Weight Gain

I am copying the many times copied thread, "What did you eat today?" in hopes of helping some of those who are just starting to gain and have no clue what to eat. I know that when I began weight recovery, I was eating tons of low-cal foods just because that's what I was used to. I learned the hard way that dense foods are essential to weight gain when you have high caloric requirements (at one point I needed 4500 cal to maintain my weight on BEDREST). Perhaps newbies can get some ideas if we post our weight gain meal plans! Even if you're not gaining anymore, grab an old one and post it!:]

Please note that every body is different and some will need more or less calories than others to gain. This thread is just so that you can get an idea of what you need.

Oh, and yes, I'm breaking the "no calories, no portions" rule, since it is pretty helpful in this case. If you want to post cals/portions you can. I just ask that you don't post if you're not eating enough, though as this is a weight gain thread, I would hope none of you are undereating.;]

I'll start....

Breakfast (875 cal)*

• 1/2 cup oatmeal (150) cooked with
• 1 cup evaporated whole milk (300)
• 1 mashed banana (100)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (200)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed and cinnamon to taste (50) 
• 1 hard-boiled egg (75 cal)

Morning Snack (300 cal)*

• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)
• 1/4 cup dried apricots (100)

Lunch (660 cal)*

• 1/4 cup rice cooked in 1 cup chicken stock (300) and
• 1/2 cup canned or cooked chickpeas (145) and
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (150) and
• 1/4 cup each onion, peppers, and tomato (30) cooked with
• 1 tbsp olive oil and curry powder to taste (120)

Afternoon snack (390 cal)*

• 1 serving baby carrots (35)
• 1/4 cup hummus (155)
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)

Dinner (875 cal)*

• 1 cup of my insane Mac & Cheese recipe (515)
• 2 cups tossed salad (45)
• 2 tbsp rasins (60)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds (105)
• 2 tbsp dressing (150)

Evening snack (480)*

• 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt (180)
• 1/2 cup homemade granola (300)

About 3600 calories :]

Just browsing through, but a couple of things:

I ate octopus at lunch. :DDDD It was so tasty. I love it, but I obviously don't get to eat it very often - not the easiest thing to find here, haha! Turns out Sainsbury's sells a brand that comes in tins, and it was lovely. No tough bits, either. x]

Aqua: I second the recommendations for listening to wave sounds or similar sorts of things to help you sleep. I used to struggle with insomnia, until I started listening to relaxation tapes at night. Now I don't need them, though I still find I can listen to the radio in my mum and dad's bedroom the next room along (my dad always has it on loud, heh) if I am struggling to fall asleep.

ANGEL, and everyone else, i think the vein thing is not BAD but its bc we dont have enough good fats to cover our body.

AUSSIE- i know that if it werent for these boards i would not have gotten as far as i have.  no nutritionist or therapist ever affected me like being on here.  you have such truly awesoem and inspirational ideas on pos reasons for gaining, thank u!  what are oatcakes?  when you have eggwhites? is that scrambled or hardboiled?  keep it up!

BUTTERFLY-thats so cute, does everyone where uniforms or is this a private school?  good motivation to keep up the good work!  youre dinner sound srediculously awesome!  where do you get that quorn stuff?

GIBBIT-that is truly the next step for us, to not count and plan and on and on all we eat, i think itll take loads of practice but youre doing great!  i really hope to 1 day get there.  i think that knowing that we have so many cals to fill up, helps w the not counting exacts and preplanning to such a degree.  im not super into health stuff and eat white brown whatever foods, but like, sometiems they all ahve the same cals and stuff, plus 1 white cupcake will be a huge accomplishment, or 1/4 of it?lol  what type of party s this that there is food?  when i was in college, is that where you are?  well not too much food, more alcohol-which i dont have at all anymore and makes it hard now to socialize w peers bc theyre always meeting at bars-annoying!

AQUA-hmm, i need complete silence and darkness to sleep, no waves for me! lol  1001?

