# Trying to Gain Weight



## sweaters (Nov 21, 2014)

Hello!

I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone has any advice what I should be eating that could put me on the fast track to gaining back the weight in the healthiest way possible. Also, any tips on how I should be exercising would be great. I don't really have any stamina, usually I'm out of breath just from walking up a flight of stairs. In fact, even just standing up makes my legs feel weak and shaky.

Any advice is appreciated!


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## Maidelane (Sep 21, 2014)

I have the same issue (?) that you have. 
Usually it's really hard to me gain some weight. I have this really fast metabolism, and I know many people would like to have it, but in my point of view, it's both a blessing and a curse. 

Nowadays Im trying to gain weight eating a lot of protein and carbohydrates on my regular food. Also Im drinking some smoothies with banana, whole milk, peanut butter and vitamins like ensure. Hope it work out for you. 

Also I read that doing exercises with weight could help (Im really lazy for that XD)


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## Bassmasterzac (Jun 6, 2014)

sweaters said:


> Hello!
> 
> I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.
> 
> ...


There's really no other way to gain weight except by calorie surplus. You're a female, so... you don't really want to bulk. You want to have a clean diet and eat just a little bit over your daily intake. You also want to avoid too much saturated fats and simple carbs. If you have no stamina, work your way up. Start by walking 10 minutes, do this about 3 times a week no less. Next week add 5 minutes. Once you get to 30 minutes or you feel more in shape, start with light jogs and aerobics. Once you finally get into good enough shape get in the gym. You can do some yoga or you can do full body workouts. Yes, you will use weights. No, you won't look like a meat head and your boobies will not turn into Arnie pecs. Keep the reps high, keep the intensity high. You want to focus on cardio, but you also want to tone your body which will give you a sexier physique.

You will want to find a diet that works for you and make sure you eat higher than your calorie intake. Women 'generally' should be eating around 2000 calories. Try 2300-2500. You will also want to split up your meals into 5-7 times a day. Small meals, often, will get your metabolism going. High calorie foods that are healthy... whole milk, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, brown rice, etc.

Any questions, I can answer them.


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## Psychophant (Nov 29, 2013)

I just force myself to eat at least three meals a day, even if they're small. Consistency is important, and I find I can eat more now than I could a few weeks ago.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

sweaters said:


> Hello!
> 
> I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.
> 
> ...


Eat more frequently and eat more foods with dense calories, like full fat dairy (especially cheese), nuts, oily fish (eg. tuna/salmon) when you have fish, add oil to your salad and food (preferably extra virgin olive oil) and choose fattier meats (but don't overdo it). Don't fill yourself too much with fibrous foods, so lay back on salads and whole grains if you eat them. Don't remove them entirely of course, but make sure you have enough room in your stomach for your main dish. You could make fruit smoothies with whole milk instead of eating fruit alone so you can add more calories. Also don't be afraid to eat chocolate, especially dark (40%, even more if you can). You could also buy protein powder to add in your food for extra calories and protein, though I think it won't be necessary if you just start eating more like I described earlier. 
Putting on muscle will require more exercise though, especially resistance like weight lifting or at least bodyweight exercises. Since you say you are so weak, you have to start from basics. Start walking about 10-20 minutes every day, at a pace you feel comfortable and see how it goes. I remember myself not being able to walk up a flight of stairs and I didn't do any special exercise, just started moving more. And climb stairs if you feel up to it, you may be out of breath but next time will be easier. 
As for strength, you could try simple exercises such as beginner yoga poses (especially planks, warrior poses, maybe downward dog) which, again from my experience have helped me increase my strength, along with carrying 6-pack waters (9kg) from the supermarket to my home, so it could be a good idea to do a similar thing in your home- start using small weights.
Since you mention having shaky legs and generally being weak, have you checked for anemia or your thyroid?


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## Deejaz (Feb 19, 2014)

I have the same problem, I can't gain weight. I'm 1 or 2 kilos greater than last year and though there are some minimum change at times, it always seem to go back to the same number. I eat 3 times a day and even snack between meals, there are even days when I over eat and yet this does not affect it. I've been told that it's because of having a very fast metabolism.. but I think it's highly linked with genetics.


