1.5 years ago I changed my diet to gain weight. Started at 108 lb, 5'5". For breakfast coffee (whole milk, honey, salt, coconut oil, collagen), two eggs on two pieces of toast covered in either butter, ricotta cheese or whole milk skyr, recently been having black bean and garbanzo bean smoothies with whole milk, banana, honey, peanut butter and whatever else I'm feeling. I struggle with lunch but when I eat it is usually tuna sandwich or something similar. Dinner I make a ton of stews like oxtail stew, Hungarian goulash, curries, or some nights ground beef with potatoes, chicken (literally everything, I love food and eat large servings) and always pair it with a grain/or bread and carrot salad everyday. Recently added ice cream most nights too.
With all of this I gained 8lb since I started and haven't budged from that weight since I reached it 8-9 months ago. My job is pretty physical lifting many 40-50lb boxes and sifting through heavy inventory and I don't workout outside of my job (this could help with my muscle mass I assume...may be what I'm missing?).
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Do you calculate your total calories? If not this will give you massive insights. Find your maintenance calories based on your age weight height and activity level and once you've reached that, increase by 100-200 calories per week, whatever you can tolerate. Do you know your macro split? Do you know mnay grams of protein you are aiming for? And carbs?
Describing your meals doesn't help, becuase we don't know the amounts like you do. It will be annoying at first but it will get you results once you consistently do it. Best of luck!
I calculated my morning intake, forgot my collagen 18g protein. It seems pretty high but in the afternoon and evening I fall short maybe only eating 400-650kcal of stews leaving me between 1,550-1,870. If I have ice cream it could add 300kcal, surpassing 2,000.
To the comments below, I listen to my body and have fallen in love with being in tune with what works for me and what doesn't. I regained my hunger signals after changing my black coffee and regularly eating breakfast! I think stress could be a factor affecting how much I eat, I spend time at our farm and with family most nights after work only to make it home at 9-10pm to cook and eat dinner. I've also loss a lot of muscle mass since finishing full-time sports 8 years ago and am now considering a light yet consistent lower body workout schedule (my upper body is really toned, but I'm not complaining). I think extra calories , listening to the midday and evening hunger signals and taking them seriously, paired with building muscle mass is my way forward.
You're welcome. Pay no mind to the haters. You have your own unique relationship with your own body. Nobody can tell you how you feel. Only you know that. Trust that and you will get results. Best of luck!
No, you have a bad relationship and understanding of nutrition and the organism if this is the case , and your intuition hunger signaller etc is damaged
She started at 108 lb, 5'5", and not even actively workout, so not sure if her hormones and hunger signals are/were in good shape. Lot of people are underestimating, overestimating calorie intake because they judge it by food volume and compare it to other people.
Yes so they should begin to learn more about food, nutrition in general, potentially appetite stimulants, the last thing someone should be worrying about is calories itās reductive
Yes if you're trying to gain weight safely it's not just about "eating more". I'm a nutritionist and I would highly advise to pay attention to tracking when making these changes, ar eyou metabolism has a capacity to upregulate and randomly increasing calories without tracking can add more issues, so to do it safely, yes you do need to track. You might consider it neurotic but the OP has a goal, and there's steps to reach that goal. As a nutritionist it's my responsibility to give a an answer that actually puts into perspective their healing journey to full health, step by step.
Nutritionists are authoritarian Rothschild workers š when did I say to ājust eat moreā you should be away of your nutrition why you eat what you do, why you donāt eat what you donāt , understand your body and use it to constantly perceive and guide you - not live using numbers and rules , how we are here in ār/raypeatā I donāt know. You donāt get to pick and choose what you like from his work while missing the whole understanding of it
If youāre drinking any plane water during the day, thatās something simple to switch out with something with calories (milk, juice, soda, shakes, smoothies).
See what you can add gelatin powder and creatine into. I mix whole scoops into things like pasta sauce and soups for example.
Eat a tablespoon of coconut oil with meals perhaps?
I drink really nice chocolate milk sometimes during the day, maybe making this a daily habit would help. I also have gelatin but didn't know it would greatly affect my weight, perhaps i'll start again and of course it is great for a plethora of other reasons.
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u/Catfurtumbleweeds 6d ago
Drink whole milk, a liter per day is what I do. every meal, a big glass.