Okay. STOP POSTING! lmao!! It's so hard to keep up!! Ahahaha. Good job guys! People seem to be in a generally good mood. =) As for me, I've been picking all day so I can't even really estimate my calories. So HA. Stupid mind. =P So yeah, I'm trying to teach myself how to "listen".

Oh my gosh. Mild dilemna though. Parent on diet = high calorie crap OUT the window! Nuuuu! Byebye peanuts. T_T

hello everyone

seems like everyones been around today...i havent been ableto read al the posts there are just so many :) but everything is positive which is great!

i noticed people chatting about sleep....i never used to sleep...at all...like maybe an hour a night...so my gp presribed something called melatonin, which is actually the hormone your body releases to make you fall to sleep, so i take 2 each night and im asleep within 30 mins and always sleep for a good 8 hours :)

also, the vein thing, i know your veins will appear bigger when the weather is hotter because your body keeps cool by pumping blood close to the surface to loose heat, i think with us because we have low bf% its more noticeable but it happens to everyone

ive had a good day :D 2000 again, im thinking probably 2200 tomorrow!

breakfast: an apple and a seeded bagel with cream cheese

snack: starbucks vivianno (i think thats right) smoothie and some special k mini-breaks

lunch: egg mayonnaise sandwich on malted bread with a packet of ryvita minis

snack: mint hot chocolate with a mimi flapjack, 2 pieces of chocolate and some sewed rhubarb

dinner: 6 falafel with roasted pepper pitta, tzatzii, hoummous and salad

dessert: 2 pancakes with honey and banana

snack: yogurt and strawberry smoothie and oatmeal

WISTFUL-you cant ask to have your own food if you NEED  to gain?  and i saw somewhere else you weigh everything?  i really really dot want to be mean at all and hope im not, but isnt ok to have a little more, a medium instead of sall apple was it?

CHARLIE-yayay!!  awesome job today!  do u make your own pancakes?  are flapjacks like pancakes or are there prepackaged frozen type things? also, the bagel, lol, do u know US bagels, like how theyre huge?  was yours like that?  gosh, you are all such awesome cooks!

fri-

thomas mini bagel square, 1 1/2 tbspn PB, apple ~400

whole wheat bagel and tuna salad bought from bagel place ~600

peach ~45

bana creme yogurt, tspn PB, ~2tspn trail mix, ~3tspns ice cream (from the carton) umm~ 240

DINNER WILL BE AND UNSURE OF REST OF DAY-

small veg salad, peice of rotiserre chicken, ~1/2 sweet potato...

Agru- Yuppers! Mr. Diet just bought one (scale). It was just really neat to see how sneaky company's are with their labelling! And they chucked everything dense so they wouldn't eat it.
My parents are NOT much help for me gaining. I've built a lot of muscle and they're telling me to stop gaining before I "lose my figure" even though I'm still very underweight. 

does anyone else find themselves checkin this thread 4 or 5 times a dayit's non stop action!!! aussie - i agree with everyone else, this board has helped me so much, it's so possitive + inspirational! btw - do you dare me to tell ED to shove it and go for those fish and chips!!>>??

angel: sorry ure meal didnt go great, still well done for sticking it out! you're doing great anyway - do you see any professionals at all?

argu - lol i'm SO glad someone else hates ensures! they are disgusting - they make me heave!! in hospital, i had the fruit juice style ones, called enlive (anyone else heard of these!?) which were much nicer, but very syrupy! FOOD is much nicer me thinks!

gibbit - like i keep telling you (sure ure sick of it by now) ure doing so well and are aiming for exactly what i want - to eat what i feel, not what i think i should or control the cals. I know we can ALL get there. I tell myself daily, i'm Suzy Roo (), I was born Suzy and this thing snaked into my life. I WASNT born Suzy + anorexia, so why shoukd I live and die as Suzy and anorexia!!?? Keep listening to your body, it is a very special gift!

