I need to gain weight!

Life Health & Fitness
1

AAAAAAAARGH

Ok, I think I have a problem. My whole life I have been skinny…but the last year I really don’t like the way I look at all! I’m 1.72m and have now finally managed to weigh 50kgs. I’m usually between 45 - 48kg.

The only way to stay 50 is to stuff myself with pasta and white bread between meals.

Could there be something wrong with my thyroid?

Daily my co-workers poke at me complimenting how skinny I am…but I have an issue with it…I feel like I look like Mr Burns from the Simpsons crossed with a stick insect.

Oh and I’m a couch potato…except for walking the dogs for 30 mins twice a day I don’t exercise.

2

I was a twig until I was 22, or so. But now I’ve got an extra 5 kg you’re welcome to. :slight_smile:

I’m no nutritionist, or health expert, but I’d look at diet and lifestyle before medical factors. Are you vegetarian? Get enough protein? I’d suggest that you exercise and focus on building muscle rather than merely padding your frame.

3

If you don’t care about how you gain it, then probably the easiest way is to slightly increase the portion size of what you eat. Also, don’t space out your meals throughout the day, as that supposedly increases your metabolic rate. Eat fewer times a day (and especially at night), but make the portions larger on each sitting.

Or, you could go with Jaboey’s advice. Muscle weighs more than fat; you can get those extra kilos with more lean body mass.

4

Get thee to a specialist in the black art of nutrition…

Particularly if your weight also corresponds to some other health problems - i.e. constant colds or flu, poor sleep, reduce libido, etc.

Anyone know of a good nutri in Taiwan that B9 can talk to?

5

You’ll look better if the added weight is at least partly muscle. I don’t mean you have to end up muscular, but firm looks better than flab (says the flabmonster here). I’d suggest adding a lot of protein, lifting light dumbells, biking and a couple other activities like that. The small, inexpensive dumbells (pick up a pair of 5 pounders for starters, then later move up to 10) are easy to do while watching TV, as is a stationary exercise bike (and you don’t get as bored that way). There are many different exercises you can do with dumbells.

If you’re concerned about the thyroid or your health in general, get it checked out. Regular checkups are a good idea anyway, y’know. Personally, I think you look great just the way you are, and you’d still look great if you gained some weight. :idunno: It’s probably more important, for your health, to get that exercise than to stuff yer face. :laughing:

People also tend to feel better physically and emotionally if they are getting exercise. Go for it! :slight_smile:

6

Yeah weight training and more protein.

I recently started weights for the first time in my life and I am gaining muscle like crazy. I am losing fat so the net weight is about the same, but I’m 300% healthier.

If you are a vege but not a vegan, then have some egg omelets (say 4 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk) for breakfast. If you are a vegan, then it gets harder. I’m not sure how whey based protein shakes fit into the picture, but well worth considering a couple of those per day.

7

I gained a good bit of weight as a teen by chugging soy protein milkshakes with eggs added and pumping iron. Went from a very scrawny 100 lb. to 140 (all muscle) in a couple years. Now if only I could get back DOWN to 140 LOL.

8

This is very unhealthy, as it will just lead to fat gain: it dupes the body into thinking food is scarce, so it will start storing fat. If you want to gain lean muscle mass instead, just follow the basic bodybuilding principles for gaining mass:

  1. Work out with weights, but take it VERY easy on cardio(vascular exercises). Every time you lift a dumbbell, the affected muscle will tear a little, forcing your body to rebuild it a little bigger than it was before. Also, anabolic exercise (weight training) increases testosterone production which triggers muscle buildup - if the muscles are exercised.
  2. Eat five to six meals a day, each of them as large as you can manage, but keep the fat ratio low. McDonald’s is OK, too much kong3rou4 isn’t :slight_smile:
  3. Don’t drink water if you can drink something with calories instead (fruit juices are better than pops, protein drinks are even better)
  4. Start reading bodybuilding magazines. Your coworkers will think you’re gay (been there, done that), but in between all the glossy pix of steroid-addled meat mountains and four-page ads for nutritional supplement scams you’ll discover very useful articles on nutrition and general workout techniques. Bodybuilders may look dumb, but they’re among the smartest people on the planet when it comes to eating.

Sure, working out will increase your metabolism, but if you don’t work out while eating more, you’ll only store fat instead of building up muscle meat. And then you’ll be too fat, which is much worse than being too thin.

TwoTon, overweight and hatin’ it :slight_smile:

9

I was a vegetarian for 9 months, but gave up last week. Eating meat again and feeling much more energetic.

I know I was supposed to eat beans and things like that to supplement my diet, but just couldn’t be bothered.I’m not good at cooking!

10

Beer, pizza, cheesecake, fudge, more beer, cheese, fried chicken…

11
  1. I guess lack of exercise could cause weight loss due to lack of stimulation to appetite.
  2. I recently read somewhere that the idea of eating egg whites only and not the yolks is passe because the yolk contains some important nutrients. Anyway it’s something only rich people would do.
  3. A proper vegetarian diet is not an omniverous diet minus the meat.
12

[quote=“Juba”]2. I recently read somewhere that the idea of eating egg whites only and not the yolks is passe because the yolk contains some important nutrients. Anyway it’s something only rich people would do.
3. A proper vegetarian diet is not an omniverous diet minus the meat.[/quote]
re:2. It’s the high cholesterol that is bad in yolks, sure there are other great things in yolks, but if you get clogged arteries and die young it’s difficult to appreciate those other benefits. 45nt for 10 eggs isn’t going to break the bank.
re:3. I know dozens of Vegetarians, and most seem to have a varying view on what they should eat, while all calling themselves “vegetarian”. I don’t think that is too relevant to the OP. The only reason I mentioned Vegan etc was in reference to eating eggs and the common protein shakes made using Whey which might freak out non dairy consuming Vegans.

