How do you gain weight?

[serryjw]

While petitioning for 4 years I met this gal whom is now 25. She is 5'7" and 97 lbs. She claims she eats continuously but can't gain weight. I have no reason to think she is 'purging' because she says not and she looks healthy. Here hair, skin and nails are all in great condition. She is on methadone since stoping heroin 9 years ago. Methadone may add weight not take weight off. She is truly a sweet gal and I'm worried about her. She said that many years ago she went to doctors that have no clue why she can't gain weight.

[timber84]

1. Simple:

I eat too many Ho-Ho's

[Extend a Hand]

8. chocolate poptarts

work real well for me. :(

[Dolomite]

35. toasted and then smothered in chunky honey roast peanut butter,

finally sprinkled with a good pinch of Folgers instant coffee.


No fucking around here.

[debbierlus]

14. Give it a few years.....

I had a super-metabolism in my twenties.

I don't have that particular 'problem' anymore.

Let her enjoy it while it lasts. If she is eating healthy and not bulemic, this isn't a problem.

[bleedingheart]

2. sit on your ass and consume calories...especially carbs

[warrens]

3. Methadone suppresses appetite

She probably doesn't eat as much as she thinks she does. Like overweight people eat more than they think they do.

There's also the possibility that's the right weight for her. But people I know who are underweight tend to be under a lot of stress. You want to lose weight, go on the high-stress diet.

[katty]

23. yes, stress is the fastest pound shedder,air popcorn,black coffee

[WI_DEM]

4. metabolism plays a part as does family history

More people in this country today are overweight than ever before and is it any surprise? kid have video games to sit and watch for hours rather than getting outside and exercising. Some adults sit in front of a computer all day.

[Drewskie]

5. I used to have a similar problem

and did'nt hit 200 til I was like 30... I'm very tall, as well, like 6'5". I simply had to grow with age...

[Squatch]

6. Wear a backpack full of books.

:shrug:

[_testify_]

7. maybe she has an intestinal parasite

They rob all the nutrients from the food, so you can eat and eat, but your body never benefits...

[f-bush]

9. God, I wish I had her problem!

[Warpy]

10. Pregnancy and childbirth will do it every time

and if that doesn't, just wait until she hits her late 40s.

Blimp city.

Congratulations to her on getting of the smack merry go round!

[Dora]

11. Pregnancy is a great weight-gainer.

It worked for me.

Seriously, do you see her eat? How often? How do you know for certain that her weight is 97 lbs?

[harpo]

12. a pint of ice cream a day will do the job...and quit exercising

[ima_sinnic]

13. I used to have that "problem" due to high metabolism

-- but that all changed as I approached 50. Now I have excess poundage in my belly region that is persistent.

[medeak]

15. what my patients are told

(emphysemics that have no urge to eat)

peanut butter is the best for putting on weight...and milkshakes.

[Horse with no Name]

16. If she binges and purges

Her teeth enamel will give it away.
People are different.
Just as some people are unhealthily overweight for no apparent reason, there are some individuals that are unhealthily underweight.
It is AS difficult for both classes of individuals to obtain and maintain a healthy weight.
Most likely, her metabolism is VERY high.
One thing I would suggest is that she drinks shakes between every meal and before bedtime (I did a study while doing home health for nutrition of my patients, and Ensure is pretty expensive, but Slim Fast has the equal nutrients as Ensure and is usually much cheaper and tastes better and usually offers a wider variety of flavors).

[pitohui]

17. sometimes you can't

if she's under a doctor's care i'm at my wit's end for legal remedies, for many years i was involved w. a man who had this problem and again not caused by binge/purging, he simply could not gain, they tried legal prescription medications but it was no use, in his case, appetite was not the problem, he simply didn't process food very well, his younger brother was even more severely affected, 110 pounds at six feet four and had lost a lung to pneumonia by age 17

she needs to follow doctor's advice but if there is nothing you can do, it doesn't help to stress abt it

some people have had success w. pot brownies but a former substance abuser has to put the need to stay away from drug contacts above the need to gain weight, i think, so i would never suggest this to your friend

love her for what she is and be supportive w.out fretting

the supplements suggested by the other post sometimes work but in many cases i've known they didn't, supplements, weight-lifting, hell that was the first thing my friend and his brother thought of, and i've also known cancer patients to be unable to gain despite plenty of ensure

worth a try if she hasn't tried it already tho

[amitten]

18. I don't gain easily, but ice cream is a sure-fire way to gain.

She probably eats less than she thinks, though. I knew a clinically diagnosed anorexic who thought she'd had a "huge" meal if she ate a piece of toast. And she was dead serious.