wistful - dont worry, its pretty hard for me to count as i grab at so many things during the day lol

hope you are all fabulousoo xxxxxxxxxx

lalabanana- Thanks, now I now that actually works! Once I get a new ipod I'll have to download some waves or something.

wistful- It sounds like you're in a really bad situation. Do you have a counselor or anything who can talk to your parents? And if you don't, could you get your own supply of PB or whatever and keep it in your room so your parents won't be tempted?

charlieuk- Thanks for the melatonin idea! I think my mom actually bought some for my sister a while ago, so I'll see if it works for me! Good job reaching 2000!

agruskin- lol, I was confused when I first heard people talking about flapjacks on here! I thought they were like pancakes too, because diners and stuff call pancakes flapjacks. But I saw some in London on my way back from Italy, and they aren't pancakes at all. They're actually like really really dense chocolate bar-ish things! One of the UK people can explain it to you better. But they're like 400 cals in a tiny bar! I felt very embarassed..

suzyroo- Ha! I check this thread like 10 times a day! Soooo addicting and so much more fun than tracking calories!

hey guys!!

alright, so hopefully the vein thing will go away when we get more bf? haha it's really annoying to me.

aqua- just wait i'll beat you to post 2000!! :p

butterfly- haha i remember I used to go to a private school. I hated uniforms!! And when school starts again i'm doing 'early bird'..I have to be in by like 7:20. but i'd rather do that and get out earlier!

suzy suzy roo- thanks girlll! Well, I'm going to the doctors & dietitian. Tomorrow I'm getting like a CT scan cause they're checking if I have any internal problems :-( (which I probably don't, but it scares me). IF I keep gaining my dad wn't make me go anymore, but yeaah. Dietitian recommended 2200 calories, but I think I'm eating more anyway because I can't see the scale going up on that.

b- psychoj's amazing pancakes, & then that pita

s- oatmeal, pineapple chunks, cottage cheese, soy milk

s-thomas english muffin, tomatoes, broccoli, salad, veggie pepper jack slice

s- greek yogurt, pumpkin, puffed corn cereal, almond breeze, lotsa cinnamon, lime, sf vanilla, and sweetener. Frozen for an hour, tasted like ice cream! :)

l-garbanzo beans, veggies, soy shredded cheese, hummus, bean dip. Cup of mighty bites cereal

s- peanut peanut butter kashi bar. :D

s- baked apple, cottage cheese, puffed corn cereal,  cinnamon. OMg amazing

and then later tonight friend's birthday. I might have cake, I dunno, scary thought :\..haha I can't stay the night though cause of my CT scan at 8 am grrrr! I wish I could, I wanna drink...It's weird how I won't touch junk food but I'll take alcohol. It's even worse for me! haha..

yesterday i ate...

 

Breakfast-two poached eggs(140)two slices fifteen grain,whole grain bread(240)tomato(20)cup of orange juice(120)satchet of asian hot cereal vanilla(80)

 

Snack-greentea flavored pumpkin seeds(110)dried mango(140)cup of soy milk(130)one ounce maui loa’s (230)

 

Lunch-trader joes spicy beef kung pao with rice and vegetables bowl(390)soy bbq crisps(110)cup of Arizona ice tea(100)

 

Snack-honey mustard pretzels(180)dried banana(180)cashew butter(90)soymilk(130)

 

Dinner-rice(150)two oz. avocado(90)beef and broccoli(200-250)greens(20)cup of unsweetened soymilk(70)

 

Snack-1/2 cup heavenly chocolate all-natural granola(260)3/4 cup vanilla frozen yogurt(150)blueberries(70)1 oz. coconut flakes

dude serisously my last snack was the best snack ever.tasted like heaven =]

hey everyone!

WISTFUL-hmm, thats tough, especially if youre still underweight, try asking for your own stash of food in a hidden place maybe?

ANGEL-have a blast at the party!  im the opp, im ok eating junk or wahtever food, but see alcohol as the waste, altho i deff have had lots of fun in the past! lol  so the greek frozen yogurt concoction-did you blend that all together bc how do you get the milk in?  sounds so good!

