How to put weight on as quick as possible?

[Devilsmommy]

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this but I didn't think the weight loss board was right really. And please don't accuse me of stealth bragging because I'm really not. So I'm 5'7 and weigh 8st10lb. BMI of 19. I wear a size 6 clothing and honestly I hate the way I look. I feel like I look too skinny and I don't think it's a good look at all. When I was younger I was a very healthy size 10 and when I see pics from back then I can see that I just looked so much better overall. Since having my lovely DS 3 years ago I ended up with an overactive thyroid which causes unintentional weight loss and that's when I went from an 8 to a 6. But my thyroid is fine now and though I do eat, and not even eat healthy, I can't seem to put weight on. My appetite since having my son has took a major nosedive and I have to basically force myself to eat because I know if I don't I'll just get even thinner😬 can anyone who's been in a similar situation or knows about this kind of thing please recommend some things I should eat to help with putting on the weight. So as not to drip feed, I'm a very heavy smoker and drink a shed load of tea/coffee a day and definitely do not exercise 😅 TIA for any help at all😊

Just wanted to mention until 3 months ago I was surviving on about 4 hours sleep per night. I was never tired due to a ridiculous coffee habit.

I switched to 2 coffees first thing in the morning and no more after that. If I'm desperate later in the day, I'll have decaf tea.

10+ years of insomnia cured almost instantly.

Get yourself some Complan or something similar. This is what a dietician gave me when I needed to put on weight. Try to keep to regular meals and snack in between.

I had this when I was TTC, my BMI was on the cusp of being too low to be referred for fertility treatment. I went down the double cream route.

You can buy vegan protein powders in health food shops.

Remember to add a high calorie sauce to the pasta to be successful - one of our favourites is tomato, creme fresh, butter, cheese and spinach.

If you can manage ice-cream Ben and Jerry's is almost a thousand calories for a medium tub and isn't filling.

Donna kebabs can be very calorie dense too. As is pretty much any take away.

This.
It's not even about the food and weight.
You need to quit smoking and cut down massively on tea and coffee!

Carbs give most people an appetite because of the blood sugar spikes. If it were me, I'd avoid over-doing it on sating foods such as (minimally processed) peanut butter. No need to go unhealthy though, as your body will need nourishment as it grows. Partly for your overall health, but also as you don't want to end up skinny with a bulbous tum, if you're bulking up for aesthetic reasons.

I'd go fruit, proper honey, porridge, granola, baked potatoes, even roasted veg and hummus. These always give me a healthy feeling and gorgeous skin, but a raging hunger!

And definitely wholegrain pasta / rice / cous cous. Delicious AND guaranteed to have your stomach rumbling and hour later.

@Devilsmommy I don't mean this to sound like criticism but ot comes from a good place.

From 20 to 34 I smoked (25 a day)
I had graves and stuggled for a year or three to maintain weight pre diagnosis - pre children - and when I was a recovered anorexic - my lowest was 7st 12lb, am also 5'7".
If I have tea or coffee after 2pm, I do not sleep - I have one tea and three coffees.
I probably didn't exercise enough.

I'm 65 and fit enough, now a bit overweight. However, at 55 I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I have broken a metatarsal, my L1 and T12, three bones in my wrist since. Slips and trips. I had 4 zolendronate infusions, two years injecting teriparatide and am now back on the zolendronate - two down, one to go. The drugs buy me time. I also do pilates every morning. The osteo will be partly hereditary, partly due to graves, partly due to the fags. I am effing lucky I don't have back pain.

FFS sort yourself out. Ditch the fags and the ridiculous amount of caffeine. Have three good meals a day: scrambled eggs for breakfast, baked potato with a good filling and salad for lunch, a proper dinner with protein carbs and veg. Two biscuits mid morning, yoghurt in the afternoon. And take vitamin D daily.

How about snacking on a 130g packet of crisps through out the day? That’s what I used to do when I needed to gain weight, doing that daily really helps and because I’d eat the bag through out the day I still ate my meals x

Cut down on cigarettes ( if you can’t give them up ) ..
Cut down on coffee ..
Eat healthy & not loads of fatty foods to put weight on quickly ..
Do 2 exercise classes a week . That’s not too hard to commit to Imo 🤷🏻‍♀️…
If you’re serious about putting on weight , this is what you have to do ..

Given the number of unhealthy vices and health ticking time bombs you already have, I would avoid any advice centred around eating junk food or drinking alcohol.

If you were smoking 24 years before your 3yo came along you are no spring chicken, not long until all your bad habits really catch up with you.

Just eat more good food more often - vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, 'good' fats.

Dud you ever watch Michael Mosley and his ‘just one thing’?

Rather than trying to gain weight by adding a load of unhealthy stuff to what you consume, maybe approach from a different angle.

Fix one thing af a time. Just one thing. I would suggest having one coffee when you get up and one mid morning and then no more in the day.

Next ‘one thing’; swap the tea for rooibosh or decaff tea.

This should help with your insomnia. Everything is easier with a good nights sleep.

Then, next, cut down on the number of hot drinks. You will feel full all the time with all that liquid sloshing about.

