Questions about weight gain, and do I have to stuff myself? page 2

[Annieh]

Also, my feeling is that since you don't eat a great volume of food then you really need to make every bite count. I hope you have already forsaken sugar and processed products, but if not please do, you cannot afford to be eating empty calories.

Then choose the foods with the most to offer - veges with the most colour, baked in dripping or mashed with butter or dolloped with sour cream; meat that is most tender and easiest to eat, and/or with the tasty crispy skin and fat; salads full of olives, feta, and seeds, and drizzled with olive oil. Drink whole milk instead of water, add cream to your coffee, snack on cheese and nuts instead of fruit etc. Basically try to get as much nutrition from every mouthful as possible.

I also wonder if perhaps you don't really enjoy eating much. Perhaps some experimentation with seasonings - herbs, spices, flavourings etc would help stimulate your appetite. Eat first thing in the morning and again last thing at night, this way you may fit in one extra meal.

[campanella]

Thank you very much, some helpful ideas.

There's an adjustment phase here, and I probably will get to the point where I need to cut down how much I'm eating by a lot to stop gaining more than I want. However, right now I feel like I have energy I haven't had in months, after having gotten over a bout of pseudo-anorexia. It's only been a few days but I feel like when I eat more like this I have better cold tolerance and just so much more physical energy. I went for a quick run today just for the love of it because it felt so wonderful to have energy again.

[Annieh]

Well, I'm 16 and female. 5 feet tall exactly. The last few days I upped my calorie intake about 500 calories. A sample/typical day of recent:

2 small apples, 8 oz yogurt (full fat)
1 cup potato leek soup, 7 or 8 oz turkey breast w/ skin, 1.5 cups sweet potato plantain soup (fancy, I know)
1 cup raw carrots
1 oz of cheese
2 tablespoons butter (grass fed)
Half an acorn squash, a huge yam, 2 cups cauliflower, mushrooms in more butter
4 or 5 oz beef or chicken

Is adding in more butter a good or bad idea?

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Do you prepare your own meals? This is good wholesome food, but you could make it more so.

Eg starting the day with two apples sounds like hard work. What about two eggs instead - similar calorie wise but WAY easier to eat and digest. Scrambled, omelette, boiled - up to you. Or make a primal pancake with egg and banana and cinnamon, top with yoghurt or cream. Very yummy and satisfying.

Same with the carrots. One cup of raw carrots is hard going and 1oz of cheese is not much. Perhaps make a salad with half a cup of grated carrot and half a cup of grated cheese. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and bacon bits, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with coconut cream. Or eat cooked carrots drizzled with butter with some cheese slices rolled into a slice of ham or salami.

2 cups of cauliflower is also a lot for one person to get through at a time. Maybe you could turn it into a frittata with some eggs and cheese, to eat alongside dinner and save a slice for breakfast or a snack tomorrow.

Your squash and yam can be roasted in dripping - or you can precook them, mash with salt and spices, stir in a beaten egg and some sour cream (or coconut cream or cream or yoghurt - just use what is to hand to make this different every time) top with cheese and/or ground nuts and bake till heated through. Whatever is leftover can be tomorrow's breakfast or lunch with some ham for example.

I don't know how your beef or chicken is served, if you season and leave it in a slow cooker all day it will be so tender that eating it becomes a breeze, but if you dry it out in the oven or pan, not so appetising.

Best wishes for your health and wellbeing. A.

[campanella]

Wow. Thank you Annieh, I appreciate your response. The advice is valued, and thanks for the well wishes!

[PaleoAP]

Lift weights, eat dense sources of calories, sleep, don't do much else. I guarantee you'll gain weight. I gained 20 lbs of muscle mass without using any supplements, liquids, or powders. I know operate a website dedicated to helping others do the same. Check it out below.

As far as weight gain, you can gain weight by simply eating enough, but it won't be the kind of weight you want unless you're lifting weights or stimulating your muscles effectively. So find a quality training program you enjoy and get some performance goals. Goals like "gain 5 pounds" suck. Following performance is the path to ideal body composition.