Women DD not building muscle

[007M]

hi all
my DD is 8 and a level 3 gymnast. She has always been on the skinny side, and has a low BMI....she only weighs 45lbs....she works out 12 hours a week - as do all her team members and i had noticed that she seems to not be getting the muscles that the other girls have. Today her coach mentioned same to me and suggested increasing her protein levels to see if that helps. The problem is she just isnt a big eater so I have trouble getting enough food into her.......does anyone have any suggestions and does this mean it will stop her advancing? i dont feel like more conditioning will do it and seems to be her food intake...
any thoughts/suggestions??
thank you

 

[justanothergymmom]

Before modifying her diet, I would definitely consult with her pediatrician if you have any concerns about her size/weight/diet. I would definitely NOT be comparing her size/shape/build/musculature to that of her teammates. Every person is built differently and not all bodies are meant to build bulky muscle. Her not appearing as muscular as her teammates in no way should prevent her from advancing as long as her skills are in order. Most importantly, I hope no one is pointing out her body differences to her!

 

[txgymfan]

I suggest making an appointment with a registered dietitian with experience in pediatrics. I’m not suggesting this for her gymnastics, simply for her health. Your insurance may even cover it. Aside from that, make a list of protein rich foods with her, and ask what she would like more often.

If you do a search, there are a number of threads with meal ideas and some good recipes.

If she really refuses to eat then I would get tough, if you won’t eat enough to maintain a healthy body, you don’t go to practice.

 

[kecks]

usually not bulking if bulking is desired and program is designed to do so is caused by low calories. the athlet has to eat more - probably more than she likes. it is a very comon problem in other sports (f.e. eating your way up in a weight class fitting your new height while growing in wightlifting or throwers needing more mass or field sports needing bodymass to block other players...) and the solution is just eating more quality food with high calory density like oats, meats, eggs, whole milk products... if she wants more muscle she has to consume the appropriate fuel. i would not consult a professional over something that simple.

 

[Jenny]

Building bulk and muscle not always desirable in gymnastics. I would be looking at making her diet healthier and looking at her general eating patterns. A professional might help with this really successfully. Also as Level 3 gymnast it doesn't matter what shape you are. I would be wary of messing with her natural shape. At 10 it won't be long before she bulks out with puberty anyway.

 

[NutterButter]

hi all
my DD is 8 and a level 3 gymnast. She has always been on the skinny side, and has a low BMI....she only weighs 45lbs....she works out 12 hours a week - as do all her team members and i had noticed that she seems to not be getting the muscles that the other girls have.

This is a bit of a red flag for me. Low weight and BMI doesn’t necessarily equal poor muscle tone. I think you need to back up 10,000 feet and look at the bigger picture before assuming there’s a problem with your DD. Does your DD have difficulty getting skills? Look at all other athletes in your gym - does your gym favor one body type profile? Your DD is a L3 - she doesn’t need to ‘bulk up’ for the sake of bulking up. I would be very careful how you discuss this in front of your DD.

 

[MuggleMom]

Just to give you some perspecitve my daughter is the same she has always been on the lower side for weight (10% or less on the growth chart) she is a super picky eater and a light eater she weighed 45 lbs forever! she is now 9.5 and weighs 52 lbs so still tiny. She still puts on some muscle and is one of the strongest girls on her team she just doesnt look like the other girls on her team. It took her longer to get what "looks" to be a toned figure but she has always been strong. Keep working on conditioning and it all comes along I wouldnt worry about diet in terms of acheiving any goal at this point just look at being healthy. My Daughter does do some protien shakes but thats just because she doesnt really like meat so its hard to get protein in her. But whatever you decide do from what you want for your DD in terms of long term health and not how she compares to other kids in the gym.

 

[CuriousCate]

If she really refuses to eat then I would get tough, if you won’t eat enough to maintain a healthy body, you don’t go to practice.

Yup. We had to go here with our younger one. We don't let her practice if she hasn't eaten well and drank enough water. She seems to be a natural born vegetarian so limits meat intake on her own, making protein tough. She will eat some, but usually sources that I don't love, but now use. We switched her milk to Fairlife, which has high protein. I buy turkey pepperoni and turkey jerky sticks which she'll actually eat (I limit them though because even the organic ones are high in sodium). We give her a lot of yogurt and peanut butter, and fortunately for us, she loves nuts . It seems to have made a difference in her energy and strength.

 

[mommyof1]

+1 to what MuggleMom said. It's not about how her body looks, it's about what it can do. Also remember that the strength-to-weight ratio is important. A lighter kid needs less muscle to perform the same tasks.

My kid has always been an incredibly picky eater. Our most successful strategies have been:

1. Letting her have whatever proteins and vegetables she will actually eat, instead of trying to get her to eat everything the rest of the family eats. This means she consumes a lot of processed chicken products from the school lunch line (ick), and I frequently fix her a separate vegetable at dinner. The Ellyn Satter approach did not work for us--she was perfectly willing to starve herself for days on end if we insisted that she eat what the rest of the family was eating.
2. Finding ways to sneak extra protein into her favorite foods. We like Kodiak Cakes pancake mix and Van's Power Grains frozen waffles.
3. Teaching her to prioritize foods with protein and healthy fats. If she's not that hungry, she will eat the protein component of her meal before filling up on carbs.
4. Deconstructing her meals so foods with different textures don't touch. For example, when we have tacos, she eats each component separately.

