Children will put on weight if they take in more calories through food and drink than they burn though activity. It's recommended that children should get about 30 minutes of structured exercise every day, and then a further 60 minutes of active playing. Some children seem to be on the go all the time – how many calories are they burning up as they play? And what about the ones that just sit there?
Playing Video Games
Many children play video games on computers and games machines. Playing video games that don't involve moving around much only burn between 22 and 32 calories an hour for children. Some games are a bit more active – according to a study in Liverpool in 2007, children used up about 150 calories an hour (on average) playing active games on a Wii – though this did of course depend quite how energetic they are being. Another study, this time in Oklahoma, looked at children watching television, playing on the Wii (a boxing or bowling game) and playing a dance video game, or walking on a treadmill. The children using the Wii or dancing burned about the same number of calories as the children on the treadmill, and burned three times as many as the children just watching television.
Active Play
Active play is a great way to get exercise and burn off calories too. For children, riding a bike burns off about 118-172 calories an hour and skateboarding uses up 74-108 calories an hour. Even something as elegant as ballet burns off 71-103 calories an hour.
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Children burn up calories even when they are sitting or laying still. Sleeping burns a few calories, but only somewhere around 13-19 per hour. Watching television burns a few more – but not many – 15-22 calories an hour. Homework is about the best way to burn up calories sitting still, at 27-39 calories an hour.
Reading for 15 minutes can burn around 20 or so calories, and laughing for 15 minutes could burn 10 - 40 calories!
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
…And The Ones Who Are Never Still!
Some children are natural-born fidgeters, tapping finger and toes, wriggling in their seats, and not sitting still for five minutes. This might be really quite annoying for everyone else, but fidgeting burns off calories in the same way that exercise does. Fidgeting is probably to do with personality type, as not all children fidget, and it's not something they can learn.
How Many Calories Does A Child Need?
As different activities burn up different numbers of calories, and different sexes of children need different numbers of calories at different ages, this is hard to say. A 2 - 3 year old girl who isn't very active will need about 1000 calories a day; a moderately active girl of 4 - 8 will need about 1400-1600 calories a day; and a 9 -13 year old girl with an active lifestyle will need 1800-2200 calories a day. An active 9-13 year old boy will need more calories – around 2000-2600 per day.
When I was 11, I had something called a “Eating Disorder” (Anorexia Nervosa) It’s a mental illness that you wouldn’t want to have because you could die from it. It’s when you eat very, very, very little calories, let’s say “500 calories” an 11 year old like me (height and weight factor, as well as activity levels.) Around 1600-1800. Yes, I was pretty short haha. 5ft?
*IMPORTANT*
(Keep in mind you lose more calories than you think. You legit burns calories from sitting and just breathing. Let’s say you did nothing all day, that’s at least more than a thousand! Don’t forget your tdee: sedentary, lightly active, and active. Also bmr: weight and height factor. Both adding 500-1000! At a young age you burn more calories than the average adult, so don’t worry!)
(Dangerous habit)
So that means I was burning off more than a thousand calories a day because of not eating much, and over exercising. Like 6 miles a day and little food for 1 month. Sometimes I overestimated my calories, and if I knew that before, I’d have a heart attack. My muscles were so sore, oh did I say muscle? You lose muscle mass from losing tons of weight. I lost 15lbs. Not to mention I was at a healthy weight. Unfortunately, my period stopped. For 1-2 years. It was h*ll. Everyday your body is in starvation mode needing more energy from food, that you clearly aren’t giving. The side effects are dizziness, fatigue, weakness, and ALWAYS sleeping in class. Once you get to a low weight, you will be noticed and forced to go to treatment. They will feed you in tubes to gain back the healthy weight whether you like it or not. It’s not cool, you’ll be missing on other life stuff going on.
(Message)
Please, think of food as energy, there is no bad or good food. I don’t want you to end up like me. If anybody tries to body shame you, report them. Find new friends that support you. Every body shape is perfect. Remember in 30 years your weight won’t matter, the shirt you wore that day, your hair, like nobody will remember. They’re focusing on themselves 99% of the time, like you!
(Overweight?)
If you’re currently overweight, you should be focusing on eating healthy and occasional foods that your craving, and exercise. Don’t look at the scale everyday unless your obese, than it could be necessary. Now, this is just my advice, don’t take it seriously. From my personal experience and setbacks. Always talk to a registered nutritionist about losing weight or anything that’s related to a disordered eating habit.
Good morning/night.
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