• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Want to gain weight

foolish heart

New member
Joined
Dec 26, 2008
Messages
470
MBTI Type
ISTP
I can't think of any medical way to stimulate your hungry besides marijuana. Haha. :D

A few things about gaining/losing weight can be a bit counter-intuitive. It breaks down into 2 factors, metabolism increase/decrease and weight that is lean/fatty.

For instance, to gain weight you don't want to be eating all day. This puts your metabolism up all day. You should try learn to eat bigger meals 3 times a day with a big snack either between lunch/dinner or after dinner. If you have a hard time eating a lot, if you eat faster then you can eat more before the full feeling sets in. It is actually a sensation response of the nerves around your stomach and not always a direct indicator of the quantity of food you've eaten, so over time your brain can adjust the response based on what it thinks is a normal amount for you to eat. I don't know how one stretches their stomach, maybe rice? Japanese people do amazingly well at eating contests for their size.

As far as what to eat, you need to find protein that you like if you want lean mass. As mentioned protein shakes are a great idea. I prefer Optimum Nutrition's Pro-complex. I pretty much always go with chocolate when it comes to protein powder because the other flavors have a tendency to taste weird. Nuts are a great source of protein and also high in healthy fatty oils, I like to add them to salads. Watch out for the sodium content on the salted varieties.

Women, I can't stress this enough, please make sure you get enough calcium! You can get low fat yogurt in almost as many varieties as ice cream these days. They also have candy calcium chews. :) Personally, I think women should opt for even "too much" dairy products in a day. :yes:

So things that raise your metabolism (which breaks down both lean and fatty tissue by the way!) are high intensity exercises, eating smaller meals more often, and eating fibery foods grains/vegetable/fruit (vs. heavy foods like meat or dairy). High intensity exercises past 15-20 minutes is when your body begins to break down lean tissue. Breaking down fat is a slower process which is why it gets bypassed with high intensity exercises. So to burn fat and not lean tissue, you want to focus on low intensities for a long period of time. Your body easily break downs fat for simple daily exertions like walking every day, so to burn more fat use a similar low to medium intensity level.

Exercising in the morning before breakfast is best for burning calories and raising your metabolism all day. Exercising at night is better for building but it has to be followed by protein intake. It also may make it more difficult to get to sleep, but sleeping is the ideal time where your metabolism drops and your body can repair and build new lean tissue.

Hope this helps! :) Good luck.
 

angell_m

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
818
MBTI Type
IxFx
Enneagram
5w4
No nonoo. I didn't mean alcohol. I ment regular fluids.
I know I drink tons of fluids, and I replace it with food.
I don't feel hunger for food, I feel hunger for liquid.
That's about the only thing I know about why I can't gain weight. So I took it up as an option, in case she drinks a lot of fluid.
Most people don't tend to look at it as an option.
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Most people don't tend to look at as an option.
:thelook: Probably because most people know that dehydration is unhealthy.

I suppose this could be true if the OP is drinking 20 glasses of water a day (and replacing food with water) but that seems unlikely.

Purposefully decreasing (let alone stopping!) your fluid intake is a remarkably bad idea if current intake is at all within the normal range....especially in the heat of summer!! Can you say heat stroke? Yikes.
 
S

Sniffles

Guest
Eat a big mac or two everyday, you'll gain weight in no time.

Forget that, just eat this:
Bacon And Cheese Stuffed Pizza Burger - Geekologie

pizza%20burger%201.jpg
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
I don't get why this is an issue... the idea of having to put on a lot of weight and "eating for two" during pregnancy is something of a fallacy so far as I can see; it appears more important to maintain a weight that is healthy for you and eat a balanced diet high in NUTRIENTS, which are not the same as calories. Putting on a lot of extra weight just throws your system out of kilter, puts extra strain on your body, and makes it harder to lose later (with the resultant stretch marks). I would say that you would need to eat a few more calories during pregnancy (but not that many) and be sure to eat a balanced diet containing a good range of all nutrients that the baby needs; you will need a lot more vitamins and minerals than usual, especially things like calcium. Where were you getting this idea that you have to weigh more before pregancy from - have you been advised this by a professional, or told this by people you know, etc? :huh:

Because women with low BMI have a more difficult time getting pregnant, and a pregnant woman needs to put on at least 15 pounds to be healthy, sometimes as much as 25 if she's very thin.
 

angell_m

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
818
MBTI Type
IxFx
Enneagram
5w4
:thelook: Probably because most people know that dehydration is unhealthy.

I suppose this could be true if the OP is drinking 20 glasses of water a day (and replacing food with water) but that seems unlikely.

Purposefully decreasing (let alone stopping!) your fluid intake is a remarkably bad idea if current intake is at all within the normal range....especially in the heat of summer!! Can you say heat stroke? Yikes.

I eat one meal a day, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I continuesly drink on something. I eat nothing but fast food, pizza, hamburgers, subways, and I gorge myself with sugar content fluids all day. My BMI is 18-19. If you're skinny and want to gain weight, it's better to eat first, and then drink a glass when you're done, than drink continuesly throughout the day.

I get what you mean. But it's easier to get the word through if I just say "Stop drinking."