AQUA-so a flapjack is just a really high cal choc bar?

SUZY-its weird w the ensure bc i used to love them, i think maybe i used to have a diff flavor or something.  fish and chips, i never had it actually but my motherLOVES it, go for it!

MEESH-everything sounds so so good, i wish someone would just feed me bc im so alzy w making food!  im not a cook-as in "poached eggs" even!lol  and wahts maui loa?  oh, and do you ahve a scale?  how do you know 2 oz avocado?

fri-

thomas mini bagel square, 1 1/2 tbspn PB, apple ~400

whole wheat bagel and tuna salad bought from bagel place ~600

peach ~45

bana creme yogurt, tspn PB, ~2tspn trail mix, ~3tspns ice cream (from the carton) umm~ 240

small veg salad, peice of rotiserre chicken, ~1/2 sweet potato, steamed spinach+zuchinni ~350

apple, yogurt, PB on toast ~2050  i need a kick in the butt bc i should be eating more- i think, rt?  jrsrghsgjhg, frustration!!!!?

ok, yes, to recover my metabolism, my life, i need to eat more!  i need to freaking accept it, understand it-maybe, and to do it already!

Back from dinner and of course compulsively trying to log everything - but I think I'll just stop worrying about calories and chalk it all up to a DELICIOUS meal.  Ain't nothing wrong with that.

So dinner:  sweet corn spoon bread atop a bed of sauteed chard, cremini mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes

And dessert!:  about 1/3 of a buttermilk souffle cake that I shared with my sister, with some whipped cream and fresh berries

So for all who asked, tomorrow I'm leaving for Ecuador.  I'm really excited, and gibbit, you're right about food being part of the experience - especially because I love to cook and learn new recipes, I'm really excited about exploring the cuisine.  I'm also REALLY lucky to be living with a vegetarian family while I'm there.  And butterfly - my largest motivation to gain this summer actually was the fact that my parents didn't want me to go unless I put on some pounds!  But I definitely think a semester abroad is a great reward for gaining :)  I'll be sure to keep you all updated as to what an Ecuadorian weight gain diet looks like!

Wistful-Sorry to hear about the parents. I agree, talk to them/counselor/nutritionist whatever. Keep a stash somewhere? That is not helpful for you at all. You need to sit down and talk to them. Face to face. That is not acceptable to tell you that you are fine while at an unhealthy weight!

Charlie-Congrats about 2000; keep it up! You are sooo going to meet 2200. Go for it girl!

Suzyroo-I am here like all the time. Every time I post there are always like 20 new ones five minutes later! That way of thinking seems really helpful!

Angel-Yay! Amazing pancakes, I feel special! :D

Meesh-Sounds amazing! Great job!

Likear-MMMM! Sounds delicious. We will miss you! Love ya girlie!

I have got to stop this cycle. It has been happening like ever since I got to my goal weight. I get to the goal range, so I listen to my body, try and give it what I needs. I do everything I can for my body, but I evidently do not eat enough. I know I do not. I listen to myself, but I need to eat a smidgen more. Anyways, after I eat what I feel is good and healthy and in-cue, I step on the scale and show that I have dropped a couple pounds. So then I eat like crazy to get it back up then go back to listening to myself. Then everything happens again. Gain, try and listen, then loose, eat like crazy, gain....etc etc! But this cycle STOPS RIGHT NOW. I am no longer going to let this happen. I am GOING to maintain/gain(whatever my body wants to do), not loose. I am GOING to give my body what it NEEDS. No more of this. No more scale. No more, no MORE!

On a positive note, my boyfriend told me I was beautiful! Made my day and I think I am going swimming with him(and some other people but as long as I am with him) tomorrow! He is truly amazing.

Not going to post my food today. Not a good day, but tomorrow is a NEW DAY. Tomorrow I am going to forget everything about the past. Tomorrow I start new. I can do this; we can do this girls(and guys!)!!!!!!!!!!!

