How to gain weight?

What are you meant to eat if you want to gain weight or at least stop losing?

I keep losing weight and I don't know why. I'm seeing a doctor for some stuff and due to see another specialist soon to rule out lymphoma. Anyways, I look sickly and thin. My weight is pretty low and i about freaked when the scale wouldn't even read my body fat % the other day.

Right now for breakfast I have toast with margarine and spread some full fat yoghurt on it. I'd do honey or jam but I hate sugary stuff.

For lunch I always have a salad and have things like lettuce, celery, carrot, olives, mushrooms, borlotti or chickpeas and a whole hard boiled egg or some chicken + some nuts (cashews and peanuts). I've been putting spreads on the veggies to increase in amount of calories - salmon flavoured cream cheese and ricotta.

I don't usually eat dinner though. If i do either crumbed fish or chicken, I hate red meat except for mince with some vegetables. I never feel hungry at night so not sure what to do there. I see my dr tomorrow so will mention that.

I've been snacking on veggie sticks with cream cheese dips, just this weekend gone  mum got me some gaucamole to have and nut n bolts (mix of nutri-grain cereal, mixed nuts and paprika + mustard powder). Recently switched from using low fat milk to full fat milk in my coffees (I have 5-6 cups a day). What else would you guys recommend. I don't go for sweet things (like cookies, cake, lollies etc) much since I don't really like them.. I like nuts though and have peanuts and cashews getting sick of them though, I was thinking macadamia nuts? Anything else?

... .... ...Really? .....It sounds like you're losing weight because you're not eating properly. Instead of going to the doctor for lymphoma, how about first telling him what you eat in a day. Have you ever logged your calories before?

If you're concerned, try /not/ having a salad for lunch, and go for a thick chili, sandwich, slice of whole wheat pizza, pasta, bagel with cream cheese, whatever. Add olive oil to everything you eat. Snack on granola.

Here's a big one: Eat dinner? What's more important to you? Feeling a bit too full or your health?

Have you tried "stimulating" your appetite? Have a couple of bites of something, perhaps you'll become hungry. When I go without food too long, I stop feeling hungry.

I'm being checked out for that based on a number of blood tests (I've been seeing my specialist dr weekly for 1 1/2 months now for other health problems). Falling platelets, wbc count, fevers, losing my appetite and she found an enlarged lymp nodes. So she hasn't made the decision lightly to refer me to the haematologist/oncologist. She knows what I eat.

I sometimes miss dinner because I am not hungry and too tired. So want to eat more during the day instead.

As for salads, i dunno how many calories is in them , with the dips/spreads I put on them + protein sources (chicken or egg) + nuts I guess around 300 calories. Plus I've never liked eating the same things for breakfast and lunch so say if I have toast for I dont want it for lunch too. I like the idea of pasta though, that's different/ Um can you put cream on pasta or what kind of creamy sauces can you get?

You can put creamy sauces on pasta like carbonara, or you could use pesto which is oil based so has lots of calories in, and also put cheese on top..

If you have no appetite, you need to find ways of packing in LOTS of calories at the times when you DO feel you can eat.

If you are getting a bit bored of nuts you could swap them for nut butters for a bit of variation. 

Have you looked at the high cal food list? I'm sure there's lots of ideas on there that you could fill your meals with :)

Missing dinner really doesn't sound like a good idea though. If you're too tired, could you ask someone else to prepare a meal for you (such as your mum)? Something small with dense calories might be better if you have no appetite and are too tired to eat.

I hope you find out what's wrong soon and get better xxx

Cool I'll give that a go - have pasta at lunch time and putcarbonara sauce in the pasta, probably with some kind of chopped up meat.

That's also what I've been trying to do is eat heaps of cals early in the day when I feel hungry that way if/when i don't feel like much at night I've made up for it during the day. I've not heard of nut butters, I still don't mind nuts, I love them actually especially macadamia nuts, I have been getting sick of the brazil and cashew nuts though. I did eat dinner tonight, battered (?) fish and mashed potatoe with butter and milk which my Mum prepared for me earlier than usual dinner time. I hate that I dont feel hungry when I should be at dinner time though as even when I'm eating, it's like none of the nutrient sticks to me anyways so not eating heaps obviously makes it worse (weight).

Haven't seen the high cal food list but I'll be sure to check it out to get some good and different ideas of what I can eat. I was going through the topic of what some you guys eat togain weight I think titled weight gainers what did you eat.

Anyways, I see my specialist tomorrow and going to get mum to ask about an appetite stimulant . I would but too scared to ask. Thanks heaps though, you've given me some good suggestions!