Finding Weight Gain hard!!

Hi, I am new to the site and am pleased to find fellow Weight Gainers.

I am 32 and have always been petite. Since having my second baby seven months ago weight just keeps dropping off me. I am currently 6st 12 and desperately want to get back to 81/2 st!

I am finding it really hard to eat all of the calories I need to. Being a busy mum I am a bugga sod for forgetting snacks or missing meals! 

I need motivation and advice and will offer the same if I can! I am using Wii fit Yoga and Muscle Workouts to get fitter so trying to stay in shape. I also walk a dog once a day for about a mile and a half so I robably burn half o f my calories there!!

I look forward to having some help and maybe gain some weight ;) x Kerry x

A mile and a half walk isn't much and doesn't have to be much. On days I have to walk to college, it's a 2.3 mile walk. So I just talk it slowly. And okay, I understand that with a dog that's easier said than done - so what you need to do is be taking a snack with you on your walk with the dog. Or, a bottle of caloric fluid, like milk, or 100% juice. Still, it's very easy to pack a sandwich, or a dense granola bar, or a bag of nuts and fruit to carry with you.

In the same vein, these sorts of portable, but high calorie snacks are ideal things to carry with you all the time. I understand you're a busy mum but if you really want to gain weight you have to put 110% in and that means planning, and no skipping of meals. Carry emergency rations if you have to; make sure you always have something to fall back on you can eat if you miss a meal that is low density, high calorie. Again, nuts, granola bars, dried fruit, sandwiches, whole fat cheese... two things I took to carrying were dried mango or bags of walnuts. Before I got laid off, these'd be ideal for long shifts, to just pop in the back room and eat a few at a time when I'd get the chance (and it wasn't unsanitary).

As for your muscle/yoga - that's okay, but remember if your weight is very low you should make sure your doctor is okay with this. I would also ask for a check into your thyroid and blood tests in general. I would reason, really, the most likely answer is that if you are indeed such a busy mum, you just haven't been eating as much as you thought and have lost weight as a consequence. But you might well have something like postpartum thyroiditis, which is a lot more serious. However, this is just speculation on my part and again something you should simply go to your doctor about.

Calorie wise, CC now has a brand new weight gainers tool for those who want to gain weight and have no existing complications that might mean they need a higher caloric amount (eg restriction to a starvation level, anorexia or bulimia nervosa, or an absorption/digestion problem to name a few). As it seems you've simply lost weight unintentionally I would do two things:

 a) Calculate how many calories you eat in a day. If it comes out below 1200, bump your calories up to 2500 in bursts of about 500 every one or two days. Why? This is because your metabolism will well likely need a kick to get back to functioning levels as well as to help you gain weight; sub 1200 is a starvation diet for a healthy adult woman. If your intake isn't below 1200, take a look at b.

 b) If your intake is actually quite a healthy amount, add 500 to it. 500 extra calories a day should equate to one pound gain a week. If you'd like to gain a little quicker, try 1000 extra a day.

If you find that you're not gaining, or not gaining fast enough generally, bump your calories up until you see a steady rate of gain. Also be aware that in the first two weeks of beginning on a weight gain diet you should expect to see initial, rapid water gain. This is because, true to name, you're holding water. An increase of carbohydrate, sodium, and food in general all cause water stores to increase. After two weeks, this goes away. So I would either monitor your weight status two weeks after your first increases, or weigh just once a week and follow your weight gain trend, not your actual numbers.

Lastly, as just said, don't weigh in more than once a week and when you weigh, do it under the same conditions on the same day, at the same time where possible. Else, it'll likely not be very accurate.

I am currently updating our weight gain sticky, but when it is done, I will also link that to you. Good luck!

I would encourage you to sit down and pre plan your meals and snacks. This needs to be a priority if you are underweight. Your child needs a strong and healthy mind so part of helping you is helping your child to have a healthy mom and a good role model. If you can sit down and see where you have times of struggle it can make it easier to change the behaviors. Then maybe a day on the weekend you can pre cook meals and freeze,do grocery shopping,have quick meals/snacks on hand.