Help with Son's Bulking Diet

Diet and Nutrition
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Can someone please give me a bit of advice, heâ??s 15yrs old, 73kilos (160pnds) heâ??s on an off season rugby training program, just started will take him thru till April next year, doing a lot of strength/hypertrophy etc 3 mornings a week. Not sure exactly the program but lots of squats, chin ups, moving tractor tyres all that sort of stuff (sorry if to vague). He also does one day a week in the off season of sprints for his speed.

He did this program last year and managed to put on 5 kilos, but with all his rugby during the season I didnâ??t sign him up to a gym to continue with weights as he had a total of 6 (1-2 hrs each) or more trainings a week for school/club/rep rugby with 2 games a week, and 3 jujitzu sessions a week, so didnâ??t think he should be doing to much more, he was pretty knackered.

He is a 15yr boy so his diet is a bit crappy but heâ??s willing to change his eating habits in order to take his footy to the next level.

This is what he is eating today.

Break 4.40amâ?? 3egg omelette with 1x rasher bacon, and cheese.

Train 5.00am â?? post train 6.00am 1 scoop Surge Recovery, 5grams glutamine

At home â?? 7.00am before took off for school, 1 banana

Lunch â?? 10.30?? multi grain roll with ham and mayo, (no butt), 1 boiled egg, small tub of pasta salad with onion /tuna/mayo.

Rugby training 1.00pm â?? not sure if he took anything to eat now.

Hometime 2.30pm â?? properly will eat instant noodles, or 4 slices multi grain bread with vegemite or p.butter

Jujitzu 6.00pm â?? 1 banana on the way or something if still hungry.

Dinner â?? 7.30pm chx Mexican enchilada with rice, carrots peas. Probably a flav milk with this.

Next day will be similar but there is no 5.00am training so Surge scrapped, no jujitsu, but I think he has school rugby training for his rugby class with might only be a game of touch. And it might be spag bol for tea. Wed same as Monday, Thurs sprint training, Fri only 5.00am train, Sat/Sun rest, but properly beaching it or something similar.

He also takes a multi vitamin every day with I think a tsp of creatine.

I am struggling a bit with ideas esp as he needs to take food to school and doesnâ??t have heating up facilities.

I really think I need to up his protein levels?

Also should I be getting him to take fish oil?

He would like to get as close to 80kilos as he can by next April, thatâ??s 7kilos in like 5 months is it doable?

with thanks in advance from his mother, :slight_smile: (I have included this photo, it’s the latest I have off him on the right in the green singlet, just after winning grand final, Yah!, to give you an idea of where he’a at, sorry all I had on my computer)

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Wow a mother who cares!

Also, it would be easier for us to help if you posted the total calories and Carb/protein/fat breakdown.

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Your son trains three times a day and is 15 years old. He’s going to need significantly more food than that.

In my opinion, his meal plan is a lot of junk carbs, very little fat, and mediocre levels of protein. What this means is a tremendous lack of meat, nuts, and vegetables.

It’s hard working with a 15 year old though, because they just want to eat what they want. Still, you can probably slowly work in more food, and better stuff. Talk to him about his goals with rugby and try to get him interested in optimizing his diet. It will be odd at first, but when you find something that works for him, he’ll notice a pretty big increase in his athletic performance.

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[quote]Rocky2 wrote:
Wow a mother who cares!

Also, it would be easier for us to help if you posted the total calories and Carb/protein/fat breakdown.[/quote]

Yeah I will throw it thru fit day or something I think it’s called and see what comes out of that.

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[quote]Xab wrote:
Your son trains three times a day and is 15 years old. He’s going to need significantly more food than that.

In my opinion, his meal plan is a lot of junk carbs, very little fat, and mediocre levels of protein. What this means is a tremendous lack of meat, nuts, and vegetables.

