Weight Gain and Cardio

Can you gain weight and stick with cardio daily?

I lift weights every day and do cardio and I have been stuck for three months while trying to put 20 lbs back on after losing 154.

HELP

It is possible, but you will have to to do two things: Figure out how many calories you need to gain WITHOUT the cardio. From there - keep track of how many calories you burn and eat every single one back. So, if you do 30 minutes on the elliptical and burn 300 calories - go home and reward your efforts with an extra snack.

That being said - if you are at a BMI under 16-17, you should NOT be exercising at all. Being that much underweight and doing a lot of exercise will only cause your body to eat away at your muscle tissues instead of burning calories.

Hey Rebel, do you think it may be better to wait until a BMI of 18 is reached (in the case of people recovering from eating disorders) - due to the fact that the body has been inflicted with additional/unnatural strain and trauma? I'm asking you what you think about this, not telling you that this is "better" (sorry I'm trying to word this as "nicely" as I can because it's not intended at all to be patronising or offensive and I really don't want it to come across as such!) I'm just genuinely curious about your thoughts on this, as I feel that us ED recovering folk may need extra repair time, if you catch my meaning. And granted you are someone such as myself with much 'experience' *ahem* in this field I would be interested to get your input. Cheers :)

In my opinion - if you have a doctor's approval, meaning that you have been checked out and cleared for any underlying health problems that may be worsened by exercising (like EKG abnormalities, poor liver function, etc) - its perfectly OK to start a LIGHT exercise regimen if you are slightly under a BMI of 18.

I'm not a professional though, it just happens to be my opinion. I do have a history of being an exercise addict (actually, my PT and doctors have said that my obsessive exericing habits , while  a large part of what destroyed me,is also what actually saved me from dying. I had a good amount of muscle mass and its what kept my heart from failing) so my perspective may be slightly different due to my love of it. I do think it does help mentally in a lot of ways, and doing some light strength training does help to rebuild your bones.