It's a military thing. So saying that it doesn't work, is like pissing on your own two legs.

All the soldiers I saw that came through the recruit period, fat soldiers lost weight, skinny soldiers gained weight. And it was all because they were constantly active and couldn't grab that bottle whenever they wanted, or eat whenever they wanted. They drank water together, ate together, worked out together. The ones that drank less (skinny people) ate more when the day was over, and the ones that drank more (fat people) ate less when the day was over.

You need to be able to meet me half-way in the conversation, not just look at it in colors of black and white.
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
I eat one meal a day, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I continuesly drink on something. I eat nothing but fast food, pizza, hamburgers, subways, and I gorge myself with sugar content fluids all day. My BMI is 18-19. If you're skinny and want to gain weight, it's better to eat first, and then drink a glass when you're done, than drink continuesly throughout the day.

I get what you mean. But it's easier to get the word through if I just say "Stop drinking."

It's a military thing. So saying that it doesn't work, is like pissing on your own two legs.

All the soldiers I saw that came through the recruit period, fat soldiers lost weight, skinny soldiers gained weight. And it was all because they were constantly active and couldn't grab that bottle whenever they wanted, or eat whenever they wanted. They drank water together, ate together, worked out together. The ones that drank less (skinny people) ate more when the day was over, and the ones that drank more (fat people) ate less when the day was over.

You need to be able to meet me half-way in the conversation, not just look at it in colors of black and white.

Even though you're eating junk food and fast food, it doesn't matter because you're only eating one meal a day and probably not getting enough calories. In your case junk food isn't going to make you fat - since you aren't consuming enough calories - but you might be nutrient deprived.

You don't say WHAT you're drinking. If you're drinking coffee, sweetened beverages, juice, etc. then, yeah, that might mess with your appetite. But I don't think drinking plain water is going to stop anyone from having a normal appetite for food.
 

Feops

New member
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
829
MBTI Type
INTx
Drinking water is known to curb hunger as humans have a fairly weak sense of if they need water or food. Taking in water or food will diminish the perceived need for both.

So drink less, increase apetite, eat more, gain weight, is plausible.
 

Tewt

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
420
MBTI Type
ENTP
I eat one meal a day, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less. I continuesly drink on something. I eat nothing but fast food, pizza, hamburgers, subways, and I gorge myself with sugar content fluids all day. My BMI is 18-19. If you're skinny and want to gain weight, it's better to eat first, and then drink a glass when you're done, than drink continuesly throughout the day.

I get what you mean. But it's easier to get the word through if I just say "Stop drinking."

It's a military thing. So saying that it doesn't work, is like pissing on your own two legs.

All the soldiers I saw that came through the recruit period, fat soldiers lost weight, skinny soldiers gained weight. And it was all because they were constantly active and couldn't grab that bottle whenever they wanted, or eat whenever they wanted. They drank water together, ate together, worked out together. The ones that drank less (skinny people) ate more when the day was over, and the ones that drank more (fat people) ate less when the day was over.

You need to be able to meet me half-way in the conversation, not just look at it in colors of black and white.

I was in the military too, I gained weight in basic training but it was all muscle mass. This time I just want to fatten up for baby! If I had a choice I'd like all the weight to go to my chest, but eh, what can you do. I'll settle with an even weight distribution.

I have a normal appetite for food and drinks. I get enough calories. I'm 19 on the bmi. I just do not gain weight, partially metabolism and partially I eat extremely healthy...not a conscious choice, it's just food that I like. For the most part I only eat seafood, veg, fruit. No bread, pasta, cheese, meat for the most part. Every once in a while but it's not a part of my daily diet. I recently got into cooking with cream so that may help to add some calories in.

I can see taking out drinking water if it was an abnormal amount of water a day, I don't drink that much. That 11 glasses a day stuff is mainly bs and I've never prescribed to that.
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
I was in the military too, I gained weight in basic training but it was all muscle mass. This time I just want to fatten up for baby! If I had a choice I'd like all the weight to go to my chest, but eh, what can you do. I'll settle with an even weight distribution.

I have a normal appetite for food and drinks. I get enough calories. I'm 19 on the bmi. I just do not gain weight, partially metabolism and partially I eat extremely healthy...not a conscious choice, it's just food that I like. For the most part I only eat seafood, veg, fruit. No bread, pasta, cheese, meat for the most part. Every once in a while but it's not a part of my daily diet. I recently got into cooking with cream so that may help to add some calories in.

I can see taking out drinking water if it was an abnormal amount of water a day, I don't drink that much. That 11 glasses a day stuff is mainly bs and I've never prescribed to that.

No bread? It sounds like you aren't eating carbs at all. You're going to have to eat carbs if you want to get pregnant. Whole grain bread. Brown rice. High fiber, low sugar cereals. This may be a part of your problem.
 

Tewt

New member
Joined
Aug 22, 2009
Messages
420
MBTI Type
ENTP
No bread? It sounds like you aren't eating carbs at all. You're going to have to eat carbs if you want to get pregnant. Whole grain bread. Brown rice. High fiber, low sugar cereals. This may be a part of your problem.

