I cant gain ...why is it so hard :'(*cries*

Hey yall, how is everybody doing? much better than me i hope!

I need some advice lately my weight just goes from 49 to 50/51kg up and down like a merry-go-round! i havent been weighing myself every day or week ive actually waited like more than a week even just incase it would be water weight if i had gained anything! my bmi is still at 16 - 17 uuugh i mean its been how many weeks since i been trying to gain but i just cant! ...its crazy im eating more hardly exercising and when i do i make sure i eat my calories i lost and i feel sooooo sick after eating like 1700/1900 cals and im suppose to be eating 2500 so i have to force myself to get up to this much :(

what sucks the most is that im eating my old time loved foods (pretty much anything sugary, traditional turkish foods, restaurant foods, etc.) but im feeling sick at the same time cos my body hasnt had them in ages and it is just craving healthy foods esp fruits omg and my apple addiction!! so then i try doing it healthy u know the 80% healthy 20% fun food well thats even worse cos i dont get enough calories in so i binge on junk food then feel like im gonna die due to my stomach pains but i know that i could have prevented it with an apple in the first place cos thats what i would have wanted but since its so low in calories i know its not possible to consume so many apples and still be able to achieve the same calories from apples compared to 1 cinnamon bun or whatever....i just wanna be healthy again.

gosh never knew weight gain could be soooo hard! btw here are my details:

18 yo F 5'7 almost 5'8ish 50kg(maybe a bit more or less) BMI: 16 - 17 

maybe im eating the wrong amount of calories? i dont even know my maintenance calories all i know is that i was consuming 1000 to 1400/1500 daily before and losing rapidly as for my activity i went extreme overboard cardio like 90 mins a day and on top of that 1 hour straight dancing (even more cardio) but now i still do move around quiet alot during the day e.g school.. but now we've got school break so im at home for 2 weeks and im not so active.   

First off, you do not need “ junk food” to get enough calories…

A calorie is a calorie no matter where it comes from, and fat has the highest amount of calories per gram and you do not need junk food to get fats - a table spoon of olive oil, peanut butter, nuts, avocado, is the most dense way to get a calorie - fat is higher in calories then any other food substance, so pure fats like oil and peanut butter will give you MORE calories then the same amount of chips, chocolate cake, or “ junk food”

50 grams of olive oil will give you WAY more calories then 50 grams of cake.

So, be clear with this; pure fat is olive oil, peanut butter, and etc and one table spoon of fat has more calories then ANY other food, even “ junk food”

Fitting all that food in can be easier if you eat smarter.

Breakfast

Two slices of whole meal toast = 188 calories

¼ cup of shredded cheese = 120

¼ cup of mashed avocado = 92 calories

200g pot of full fat fruit flavored yoghurt = 174 calories

That is already 574 calories, and two pieces of toast with a little cheese and avocado and a small tub of yogurt IS NOT hard to fit in!

Add some fruit to the breakfast and some tomato, olives, or smoked salmon ( another great source of fats!) on top of your toast and you can EASILY increase your calories even more!

Or for a sweet option

1/3 cup raw oats = 113 calories

¾ cup full fat milk =126 calories

¼ cup almonds = 206 calories

1 tablespoon honey = 82 calories

2 tablespoons sultanas = 96 calories

That comes to 622 calories and you can EASILY add more, adding a full cup of milk or adding another tablespoon of honey will not increase the SIZE of the meal yet add in valuable calories

Lunch

Add just two tablespoons of olive oil to a salad and it adds about 320 calories.

Adding in 150 grams of chicken breast is another 248 calories

Adding a third of a cup of brown rice is 69 calories

TOTAL CALORIES = 635

Add plenty of raw lettuce leaves, tomato’s, and other salad vegetables and squeeze some lemon over it and add some balsamic vine gar and you have a tasty, calorie packed lunch that is not too bulky or large in volume - 1/3 cup of rice is not that much to fit in, and you can just decrease the rice to ¼ cup if it is too filling at first and add extra olive oil and etc.

 When you find it hard to fit a meal in, increase the fat and decrease the carbohydrates, for example, if you struggle to get through breakfast cereal or a piece of chicken, then leave the few bites you cannot finish and add an extra tablespoon of olive oil, or extra full fat milk or yoghurt to your breakfast and leave some cereal.

You CAN fit the calories in, you just have to think about how to do it.

Sweetie, I am your height (albeit maybe an inch taller)I am nearly entirely sedentary, except for the one twenty to thirty mintute walk I can take every other day and I've had to work up to 3600+. As of my last weigh in - maintaining @ a BMI of 15ish. If I haven't gained a full pound by mid-week, shooting up to 4,000. If I can do that, you can get your calories up too. Trust me - eight months ago I was on my death bed and no one expected me to see my twentieth birthday. It was not  easy, and it took me a long time to get to where I am now. But anything is possible. If I can do this after 6 to 10 years of ED, you can too. And its important to take care of it now before you do any more damage.