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## the_natrix (Aug 10, 2011)

A problem Iv'e had lately is that I'm so tired that I don't feel up to making anything to eat so I can feel better, I'm thinking of getting a casserole so I can eat more consistently. Also if you're under stress you might have less appetite; funny thing, Iv'e actually watched comedians on youtube so I would feel like eating, and it worked.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

sweaters said:


> Hello!
> 
> I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.
> 
> ...


Don't worry, weight will come with age soon enough . I had the same issue you had, I was underweight most of my early life until my mid 20's (120lbs 5'11" when I graduated high school). It took care of itself, I gained 75 lbs then recently dropped back down back into the healthy range with some effort.

Just focus on eating healthy, then making sure you're getting enough calories. Plug your height, weight, and age into this calculator and it'll tell you how many calories you should be eating. CalorieKing - How Many Calories Should You Eat You can also use Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com to track your diet which makes it really easy especially with an app on your phone.

For fitness, just start doing something every day. Go for 5 or 10 minute walks to get started then ramp it up from there. There are some good free apps if you have a smartphone as well like sworkit or daily workouts that you can just pick 15 minutes whole body workout and it'll coach you through a set of exercises. It's amazing how quickly the body will go from being unable to get around without getting out of breath to feeling healthy again. Just make sure you're putting in enough fuel (food) into the tank as well or you'll never get anywhere.


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## wolvent42 (Jun 17, 2013)

Ectomorph crew signing in


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## JackSparroww (Dec 10, 2010)

@bluekitdon
Just keep in mind that when you are doing sports, this minimum calorie range measurement tools give too low values. They tell me to eat beetween 1.600 - 1.800 per day, actually tho I eat 2.500 - 3.000 a day, sometimes 3.500. The calculator aint wrong, but when your activity index is high, your nutrition should be high aswell. I am an endo-mesomorph.

As a Hardgainer, I wouldnt care at all counting calories. Just eat a lot. If one should really gain fat, one could reduce the calories a bit or do more sports. I have an ectomorph runners colleague, who eats like a machine and gains no weigth. He is always hungry but eats lots of roughage as well. I'd go for more carbs. Carbs should be 3 times your weight, fat 1 time your weight and proteines 2-3x times your weight, depending on how much your excercise. With a high protein nutrition you should drink a lot of water as well, so you dont harm your nephrics. Complex carbs (all bread, noodles that are not white) and polysaturated fats are good. Vitamines, nuts, milk, cheese, red meat. Some sugar for the brain.


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## Derange At 170 (Nov 26, 2013)

Do resistance type training, heavy compound exercises (squats, deadlifts, benches, etc), for healthy weight gain. Even for a woman, yeah.

If you have trouble eating more, eat more calorie dense foods. Eating a bowls of Greek yoghurt with honey (with crushed nuts) on top of what you're already eating will do the trick. Food high in fat in general is calorie dense, since fat contains more calories than carbs or protein.


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## g_w (Apr 16, 2013)

sweaters said:


> Hello!
> 
> I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.
> 
> ...


Welcome aboard, sweaters, and I'm sorry to hear of your problems with weight.
Pardon me for asking an intrusive question or two, since INTJs are known for their tactlessness...

You had mentioned you are out of breath from walking up a flight of stairs; and that standing up makes your legs feel weak and shaky.

Two questions on that.

1) Do you smoke?
2) Is your "weak and shaky" in the legs themselves, or is it light-headedness?

Oh, and before advising on the food in particular, do you have any food allergies or reactions (e.g. peanuts, lactose, dairy in general , anything with wheat) ?

Best wishes, please come back to PerC to talk. We'd love to help.


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## sweaters (Nov 21, 2014)

> 1) Do you smoke?
> 2) Is your "weak and shaky" in the legs themselves, or is it light-headedness?
> 
> Oh, and before advising on the food in particular, do you have any food allergies or reactions (e.g. peanuts, lactose, dairy in general , anything with wheat) ?
> ...