 

agru- I took like 4 ice cubes and crushed them first. Then mixed in yogurt, pumpkin, sweetener, 1/2 cup cereal and last 1/2 cup milk with a wire wisk (haha mix it with whatever- I dont like it in the blender because it gets too liquidy). Freezeee. This was the first time I did it with cereal but it was good haha I'm weird. I usually do ice, soy milk, greek yogurt, and some kind of fruit and it's a good smoothie. but today I had weird cravings.

anyway, no cake at the party. So I got home and knew I had to up my cals somehow, so I made some quick choc tofu pudding, had a slice of whole wheat bread, and then pumpkin w/ cereal, blueberries, cottage cheese, milk.

...Oh.. my... gawd. So I took the advice of some, and took them to a doctor (HA) to ask how much I should gain. The guy goes "when I first recieved your weight chart I was concerned, but looking at you, you look very fit and healthy! All of your blood tests have been clear as well. You just have a very small frame and judging by your genetic history you're meant to be petite. You're very defined, good job. =)"    Yeah, okay, thanks.. --; That helped. But now I feel like I'm at a loss. I'm so confused. Are my parents and doctor on crack or what? Aha..

Wistful: ... oh dear. I think you ought to keep going, particularly if you feel it's the right thing to do for your body and metabolism. BUT, I am glad to hear your bloods are good. :] When I started recovery it was harder for me as, while nuts and such weren't a problem I didn't want/couldn't bring myself to eat them, but things like dairy that I was willing to eat a higher fat version of I couldn't as my mum and sister diet, and refused to make exceptions. Now that I eat soy I can get whatever kind I like >:]

Thing is, with them on diets they whine about me eating so much and make stupid, stupid comments I don't need to hear. Especially after hearing I put on 10lbs in two weeks, which makes me feel disgusting at the idea of how fast it piled on. Even people in IP don't put on weight that fast, do they? It can't all be fat, can it? That'd make my BMR 1500, and... arrrrgh. Why won't my damn body SPEED UP already?! Why did I do this to myself in the first place?! Grr.

wow so much to read lol.....

psychoj: yeah i love feeling hungry lol cause then i feel like its ok to eat. i find it so hard to eat when im full an bloated. so uve reached ur gaol weight a few times ? well done thats awesome work :) it sounds like u jus dont exactly no ur maintance cal requirement right? mayb try havin like 250 cals less than ur gaining req. an see if u maintain? have a gr8 day swimming with the bf :)

gibbit: yeah i feel like each day i get a little hungrier yay :) yeah i luv wen my parents are happy cause im eatin more instead of them being annoyed or worried. haha i luv gelato :) how was the party u were going 2? i usually get good sleep thru the nite cause im always so tired by bed but i always no matter what wake up at 7.30 or before. its an improvement tho cause i used to wake up at 6..that was horrible cause no one else in my house gets up till waaay later excvept mum who goes to the gym at 8 every morning. i read that if u suffer from anorexia it affects sleep an once ur weight returns to normal so does sleeping patterns.....gives me somethin to look forward too lol.

aquaev:haha 1000 post , yay u lol.

agruskin: yeah these boards are giving me so much help. oatcakes are these healthy cracker type things made from oatflakes ( like oatmeal) and then one other ingredient i think it cud be water, but there super healthy an around 35-50 cals per one, there energy dense an small an give u alot of energy an fill u up. an there yummy!! i luuuvv them with p/b an nutella. oh an i have egg whites hard boiled in my sanwhich. and im the same with sleep.....darkness and silence is the only way for me lol. an dont be too hard on urslef, ur intake was good today, were u aimin for more cals than u got or something?

wistfulxthinking: so the doc said ur ok at the weight u are? but if ur really underweight im sure hes wrong?? thats odd. are u feeling a loss at not havin to gain now?do u c a nutritionist? mayb get her advice on this one if u do?

