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[tapemeasure]

I already have quite a long thread in this forum already, but I wanted to ask this specific question in a separate thread.

I was having a discussion with my parents about eating and the subject got onto breakfast. I regularly would never have any breakfast, between the ages of about 12 and 18. During the school day, my lunch consisted of a few sandwiches, a bag of crisps and some biscuits/some chocolate. I'm actually amazed I could concentrate at school. Evening meals would vary but usually a decent sized portion with meat and some carbs. So I regularly went from 7pm one day, to 12pm the next day without any food. I also didn't drink milk during these years either, nor would I eat many (if any) fruit and veg, if that's any relevance.

Your body obviously gets accustomed to a pattern. At the time, I don't remember feeling that bad, but maybe I was a bit under-nourished? Maybe it affected my growth? My parents don't think it caused any loss of growth. They said they encouraged me to eat breakfast but I didn't want to, and they didn't force me. I've even asked a doctor before but they said I fall within the average range so it's no concern (also they said there's no way of knowing if I could have grown more).

Honestly how much do you think something like this affected my growth? Even if it didn't necessarily affect my height, could it have affected other areas? Any other information you need, feel free to ask.

[theuprising]

To stunt growth you have to be malnourished. Think skinny kids with bones showing type malnourished.
You were fine.

[tapemeasure]

To stunt growth you have to be malnourished. Think skinny kids with bones showing type malnourished.
You were fine.

Yeah you're right, I wasn't malnourished, but surely it must have had SOME effect on my growth?

For what it's worth, I remember getting weighed at age 15 - I was only 105 lbs (about 48kg). At 17, I was about 120lbs (about 55kg). So as you can see, pretty light for a guy. These days I'm about 160lbs (about 73kg).

[IwannaBeTaller]

I already have quite a long thread in this forum already, but I wanted to ask this specific question in a separate thread.

I was having a discussion with my parents about eating and the subject got onto breakfast. I regularly would never have any breakfast, between the ages of about 12 and 18. During the school day, my lunch consisted of a few sandwiches, a bag of crisps and some biscuits/some chocolate. I'm actually amazed I could concentrate at school. Evening meals would vary but usually a decent sized portion with meat and some carbs. So I regularly went from 7pm one day, to 12pm the next day without any food. I also didn't drink milk during these years either, nor would I eat many (if any) fruit and veg, if that's any relevance.

Your body obviously gets accustomed to a pattern. At the time, I don't remember feeling that bad, but maybe I was a bit under-nourished? Maybe it affected my growth? My parents don't think it caused any loss of growth. They said they encouraged me to eat breakfast but I didn't want to, and they didn't force me. I've even asked a doctor before but they said I fall within the average range so it's no concern (also they said there's no way of knowing if I could have grown more).

Honestly how much do you think something like this affected my growth? Even if it didn't necessarily affect my height, could it have affected other areas? Any other information you need, feel free to ask.

Holy s**t. Exactly the same you wrote could've came from myself. I too was somewhat thin during many years in puberty, and I too skipped breakfast during the week, and I too blame my parents for that. Adding to that, I'm a guy who naturally stays up late and gets up late, but during my school years I had to get up early, so I slept until the last minute and then rushed to school, without having eaten anything. On top of that, my parents were divorced so it was just me and my mom or my dad living together, so there was no breakfast table where the whole family eats together in the morning, which is probably usual for normal families. Like you I didn't feel any bad during those years, I never suffered hunger, but as you said, the body adapts to many situations.

All I can tell you is that your parents/your doctor are right: There is no way of knowing if or how much this affected your growth, and every doctor will confirm this. Everybody's body type is different and it's really hard to tell if something was wrong in the past. All you can do is make estimates and guesses, but you will never know for sure. Which, logically means: Stop making yourself crazy and stop thinking about it - I know that's hard, because I can't stop thinking about it either. If you ask me, I say it couldn't have a big effect, because you weren't suffering hunger or malnutrition.

[IwannaBeTaller]

To stunt growth you have to be malnourished. Think skinny kids with bones showing type malnourished.
You were fine.

That's funny because I remember at one occasion during my early teenage years, I was standing infront of the mirror in the bathroom, and I was stretching, and you could really see a few of the upper rips shining through my torso. It looked scary. But I never suffered hunger!

[Taller]

For what it's worth, I remember getting weighed at age 15 - I was only 105 lbs (about 48kg). At 17, I was about 120lbs (about 55kg). So as you can see, pretty light for a guy. These days I'm about 160lbs (about 73kg).

About how tall were you at age 12?

How much height did you gain from ages 12-15?

How much height did you gain from ages 15-18?

How much height did you gain after age 18?

If you answer these questions, we can have a better idea of if your growth pattern was abnormal and thus make an educated guess as to whether or not you stunted your growth.

[KiloKAHN]

Your height would only be affected if you were severely malnourished on a third world country level. Not having breakfast wouldn't bring you to that point.

[BilateralDamage]

Your height would only be affected if you were severely malnourished on a third world country level. Not having breakfast wouldn't bring you to that point.

I'm actually laughing that they think this. 