I do smoke but I'm trying to quit, and yes, I get light-headed a LOT.

Nope, no food allergies.

Thanks ))


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## g_w (Apr 16, 2013)

sweaters said:


> I do smoke but I'm trying to quit, and yes, I get light-headed a LOT.
> 
> Nope, no food allergies.
> 
> Thanks ))


OK, I don't know your financial situation, and it's none of my business.
But ...

No, no lecture forthcoming. (made you look!)

Consider the cost of cigarettes (at least, as a female, it's not quite as likely that you smoke a *pipe*) :laughing:
No, no lecture. Please consider the idea of a "good" twofer (less cost, better health) by considering
substituting fish oil pills for cigarettes.

Sorry if I sound like a nut-case, or come across as pushy. But fish oil is one of the healthiest things for your body;
and it may help you recover from what the cigarettes have done. (Anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, chemical ingredients
used by the body for healthy hormones and all that.)
@Derange At 170 has some good advice, but it sounds like you need to get a little more physically robust before hitting the weights.

Again, best wishes, and welcome again to PerC.
Poke around, there are a LOT of helpful and friendly people here...:kitteh:


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## Mirkwood (Jul 16, 2014)

Same sort of "issue", we are often told indirect, or direct that we cant complain.
Yet also often being told we eat like a bird, too skinny, "why wont you eat", "why dont you want anything of all this i made" etc.

Blessing and a curse, aye.


Anyway..

I think the solution is, you should not really force yourself to eat.. Will just endup telling yourself you wont/cant anyway?. right? no?.. if it is forced, against one self.
(tho sometimes we haft to do things, like walking a bridge... going to the dentist? or something)



Not so long a ago i was trying to do calculations for the nessary food id need on a long multi day hike.
Befor that i havent really been able to do any calorie calculations..

I found out that, it is very important to sort of ask one self.. not just how much. But how much of each?, and what would you like and not like?.

For example, I could perhaps bring 3 kilos of nuts. It is packed with calories. But will i be interested, or even able to eat 3 kilos of nuts + water.
Will it make me feel full?. Imagin there was 1 pill equal to a full days intake.. would you feel full?, hmm..

Being somewhat stoic and so forth, maybe i could eat 3 kilos of nuts... Or it would make me feel bad.

It is good to get a sense of how much each product contains, so you dont haft to weigh and measure everything.
When I did my calculations for the hike, i spread out all the products i imagined to take with me on a table, then put post-it notes on each weight/calories .. I was trying to reach the right number.. Tho later, as mentioned, i realized it was almost only nuts and so on.
Tho, this calculation was with heavy empasis on the weight of it.

And as someone mentioned.. You will need to eat above current weight, or well.. whatever general guideline you get out of those calorie calculators..

I once found a good one that gave 3 results.. one the minimum (losing)... one number for maintaining.. And one for gaining.


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## johnnyyukon (Nov 8, 2013)

As many have mentioned, Whole Milk. 

There's a thing called GOMAD (Gallon of milk a day). Rather extreme, but I made it up to a liter a day and gained more weight than at any previous point in my life. Was kind of nuts.

Of course, I was lifting heavy weights. I switched to a more cardio focused phase and noticed my body couldn't handle all that damn milk, nor did I crave it.



On lifting.

Work up to heavy compound lifts. Like olympic lifts. 5X5 Strong Lifts has the 5 basics, imo:

Bench Press
Overhead Press
Rows
Squats
Deadlifts












Do 2-3 workouts a week. And alternate Workout A and Workout B. 

With the exception of the deadlift, that's 5 sets at 5 reps per set. Go SLOW. And adjust weights so that you fail or come close to failing by the final rep (I usually do more than 1 set of deadlifts).

And do not do this stuff unless you're sure of your form.

Sounds simple and minimal, I know, but I assure you, it's crazy effective. 

