really confused...

hey, i'm new here :)

my name is rachel. i'm 17 years old, 5 feet tall, and 79 pounds. i made an account on here, but i'm a bit confused at the advice they gave me. they said that i should be eating 1300 calories a day in order to gain weight??? i eat more than that already...and i'm not gaining. i definitely think i need to be eating more than that. is it typical to gain on something as low as 1300?

I think something got messed up in the tools - I believe most gainers eat at least 2500 cal to gain.

The calculators on this site don't really work for people trying to gain weight.

The recommended lowest calorie intake for a femalw gainer are 2500 here.

Good luck x

like emma said they dont work for gainers . what are you eating at present ?  to gain weight you should be eating a minimal of 2500 probably more as you are very young . i would suggest you increase your intake 200 every few days until you reach 2500 at least i say slowly as it may be easier for you to mentally deal with and give your body time to adjust h x

thanks for the advice!

well, i'm in recovery from anorexia, and although 79 is obviously not ideal, it's up from my low of 53. i was in treatment for 4 months, and i had been doing somewhat well...maintaining at 88 pounds (my target was 92). i've slowly been losing, although i'm doing worlds better than i was BEFORE treatment (eating about 1600 calories a day), i know it isn't enough.

i've already gotten some awesome ideas from the threads on here though...and i'm going to try to work up to 2500 within the next few days. :)

Hi rchklove, happy to hear you're gaining and moving toward a healthy weight. Great job!

I've checked your burn meter (maintenance level) for your stats: if sedentary - 1280, at light activity you burn - 1460 cal, moderate activity - 1650 and very active - 1840. So if you want to gain weight you have to eat more than you burn depending on how much you exercise. You gain 1lb for each 3500 cal you eat more than you burn. So if you eat 500 cal/day more than you burn you should gain 1lb a week. But if you eat 1600 cal at the moment and losing you're probably very active. I think you should increase the calories gradually  to 2300-2500 over a period of weeks not days so it won't be as overwhelming. Try increasing about 200 cal/week and monitor your weight or measurements to find out how you're doing and adjust accordingly. Remember that as your weight increases, your maintenance level will increase too. At 92lbs your very active maintenance level is 1940. The key is balance and consitency. You'll get there! 

Read this and feel free to check back in with the Weight Gain forum once you get above 2500 cals a day.

THE AIM IS TO GAIN: A Guide to Weight Gain, Whatever Your Reason - UPDATED

Glad to have you over here in Health & Support. As those who are actively gaining have pointed out, the tools are not really designed for that process.

As you are at 1600 at the moment, you can likely move very quickly up to 2500. It is better to do it slowly when you begin from a dangerously low calorie intake, but you have already moved up to a reasonable-but-too-low-to-really-gain level so your body should acclimatize well. However, as tessa1223 has pointed out, it may be more important to go slowly for the mind than the body so a 200 calorie increase every two days might be more psychologically comfortable. It's up to you.

Best of luck and keep us posted on the progress -- you will find lots of fabulous support from the folks that have already posted in response to your initial question -- so don't hesitate to ask more.