Hi guys, I've always been a skinny guy and for the last five or six years I have weight around 54 kilos. I got back to the UK, and was staying at a friends of the family for a month where I was eating a lot more than usual, and went to 59 kilos. I had an arse for once. Now, I am started working full time, and work 15:00-23:00 every day. I've lost all that weight I had put on, and am now 53 kilo's. I usually eat a small bowl of cereal for breakfast, a single ready meal for lunch, and for dinner I'll have a sandwhich. Can anyway suggest the easiest way for me to put some weight back on, aside from the usual, 'eat more' comments? I mean, surely if I eat a certain amount and don't still feel hungry I'm eating enough? What can I eat that won't make me feel full after a few mouthfulls, but will help me gain that weight back? Rice? Chicken?? Thanks. This is what I look like at 54 kilos. Needless to say I don't have any side profile shots.
Wish I had that problem..weight just falling off. You can get weight gain milkshakes that contain a ton of calories. If your losing weight you are burning more calories than you are taking in simple.
As mad as it sounds - exercise. It will make you feel hungry, you can use that urge to eat a bit more than you normally would.
Maximuscle progain. Blender Smoothies. Have for breakfast. And as above, exercise will help you to want to grow. Also, 54kg! Jesus, you one tiny dude. I'm sitting at 84, and can't really drop below 80 these days.
How tall are you ? Why do you want to put on weight ? Not that it matter but i have been the same all my life, borderline under weight at 6' 2" tall and only 12 stone (77Kg) and have never been able to put on weight even when i started eating loads more.
Sort your diet out, for starters. A ready meal for lunch (just no, no no no no no.) and a sandwich for dinner is technically fine, but you need to increase the size of your breakfast or at least eat small things steadily through the morning. A small bowl of cereal is not enough.
I would add some more carbs in, be that toast or simply more cereal. Corky42 does ask a good question, why do you want to put more weight on? There is a long standing theory that people who don't eat that much tend to live a very, very long time, FYI. Stability is the key thing - yoyo-ing is not good for your heart. I'd certainly consider exercising more - you need to burn more calories to drive your desire to eat more. The thought of eating only a sandwich for dinner is pretty nuts for me but hey, different strokes for different folks. I'd possibly look at ways of making food more enjoyable for you (hence my repulsion at ready meals) - try to get into cooking maybe.
If i have read the following chart and everything correctly you are a healthy weight for your height. http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/healthy-living/Pages/height-weight-chart.aspx EDIT: after reading Nexxo's post i did get it wrong, sorry.
I'm with JulianMartin on this. Your diet is not brilliant. Load up on carbs in the morning (porridge is good), don't have ready-meals (if not full of sugar, they're full of salt), and have a proper warm meal once a day. Not how it works, actually. As you eat less your stomach shrinks and your body adapts --within three days you stop feeling hungry. After that even normal-sized meals start to feel like a struggle. You get other symptoms of starvation: hyperactivity (you buzz around like a fly, and seem to get lots of work done, but inefficiently) at first, followed by "crashes" of fatigue and headaches when you do finally eat something. Sleep disturbance and chronic fatigue follow later. You start feeling cold more, and you start slowing down. Emotions flatten, concentration and memory get worse and thinking slows. To be fair, 54Kg is just a bit underweight on the BMI at 1.75m (which is 5'10", not 5'7"), and just at the lower edge of healthy at 5'7" (1.7m). You probably should be more around 61-65Kg but YMMV: the BMI is a fairly rough index.
OMG "concentration and memory get worse and thinking slows.", that's me on a good day But you are right in saying BMI is a rough index, i would go further and say at best it can give a distorted picture, and at its worst can incorrectly label otherwise healthy people. FYI, I would also echo what others have said about ready meals and sandwiches not being the best things diet wise, but something is better than nothing IMHO.
Not true, in certain situations it's as unhealthy being underweight as it is overweight. Your body is straining itself to keep you alive and kicking.
Regarding Julian's suggestion of cooking more, try taking a look at the BBC Food facebook page, I've found it quite interesting with good suggestions for meals and inspiration. I can see why you're having a bigger lunch, so try making that yourself maybe? Start simple, I like quite a few of the recipes in Jamie Olivers 15 minute meals, which tend to be not too tricky or messy, so you will still have time for study/work/gaming etc. With your "strange" working hours I can see why you're having meals at those times. Do you get your sandwich from work or are you able to take a packed lunch? If so try spicing up your sandwichs with fresh ingredients, maybe using some leftovers from yesterdays lunch, such as left over chicken on some nice wholegrain roll and some fresh salad. (Although you haven't said you're not doing this already). But as above, I'm not saying "eat more" I'm saying try and inspire yourself to get more out of eating.
You win. I weigh 1.75 times as much as GregTheRotter. I'm significantly taller though. As someone who struggles to maintain a decent blood sugar level, I have found the best way to deal with it (and keep at a sensible weight) is to eat a decent breakfast, a light-ish lunch and a decent dinner (with lots of protein), having small snacks often throughout the day. Nuts, fruit, that sort of thing. I try not to eat huge amounts of sugar. A big breakfast and at least one 'proper' (read: not ready-meal) a day, plus a bit of grazing will do you proudly, I'd say. Oh, and it's a good excuse to eat nice meat.
The thing is, there's not a great deal of point gaining weight just for the sake of it if all your gaining is fat, which is essentially what will happen by just eating more. My advice would be to get down a local gym and get a weight gain program sorted out. This doesn't have to be intensive wight lifting. You will actually find it quite easy to gain about 7-10kg of mass as a newbie with only moderate lifting. Throw in some cardio as well and you will find that your metabolism vastly increases too. This will naturally increase your appetite which will give you a platform to sustain your new weight. Plus you'll feel a lot healthier too and will be satisfied with having an improved physique. In terms of diet, eat plenty of good carbs, plenty of lean meat and the weight gain will come naturally.
As I say, a theory, without context, but the data is there: http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ing-might-help-you-live-longer-healthier-life
http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html# This will tell you how much you need to eat to maintain your weight and how much you need to eat to gain or lose weight. From what you said, I estimate you're getting about 1800-1900 calories per day. My non-expert opinion is to avoid sugar, caffeine and fizzy drinks completely. Sleep a full 8 hours every night. Try some exercise every other day, maybe get some dumbbells. Eat a lot (I know, sorry, but it's like that). Brown rice is healthy and great for gaining weight. I think you look ok though. I wouldn't be too stressed about it.
You're not MASSIVELY thirsty all the time are you? I shed best part of 2 stone a few years ago without trying whilst being stupidly thirsty all the time (imagine drinking pints of water and then still feeling like you had a mouth full of cotton wool) - turns out I had Type I diabetes without realising...