We tried two dietitians and did not find either one useful. They did not offer any information one could not learn by watching Sesame Street (eat the rainbow! cookies are a sometimes food!). Their only advice was to give her PediaSure, which she refused to drink and which is full of sugar and artificial ingredients that I don't really want her consuming anyway. They didn't seem equipped to deal with picky kids, just parents who are feeding their kids nothing but Doritos and soda. If you suspect that your child has sensory issues or is a resistant eater, I'd skip the dietitian and go straight to a feeding clinic.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

I Hate different textures in food and I'm also a picky eater myself. Combined with the female cycle which makes my appetite inconsistent. I eat a lot of fruit, and for meat I will sometimes eat meat on my bread to help with protein. Also you can put minced beef through pasta, it has very little difference in texture and in taste.

And yes, picky eaters will probably always be a bit picky in what they eat (at least in my experience)

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I think you should let her be (unless her doc has a concern). She’s 8.

I’d be more concerned that a coach expects an 8 yr old to bulk up.

Last thing an 8 yr old female needs is to have their body “fixed” because it doesn’t “look” a certain way.

 

[moogacat]

My DD was about that size at 8, and isn't much bigger now proportionally at 12.5. She's never had problems doing level-appropriate gymnastics skills, and even though she's thin she's hard muscle throughout. Most kids aren't able to bulk up muscle-wise pre-puberty anyway because the hormones allowing for larger muscle development aren't there. I'd personally be concerned that the coach is making an issue of this for an 8 YO level 3 and I wouldn't be inclined to do anything other than to encourage the same healthy eating habits I'd been encouraging already.

 

[mls529]

Ditto other replies about treading very carefully here. It is fair game for a coach to discuss strength issues, or falling behind on skills. I would not be comfortable with a coach mentioning body type/perceived muscle tone to me, and I would be angry if they talked about it at all with the girls.
My DD is now in middle school, and luckily has a fairly healthy view of her body. However, she has had one friend who is battling anorexia currently (has been since she was 11) and I just talked to another middle school mom who is driving her daughter to an eating disorder clinic across the country -- this girl started at age 10 with "diets" to look more like the girls she competed diving with. The approach taken now can really affect a girl for many, many years. And I get the OP said her DD is petite and naturally slim, so this is not an issue, but getting young girls to think about body type and size can certainly lead to it.
Sorry, I don't mean to jump to the worst case scenario, but this is fresh in my mind because some moms were sharing their struggles with these devastating issues over the weekend. PS - the super tiny, slim girl (all skin and bones) on my DD's pre-team is still super slim and winning plenty of awards at level 7.
Good luck to you and your DD

 

[John]

If you are concerned about her weight than surely see the doctor. 45 pounds seems very light to me. Do not get sucked into the protein myth. If she weighs 45 pounds then she surely doesn't need more than 15 or 20 grams of protein a day.

There has been great advice here. For me if my DD doesn't eat she doesn't train. I also like the advice from @mommyof1, let her eat what she likes, this will allow her to get the calories her body needs. 3500 calories equals a pound is no longer the standard but it does give us something to think about when trying to gain or lose weight.

 

[Curlyfry7]

No advice as far as the food situation, but wanted to say that my 7.5 year old son weighs only 43 lbs. He is pure muscle though.....some of these gymnasts are just tiny powerhouses!

 

[Peachy88]

My daughter has a tiny teammate who is 8 and about 41 pounds. She is less than 48 inches tall.

 

[duyetanh]

My daughter has a tiny teammate who is 8 and about 41 pounds. She is less than 48 inches tall.

Lol....several of us on here had or have 8 year olds that size.....
In all seriousness, you can’t change someone’s genetic makeup. If they don’t have the stocky muscular build, they are never going to change their body type, no matter how much muscle they put on. They are who they are. My goodness, look at the gymnasts in college and even elite. They are all over the map.

 

[gymnastmom05]

My DD is a scrawny little twig. This is her 7th competition season. She's 13 and heading to High School in the fall and still doesn't weight 80 lbs. Her genetic makeup will never give her those big muscular legs. We are a bird leg family : ) I make sure she's eating, we do push more protein at times (not powders or anything but sometimes push her eat something more than fruit - she loves fruit and salad and has a sweet tooth....). Vault and tumbling are something she has to work harder on than some girls. The flip side is her upper body and core strength are insane which has meant less struggle on bars for her. One of her closest teammates (ex teammate now) was the exact opposite of her and she was a powerhouse on vault and floor but those darn bars were a challenge. I guess what I'm trying to say is, make sure your child is healthy and outside of that, everyone has to work with what they were born with. Some work harder with school, looks, muscle mass etc. We all have areas we have to work harder for - gym/muscle/events are the same way.