Height is purely genetics if you're not being malnourished.  Don't worry about the past, focus on the present.

[Sweden]

I think it's pretty frustrating reading something from different members and we know nothing about their height.

They could be 5'9 for what we know.

If you were 55kg and 5'5 then you were okey. Maybe even a bit chubby.

If you were 55kg and 5'11 then you either were in extreme on petition class or most definitely malnourished.

[shortkid]

Thats funny because I used to blame my mom that I ate bad. I would eat a bowl of pasta for dinner usually. Bad to eat before bed especially refined flour cuz it interferes with ur body releasing gh. Plus I slept with the tv on from like 5-15 lol so i probably never got deep sleep although it would turn off by itself a few hours into sleep. I would eat candy every day, no veggies or fruits. I wasn't malnourised tho because I went to the doctor and had tests done. one time my iron was low but we fixed that. Anyway I am 5'3 7/8th and my mom is 5'5 and dad is 5'9 so the foot must have had something to do with it.

[Taller]

Sweden, he's not 5'9, he's actually 5'10.

[tapemeasure]

Thanks for the replies. I will reply to 2 of them for the time being.

About how tall were you at age 12?

How much height did you gain from ages 12-15?

How much height did you gain from ages 15-18?

How much height did you gain after age 18?

If you answer these questions, we can have a better idea of if your growth pattern was abnormal and thus make an educated guess as to whether or not you stunted your growth.

I can't say for sure what my height was at some of those ages.

I'm dead on 5'10 measured first thing in the morning. I've gained very little since 18 - 1cm at most. At 13, I was still very short (one of the shortest in my class). My growth spurt happened between late 13 and early 16. First bit of pubic hair I noticed at late 13, and first time I had to shave was just after my 17th birthday (but didn't have to shave again for another 2 months). I can't say for certain what height I was at those ages. At 12, I was still several inches shorter than my mum who is 5'6, so maybe around 5'1-5'3?

Your height would only be affected if you were severely malnourished on a third world country level. Not having breakfast wouldn't bring you to that point.

Yeah but constantly not having breakfast and just having 2 quite small sized meals a day has got to have an impact?

[123]

No, that didn't stunt your growth. Your growth can only be stunned if you were hungry 24/7 and didn't have anything to eat. You ate as much as your body needed.

And btw 5'10 is a good height, all the problems (if you have any?) you are having right now won't disappear when you are taller. You are just searching for an excuse like 99% of the people on this forum who are around average height.

[Overdozer]

Of course it did have impact, you don't grow just by drinking water. And you don't need to be malnourished to lose some of your height potential. Good nutrition equals more height - this is an established scientific fact. And it's not the only factor that can influence your adult height, there's also things called 'stress' and 'disease', if you had too much of these in your childhood, well bad news then!

The most important non-genetic factors affecting growth and adult body height are nutrition and diseases. Short stature is associated with poorer education and lower social position in adulthood. This is mainly due to family background, but other environmental factors in childhood also contribute to this association. Body height is a good indicator of childhood living conditions, not only in developing countries but also in modern Western societies. Future studies combining different scientific traditions in auxology are needed to create a more holistic view of body height.

The literature on human growth has established that adult height is determined by cumulative net nutrition over the growing period, where net nutrition is the difference between the intake of nutrition (food) and the claims on it through activity and disease (see Bogin 2001; Evelyth and Tanner 1990; or Silventoinen 2003)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2809930/

[FutureTaller]

Of course it did have impact, you don't grow just by drinking water. And you don't need to be malnourished to lose some of your height potential. Good nutrition equals more height - this is an established scientific fact. And it's not the only factor that can influence your adult height, there's also things called 'stress' and 'disease', if you had too much of these in your childhood, well bad news then!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2809930/

Its possible to be well fed and still end up short. On the other hand, people with bad nutrition (well fed, not starving) can be taller. Height is also dependent on luck. We can eat healthy, sleep well, and excercise, but the rest is up to our body. We can't order our body to grow so cross your fingers. People need to stop assuming that all short guys had   nutrition.

I had good nutrition, slept well, was active, had little stress, and I'm only 5'7. Lots of kids who smoked and did pot outgrew me.

[FutureTaller]

The height potential you lost is less compared to if you were severly malnourished.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Of course it did have impact, you don't grow just by drinking water. And you don't need to be malnourished to lose some of your height potential. Good nutrition equals more height - this is an established scientific fact. And it's not the only factor that can influence your adult height, there's also things called 'stress' and 'disease', if you had too much of these in your childhood, well bad news then!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2809930/

So I guess that means nearly every person in the world stunted his growth, because no one has a 100% perfect upbringing. How many people never get sick once in their entire childhood and youth? How many never suffer stress once?

[Overdozer]

every person in the world stunted his growth

Did I say that? Is affects your growth to some extent, it doesn't stunt it. And the ones that eat good, don't get sick too much and have less stress get to their maximum potential.

[galaxy1]

The height loss would be very, very minimal anyway. Were talking a couple of millimeters height loss, maybe three millimeters at most, not much to be overly concerned about.

But yes, the sickness, the stress, and the malnouishment would have to be to the extremes.

