Healthy weight gain rate?

Hello!

Um, making my story very short and simple, I'm trying to put on some weight. I've decided to go about this the healthy way, and this is officially day #3 of my weight-gain. I do have some questions though!

1. What is a healthy weight-gain rate? Most calculators I have looked at on the internet say I should be eating around 2200 calories a week to gain weight, but for the past 3 days I've been having about 4000-5000. I think 2200 is too low and 4000-5000 is too high, what are your opinions? How much should I gain per week?

2. Every day  before bed I'm having a milkshake of full fat milk, some chocolate supplement to gain weight, baby cereal and granola, totaling about 800 calories. Is this too much?

3. My snacks are usually around 500-800 calories, eg. Today i've had a greek yoghurt with honney, granola with bannana and raisins and some almonds. Is this even healthy?

4. At meal times I try to have nicely balanced meals; a good source of protein, good fats and carbs, like salmon with brown rice and veggies, and a few pieces of toast with olive oil, followed by some cheese with honney for dessert.

5. even though I try to have calorie-dense foods, I am full aaallll the time, any suggestions?

6. What must I do to prevent all these excess calories from storing up as fat? The whole point of this is to have a healthy BMI with a nice body. NICE body, not jiggly one!

7. Is there anything i must have/must avoid?

8. Im having a lot of milk for the calcium in my bones, but is too much full-fat milk unhealthy?

9. Is a little bit of milk chocolate every day unhealthy too?

10. I just don't want to go overboard and ruin my health and body.

Chrissy1988, are you there?!? Any tips!?

thank you, thank you thank you everyone!!

PS. I don't know if this is the appropriate forum, or whether this should be in the weight gain forum??

To answer your questions

1.  A healthy gain rate would be anything up to 2lbs a week.... Could be higher initially depending on how bad your previous diet was.   Start with 2500 cals and if you don't gain at that level, add 500 at a time until you're getting steady gains

2.  A high-cal late snack is a good thing to include

3.  When you're gaining the 'healthiest' foods are the ones that are giving you plenty of energy.  Your list looks absolutely fine.

4. Your meals sound fine too

5.  If you've been persistently undereating any extra food will make you feel full initially.  But you'll get used to bigger portions as you carry on.  Another reason to start with 2500 and work up rather than plunge in with very high calories

6. You will gain some fat ... no getting away from that.  However, to convert some of this extra energy to muscle some light strengthening/resistance exercises will help.  Light weights, for example.  Nothing too vigorous, obviously.

7.  Avoid filling up on too many low-cal foods like vegetables.  Avoid 'diet foods' for similar reasons.  Avoid the thinking that certain foods are 'junk'

8.  Full-fat dairy products are the perfect choice for a weight-gainer.  A high fat diet only becomes a health-issue when in conjunction with other risk-factors e.g. obesity, smoking, inactivity, heavy drinking.

9. (See '7'... Avoid thinking that certain foods are 'junk').....  Chocolate is great choice for a gainer as it provides lots of energy and is perfectly acceptable as part of a balanced, healthy diet.

10.. Remaining underweight through chronic malnutrition can ruin your health and your body much faster than you can possibly imagine..... You're doing the right thing.

Great advice from GI Jane, there.

I too am trying to gain weight and it's an uphill battle.  It seems that gaining weight is harder than losing - well, it was in my case anyway.

All of what Jane said corresponds with an information leaflet I obtained from my doctor when I went to see her (was dragged there by my very worried mother!) about my low weight. 

Pearsnapples, you are doing exactly the right thing and remember - it will be a gradual process, so stick with it.

I wish I knew your secret though - I can't bear the thought of putting a pound on, even though deep down I realise that for health reasons I have got to.

Thank you guys so so much, really, thank you.

Gi Jane, as always awsome advice, I feel healthier already!

Waycat, i'll keep you posted if you'd like, but this is also an uphill battle for me. My stomach is so tiny right now I feel physical pain from all the food, it's killing me!

I do realise for health reasons I need to put on weight, even though I like to consider myself to be this thin. But if we don't put the weight on now, it will catch up with us in the future, and that's not good.

I should have listened to Gi Jane's advice on gaining weight sooner though. Oh well, better late than never.

So far today I've consumed around 3700 calories (ups, I know, a tad too much! But who knew granola had so many calories?! lol). Im looking forward to a 600 or 700 calorie dinner, and tomorow I'll start with 2500-3000 calories a day, and see how it goes on from there.

The scale this morning read a gain of 6 pounds! But I guess most of that is water weight and actua food in my gut, so there.

Thanks again for the advice, I hope this works:)

By the way, does any one have any idea when the weight will actually be noticeable??

By the way, does any one have any idea when the weight will actually be noticeable??

As for this question...I'm not an expert, but I always notice when I gain/lose 10lbs. In my experience, it seems to me that with a gain of 10lbs you may notice going up a pant size. Hope this give you a bit of an idea!

Take care

Pearsnapples, how on earth did you manage to consume 3700 calories in one day?!  You are doing really well, and I must admit to being quite envious.

Here's me feeling guilty and hating myself if I snack on an apple, and there's you eating a Granola bar and hardly batting an eyelid. 

A gain of 6 pounds - great stuff!  How long has it taken you to gain that weight?  I've been trying to gain since before Christmas, and have managed 2 pounds but I keep slipping back and am finding it terribly hard to hang onto those 2 small pounds.

1.  Most doctors would recommend 2-4 pounds per week.  The number calories you need to consume to gain weight greatly varies from person to person.  2500 is usually considered the bare minimum.  I needed 4750 calories to gain weight at a slow pace, and I'm pretty short/petite.  

2.  No, that's not too much.  The milkshake, etc sounds great!  it's a great way to get in your calories, and milkshakes are NORMAL.  

3.  that snack sounds very healthy.  Why are you so worried about being healthy?  It's okay to indulge, and not worry about every single bite.

4.  You meal sounds nice and balanced.  Props for the omega 3s.

5.  Try not to drink a lot of fluid around meal times, as they fill you up.  Eat slower.  Eat lots of small meals, instead of just a few big meals.  And finally, it's just going ot be uncomfortable in teh beginning of gaining.  But you have to persevere and get through it.  It will get easier.  

6.  ditto what gi-jane said.  Light, gentle weights maybe 3-4 times a week, some stretching.  Maybe take up yoga?

7.  Make sure you get enough calcium (being underweight often weakens bones and leads to osteopenia or osteoporosis).  Eat lots of fats.  Don't limit your food selection.  

8.  No, it's fine.  

9.  Of course not! Take the time to indulge, you deserve it.