gee, thanks for helping me with my nutrition!

ok. background. I'm 13 (the age of the highest calcium absorption, great) I weigh 52-53 kg (that would be about 116 lbs, I think) and I'm currently at a very short height being 1.59 m (5" 3). I've been logging my food intake for these past week, and I found that even though I reach almost all requirements, my calcium intake is around 50% of what it should be...about 550 mg a day. BAD.

Now, having both of my parents being doctors (they're internists (?) and my mom is an endocrinologist too) you would think that I would be able to get some support and guidance about how to reach my daily nutrients minimums, right? well, no. actually, I'm sitting here just crying (probably out of all the accumulated depression, though) because they aren't able to even suggest something to help me with this, and they've already rejected my idea of supplements (saying that they're not prescribed for anyone under 40!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHERE THE HELL DO THESE PEOPLE GET THEIR DIPLOMAS!!!!), and coupling that with the fact that it's been hard to find nonfat (or any other kind, for that matter) milk for the past months (the joy of living in south america!) I've pretty much got nothing. n o t h i n g.

and after seeing today that my intake was still around 40% by dinnertime, I had to force myself through a glass of milk (obtained by mysterious means....er, I mean, by magical ways) and two spoonfuls of (nonfat) yogurt just so I could reach 60%. and by now I feel horrible, bloated, heavy, and in one word fat, I consumed way more calories than I was going to...besides, I want to exercise right now but I already did an hour in the stationary bike in the morning and went out sailing for about 3 hours, after wich I took a bath. sounds unimportant, but we're not getting any water either, so I can't do heavy exercise or sweat before I'm sure there's water again and can bath afterwards...

but the real icing on the cake is the amazing support from my parents, specifically my mom, who don't really give a damn about it and say that I'll stay this short for the rest of my life (!) and that I'm still too fat (!) so I can't go overboard on dairy either (!) besides forbidding me to take supplements (!) right after acknowledging that if I lack calcium at this age it'll be harmful afterwards (!). Gee, what an amazing medical team I've got for myself...because, you know, pros are always so right in everything...

 

P.S: please note this rant is written under the influence of 3 months of semi-depression coupled with daily doses of metformin and the effect of 3 months of undereating (600-800 cal a day) plus 60 min of vigorous exercising (every day too), so I'm sorry if this sounds too...um...female-dog-like.

Can you not go to your local pharmacy or supermarket and pick up some calcium suppliments, your parents dont even have to know. You are only 13, you have heaps of growing time left. Just give your body a chance. Are you getting any help for your depression???

these FOODS are high in calcium, you dont have to get calcium just from milk products.

Black Beans       1 cup,      120 mg calcium

Navy Beans       1 cup,      130 mg calcium

Fortified Cereal   1 cup,    300 mg calcium

Soybeans, cooked       1 cup, 180 mg calcium

Spinach, cooked      &nb sp;    1/2 cup, 130 mg calcium

Bok Choy     1/2 cup, 80 mg calcium

Kale, cooked     1/2 cup, 90 mg calcium

Corn Tortilla      1 , 6 inch, 50 mg calcium

Greens, mustard      1/ 2 cup, 100 mg calcium

Fortified Orange Juice    1 cup, 300 mg calcium

Canned Salmon w/bones      3 oz, 180 mg

Fortified Cereal      1 cup, 300 mg

Waffle, fortified     1, 150 mg

Soy milk, fortified        1 cup, 400 mg

Greens, mustard     1/2 cup, 100 mg

Tofu        ;1 cup, 40 mg

Almonds   2 oz., 150 mg

Oysters     3 oz., 80 mg

I'd really like to, but...there are none real close... I might try to pick a pediatric one or something if we get to buy more metformin (about next week) but I'm not too sure it might work.

about the depression...it's mostly food-induced...I've lost about 10 kg over these past 2 months (I reached 62.5 kg at my worst, and then started to drop from there), and it's most definitely made me moody and what not... I concluded it was a normal thing based on the experiences of many people on this site, and being that I had dropped to 700 kcal without even noticing I guess it's part of the process... I'm moving slightly towards a healthier intake however...

thanks for the recommendations on food...I think I'll try to get some good dark greens (so far I only have regular iceberg lettuce!) and the cereal part sounds interesting, I guess I can have my all-bran more regularily then:)

If you are this concerned about calcium, you should also be concerned about the fact that you're not eating enough calories daily and over exercising for what you're eating.

 The risks of not enough calcium, such as reduced bone density, will persist if you don't get enough calories daily.

You have diabetes? (Metformin is a diabetes drug) 

You'll hit 100% of your calcium if you start eating like you're supposed to, which means eating 2-3x as many calories as you are now. 

Sorry I'm not so much help, but how can there be no milk?