[Overdozer]

The height loss would be very, very minimal anyway. Were talking a couple of millimeters height loss, maybe three millimeters at most, not much to be overly concerned about.

But yes, the sickness, the stress, and the malnouishment would have to be to the extremes.

Now you're just talking out of your ass.

Read the study I posted, your height may vary from 25 percentile to 75 depending on your nutrition.

[galaxy1]

For the most part I only had the one free lunch that was offered at school as my one and only meal for the day, not sure if that is considered malnourishment or not, just got used to it. I missed out on the free breakfast program which didn't start until after I graduated. Summer's were always tough and I come from a six sibling family with a mother who worked herself to death.
I personally put a lot more emphasis on sleep though.

[GeTs]

Now you're just talking out of your ass.

Read the study I posted, your height may vary from 25 percentile to 75 depending on your nutrition.

chill out

[galaxy1]

Read the study I posted, your height may vary from 25 percentile to 75 depending on your nutrition.

I might read it, as long as it's not biased.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Did I say that? Is affects your growth to some extent, it doesn't stunt it. And the ones that eat good, don't get sick too much and have less stress get to their maximum potential.

Stunting and affecting is the same to me = You don't reach all of your potential. What I said is that nobody in the world lives a perfect childhood and youth without getting sick once or not having stress once. So if you say to the OP, yes it affected your growth 100%, that means that nearly every person in the world has stunted growth.

[Wannabegiant]

Of course it did have impact, you don't grow just by drinking water. And you don't need to be malnourished to lose some of your height potential. Good nutrition equals more height - this is an established scientific fact. And it's not the only factor that can influence your adult height, there's also things called 'stress' and 'disease', if you had too much of these in your childhood, well bad news then!
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2809930/

wow..

If those studies are to be trusted, then im certain my growth was stunted to a very high degree..

My biological father was 180 cm, both my parents where very malnourished (third world country level of malnourishment), including during my mothers pregnancy, so i ended up being born a few weeks to early and only weighed about 2 Kilos at birth. I was adopted and lived in cold and dark Sweden while being darker skinned, and didnt take vitamin D supplements, so im sure i was vitamin D deficient.

I also was sick a lot during my childhood, ate badly (small portions and irregularly) and slept bad as well. Lots of stress where put on me due to being adopted too, and also many bad experiences in school.

I might easily have been 180+ naturally if not for these factors..

[Wannabegiant]

Stunting and affecting is the same to me = You don't reach all of your potential. What I said is that nobody in the world lives a perfect childhood and youth without getting sick once or not having stress once. So if you say to the OP, yes it affected your growth 100%, that means that nearly every person in the world has stunted growth.

Well obviously there are different degrees to how much your growth was affected/stunted. its true that probably no one, or very few reaches their absolute maximum potential in terms of height (and probably other physical properties as well) but those who eat good and experience easy childhoods most likely reaches much closer to their potential compared to those who had a lot of stress and ate badly and where sick etc.

[galaxy1]

LOL, I actually never intended to lay it all out there but you can count me in the preemie club, 4 pounds 10 ounces, born with medical/birth issues, 4 week's early, and I fit in shoe box so I was told.

Now if only my mother would have sucked in her pride and taken advantage of the government "food stamp" program to feed her six children then I would be so much taller today for sure. Oh sure I could dwell on the 'what if's' especially considering it was a government program that has been around since the early 1970's but she is not around anymore for me to berate her about it anyway. Still I would rather keep the focus on the solution to my shorter height.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Well obviously there are different degrees to how much your growth was affected/stunted. its true that probably no one, or very few reaches their absolute maximum potential in terms of height (and probably other physical properties as well) but those who eat good and experience easy childhoods most likely reaches much closer to their potential compared to those who had a lot of stress and ate badly and where sick etc.

The problem is you can never really know what your true "genetic potential height" was. If somone turns out 1,75, his potential height could've been 1,85 but it also could've been 1,76. Comparing to parents doesn't necessarily help either, because even tall parents can have genetically short kids.

[Wannabegiant]

The problem is you can never really know what your true "genetic potential height" was. If somone turns out 1,75, his potential height could've been 1,85 but it also could've been 1,76. Comparing to parents doesn't necessarily help either, because even tall parents can have genetically short kids.

Technically you can never really know anything to be 100% certain. However with the knowledge we have we can make conclusions as to what is the most likely truth.

[IwannaBeTaller]

Technically you can never really know anything to be 100% certain. However with the knowledge we have we can make conclusions as to what is the most likely truth.

Sure. You can measure your current height 100% accurate. Measuring how much of your growth you did or didn't reach is impossible.

[Wannabegiant]

Sure. You can measure your current height 100% accurate. Measuring how much of your growth you did or didn't reach is impossible.

You would only get a measurement from that moment, the next time you measure you might get a slightly different result, even if it only differs by less than a mm.

See my point?

Its impossible the same way to know for sure how much of your height was affected but based on the existing knowledge of your lifestyle and those medical studies its very logical to assume that i my growth would have been more affected compared to someone who had an easy life and ate well etc.