You need to make that 2500, at least. And if you are exercising and doing dance - you are going to need A LOT more.

I've posted some of my menus on here, and I also have a blog - might help you see what you need to be eating.

What I eat a lot of to get my calories in: part-skim or full fat dairy, nuts, trail mixes, dried fruits, bananas, peanut butter, avocado, olive oil, seeds, hummus, starchy vegetables, high-calorie granolas/cereals, raw foods bars, and dark chocolate. Of course there are other things - but these particular foods are what help me the most in reaching my calorie goals everyday.

When you refeed you are going to have stomach problems and feel bloated and full. It does get easier but you have to push through this mental and physical barrier so that you can get healthy. It is like medicine. Try to focus on eating every few hours and what my nutritionist has me doing is increasing every 2 days around 200 calories till you get to a high cal meal plan. You have been given a lot of good idea.

You can do things like add granola to cereal

Make oatmeal with milk and add nuts

Switch to dense breads and bagel

Small changes can add up at the end of the day

right now i need to gain too but food is so boring, just force your self and try and hit 2500.

I am 6'5" and 155lbs. I have worked myself up to around 4500 calories a day, and get exercise with the construction work I do, and not much else because I'm too scared of burning off all those calories. In theory I should have reached my goal of 210lbs a long time ago, but it doesn't seem to be happening for me. I think it's time to talk to a nutritionist, maybe it could help you too.

The mere fact of consuming calories. and lots of them. means doodley squat when trying to gain. You can go up to 10.000 cals a day and still not gain an ounce. There are positive and negative calories....to begin with. In order to gain, besides the calories (calories seem to be energy, nothing much more), what about the amount of fat, carbs and protien?  If the numbers aren't right with those three ingredients, then the cals mean nothing. I can literally eat 4500 cals in one sitting if they are empty cals , i.e. just cals and no protien, carbs or fats.  I will try to show you what I mean via using the person whom stands 6'5" and weighs 155 lbs. altho I may not be accurate as I have no clue as to his age...so I will use generalized ideals:

The avg man needs at least 2500 cals per day to grow provided the carbs, fats, protiens are included into those calories. If he's 155 lbs and wants to weigh 210 lbs, besides that 4500 cals intake , he will need to consume at least the numeric amount of protien that he wishes to weigh e.g. he wants 210 lbs, his protien intake should be 210g per day.  But due to his height and his activity level of doing construction work, the numbers would be different. To him I'd recommend  the 4500 cals, 306g protien, 394g carbs and 130g  fats. This particular intake will help him grow but mostly lean muscle mass. Then every two weeks that he sees no gain, then up the cals by 200 and the others up by 10.

Nothing happens fast when trying to gain and the goals should be very realistic. Two pounds per week is realistic.

Unfortunately, people who run back and forth to the scale on a weekly basis can end up very discouraged.  When you start eating more or even eating better, it takes at least 3 weeks for your body to adapt to the changes. After a month of changed eating habits, then go to the scale every 2 weeks.

I recommend that whatever your daily cal intake is supposed to be, instead of stuffing yourself trying to gain, eat 6 meals per day evenly spaced out 3 hours. That way you are constantly fueled and by the end of 3 hours when your digestion has ran it's course, you get loaded again.

Finally, some people find it very hard to eat alot of food. So it isn't out of line to , say, make 2-3 of the 6 meals from a supplement drink. The best out there is myoplex because unlike other supplement drinks, myoplex is literally a meal and not just a "supplement" to your daily intake.  2nd best that I know of is cyto lean mass gainer.

To the tall man trying to gain, google a person named "El Maynard". He is like you, very tall and weighed alot less @ 138 lbs. He follwed "Anthony Ellis" workout program and inside of 2 years changed to a god-like figure of lean muscle mass and 7-8% body fat.

Plenty of rest is essential to growth. Believe it or not, you do your best growing while asleep and or resting.

Technically, ALL FOOD has either protein/carbohydrate/fat in it. ALL food HAS to be made up of one or more of those chemicals. They are what food is MADE OF. Without any protein fat or carbs food cannot exist…

I think you mean “ empty calories”, the kind of food, such as chocolate cake or crisps or a doughnut that do not provide you with adequate nutrition.

You are right that the ratio of protein carbs and fats can help or hinder your progress/ weight gain.

I dont really count up how many grams of protein, fats or carbs etc I eat in the day.

That was interesting reading. My therapist is pushing me to add in supplement drinks like fortisip, ensure etc ontop of what Im intaking.  Ive started at night to make milk with horlicks instead, but Im a bit reluctant because those drinks just seem to be made up of a lot of sugar?

I thought maybe I could take a protein shake instead, would this be a better alternative do you think? Or maybe making my own by using protein powder and milk? I have a protein shake from Body for Life, it says its a meal replacement shake, approx 200 Cals. You also mentioned replacing some snacks/meals with a drink. Would it be suitable to drink this ontop of my six meals/snacks a day?  Also if I did this say twice in the day, could I end up taking in to much protein would that be possible?