Is this too much to eat!?!?!?!

[Ninjaboi978]

Well first off i am a 13 (going on 14) year old 8th grader. I am studying kenpo karate at East West Karate School. I am not fat, i just dont have abs that show. I was wondering if it was how much i ate. First off i ONLY drink water so soda calories are outta the picture. Since i wake up late i only eat a cereal bar with 90 calories and 10 from fat. When lunch rolls around i eat a school lunch which is... idont know lets be harsh and say it is 500 calories and 200 from fat. When i get home i eat one of my moms lean cusienes or a weight watcher meal because shes on a diet and she buys plenty. They are anywhere from 250 to 300 calories each (lets say 300 when we add it up) and 25 to 60 in fat. I eat another one around 9 o'clock. That averages out to about 1190 calories and 390 from fat. Is that what i should be eating??? Should i cut back, eat more, what is the average calories a 13yearold should have a day??

~Ninjaboi978

[darkrelevance]

you're 13 and still growing. you're not overly obese, and you get excercise. you shouldnt need to diet at all. 1190 is a bit too little if you ask me.

dont forget about the quality of the foods you eat. are you getting that 1190 from good quality foods or from junk food/fast food?

[muaythaiguy15]

I agree, when I was 13 I was skinny, but youre body is changing. EAT and EAT. If youre weightlfting, diet is more important. My advice, eat when youre hungry. If youre a weightlifter, eat so youre never hungry.

[Ninjaboi978]

well i guess... most of it is healthy food (well besides the school lunches ) and i really try to stay away from junk food. Its just last year i kinda had a belly and when it was summer and we were all swimming all my friends were skinny or muscular. Now im between skinny and semi muscular (barely showing abs) and it is almost summer. Im afraid if i eat too much i will lose what i worked so hard to gain. Well skool isbout to start soon so i gotta run.

p.s.- isnt it not healthy to eat after a cirtain time because your body cant digest it rite, if so what time???

[muaythaiguy15]

If youre really that concerned about your weight and appearance, take up weightlifting! It seems like youre caring more about your physical appearance (its not a bad thing at all though) more then strength or endurance. Believe it or not, being strong and looking strong is totally different.

I dont have a six pack but I can lift pretty good numbers. In mass gain diets, people eat an hour before they go to bed because your body isnt being very active so that food pretty much sits. Dont eat 1-2 hours before bed if youre not trying to gain mass or bulk up.

Basically, diet takes you half way to a good body, the other half comes from physical activity. If you want a good routine, weights or body resistance just ask. any other questions, feel free to ask

[dillingerescp]

there are deffinetely genetics involved as well which can make it easier, or more difficult to get the body you want.

This year I have really cut down on food ( I still eat a decent amount however) I completely cut out processed food, and I exercise every day, yet I dont have a six pack, I have a little flub on my belly, but Im probably healthier than a lot of toned individuals who are toned naturally.

[dillingerescp]

Oh and by the way, I didnt mean to seem pessimistic, because I have deffinetely noticed a difference in the amount of fat on me, muscles are getting larger as well.

[Broadsword2004]

Man, I remember back when I was 13, I had a BAD craving for soda then. I was essentially a drunk, only it was soda instead of alcohol. I would routinely drink upwards of 12 cans of Pepsi a night. Luckily that only lasted a short period. Nowadays, I very rarely drink soda, and if I do, it must be with water and usually watered down some with ice cubes.

[lei_kung]

I haven't read the whole thread but you seem to be eating too little and in the wrong ways. First, I would suggest that you try and eat 6 times a day. Let's say 2000 (this is a hypothetical number) calories is what you should be taking in then divide that among 5-6 meals/snacks. This keeps your body from entering a storage phase.

Also, I would suggest lifting weights to add muscle mass (as opposed to conditioning). The more muscle mass you have the more calories your body will use while at rest. When doing this what you eat and when you eat is much more important. For example, within 20 minutes after a work out you should try and consume as much protein as you can. Also take in simple sugars to trigger the insulin response to make the most use of the protein you take in.

Lastly, what you eat is much more important then how much you eat (so long as your calorie in take is with in reason). For example, you could in take the same amount of calories eating tuna and rice vs McDonalds but you would gain much more by eating McDonalds because of the effect the food has on the body.

This is just a very short and quick answer to your question. I'm leaving out lots of details because this would quickly turn into a short book if I did. If you have any specific question pm me and I will answer them to the best of my ability.


Lei Kung

[fanman.]

Damn, accidentally posted twice.

[fanman.]