Next (and we are a few weeks in by now, don’t rush the ‘just one thing) introduce a brisk walk. Or dancing with your 3 yo. Or playing running games in the park with your 3 year old.

Next: add healthy nutritious snacks. Wholemeal bread and peanut butter is fine. Apple slices dipped in peanut butter. Avocado. Greek yogurt.

Then go to your GP about getting help for cutting down smoking.

Make your whole life a bit healthier, one small thing at a time

And make your child’s life healthier too.

It’s not about his you look, it’s about valuing yourself, nurturing yourself so you can look after your Dc. And the next best result after that? You WILL look better as a result of being healthier.

Soya milk is really bad for the thyroid. Try switching to oatmilk instead. Are you sure you can't tolerate full fat milk? I can't eat yoghurt but I do okay on full fat milk so I make porridge. You can make it with oatmilk as an alternative but really full fat is better.

Porridge with honey.
Mashed potato made from potato/sweet potato/broccoli/grated cheese is tasty and nutritious.
Pasta.
Bread or toast with cheese.

Odd thread, sounds disingenuous. Did you really not know that eating processed carbs, fatty foods, junk foods, lots of sugar in large quantities makes people gain wait? Doughnuts, chocolate, ice cream, m&ms, mayo/butter/oil on/in everything, pasta with heavy sauces, white bread unlimited, sugars/milk/cream in tea and coffee, bacon, pizzas, kebabs and so on?

Your weight is perfectly fine for your height. I weight a bit less, I'm a fair bit taller and perfectly happy. However, if you want to be fatter, eat a tub of Ben&Jerrys for breakfast, some cheese loaded pasta followed by m&ms for lunch, crisps/cake for snacks, large pizza for dinner and you'll be size 18 instead of 6 in no time. Add couple of sugars and cream in each of those 30 coffees/teas you drink and you'll be size 24. Hardly complicated.

I'll ignore the shitty attitude and just point out that Im trying to gain weight but obviously I don't want to do that eating a load of unhealthy shit that would just leave me feeling crap even if it did help me gain the weight. Glad that you're happy with your weight but for me I feel like I look too skinny and the fact that my BMI is only just above the underweight category shows that I'm not going to be looking as healthy as I could. Not everyone wants to look stick thin

25-30 caffeinated drinks a day, and a heavy smoker?

Please talk to your doctor about quitting nicotine and caffeine. This is insanely unhealthy.

Your lifestyle is incredibly unhealthy,you have a young DC, and the worry you post about is how you look?!

Heavy smoker, poor nutrition, no exercise, high caffeine, all serious risk factors now you are older.
Sorry but you sound in complete denial about how the tobacco and caffeinated drinks will be affecting you. Just because you had low appetite or poor sleep before, doesnt mean they're not contributing now FFS!
You're at much higher risk of stroke, heart disease, complications of infections like pneumonia,.... does your DS have another adult in his life to take care of him in the event you're hospitalised or worse? And he will getting all those toxins from your breath and clothes from the smoking :-(

But yes, cutting down the coffee and cigarettes will improve your sleep and appetite, so you can gain weight, and look better.

I'm not quite sure how to say this without upsetting you so I'll just say it

You're a Mum who smokes and you're bothered about how thin you are?

This blows my mind. 100% blows my mind

HTH 😀

Why do you have to put on weight quickly? Why not just take a little more time to do it. It'll be far better for you than quick weight gain which may shock your body and leave you with stretch marks etc.

Sticking to food- can you eat ambrosia custard and rice pudding? I find them very moreish, kept with a spoon in the fridge, eat a couple of spoonfuls at a time whenever I’m in there!

I recommend you consider swapping out the caffeinated drinks. I got a jar of decaf and started topping up the tub of normal stuff and giving it a shake. The proportion of caffeine gradually dropped without me giving it any thought until all my coffee was decaf.

You may well get some health benefits- speaking as a fellow 3L a day drinker!

Get another blood test to check your thyroid - once you have issues like hyperthyroidism they are something you need to keep an eye on as a weak spot. The other things that sometimes go with it are B12 deficiency which can also suppress appetite. If you have a blood test check both of those because they can have circular effects where one is out of whack and triggers the other.

As for the milk snottiness you may find that is connected to if you can absorb B12, you may have pernicious anemia or the thyroid might just be churning through your B12 stores, but anxiety, also caused by hyperthyroidism, can cause all sorts of digestive issues.

I'd start there.

My BMI is exactly the same as you and I'm fighting and running fit. And I have (small) muscles.

Honestly, if this thread is true then you are heading for an utter car crash of health in middle age. The smoking, caffeine and lack of exercise is your problem.

I've got an underweight teen daughter. The advice from the dietician was add cream, cheese, olive oil and butter to everything.
Try to eat regularly and finish meals in order to stretch the stomach and regain some appetite. They said high calorie snacks are perfect too. There's recipes for nourishing shakes online, some are dairy free, calorific drinks really, but not to replace meals.

In reality it's just extra olive oil and as many nuts that my DD can tolerate, she hates certain textures (any thing creamy or milky especially). Good luck.

Weirdly when I had a full blood workup everything was rock bottom except for the b12 and calcium which was apparently too high. GP didn't seem concerned about it