It’s hard working with a 15 year old though, because they just want to eat what they want. Still, you can probably slowly work in more food, and better stuff. Talk to him about his goals with rugby and try to get him interested in optimizing his diet. It will be odd at first, but when you find something that works for him, he’ll notice a pretty big increase in his athletic performance. [/quote]

thanks for your speedy replies, and your right he needs alot more protein, I did talk to him about nuts and he’s all good for that, as for vegies’ I can add some spinach to his breaky for a start and I will have a bit of a think about other areas to increase all of the above. Was thinking I dont’ know how to add vegies to his school lunch but can do so in the form of salad, duh!!!
I was worried about adding to much of the wrong stuff and just making him fat, but I guess at his age and with his training that’s properly not going to happen is it.

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ok so changed things slightly and here’s fit day stats. (not sure how acurate that is but a good guide I guess)

Total cal for the day: 2295
Breaks down to approx 42% fat, 25% carbs, 33% Protein, bearing in mind that Surge not in fit day log,but did include over all cals from this for the day.

Me thinks fats still to high, (as in poss not good quality fats)

Break 4.40am 3egg omelette with 1x rasher bacon, cheese and 1 cup spinach
cal; 403
fat; 26.4
carb; 9.3
prot; 33.4

Train 5.00am post train 6.00am 1 scoop Surge Recovery, 5grams glutamine bit of a guess (maybe he should have more than 1 scoop here?)
cals; 113
fat; .83
carbs;15.33
prot; 8.33

At home 7.00am before took off for school, 1 banana
cal; 105
fat; .4
carbs; 27
prot; 1.3

Lunch 10.30?? tuna/pasta/egg/mayo salad with 1 cup spinach/red pepper and some onion, (yeah I know the mayo not so good but can’t see him eating this with no sort of dressing.)
cal;502
fat; 23.1
carb; 42.4
prot; 30.2

Rugby training 1.00pm banana, 3 eggs, 1.5 cup almonds
cal;541
fat; 34.2
carb;35.7
prot; 27.6

I think i properly need something else in here, as to big a gap between 1.00 to 7.30.
Dinner â?? 7.30pm chx breast, sweet potato, cottage cheese .5 cup
cal; 632
fat; 20.3
carb; 27.1
prot; 31.1

all of this is in grams by the way.

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And do I have to worry about the only prot/fats prot/carb thing?

Man this is hard, also as he is only 15 I don’t want him to have to much of a strict diet as he’s still a growing boy and needs all food groups but some just more in moderation, I dunno maybe I’m off track with that.

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Oh good lord. Please, your boy needs at least 4000 Calories a day. Not only is he a growing teenage boy, but he is training multiple times a day.

Give the man, er, boy, some beef!

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Also, you can create custom foods in fit day. I have over 30 of them. Add Surge in.

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Up your son’s calories, don’t worry about the supplements, give him some red meat, oatmeal, rice and whole milk, avocados are a good choice if your looking for healthier fats but he really needs to eat more, i’m surprised he doesn’t feel wiped out, not enough complex carbs in there also.

I know some teens who eat way more calories than your son, are not fat, don’t train anywhere near the level he does, feed him like a growing boy / athlete, that’s what he is.

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[quote]MODOK wrote:

[quote]Ihi wrote:
ok so changed things slightly and here’s fit day stats. (not sure how acurate that is but a good guide I guess)

Total cal for the day: 2295

[/quote]

Little girl athletes eat more calories than this. Seriously. Multiply this number by two and re-weigh in two weeks. Also, you should look at John Berardi’s massive eating articles for a calorie calculator that is appropriate for your son’s needs.
[/quote]

Well-put.

If it’s that hard to get whole food you can consider, using a combination of whey protein and maltodextrin pre/post workout for quick and efficient protein/carbs. And he might as well be eating peanut/almond butter by the jar.

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I’d stuff him full of any good homecooked meals. Make lasagna with lots fo extra meat. Steaks, ground beef anything. Like everyone else is saying, he needs to eat 2X as much. Big Thick Heraty meals, and he is going to have to eat like 2 big dinners, because with all that trainign and running around, he just isn’t going to be able to handle many big meals during the day.