Like others have said, it's not really how much you eat that counts, but what you eat. Eat as much as you're hungry for, no more, no less. The amount of calories doesn't matter. It's the type that is important. Don't eat anything with sugar (as in added sugar, sucrose). This is hard for your body to process and easily turns into fat. The natural sugars in fruit and vegetables are much healthier. If you want to get lean, its also very good to eat a lot of fruit. It's the best quality food that a human can eat; contains plenty of useful energy that will not turn easily into fat like sucrose, and is easy to digest so won't wear you down like some other foods from heavy digestive effort. Don't believe me just from reading this. Experiment with cutting out sugar and eating a large percentage of your diet as fruit, and consider honestly the results you get for yourself.

[lei_kung]

I don't wish to be argumentative and agree that fruit can be good for you. Although, you have to watch how much you eat of it. The fructose is a very simple sugar (much like sucrose) in that the body absorbs it very quickly and can trigger an insulin response. This is a very good thing after a work out or at any time the body is repairing itself, but a bad thing if the body isn't. This is because as a person's blood sugar levels jump insulin is released to take up the sugar in the blood. The insulin then takes this energy to where ever the body needs it. If it isn't needed then it goes to fat.

Now simple sugars such as the above have this effect because of how quickly they are absorbed. Think about it like this, have you ever drank lots of soda been hyper then crashed? This is because the sugar entered your blood stream very quickly (the hyper) then the insulin response happened and removed it (the crash). Now more complex sugars don't do this because it takes longer to break them down into sugars that can enter the blood stream therefore they enter over a longer period of time. This is why runners will have a pasta dinner the night before a race.

My point is fruits are very good for you but I would be careful with the amounts and types you eat. In fact I would say snacking on tuna would be the best bet (if you can stand the smell) or a whole grain. All carbs are sugars but pastas and whole grains are complex sugars. So I personally believe that these make better snacks. And remember your protein consumption is by far the most important factor in your eating habits.


Lei Kung

[fanman.]

I used to believe in all that stuff about wholegrains being better than fruit because of blood sugar levels and so on. It does seem very logical. However, I decided to ignore it and try out a diet with about 50% fruit to see how I felt. I felt great. However, after a year I decided to experiment with decreasing the amount of fruit and increasing the amount of wholegrains. I tried this diet for a month and felt pretty crap the whole time. Just recently I've switched back to a majority fruit diet, and feel all the better for it. The important point I'm trying to make is that you must see what works for YOU. Don't rely totally on logical reasoning. Use it as a guide, but only in combination with your own experimentation. If you honestly feel better with for example lots of wholegrains and a small amount of fruit, then that's how you should eat. If you really feel that too much fruit will stuff up your blood suger levels, then don't eat too much. But I am a firm believer in the effectiveness of a diet made up largely of fruit. Try it out for yourself. However, if you need more convincing, check out this site:

http://www.freedomyou.com/recipes/fruit%20diet.htm

The section titled "What Is More Nutritious, Bread Or Fruit?" is especially relevant to this discussion. Among other things it says "Fructose, the sugar commonly found in all fruit, is the gentlest to enter the bloodstream, requiring the least amount of insulin."

[seppuku]

Interesting and thought provoking thread. Thank you.
Reminds me that i need a better understanding of biochemistry before i get examined on it in 4 weeks time. I think fructose is mostly converted to glucose before absorption into the blood. Fructose levels in the blood are (normally) either very low or zero. Not sure which. Similar with sucrose. Sucrose is not transported in the blood. It's broken down into glucose and fructose, fructose then converted to glucose.
Dont have complete faith in that, its been a while since i covered it. But if i am right, since the hydrolysis and isomerisation enzymes are very rapid at what they do, glucose/sucrose/fructose should all have the same effect on your system, with glucose hitting marginally faster.
Unfortunately im not certain what this effect on the system is since my memory isnt up to much at the moment, but most things said above sound spot on. Good advice

Peace

[Ninjaboi978]

thank you all you have helped very much... but i have heard something from one of my friends that might be what is wrong or maybe not. My friend who is now 17 says that kids around my age (early teens), well their bodies seem to be gathering up weight so it can go into a growth spurt. I have already been through 2 in a range of about 2 years and im about 5' 5"-7" i cant remember exactly. Is it normal to get another one? Could it just be that. I mean its not like i have no abs at all, beleive me they are pretty strong but they are just under a layer of fat and i have been eating healthy and woking out alot lately over the past 2-3 months. It just seems like nothing at all is changing! Also, what are some good exersizes to tone the lower abs (below the belly-button and above the groin), and your chest muscles??? It kinda seems that the abs at the top(right below the ribs) have vituraly no fat on them and it puzzles me to no end how i could be fit in the middle, but not on the ends!