Teenager Macros - Looking for some Insight

How tall is he?
What is his current weight?
What are his max lifts at currently?
Has his height growth started slowing down yet?

Even with all that info its hard to judge how many calories he needs without knowing what range he’s currently eating in, and in what direction his weight is moving.

That’s a lot of activity though so I’d try to get him in the 3000-3200 range (clean) and slowly raise it as needed. Aim for 1-1.2g of protein per pound of body weight. Then fill in carbs to be 45-55% of total calories and fats to be 25-35%

Example (at 175lbs): 190p (760cal) / 380c (1520) / 100f (900cal) =
3180cal p23% c48% f28%

Shoot for 3 balanced meals a day minimum but 5 is optimal. Try to disburse the protein as evenly as possible through the meals

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How tall is he? 5'9
What is his current weight? 140
What are his max lifts at currently? unsure
Has his height growth started slowing down yet? had a nice spurt, still has more to go ( hope, lol)

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My main take was just to make sure he's fueling/recovering properly so that he's not just loading up on junk food between workouts etc... obv their metabolism is totally diff and most have 6 packs etc from doing almost nothing...especially with the workload most of these athletes he's friends with are currently at....Just want to make sure he's starting to make better decisions to help him see better results both now and down the road.. Build those habits now.

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Over 300g of protein is kinda overkill, no? For what, a probably 180lb kid?

Not to mention a dozen eggs, 2lb of 80/20% beef, 2 glasses of milk, and 3 fairlife's is nearing 4k calories in just protein/fat.

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its more about getting the quality nutrition more so than the grams of protein, more just calories

doesnt need to start with 2lbs, start with 1.

12 eggs- 720c , 72g protein
16oz 80/20 ground beef- 1148c, 77g protein
2 cups fairlife whole milk-300c, 26g protein
2 fairlife protein- 300c, 60g protein

so thats 2,468 calories 236g protein

add in 2 packs of uncle bens ready rice jasmine packets- 840c, 170gcarbs, 18g fat

so for the day that puts you at

calories- 3308
protein- 254g
Carbs- 200g
fat- 167g

now a hardcore athlete that is a teenager....we will be lucky if that is just maintenance for him, very lucky. More then likely he is going to have to add another 1k cals to start really gaining and get to the 4k-4500 mark and possibly to that 5k mark to really gain.

where you get those calories from, no matter if its all carbs or carbs + protein + fat, doesnt really matter so long as its legit nutritional calories. I have found though that beef tends to work extremely well in this situation.

go look at how PPSA and Wendler recommend young athletes or those trying to put on mass eat. its always tons of eggs and ground beef and rice. milk and olive oil and protien shakes are used to drive up the numbers easily from that base.

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where you get those calories from, no matter if its all carbs or carbs + protein + fat, doesnt really matter so long as its legit nutritional calories

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I’d have to disagree with this when it comes to athletes specifically, macro percentages are important. With proper assuming proper hydration, a higher carb amount would mean more glycogen which is known to fuel fast twitch/explosive movements better than fat

Now with your average Joe 30yo that’s just trying to get in shape, I’d say just aim for a protein goal and an overall calorie goal and screw trying to follow a fat/carb ratio

Once you meet certain limits of macros in pure numbers, it's not really a difference.

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The trick is to get a teenager to actually eat. In high school, I always thought I was a big eater. I could eat a whole pizza. I would get seconds at dinner.

But, looking back I would skip meals and ate hardly anything. Usually a granola bar for breakfast, have a protein shake and a can of tuna for lunch after workout period, 3 hour football practice, and then eat a lot at dinner. And I wondered why I couldn’t get above 145lb.

Honestly, 12 eggs and a lb of beef sounds expensive to a high school kid and can be intimidating. That’s why I just say 4 square meals. 4-5 eggs, 2 pieces of peanut butter toast, and glass of milk for breakfast seems much more doable. And is infinitely better than the pop tarts most teenagers are sent out the door with.

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that we ca agree upon for sure. I was same way as you, always skipping breakfast. Big lunch and dinner but nothing between

usually i just tell people what you said, not gaining after that? add a protein shake to each meal. from there, add in more eggs and beef over time.

but i also wouldnt tell the kid, hey we got to eat a dozen eggs. i usually tell them to do something like you said for breakfast


then a big arse bowl of meat sauce on spag or like 3 big chicken thighs grilled and thrown in with some rice. usually if you do the meat sauce, thats 1/2lbs of ground beef right there. other thing that is simple here and what wendler has them do, is pre make a bunch of hamburger patties on sunday. like 6oz each, then he has them throw 2 in a tupaware with a cup or 2 of rice and they just chop the patties up and add whatever sauce they need to eat it.

something like a 50-75g protien shake after school

then for dinner something like 2-3 sloppy joes, or big arse tacos/burritos or burrito bowls, or a steak and you just add rice or beans or potatoes to it to round it out.

then before bed....another protein shake.

dozen eggs and a lbs of beef sounds like a lot...but its really not.

Op here is a great podcast where they are interviewing Dr Josh heenan of the 90mph formula.

At the 47 min mark he starts talking about how he gets kids to gain weight using his 1000 calories before 9am philosophy. Then goes into creatine amongst other things, the whole interview is worth a listen but realities to this thread it starts at 47 min mark

LINK