Help gaining weight

[LilyLily1999]

Looking for advice on safe/reliable ways to gain weight or any positive experiences would be great as need some motivation.

I’m only 23 but I’ve lost weight drastically over the years. I was originally a size 10/12 (medium) but when I was around 17 I stopped eating I think it was partly due to my mental health and body image, my mum even thought I might’ve had an eating disorder as I’d barely eat anything other then sweets etc so as you can imagine I lost a tone of weight and since then I’ve been a size 4/6 (xs). It’s not something I’m proud of and I look back and wish I could have the curves and weight that I use to as I’m now underweight and although being petite does look nice it’s effecting my confidence and I constantly wish I could have the body I use to, it’s much harder to gain weight, some people may eat junk food and instantly gain weight but I can eat junk food and won’t gain anything I know I need to eat proper meals and eat regularly as I still don’t eat much I’ll be lucky if I have a meal a day it’s just harder said then done due to my ongoing mental health issues I don’t have much motivation and it’ll be months till I see progress and even then it’ll only be a tiny bit. I was thinking to get a scale so even if I can’t visibly see the weight difference at least I know I’m gaining something was even thinking about going to the gym but that won’t do much other then help me gain muscles I need more weight to work with but really struggling. So any advice or experiences as I stated at the top would be appreciated a lot. 🙂

I've had to gain weight many a time. For me the key is looking for calorie dense food, so low volume high calorie.

It does depend a bit on the type of food you enjoy. It's a lot easier to gain weight eating the stuff you enjoy than forcing down food you don't.
The usual meal plan for weight gain is 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, but obviously you can Taylor to suit your needs.

Nuts and nut butters are good, ground nuts can be added to all manor of curries, sweet and savoury dishes. Cheese is your friend add to any pasta or potato dish, make cheese sauce for veg.

Speaking of veg, roasting will increase calories but you can also add butter to steamed veg, or oil based dressings to salad. Mashed potato can be hugely calorific if mashed with cream, cheese and butter you can also add egg yolk.

Make scrambled eggs with extra yolks and plenty of butter.

If eating sandwiches look for things that have a mayonnaise base, cheese or you can double up on filling toasties are good for this - ham and cheese, Brie and bacon, or cold you could do egg and avocado or Pita with houmous and falafel, bagel smoked salmon and cream cheese.

Also think about what your are drinking, milk based drinks are good.

Mirtazapine.

I think you're in denial..you clearly have an eating disorder.
You say youre Lucky if you eat one meal a day.
This is not meant harshly but you won't gain weight because you are not eating enough.
Please seek help for your very obvious eating disorder

Thank you for the advice I know the obvious answer is to eat more it’s just hard with my mental health to be motivated to do anything in life even the simplest thing as eat and my stomachs definitely shrunk and got use to not eating as I don’t feel hungry even on one meal a day. I did try and talk to a doctor a few years ago about me having an eating disorder but they brushed it aside and said I’m just too lazy to eat.

Mirtazapine definitely have me an appetite, I've never known anything like it so yeah that might not be a bad shout.

If you physically can't face food then keep drinking things like full fat milk lattes, protein shakes, milkshakes, melted ice cream.

Eat a bit more every day, every week.

My teen DD is under the dietician for being underweight.
Caused by very low appetite, fussiness and forgetfulness (she is dyslexic, dyspraxic and under investigation for ADHD).

Essentially I have to put extra olive oil, butter, cheese or cream into everything she eats. Her body really needs the calories so the dietician was not really fussed how she gets them. She also must take vitamins and minerals every day.

I also give her a homemade milk shake to top her up every night.

The shake has full fat milk, double cream, ice cream, skimmed milk powder and Oreos or fruit in it. Sometimes I add some Nesquick chocolate powder too. The one I make has around 500kcals in it. Her weight gain has been very, very slow, but she is gaining.

The recipes are online, search for nourishing shakes. There's an NHS hospital PDF one that comes up in the results and that's what I've been using. It also has milk free versions, but there's more calories in dairy products.

You should go back to the GP and ask to be referred though. They should also send you for a blood test. It took 6 months to get an appointment.

If you go down the DIY shakes route, buy a hand blender. They're relatively cheap and easy to use and quick to wash up.