It's practically cliche, but bears repeating: weight gain happens outside of the gym. eating, sleeping/resting. And you don't need to go to the gym 1-2 hours a day 5 days a week. Unless you feel like it, but that will be more calories burned and less weight gained.

Good luck with whatever you choose.


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## Peter (Feb 27, 2010)

sweaters said:


> Hello!
> 
> I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.
> 
> ...


You should wonder why it is that you don't eat a lot. You already mentioned that you lost weight because of a period of feeling depressed, but I don't think that's the real reason you're underweight.

Some people have the opposite. They eat more when they´re unhappy. This works for them because it gives a moment of pleasure. The brain has a reward system and eating something can active that reward system, making them feel good for a short time.

I'm thinking that for you, food doesn't have much of this effect on you. It's important to realize why it is so easy for you not to eat enough.

Besides that, feeling so week and shaky sounds to me like you´re not eating enough micronutrients. That's the vegetable and fruits area. Taking in more micronutrients will also bring up your appetite because your body's response to receiving more micronutrients is to be more active and burn more calories. It also helps prevent depression.

All the advice in previous posts is great, but I doubt you'll be able to follow any of it if you don't first solve the underlying cause of not being able to eat enough.


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## johnnyyukon (Nov 8, 2013)

sweaters said:


> I do smoke but I'm trying to quit, and yes, I get light-headed a LOT.
> 
> Nope, no food allergies.
> 
> Thanks ))


I used to smoke socially for like 7 years. I used it as an excuse to NOT exercise a lot. Quitting can be mind blowingly tricky to do, and not everyone that does has the same technique.

This may or may not work for you someday, but it's been about 8 years since I smoked a cigarette (after I quit, I began working out consistently like I used to)


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## angularvelocity (Jun 15, 2009)

sweaters said:


> Hello!
> 
> I've recently lost around 20 pounds due to a recent bout of depression/lack of $$$$. I've always been pretty underweight and couldn't really afford to lose any weight in the first place. I've gained some of it back but I've hit a wall where I can't manage to put any weight or muscle back on my body.
> 
> ...


If you are trying to put weight on and bulk, eat a lot of food. Someone in this thread said it right, "don't count calories, just eat."

But eat what? Let's talk science first and then bring the jargon down to real applicable terms.

Muscle growth is dependent on the activation of a protein called Mammalian Target of Rapamyosin (mTOR). When we look at signaling, we want to increase anything that is a precursor to MTOR. S6k is the precursor to MTOR. Insulin growth factor - 1 (IGF-1) is the precursor to S6k. IGF-1 is crucial. IGF-1 is activated by two things: Insulin (as it's name suggests) and Growth Hormone (also suggested by its name).

It's important for us then to increase our insulin and our growth hormone to induce the most IGF-1 and thus stimulate mTOR, or muscle synthesis.

What increases Insulin? Carbohydrates. Breads, pastas, etc. Down that all day. Make sure you get enough fiber though or your shits will be rough. Also - if you can, drink milk. Milk has direct influence of increasing IGF-1. Note - this is why most weight gainers have 150g of carb per serving.

What about Growth Hormone? Work out. Work out hard, some people have listed good workouts on here. Do compound exercises that work multiple joints like squats, bench, pull ups etc. Also make sure you get sleep because growth hormone is released during rest.

When mTOR is stimulated, the muscle protein synthesis effects will last for up to 18 hours. It's important then to make sure you are eating and hydrating properly during these times to really utilize muscle synthesis. What can inhibit mTOR?

There is a protein called PGC-1alpha. This inhibits mTOR. PGC is released during cardio, but levels of PGC only remain elevated for 30 minutes. If you are planning on doing cardio, do it before you lift weights and then wait 30 minutes till you lift. And I wouldn't run for 1.5 days after you lift so you maximize your time with mTOR.

I will also note that increases in carb will increase fat. Insulin has a relationship with Leptin (fat hormone) so you will naturally put on fat. If you lift right and eat right though, you'll add on a lot of muscle mass and then can just go into cut phase after you have the developed body you want.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.


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