12 year old eating alll day

[Anonymous]

When I read the OP I had three thoughts:
- Someone will calculate the child's BMI and write a condescending post aimed at OP
- someone will suggest the child would need to lost 30 or 40 pounds to be skinny
- others will compete to see who, in fact, has the skinniest child.

OP, 12 year old boys and girls eat a lot. It's normal.

[Anonymous]

I feel like some of these posters are parents of rail in middle school girls. OP, your kid is not overweight and is normal.

My son was shorter than yours at 12 and grew over a foot in the next few years. He ate more food than most of these posters can imagine. He’s now 16, about 200 lbs well over 6 ft and the growth has slowed. I don’t know how much over 6ft so they can’t calculate his bmi . He’s still growing slowly but not eating the massive amounts he did a few years ago, several packed meals each day. Your son isn’t even eating that much.

[Anonymous]

My son had the same stats at his age and had a six pack. He was in no way fat but he was built.

Yes, he eats all the time. Multiple dinners each night.

[Anonymous]

For example, last night, my son, aged 13, had a snack at 3 after school, then had baseball practice. Then ate 2 enormous Chipotle burritos. Then ice cream. Then asked me if there was something else he could eat. He is very skinny, 5'8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an example of how we all perceive thin, regular weight, and overweight differently. A 5'3" 12-year-old boy who is 125 lbs is not thin in my book.
As an example my shorter at 12 years old son, weight almost half of what OPs child weighs.

This is an example of a mom whose 12 year old son hasn’t started puberty. Once they start putting on muscle the numbers can go up quickly, but they can still look thin. And the weight sits differently on different kids—my two teen boys are same weight, inch different in height. One looks like he just came from a bodybuilding competition and the other looks thin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NORMAL

Not normal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son had the same stats at his age and had a six pack. He was in no way fat but he was built.

Yes, he eats all the time. Multiple dinners each night.

DP and my 13 yo daughter is a 5’2” and 125 lbs. She is a year round club athlete and wears a size XS or S in everything. If you saw her, you would describe her as tiny. Not rail thin but tiny for sure. She’s all muscle. She can also eat a lot so it’s not only the boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assumed a 12 year and 6 month boy at 5' 3" and weighing 124 pounds.

Your results
The information you provided gives a BMI of 22.

This puts your child in the 88th percentile, which means your child is overweight. An ideal BMI for your child's gender and age is between 15.2 and 21.4.

Your child is not skinny. In fact, your child is classified as overweight. That is not necessarily a problem and BMI is not perfect, but it is a data point for you to consider. I would be sure to focus on healthy, whole foods and increase activity. Hopefully he will even out as he goes through puberty, but right now is the time to teach healthy habits and food as fuel.

OP’s kid is top of the growth chart for height/weight. BMI is notoriously wrong for tall, muscular boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed a 12 year and 6 month boy at 5' 3" and weighing 124 pounds.

Your results
The information you provided gives a BMI of 22.

This puts your child in the 88th percentile, which means your child is overweight. An ideal BMI for your child's gender and age is between 15.2 and 21.4.

Your child is not skinny. In fact, your child is classified as overweight. That is not necessarily a problem and BMI is not perfect, but it is a data point for you to consider. I would be sure to focus on healthy, whole foods and increase activity. Hopefully he will even out as he goes through puberty, but right now is the time to teach healthy habits and food as fuel.

OP’s kid is top of the growth chart for height/weight. BMI is notoriously wrong for tall, muscular boys.

And why do you think that OP's son is muscular?

One-third of kids in the US are overweight or obese. We should not be helping this problem continue to grow by saying that this is "normal" and "there is nothing to worry about."

OP, I would take your son to his doctor and ask for their opinion and advice.

[Anonymous]

OP Something you may not realize is that school lunches for middle school students are not very big portions. What you listed sounds like he does not eat as much as 12 year olds I know. Also for my own son he has periods where he eats a ton and periods where he doesn't eat much. It happens with growth spurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I read the OP I had three thoughts:
- Someone will calculate the child's BMI and write a condescending post aimed at OP
- someone will suggest the child would need to lost 30 or 40 pounds to be skinny
- others will compete to see who, in fact, has the skinniest child.

OP, 12 year old boys and girls eat a lot. It's normal.

There's always a couple outliers who come on these threads "most 12 year olds are 70 pounds, not sure what you're asking?!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Something you may not realize is that school lunches for middle school students are not very big portions. What you listed sounds like he does not eat as much as 12 year olds I know. Also for my own son he has periods where he eats a ton and periods where he doesn't eat much. It happens with growth spurts.

This. I’m a ms teacher and the students constantly complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP Something you may not realize is that school lunches for middle school students are not very big portions. What you listed sounds like he does not eat as much as 12 year olds I know. Also for my own son he has periods where he eats a ton and periods where he doesn't eat much. It happens with growth spurts.

This. I’m a ms teacher and the students constantly complain.

It happens with older elementary school kids too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I read the OP I had three thoughts:
- Someone will calculate the child's BMI and write a condescending post aimed at OP
- someone will suggest the child would need to lost 30 or 40 pounds to be skinny
- others will compete to see who, in fact, has the skinniest child.

OP, 12 year old boys and girls eat a lot. It's normal.

+1, I had the same thought. The number of people on this site projecting their body image issues on tweens and teens is sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed a 12 year and 6 month boy at 5' 3" and weighing 124 pounds.

Your results
The information you provided gives a BMI of 22.

This puts your child in the 88th percentile, which means your child is overweight. An ideal BMI for your child's gender and age is between 15.2 and 21.4.

Your child is not skinny. In fact, your child is classified as overweight. That is not necessarily a problem and BMI is not perfect, but it is a data point for you to consider. I would be sure to focus on healthy, whole foods and increase activity. Hopefully he will even out as he goes through puberty, but right now is the time to teach healthy habits and food as fuel.

OP’s kid is top of the growth chart for height/weight. BMI is notoriously wrong for tall, muscular boys.

And why do you think that OP's son is muscular?

One-third of kids in the US are overweight or obese. We should not be helping this problem continue to grow by saying that this is "normal" and "there is nothing to worry about."

OP, I would take your son to his doctor and ask for their opinion and advice.

We don’t know anything about OP’s kid other than he eats a normal amount for a preteen boy. So, why are all you disordered eaters descending like crows telling her kid is fat? You can’t look at his height and weight and know that bc he could be anything from chubby with a big gut to very muscular.

He certainly doesn’t need to visit a doctor to be given permission to have an afterschool snack, that’s lunacy.