Come to think of it. If you choose not to eat red meat, fish, chicken, eggs, or any dairy products, it must be very difficult to get adequate protein without consuming lots of beans/bean products. Braaaaaap.

13

Quit or cut down on meat and you won’t have to worry about a little cholesterol from eggs.

…
Reference: The Incredible, Edible Egg Yolk

14

Cholesterol and egg yolk is a fable … there are some substances in egg yolk that actually counteract the forming of the ‘bad’ cholesterol …

A related text about cholesterol, interesting reading … and this about the nutrients

15

I knew there was something to it but I forgot, just found it again …

[quote]When cooking an egg, the cholesterol in the yolk is altered when simultaneously heated and exposed to air. Therefore, eggs should be cooked without breaking the yolks (i.e. poached, boiled, over easy, etc.), instead of scrambled or made into omelets. A raw blended egg should be drunk fairly quickly, or refrigerated, because leaving it out at room temperature will start cholesterol oxidation, albeit more slowly than by cooking.
{Health Scientist Panelist, Allan Spreen, MD, on e-Alert, April 3, 2003}

Also in “To Your Health,” 2002, Dr. Spreen says that the original researchers did not even use real, whole eggs: they used powdered eggs. The lecithin in the eggs had to be heated (altered before ever being used in the research), thus destroying the healthy, naturally protective lecithin only available in the real whole egg.

When one heats the egg yolk, changes occur in the fragile elements that serve to support the vital life force within the egg. The egg yolk, in many ways, is not very different from your own cells. Once your temperature goes above 105 degrees, you will start to suffer serious health problems. Similarly heating the yolk above 105 degrees will also start to cause structural changes in many of the highly perishable components in the yolk. The most obvious one is cholesterol. The more the yolk is heated, the more likely oxidation will occur. Our blood vessels do not have receptors for cholesterol, only for oxidized cholesterol. So, you can eat as many eggs as you like, without worrying about cholesterol, as long as you don’t cook the yolks.
{“Biotin, the forgotten vitamin,” mercola.com, July 2002} Editor’s comment: Dr. Mercola’s website is one of the most visited health sites in the world. [/quote]

[quote]In a study reported in the 2001 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, researchers from Kansas State University have shown that for the first time an ingredient in eggs actually keeps the artery-clogging cholesterol from getting into your body. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) in eggs actually stops a significant amount of cholesterol from entering the bloodstream. This could be very good news for egg lovers, especially since eggs are packed with other healthy goodies: protein, vitamins A and E, B-6, B-12, and folate.
{“Eggs might not be so bad after all, ingredient stops cholesterol from getting into the body,” webmd.com, Nov. 2001}
{"Nutrition Hints # 592, Betty Kamen, PhD, and Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, MD, 2001} Editor’s comment: phosphatidylcholine is a substance that also prevents memory loss as we age. The first experiments that maligned eggs as a cholesterol threat were conducted years ago with dried egg yolk. Many studies since then demonstrated that eating whole, fresh eggs does not have the same effect.[/quote]

Here’s the full text

16

Ah, I think this is where I read it (item no. 2 in the slide show).

17

All very well, but many experts stick to the 1-egg-a-day rule, because of the yolk.

hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats.html

That is why for breakfast, I have a 5 egg omelet, with just 1 of the yolks. How many egg yolks do you guys eat per day?

18

[quote=“Battery9”]I was a vegetarian for 9 months, but gave up last week. Eating meat again and feeling much more energetic.

I know I was supposed to eat beans and things like that to supplement my diet, but just couldn’t be bothered.I’m not good at cooking![/quote]

Protein deficiency. QED.

19

Zero, on average, except whatever happens to be in baked goods and stuff. I can get protein, vitamins B12 and D, riboflavin etc. from other foods, no? :idunno:

20

DB: yes, most definitely.

eating too many egg yolks is probably not good for you: sure, it’s not really all cholesterol in the yolk, but it is almost all fat, in one form or another, and some fat soluble other things like the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which are critical for vision (but these can all be obtained from other sources like vegetables just as well). most people could do with eating less fat of all kinds, although perhaps choosing the kind of fat to eat (such as opting for oily fish rather than a chicken arse) is a more wise course than simply cutting all fat out entirely. fats are a useful part of your diet up to about 20% of total calorie intake, and some organs can only use fat for energy supply, such as your heart. your muscles also predominantly use fat as energy supply and only switch to carb sources of energy in high-load situations. it is true though that exceeding your daily requirement of energy intake means that much of the excess food is stored, and this is where the “too many eggs (or any fatty food) are bad” thing applies.

egg yolks have long been vilified unjustly, but learning the truth of that is no reason to rush out and eat a dozen a day.

there is little in the way of evidence-based medicine to support the vilification of cholesterol, and what you body does not get from its diet is then created by your liver (hence the name Cholesterol). all your sex hormones, for example, are steroids made from cholesterol, and so are other hormones for water and mineral balance.