14 year old - Eating problem

[Gadsie]

Hello, I'm a 14 year old guy and I know about Paleo for about 4 months now. I just don't know how strict I should be. I mean I'm 14 and I want to enjoy life a little with friends eating crap etc. How much can I do this? Also about how many calories should I be eating a day because I'm afraid that after a day of some ice cream and pizza I consumed like 7000 calories so I should be restricting calories the rest of the time. I eat very healthy most of the time, I'm not trying to lose weight. But I'm trying to build muscle. I'm 6', 132 lbs. I know that might seem underweight but I've been like that all my life so it's just the way I'm built.
By the way, I have always been eating very unhealthy every day of my life so to cut it back to 1-2 days a week is already a huge improvement

[TylerDurden]

Welcome to the forum! But you do realise this is a RAW, palaeolithic diet forum?

Topic moved to the welcome committee forum  where this really belongs.

Please state whether you are cooked-palaeo or rawpalaeo. Even if you are cooked-palaeo, I am sure we would be happy to  provide some advice as many of us come from a cooked, palaeolithic diet background. All that said, if you are having serious health-problems then a cooked, palaelithic diet plus some cooked, junk food is highly unlikely to work as well as a raw, palaeolithic diet plus some cooked, junk food, for various reasons.

[eveheart]

... I mean I'm 14 and I want to enjoy life a little with friends eating crap etc. How much can I do this?

Age 14 is a good age to start getting into healthy body culture, if you want that. I know a lot of men at the gym who made this shift in high school. When their interests changed, their friends changed, too. Then, they started associating with people of the same goals who ate differently from the junk-food crowd. You can let this happen gradually and naturally. If it is right for you, you will find plenty of friends who eat right to build their muscles, and you can learn from each other.

Don't worry about the height and weight thing - your body will go through a lot of muscular changes as you mature over the next few years. You may stay long and lean, or you might beef out, depending on your natural body composition. Find out what types of athletics fit your build and go with your talents.

[Funky Raw Rob]

You can be as strict or not strict as you want! Probably one of the worst problems with "alternative" diets is when people become obsessed by them.

With regards the amount of calories, personally I've never counted calories. Listen to your body, if you really feel hunger then eat, if not, don't eat. Don't try to fit to some supposed "correct" amount of calories. Also, I think at your age while still growing and developing you might sometimes need more calories than others.

Rob