Dinner 1 about 1 hour after his last practice etc. and then dinner 2 3 hours later. So maybe like 7:00 and 10:00. So instead of getting a bowl of popcorn or some dessert, he gets another big dinner. Taco’s or taco salad are easy and good. Just buy a bag of tortilla chips, cook your ground beef like you would make tacos. Then in a big bowl dump the meat, Sliced black olives, Cheese Sauce, Refried Beans, Lettuce Tomatoe, Onion, Avacado, Sour cream. Mix it up a little and then he can just scoop it our onto the tortillas. Lots of meat, Some good fats, some carbs. And if he is anything like most boys, he will eat the hell out of a dinner like this because it’s good and it’s more fun than a traditional dinner.

I have lots of decent “eating big” type recipies becuase this is how I eat, I generally don’t eat breakfast, eat a small lunch and then eat a huge dinner followed by a smaller dinner in a few hours to top off the tank before bed. Let me know I can whip out some more ideas.

V

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Hey thanks guys, and he has been wiped out, I would come home and find him asleep on the floor half in his room half in the hallway and the hall way is wood, which is why I am trying to help him with his intake.

i’ll take a look at John Beradi’s site see what I can learn.

Maybe I need to bring in an expert, but not really sure where to look for one in oz who is reputable.

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Here is something that is currently helping me: Make high calorie protein shakes. An easy recipe is:
2 cups whole milk
scoop of protein powder
1 banana
4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

That right there has 1000 cals and 60g of protein. Have him drink that twice a day and thats an easy 2000 calories.

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[quote]MODOK wrote:

[quote]Ihi wrote:
ok so changed things slightly and here’s fit day stats. (not sure how acurate that is but a good guide I guess)

Total cal for the day: 2295

[/quote]

Little girl athletes eat more calories than this. Seriously. Multiply this number by two and re-weigh in two weeks. Also, you should look at John Berardi’s massive eating articles for a calorie calculator that is appropriate for your son’s needs.
[/quote]

I found this even though the activity didn’t exactly tie into what he does, it was still a good indication and it said around 4600, thanks for the suggestion.

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[quote]Brian14 wrote:
Here is something that is currently helping me: Make high calorie protein shakes. An easy recipe is:
2 cups whole milk
scoop of protein powder
1 banana
4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

That right there has 1000 cals and 60g of protein. Have him drink that twice a day and thats an easy 2000 calories.[/quote]

sweet as good suggestion, he would love something like that, because wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get 4000+ cals into him a day. Holly shit that’s a lot of calories, but obviously he needs it. And this is something he will make him self easily. thanks

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Nah 4000 ain’t that much for most growing boys to fit down. It just sounds like a lot when you think of it as twice the daily recommended 2000 Calories.

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[quote]Mister T. wrote:
Hey, if he’s having trouble getting down those 4000 calories in food form, shakes are a great way to go. This is one of Berardi’s as I remember it; I use it often and it’s awesome for between meals:

2 cups iced green tea (brew the green tea in a pot, then let cool and refrigerate). You can use water but GT tastes way better IMO.
1 cup yogurt
a couple tablespoons of peanut butter
frozen fruit
a scoop or two or three of protein powder
handful of spinach (dead serious, it’s a very subtle taste)

A tablespoon or so of olive oil in this shake adds some extra quality fat calories, if you’re so inclined.[/quote]

thanks I’ve written this down, I think I just won’t tell him what’s in it till he tries it. :wink:

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you are a good parent helping your son with his goals.

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[quote]Mister T. wrote:
Hey, if he’s having trouble getting down those 4000 calories in food form, shakes are a great way to go. This is one of Berardi’s as I remember it; I use it often and it’s awesome for between meals:

2 cups iced green tea (brew the green tea in a pot, then let cool and refrigerate). You can use water but GT tastes way better IMO.
1 cup yogurt
a couple tablespoons of peanut butter
frozen fruit
a scoop or two or three of protein powder
handful of spinach (dead serious, it’s a very subtle taste)

A tablespoon or so of olive oil in this shake adds some extra quality fat calories, if you’re so inclined.[/quote]

Peanut butter and green tea sounds disgusting for some reason I’m inclined to try it now, lol.