I drink fat free milk and fat, sugar free yoghurt, and it gives me all the calcium I need. One cup of milk has 30% of calcium, I drink three a day, plus the yoghurt which has around 15%, and I eat around two a day.

Anyway, just try and eat the foods they recommended here and you'll be fine =D

Sorry for the double post D:

600-800 cals are WAY WAY down, when I was losing weight I ate 1200 cals a day and THAT made my family freak when they saw I was losing too fast and calculated my calories. If you ate more you would probably get your calcium intake.

Also, where in South America do you live? I live in Chile and we practically drown in milk =D

well today has been rather good in overall terms. I got for the first time in months the minimum, though I still feel stuffed from all the food :X

I ended up drinking the last cup of skim we had this morning (half went with the cereal and half with the coffee) and had some yogurt after lunch and dinner.

err...sorry for generalizing, I forgot to mention north of south america. slight screwups...anyways, we happen to be in a dairy-less period. margarine, flour, meat and oil used to be the ones starring the -less periods, but this time they took it on with milk (yikes).

and I still got only 860 cals. lol. I don't understand how it can be so low and I still meet most of the requirements, or even surpass them- fiber, 26 grams, vit. A 187%,  vit. C 182%, calcium 109%, iron 75%... the downside is that I've gained a LOT of weight in just 2 days (1 kg= 2 pounds)...really, makes me want to cry. and then laugh. and cry some more. and then go buy a traditional (not electronical) scale, accompanied by my weight in sugar-free gum.yah.

It sounds to me like you're in the back of beyond.  How about powdered milk or canned milk...it doesn't taste so good, but it does contain most nutrients.  At your age, I think it's actually healthier to have a few extra pounds rather than risk being underweight so if you have to take in more calories to get all of your nutrients then do it.

Most of your weight gain is probably due to water although some of it might be from the low calorie intake that you've been on.  I'd aim for at least 1500 if not 2000 per day.

Sorry to be a broken record, but it sounds like your eating WAY too few calories and exercising WAY too much...could you maybe post your height and you average caloric intake? Starting from the beginning is always a great way to fix your current problem...

i know personally that at a daily caloric intake of 1300-1500, you can get more than enough of you daily vitamins and minerals,  and since you mentioned that you are 13 years old, i believe that this should be an absolute minimum for someone your age that needs to loose weight.  And i'm sorry to pry...but honestly it doesn't look like you need to loose any weight at all.  You sound just about perfect!

PLEASE. seriously consider upping your calories, you'll get all of your nutrients (without nasty pills!), and you will feel SO much better. I promise.  Just live your life!

p.s.- TOTALLY understand about the Metformin thing....what are you taking it for?...i was put on it by an endocrinologist for my PCOS...but then i started fainting and having nasty side affects, so thankfully they took me off it.  i feel your pain. blech it stinks.

hmm...well these past days I haven't been exercising much but I get what you mean... I did post my height (concerns me pretty much right now) but I don't really know how much would it be in feet (I'm 159,7 cm). I guess my caloric inkake is a bit under, but not that much...I mean, when I count them I almost always fall between 750-900 kcal, but I eat regular portions of very filling meals (not the cabbage soup) and at several times of the day, I don't even remember I'm dieting anymore :/

I've been trying to up my calories a bit, but it's taking me some time... the thing is that around july or so I was 10 kg heavier, and I dropped pounds so fast because I was completely devoted to it (with no school, no homework, no parents, no distractions, no anything I had nothing left to do, lol), and I still feel I over-concerned about my weight, but it's because I'm pretty afraid to ever reach that state again I still remember when I could barely see my chestbone (!!!) and it was hard to find my hipbone (!!!!!)

and it doesn't help to be in ballet either! no really, our teachers are freaking out right now. I think the only ones they haven't told to lose weight are the 5-6 year-olds...oh wait...I was wrong in that one too (jk, but they're being really obsessive right now)

about Met...I had insulin resistance, and my parents haven't decided yet to take me to do the blood tests to see if I'm normal again and can stop it

i COMPLETELY understand. 

 the most important thing is that you are trying to up your cals to a healthy level....it's a slow process, i know (mostly a psychological barrier) a lot of baby steps...but you can definately do it!  and I know it might seem scary, and your afraid of gaining all of that hard lost weight back overnight...these feelings are completely natural.  And it takes time to realize that these feelings are very irrational, but you can do it, and you must for your bodies sake....alllll about those healthy baby-steps.

Again, honestly you will feel so much better.  And don't listen to those overly-strict ballet instructors, you need to worry about you and your bodies health and well-being, because you only have one important body, and it's all yours, so treat it well!   And from the sounds of it, those instructors wouldn't care one way or another if you ended up in the ER because of malnutrition and starvation, so why should you listen to them? 

