great that your DD seems to love both sports and food but you do want to make sure she is taking in enough energy to sustain this level of activity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of teens doing one very intensive or two intensive sports at a time. Nothing to be wary about but nutrition becomes important for this type of athlete

Back to back intensive sports is different than two intensive sports during different seasons.

[Anonymous]

Back to back is nuts