Weight gain?

Raelee

New member
I know this is a weight loss forum. But I actually at a point that I need to gain weight. Are there any specific recipes or things to try for that. I barely like to eat food anymore but maybe some good ideas and recipes might help motivate me a little. I wonder if I can still gain weight as well as do cardio because that’s my fav kind of exercise. I’d just have to eat a lot more. I also plan to eventually see a dietician who might be able to assist with that.
 
Seeing a dietician sounds like a splendid idea. For now concentrating on adding some protein (meat, cheese, nuts, eggs...) may be your best bet. (I am obviously neither a dietician nor a doctor, just giving you my ideas.) Most young women who lose a lot of weight eat very little protein and lose a lot of muscle mass as a result, which can be problematic. Do you like avocado? A couple of slices of toast, an avocado, and one or two boiled egg, topped with a bit of salt and maybe garlic powder and nutritional yeast (or shredded cheese) make for a delicious breakfast which is easy to make as well and even still healthy.
 
A dietician will certainly be able to help with good advice. Like Maria I have no qualifications - but like many of us here I have spent a long time battling with unhealthy eating habits and attitudes towards food. I have friends that I have seen struggle just as much as me to gain weight as I have to lose so I understand how difficult it can be.

I think that nuts and cheese are both a great for you. Calculate calories of a portion and you might be pleasantly surprised.

The same techniques that help us lose weight will help you gain. Weighing food portions and calculating the calories will make sure that you eat enough - just like it helps me to try and not eat too much.

Whatever our calorie targets - we benefit if we can get there by eating healthy food - if possible by hitting all sorts of nutritional targets that ensure we are getting enough protein, calcium, fibre, vitamins etc.

If you like doing cardio I am of the opinion that it would be tough to try not to do it - but since it would help you burn more calories - it would increase the amount of calories that you would be wanting to eat.

Since you mention that you barely like to eat food - it might help to set yourself a goal to try to find some more foods that maybe would appeal more... Lots of people over the years have come to the forum and made statements about not liking for instance vegetables... When you ask them to list the veg eaten over the past week it has been a pretty small and boring selection. Setting a target of trying a new veg for the list every day they have ended up having a heap of things that they had never tried. Some you dislike - but some you like. I hope that you can experiment and find some that you like.

Good luck
 
Seeing a dietitian is a great idea, but until you do I'll offer the following advice:

Start strength training to build some muscle. In my non expert opinion, while you are a little underweight your body looks to be carrying around the minimum amount of body fat so adding muscle to it will add shapely weight without increasing your size as much as fat (muscle is more dense than fat).

To that end, I'd focus on eating more protein (meats, eggs, cheeses, nuts, beans, mushrooms, tofu, etc). You might also try protein powders, bars, and shakes.

You can still do cardio and gain weight, but you'll need to eat more calories to make up for the calories you burn doing cardio. If eating enough is already a problem, you might try switching from 45+ min low intensity cardio like bike rides or brisk walking to 10-15 minute higher intensity cardio activities like jump rope or burpees. If you do want to do longer cardio, stop every hour or so and eat a snack to give your body the fuel it needs to keep going without burning muscle or fat.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I’ll see what I can do.
 
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