(i would probably tell them to shove a donut down their scrawny throats if they criticized my weight....but that's just me....heehee)

wow...sorry for rambling... 

GOOD LUCK! and if you ever need to talk, i'm more than willing to lend an ear!

hehe...thank you

anytime!

well you really shouldnt be worried about your calcium... what you should worry about is how much you are NOT eating.

600-800cal? child are you insane? if you think that eating calcium will help your bones and you grow you are wrong and wronger. You are at your peak growing period in life and if you undereat now it will forever damage your health, trust me you WILL regret it.

If you up your calories you will be able to fit in enough calcium rich foods and other nutritious ones to meet all of your requirements so that you can grow up healthy and happy... and because you claim to be depressed, you should really eat more for that too.. your brain runs on glucose which is obtained from food, without glucose your brain goes haywire. It causes irritabilty, depression, a false sense of self and distorted thoughts.

and with all of that excersise and lack of eating you are doing so much damage to your health it is not even funny..

too little calcium? puh-lease, thats the last of your problems.

try looking up "anorexia" in the dictionary hun.

(sorry for the late answer, I haven't been home since this morning)

I said that one of my main concerns was calcium because I've been logging my food for the past week and a half and I've been getting the minimum on everything but cholesterol and sodium (wich don't have minimums but Upper Intake leves instead, I know) that is to say, vitamins, minerals and fiber, and my macronutrient food ratio is mostly ok, averaging fat 15%, protein 20%, and carbohydrates 60%.

Also, I did check a couple pages (mostly from US government stuff, I think) on EDs, and I can most definitely say that I'm not anorexic because my BMI is of 20.5, and I'm not bulimic either, because I don't tend to binge and I've never used diuretics or laxatives- I don't have much water retention anyways...

And I'm pretty damn lazy, really. I don't think the 3 1-hour-and-a-half ballet classes I have per week are much more than a very soft yoga class in my case... or at least it doesn't feel like much of an exercise. That's why I usually do 4-5 hours a week stationary biking, but on ballet days (like today) I'm too much lazy to crawl in and out of the bike, so I'll be leaving that for tomorrow too...

yeah, you've been getting the minimum's of everything.... except calories. wake up, do your health a favor. your body won't absorb all of your "minimum's" if it's busy breaking down your muscle tissue.

you DO NOT have to be underweight to be anorexic, that is only one symptom...

anorexia is a MENTAL disorder; characterised by an intense fear of gaining weight and eating... anorexic patients are overwhelmed by this fear and obsessive compulsive behaviours to loose weight and control their food...

and little girl, you show these symptoms.

you are undereating, and obsessing about food/calories/nutrition content.

you need to stop. you need to get help.

do your body a favor; eat properly and you will get all of your calcium and other nutrients, and you will be healthy and happy. (because right now you are neither)

5' 3" at 13 is not short.  You could easily grow another 4 inches before your growth stops if that is in your genes. If you do not eat properly you will not achieve that growth.  It is known that women with a lot of teenage pregnancies are short.( and have less healthy and shorter lives). Surely you can consider your undereating as been similar to the demands pregnancy makes on a not yet fully developed body.  If you want to understand yourself-try to read about how people felt at your age.  I think there is a time in adolescence when both boys and girls get obsessive about things. With some its religion, with others its the opposite sex, with some movie stars,etc.  To be so concerned about your weight, fatness etc at your age is indicating an obsession with body image.   Some lose interest in time and refer back to it as a phrase, a crush, etc. Others though do not seem to get over it. (just read some of the posts here. someone gained 1 lb. - they way they sound upset sounds quite demented- the kind of upset you feel is normal for a very small child who is still learning about life) When it is about body image to the point of risking death (any underweight person is more at risk of  having not enough body reserves to overcome any type of illness), its labeled anorexia.   ( there are times when I wish some peoples preoccupation with religion(shades into fervent belief in stuff like communism and socialism) can be labeled a mental disorder too. From what I've read a lot of people get obsessed with it about the same time as people who suffer lifelong anorexia)

 

do try for other interests to get away from yourself getting fixated with body image.

 I do not know if it is asking too much of an 13 year old but do try.  You could have another 70 years to live- a short time when you consider all the different thing you may wish to fit into your life.   And if it is what you eat, and what you look like that is a big thing for you, look at the lives of eating disorder people, and think of what a HUGE chunk of time you would waste on thinking about food for 70 years.   (no worse maybe than those who are extremely religious, (but when you consider that all religions have such people, and given their conflicting views and no"proof", some people conclude that it is as much of a waste of time obsessing as it is a waste of time obsessing for those with  anorexia.  Nothing wrong with being careful about what to eat just like nothing is wrong wirh using religion as a socil time, a time for contemplation and taking a break from ordinary demands of life. Just do not over do it ! ))