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!!

Don't stress--I overanalyze my choices too much as well, but my nutritionist encourages things like eating dessert every day, drinking 2% or full-fat milk to build strong bones, and to have balanced meals w/ carbs, protein, fruits & veggies, etc. And don't worry about gaining "fat" vs. muscle. I don't know if you're recovering from an ED like I am or if you are just a normal person looking to put on a few pounds, but either way you are probably very thin (which is why you want to gain), so you are inevitably going to gain some "fat". But that's normal! I want my womanly figure back--hips, butt, thighs, etc. If you still are worried about it, things like strength training and yoga can be helpful to build lean muscle.

Sounds like you're doing the right things. The yogurt, milkshakes, granola, etc are perfectly acceptable for weight gain and are healthy foods in general! Just don't rely on these things TOO much. I find it helpful to have family meals for dinner (not sure what your situation is) so I can get used to social eating and "normal" eating routines.

Best of luck!

OK. I am going to try to answer your questions as best I can.

1. You are right, 2200 is too low. The calculator on CC is not formulated for someone recovering from and ED. What you are eating is perfectly fine. A good weight gain goal is 1-3 pounds per week.

2. Having a milkshake before bed is perfectly fine. if you enjoy it, and it helps you get your calories in, all the better. Before I could start eating more solid foods (digestive issues) I was making 800-calorie milkshakes twice a day and occasionally having one before bed as well.

3. Your snack is incredibly healthy, full of good fats, protein and carbohydates. I had the same exact thing for a snack this morning in fact.

4. Not really a question, but that IS an excellent meal.

5. The fullness takes time to get adjusted to. Your body is used to being starved so your stomach has shrunken. It takes more time than one would think for it to adjust - certainly more than three days. Try to get a good amount of space between meals, and don't eat too quickly or too slowly. Also, you may want to try some liquid calories. A cup of grape juice or whole milk will save you 130-150 calories worth of volume from solid food.

6. Right now, you must not exercise. I know its hard. But the majority of the weight you gain AT FIRST will feel like its going to your tummy most likely. It is important to realize the weight DOES redistribute.  Most of the weight/calories will be going to rebuilding your organs and muscle tissues. When you get to a healthy BMI, then you can start thinking about toning up. As a note - when I gained my first thirty pounds, I felt horrid. Since then though, I have noticed a huge change in my appearance with no change in diet and minimal change in activity level - and I'm still gaining weight. Yet, I feel like I look even better now.

7. The only musts are plenty of fats, carbs and proteins - which it seems like you are getting. Reccomendations: Avoid non-fat and other "diet" foods - they perpetuate the ED-thinking. And they make it harder to get the calories in.

8. On the amount of calories you are eating, its going to be hard to not have the silly nutrition calculator not tell you that you get too much of at least something. If whole milk gets your calories in, go for it. The saturated fats are great for restoring brain function and cellular integrity, and its a good source of protein. Do make sure its not your only source of fat though - you need unsaturated fats as well.

9. Milk chocolate is perfectly fine to have every day if thats what you like. I prefer dark chocolate myself, but to each their own. Part of refeeding is learning to enjoy food again, and how to eat without restricting yourself. Have your chocolate. Its good for your soul. The majority of your meals are well-rounded and give you plenty of other nutrients, you don't need to worry about if having the milk chocolate was OK. It is.

10. At this point, its safe to say there is no going over board and the only way you could ruin your health and body is if you don't recover.

To me, it sounds like you are doing a fantastic job. I hope that my vote of confidence  is at least a teeny bit reassuring to you.

Hi!! Thanks for all the great replies, they really did help :)

What I'm worried about at the moment is that I might be going too fast. Im eating an average of 4500 calories a day (I try to stick to 2500-3000 but I just find that hard now!). I fear that might be too many. I know different people have different calorie needs, but I already feel huge!

I know my legs have gotten bigger (don't even get me started on my belly!), so how do I know? Oh, I don't want to go back to restricting, some encouragement please?!

Hey hun,

I know how you feel. Even now, after refeeding for a solid 2 months, I feel like I am "binging" sometimes, and my tummy feels large. HOWEVER, please please please keep feeding your body. As hard as it can be sometimes, this really is what your body (and mind!) needs to nourish and replenish itself. Don't restrict again. I have slipped into that recently at random times, and it only leads to trouble. Your body will eventually level off to a weight that is healthy. Chances are, you probably weren't "big" before your disorder, and I assure you, you won't be big after it either. 

Recovery is hard, but it will be the best thing for us. If you ever need support, don't hesitate to ask! I'm not an expert, but I am going through this as well so I can at least share my experiences with you

Hi there.  I am trying to gain weight also... good weight... which to me means building more muscle mass and trying to keep the body fat percentage at a reasonable level.

What are your goals and current stats?  What is your: weight, height, age, gender, level of activity?

You need to determine your BMR (Basal Metobolic Rate) adjusted for your level of weekly activity.  This will tell you approximately how many calories to take in on a daily basis to maintain your current weight.  To gain weight, then add about 400-600 calories per day to your BMR total, while keeping your level of activity about the same.

Additionally, and this depends on your goals, excercise is important to gaining 'good' weight and not all fat weight, which I feel is undesireable, at least to me.

Nutrition is, naturally, also very important and getting your calories in a ratio that looks something like 45-50% from Carbs, 30-35% from Proteins and about 20% from fats (minimizing the Saturated fats and keeping the Trans fats down to 0 if possible).

I think that a healthy weight gain rate is about 1-2 pounds per week.  Good luck with your "GOOD WEIGHT" gain!