leotardmakermum
Proud Parent
My daughter recently suffered an illness that meant that she was on a much reduced intake of food for about 5 days. All in all it was a pretty awful illness, and kept her away from gym for about two weeks. She was the sickest I have ever seen her. She's very skinny normally (all muscle, no fat), and with the illness, she lost any reserves she may have had.
Back to gym, and her coaches who were very concerned for her health, are helping her to ease back in to training slowly. We're about two weeks into the easing back in process. They recognise that she has lost a lot of weight, a lot of strength and a lot of stamina. She is on a reduced program of strength and conditioning, and does fewer repetitions than her team mates. She is making it through the training sessions by feeding herself Glucodin (glucose tablets) when she feels she is flagging or when her coach tells her to have one. (Her coach knows her energy needs very well.)
She normally eats like a horse and I have trouble keeping up with her food intake at the best of times. Now I need to try to fatten her up because she's lost so much weight. I am at a loss to know how to do this! I keep thinking things like "don't drink water when you can drink something with calories", but then I don't want to just feed her sugary stuff. Our doctor said lots of protein. Of course I am following that advice, but there's only so much protein a kid can eat (especially when she is allergic to dairy, and her stomach doesn't tolerate beans/legumes).
I know the theory of weight loss is that calorie intake should be lower than the calories you burn. Therefore I guess that the theory of weight gain is that calorie intake should be higher than the calories you burn. However, when you have a kid that burns all their calories through exercise, I'm just not sure how to do it!
And then the next thing is, does she actually NEED to put weight back on? My head says yes, because she simply has no reserves if she was to get sick again, and because her clothes don't fit her so well anymore!
Has anyone got any good tips or tricks for rebuilding after illness? I'm even wondering if it is time to head back to the sports dietitian I have previously taken her to, just because it's doing my head in so much!
Back to gym, and her coaches who were very concerned for her health, are helping her to ease back in to training slowly. We're about two weeks into the easing back in process. They recognise that she has lost a lot of weight, a lot of strength and a lot of stamina. She is on a reduced program of strength and conditioning, and does fewer repetitions than her team mates. She is making it through the training sessions by feeding herself Glucodin (glucose tablets) when she feels she is flagging or when her coach tells her to have one. (Her coach knows her energy needs very well.)
She normally eats like a horse and I have trouble keeping up with her food intake at the best of times. Now I need to try to fatten her up because she's lost so much weight. I am at a loss to know how to do this! I keep thinking things like "don't drink water when you can drink something with calories", but then I don't want to just feed her sugary stuff. Our doctor said lots of protein. Of course I am following that advice, but there's only so much protein a kid can eat (especially when she is allergic to dairy, and her stomach doesn't tolerate beans/legumes).
I know the theory of weight loss is that calorie intake should be lower than the calories you burn. Therefore I guess that the theory of weight gain is that calorie intake should be higher than the calories you burn. However, when you have a kid that burns all their calories through exercise, I'm just not sure how to do it!
And then the next thing is, does she actually NEED to put weight back on? My head says yes, because she simply has no reserves if she was to get sick again, and because her clothes don't fit her so well anymore!
Has anyone got any good tips or tricks for rebuilding after illness? I'm even wondering if it is time to head back to the sports dietitian I have previously taken her to, just because it's doing my head in so much!