charlieuk: great work :) keep it up. do u make ur own pancakes? i love flapjacks there so good right? and easy to pack in cals. i always usued to make mine at home myself an add coconut am stuff...so good!!

suzyroo: haha yeah  i come here a good few times a day even if i dont post...jus to see how others are doing an cause im home most days not doing much i jus sit at the comp all day lol. an yeah if u feel like u want thechips an ur holiday....go for it :)!!!u derserve to have fun an not let the ed deny u any chips lol.

angeleyes137: whats a kashi bar? ive heard lots of ppl mention them? i luv pb lol. im the same with the alcohol lol like its so much easier to drin alcohol than eatlots of sweet stuff....but alcohol makes me happy lol :)

meshmesh: my midnite snack was like urs last nite too :)it was really nice.

lalabanana: mayb the 10 pounds is partly water weight? i dont think u cud have put on 10 pounds in 2 weeks....an if u did it will prob go back down in time...our metabs are jus seriously messed up from what weve done to ourselves. jus hang in there an keep being strong :)

tonite i think im going out and im gonna be drinkin . i drink vodka and diet 7u an usually it comes to around 300/400 cals. i usally jus take away snacks for the day to allow myself to drink so heres what my intake will prob be. but im gonna try have smaller snacks inbetween but il let u no how that goes...i dunno if il be able to manage it

b-cereal and milk- 300 cals

l-sandhwiich with egghite, turkey, sweetcorn and relish-300 cals

d-chicken breast an salad - 250 cals

alcohol- 300 cals

1150....ok thats not gonna work. hmm il try eat 2 more bananas with pb and nutella an that shud bump me up to around 1600. oh an last nite for a snack b4 bed i had granola an yogurt ...it was so yum. im gettin hungrier each day lol its so wierd.

jus checked my weight....the same as it was last week grr but ive been eatin more....how....?? i guess il have to add some nuts through out the day an see where that gets me. by the end of august i wanna have gianed 2 pounds cause thats wen i go back to the doc an nutritionist an i wanna have gianed at least 2 pounds.

when ppl drink alcohol here does it fit into ur cal alowance?? or how do u go about fitting it in?

xxxxx

 

aussie- kashi is a brand that makes healthy products I guess...granola bars, snacks, cereal (go lean is the most popular), frozen entrees. Look them up on google. I love their pb granola bar hehe :). And as for the alcohol, I already know how much I get drunk off (lol), so I know an estimate of how many calories. But seriously you shouldn't have a 'calorie allowance' for those days..i mean if you get hungry, don't restrict cause you drank alcohol or something. We're trying to gain weight! As for me, I usually get the beer munchies and have 3000+ when I drink :-O

i'm taking your advice guys! thanks so much...

this week's cals 3000 cals though including 500 cals to burn a day, so the net cals is 2500 not bad?

breakfast: 300 cals

-mini wheats + 2 prunes+orange juice

snack: 190 cals

-crunchie honeycombed choc bar

lunch: 400 cals

-1 mango+2 prunes+icecream

dinner: 400-500 cals

-meatballs +pasta+salad

snack: 300 cals

-mango + pistacho yogurt

still very low..any ideas for some dense cals food? i've already eaten dinner so i still have like 1500 cals!! ugh.i feel full already, what can i do now??!

Busy day today. Will post my food later.

angeleyes- Ha, we'll be at 2000 by next week! I'll beat you to that too MUHAHAHA!

agruskin- Maybe you could add in a couple of treats a day. Something you haven't had in a while, like chocolate. It'll help you get in more cals!

likear- Wow, your dinner sounds so delicious! I know you'll have fun in Ecuador. I just came back from Italy last month and experiencing all the different food was the best part!

psychoj- Good luck eating more. I know it's hard to make yourself eat more than you need. I'd day just double the serving size of everything and add handfuls of nuts here and there! Have fun swimming, your BF sounds like such a sweetie!

wistful- I agree that you should keep going. You know your body best and you know whether you still need to gain or not.