Keep eating and eating but can't put on weight

[mrsruffallo]

What am I doing wrong???

Have you had your thyroid checked?

Had it done about a year ago, it was fine. I had a fluey/ bad cols thing over Christmas and lost a stone and can't put it back on.

Have you thought about keeping a food diary? You say you are eating lots, but it may be that the calorific value is low or your portion sizes are too small.

If you need to put on weight, you need to be eating at least 2000 a day and possibly more.

If you're seriously underweight or concerned that you can't put the weight on, go and see your GP for advice. Its possible they could refer you to a nutritionist or recommend a diet.

Yes, an appointment with your GP is in order. Though if you have always been slender it is probably nothing to worry about.

If that is the case though, are you sure you really are "eating and eating"? I only ask as I have a friend who "couldn't" put on weight, but her appetite was very small and her portions were correspondingly tiny. Her practice nurse got her to weigh everything for a few weeks and record quantities, and then they looked at that and she realised her calorie intake was low despite her eating mainly junk food. She made an effort to improve her diet and increase quantities of certain foods (extra spoonful of rice, one more small potato etc) and has gained and kept on about 10lb over the last couple of years, she's really pleased with that and now the extra food is second nature. She finds she has more energy too, just like when I manage to improve my diet and lose a few pounds!

If you could keep a detailed food diary for a couple of weeks it would give your GP some clues as to whether there's an underlying health reason, if you need to eat a bit more or if you are just slim with a good metabolism and able to regulate your appetite well.

Hopefully there is nothing wrong and you are just a naturally willowy type.

Ah, just seen that you've been poorly and are struggling to regain. Maybe your portions are a bit smaller than they used to be, or are you busier? If your appetite isn't really back it is hard to eat.

What about seeing if you can afford to spend a bit more on food for a few weeks and tempt yourself with really lovely stuff? Steak? nice cheese? Anything to get your appetite going. You could try a small sherry before your meal too, when I was a staff nurse they used to prescribe a small sherry to elderly ladies to help them enjoy their tea!

Keep a food diary, keep your carbs up. For a 5ft 4 (going by average height) moderately active woman to gain weight you'd be likely to need at least 2500- 3000 calories a day for 1lb to 2lb a week weight gain

To successfully gain weight you have to count calories the same way a slimmer would do. Assuming you're averagely active you're aiming for about 2700-3000 calories per day, every day, to start with. If you gain about 1 - 2lbs each week, that's the right level. If you don't gain, add another 500 cals to your daily target and try again.

Aim to eat 'little and often' planning high-calorie, low-bulk snacks and meals - something every 2 hours. Base meals around fats and carbohydrates, avoid too many low-cal, high-bulk things like vegetables and always have plenty of things like nuts and dried fruit to make up any shortfall. High-calorie drinks help a lot. Choose full-fat milk and fresh juices over water, for example.

To help turn the extra calories into lean muscle rather than fat, choose exercises designed to strengthen and tone. Resistance and weights. Avoid aerobic, calorie-burning exercise like running.

I 2nd leptomaine also have a look at the blood type way of eating; author Dr Peter D'Adamo and eat little and often as said before .

You can loose weight very successfully without going anywhere near a calorie counter. I did it would be the same with gaining weight.

I am pretty sure you can use myfitnesspal to track calories to gain weight. You just have to select 'gain' when you are signing up.