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I've noticed something the past two months that really grosses me out. How much is too much?!

LaMareOssa's picture

When it comes to snacks and meals and desserts.. how much is normal for an 11 year old? SD11 seems to have quite the appetite, but she is at a healthy, normal weight according to her doc.

Lately, I've noticed the ice cream is always gone. It started out as "Oh, were out of ice cream?" to the point where "What?! Ice cream is gone again?! It's only Tue/Wed!!!" (We go grocery shopping every Sat. DD7 and DS4 will usually have an otter pop after dinner. Sometimes DS4 will ask for a tomato for dessert (He eats tomatoes and cucumbers likes apples!) DD7 will have a root beer float on rare occasions, but usually it's a popcicle. Before SD moved in, we always had ice cream in the freezer. DH likes banana splits and shakes sometimes and maybe once every 2 months I'll have a root beer float myself. But now, we can't keep ice cream in the freezer longer than 3 or 4 days. The typical 1 gallon ice cream boxes!!

I've mentioned to DH that our ice cream is disappearing much father than usual, but he doesn't seem to care that his daughter is eating more ice cream than an adult can put down!

Also at dinner time, SD11 can eat more than me and DH put together!! DH is a very healthy eater, even though he is skinny as a rail, but SD can eat more than him! and me! Like a large spoon full of pasta/potatoes and 3 chicken legs and two spoonfuls of veggies. Or 3/4 of a pizza. An entire big mac, plus large fries and then some more. Is this normal??? She seems to eat like a grown man would eat.. then after dinner eat an entire adult size bowl of ice cream?!?!

Usually I would dish out dessert for her, but DH has been letting SD get her own.. whatever, I don't care since I've pretty much disengaged.

Is this normal? for an 11 year old girl???? IMHO I think its too much, since shes eating more than two adults, but what do I know.

Comments

LaMareOssa's picture

I forgot to add THIS: We bought a thing of mint chocolate chip and a thing of vanilla ice cream last Sat. Went to get DH some Mint ice cream last night...Oh we're out of BOTH vanilla ANDDDDDD Mint!!! :jawdrop: :sick:

DH and our kids didn't get a chance to eat any ice cream this week...Where'd it go?!?!?!

step off already's picture

I have three bios and one skid ages 9-13 and I monitor food. They are not allowed to help themselves to food between meal times. If there is dessert, it is provided by me or DH. If they are hungry between meals, they may help themselves to fruit.

This was difficult for SS to adjust to when he started living with me as he was a free-for-aller and I would often find my cookies, crackers, chips GONE. When previously, they would last for about a month.

He's now slimmed down a bit and it's not an issue.

LaMareOssa's picture

She hasn't had her first period yet. She could be hormonal...but this has been going on for a couple months.

furkidsforme's picture

If she's a normal weight she might just be blessed with a great metabolism!

I dunno, I came from a family where if it was in the fridge it was there to eat. Hubby came from the "you have to ask before you touch ANYTHING" kind of house.

Sort of drives me nuts, unless it is a health problem or she's refusing normal mealtimes I say let her eat!

Disneyfan's picture

I grew up the same way you grew up with food. I raised my son the same way.

DF grew up like your husband.

This was a HUGE issue in our home when we moved in. Playing food Nazi was just so foreign to me. I found some of the stuff he complained about down right hilarious.

LaMareOssa's picture

Me and DH both were raised that way "If it's there then eat it" I am that way too..to an extent. I don't care if you eat an entire bag of roma tomatoes or 3 cucumbers in one sitting, but eating an entire bag of BBQ Lays or two gallons of ice cream is not okay to me. If it were healthy things that she was gobbling up I wouldn't complain, but since it's just unhealthy things, it makes me worry. Smile

imjustthemaid's picture

My DD is 11 and very tall and very skinny. She doesn't eat much junk food but she can eat a lot. If I buy strawberries she eats the entire container. She eats all the watermelon in the house. If I order pizza she eats 4 slices. I think she is going thru a growth spurt. Then there are days that she eats very little.

Now SD16 eats all the ice cream and junk food. If I buy a container of ice cream and I don't eat some right away, chances are I won't get any. The other night she ate an entire box of waffles. She is gross!! And I noticed she is gaining a lot of weight too.

sasha101's picture

It sounds like she might have an obsession with food. My ss11 is the same - eats as much as an adult and always talking/asking about food. If we let him, he would easily guzzle down a gallon of ice cream in a couple of days but we don't allow skids free access to junk food and if they want a snack it's fruit or yoghurt only. SS11 is an active kid and isn't overweight at the moment, but I can see him having a serious over-eating disorder and getting obese when he's older. I think his food obsession is a psychological thing which goes back to when he was very young, as the bm emotionally abused him and his two brothers who are also a bit too preoccupied with food but not as bad as ss11. His greediness never ceases to astound me and I'm dreading him hitting puberty as most teenage boys seem to have big appetites anyway so he'll be eating enough to feed 2-3 kids if we don't monitor him. We're on a really tight budget and cannot afford for skids to be guzzling a weeks worth of groceries in a couple of days, so I can see me having to lock food away. I already hide certain things I don't want them to have and they know certain things cannot be touched without asking. I don't like living like that, but if we didn't we wouldn't have enough food to last the week.

Do you think your sd might have emotional issues which are causing her to over-eat? There's nothing wrong with having a healthy appetite and enjoying your food, but eating such huge quantities of ice cream (and it sounds like she's eating it in secret if no one's seen her doing it) sounds emotionally as well as physically unhealthy.