I eat those and beans.
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
I eat those and beans.

Ok good. Just make sure you're eating enough grains. Low-carb and pregnancy aren't compatible, and you're certainly not going to put on weight if you're doing a low carb diet.
 

angell_m

Permabanned
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
818
MBTI Type
IxFx
Enneagram
5w4
I was in the military too, I gained weight in basic training but it was all muscle mass. This time I just want to fatten up for baby! If I had a choice I'd like all the weight to go to my chest, but eh, what can you do. I'll settle with an even weight distribution.

I have a normal appetite for food and drinks. I get enough calories. I'm 19 on the bmi. I just do not gain weight, partially metabolism and partially I eat extremely healthy...not a conscious choice, it's just food that I like. For the most part I only eat seafood, veg, fruit. No bread, pasta, cheese, meat for the most part. Every once in a while but it's not a part of my daily diet. I recently got into cooking with cream so that may help to add some calories in.

I can see taking out drinking water if it was an abnormal amount of water a day, I don't drink that much. That 11 glasses a day stuff is mainly bs and I've never prescribed to that.

Well you seem like you got a hold of things much better than me.
 

Giggly

No moss growing on me
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
9,661
MBTI Type
iSFj
Enneagram
2
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
^ oh great.:cry:

I was definitely banking on that old news.
 

foolish heart

New member
Joined
Dec 26, 2008
Messages
470
MBTI Type
ISTP

Yeesh, I should be a nutritionist, I could have told anyone that! The static 3,500 calorie per pound of fat model is still quite accurate as a baseline, but people greatly underestimate the metabolite effect. The man in the graph would follow the weight of the traditional model if his metabolism never adjusted to the additional calories.

Ever wonder why urine can be dark (almost even glowing, lol) after having one too many vitamin tablets? I believe it's because once the saturation level for a certain vitamin or nutrient is reached, the body treats it like waste... it really has nowhere else to go since it's in such excess. The same applies to calories and metabolism to a degree, the body attempts to "use" as much of the additional calories as possible to the point of saturation (over the finite period of digestion) and then converts the remainder to fat.

So he would be gaining fat at the rate of 3,500kcals/lb. the very first time he ate the cookie, and then at an exponentially slower rate every subsequent time as his metabolism adjusted to utilize the additional calories. It's also why extreme cases of obesity (400+ lbs) the person continues to consume enormous amounts of calories each day but does not gain nearly as much weight as a healthy person would from eating the same thing. Even though they hardly move, their metabolism is probably incredibly high. It would have to be to digest so much food. Sadly, in extreme cases they tend to continue eating so much that the sheer gross intake (no pun intended, lol) overtakes even the adjusted metabolism, and over a period of many years they get fatter and fatter.

The reason people trying to lose weight quickly never works is because they cut calories too much, their metabolism slows down (semi-starvation mode) to adjust. because their malnourished, the body breaks down lean tissue for nutrients. then, when they crack and cheat on their diet, the body sucks up every bit of calories in the unhealthy food and has way more than it "thinks" it needs and converts a lot of it to fat, causing the yo-yo effect. anorexics are sort of like extremely obese but in an opposite context.

relevant point here: when trying to lose or gain weight, it's just as important to consider the metabolic effect of the quantity and type of food youre eating as the net calorie loss or gain. to lose fat one should actually eat about the same amount of calories but eat more fibery vegetables, fruit, and lean protein (bird meat rocks!) this keeps the metabolism stimulated, then you can add moderate exercise and maintain the fat burning effect of a full, healthy metabolism.

to gain fat, it's a bit more complicated but you can trick your metabolism... i've never tried this, but you may try experimenting by eating less in the morning--quick burning calories like sugar, think candy bar instead of oatmeal--to keep the metabolism slow, then very late in the day you can load up on carbs (icecream!) since your metabolism will drop even lower when you sleep, you'll hit the saturation level easily and the rest will have nowhere else to go except fat deposit. instead of eating lots of regular meals, eat irregularly to give your metabolism lots of calories to process when its not "programmed" to expect them. also, try varying your overall calorie intake day to day... try eating 4/3 or 5/3 your regular portion every 4th day or something. :) anyone trying to burn fat best do the opposite of all that, program your metabolism to burn high as much as possible (and make sure eat plenty of nutritious foods to keep lean tissue intact).

Goooodluck!
 

Vamp

New member
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Messages
579
MBTI Type
ENFP
I've had the same issue of not being able to gain weight. If you really want to know what's going on, find out how many calories it takes to run your body. Then see how many calories you consume. You'll probably find you're eating far less than your body needs to run efficiently. This is a motivational tool as well as science. Besides that, work hard. Eat the right things and you'll develop an appetite. Sometimes you have to have an epic food battle to get it down.

Edit: To expand upon the undereating theme: the OP probably can't gain weight because their metabolism is out of whack from not eating enough. This isn't bad, this isn't intentional. Some people just have sparse eating habits, over time this can cause the metabolism to do odd things. Hitting your target caloric intake for about a month can put you back normal.

I don't believe in diets, I don't believe in fads. I just believe in giving the body what it needs to function correctly.
 
Top