By the way, I think everyone should know the difference between an anorexic and someone who is just thin and doesn't eat a whole lot. True anorexics look COMPLETELY skeletal. Those runway models you see are not anorexic. They are abnormally tall and skinny. A true anorexic can't even fake looking pretty. They have no fat or muscle or shape WHATSOEVER, and their faces look completely skeletal. Skeletal like those pictures of starving people from third-world countries. Very few people are true anorexics.

[pitohui]

20. well i don't know what you consider a true anorexic

if your eating disorder threatens your health or your life, guess what, bunky, it don't matter if your face is nicely filled out

there are size 8 and size 10 -- even cases of size 12 -- bulimics, your body shape doesn't always give it away

it's the teeth falling out, the heart giving out, the upset in your potassium levels causing you to have heart disease at age 24 that is the measure

not your appearance only

you can pass as pretty normal in a lot of cases and still have a life-threatening eating disorder

i'm told most runway models DO have eating disorders, it's well known kate moss maintains her weight and energy w. the help of cocaine

[bleedingheart]

21. unless your lactose intolerant...then you will have no friends

and still gain no weight...

:evilgrin:

[XemaSab]

39. That's not necessarily so

Many anorexics aren't grossly underweight. You can be fat and anorexic, and you can die from it LONG before you are a skeleton.

[Beaverhausen]

19. I am an emotion and stress eater

It's not the food, it's the motivation to overeat that makes me gain.

[lonestarnot]

22. Don't worry about her, I was the same way. Not no MO!

[Catherine Vincent]

26. LOL!

[lonestarnot]

29. Pig me!

[cboy4]

24. Metabolism plays a part in the "problem," but I suggest weight gain powder

that you can find at GNC and other stores. You mix it with milk.

For guys, adding muscle is the preferred course of action because muscle weighs more than fat, and it makes you look better than gaining nothing but flab from

eating nothing but ice cream and donuts.

Not sure what a woman should do in terms of weights/exercise, but seeing a nutritionist is a good idea also.

[kentuck]

25. Cheeseburgers and Italian bread...

usually works quite well... :)

[GrumpyGreg]

27. If she feels well,has energy,and her menstrual cycles are OK I

wouldn't give it a thought.

[serryjw]

37. Ohhhhh, She doesn't......I asked her

hasn't had a period in years. She has great looking teeth, hair, nails, skin and her muscle tone looks fine. She is just SO skinny. I asked her how much she weighed and she said it was about 97 lbs.

[diamidue]

28. Take it from a skinny person

who has tried to gain weight all their live and failed. Look at the woman's family. Are they thin, too? If so, then she may be naturally that way and no amount of stuffing with chocolate or ice cream or weight-gain powders will help. Believe me, I've tried it all and even turning 50 and bearing 2 children didn't help. Really, think about it. Do you think Woody Allen or Don Knotts could EVER become obese? It is not in their genetic make-up. My advice to this young woman is to eat healthy foods - as much as she wants & resist the urge to eat a lot of crappy, high-calorie foods. It won't help and it just might leave her immune system in a shambles.

[beyurslf]

30. I just eat and it all goes straight to the ass.

[Ohio Joe]

31. You get older

I was the same way for many years. Until I was 40, I was able to eat as much as I wanted of whatever I felt like... and I did :) Shortly after 40, I put on almost 50 pounds in 3 months. It was really a trauma for me because I had never gained weight before. It's taken me a little over two years to loose 30 of he 50 pounds and it's been a struggle he entire way, changing my eating habits was wicked hard.

[MissMillie]

32. Well, if I don't exercise, I just gain weight

Probably because I like to eat.

So I exercise.... 5 to 6 days per week.

[Nikia]

33. She should go to a dietician and be honest about everything

The dietician can determine whether or not she is getting enough calories and what she might need to get more of, like nuts or dairy products or healthy cooking oils. If she is not seeing a doctor yearly already, she probably should go for a complete physical including a number of blood tests.
Most people with eating disorders have unhealthy looking nails, hair, and or/skin but there are a number of products that can help these areas look healthier.
I hope that your friend is actually healthy or gets healthy if she is not.

[Blue-Jay]

34. I eat nachos and sit around on my fat ass.

That works pretty well.

[Dukkha]

36. try protein shakes

there are some that are destined just for weight gain. They have massive amounts of calories in them.

[DanCa]

38. Follow Denny Hasterate around?

Seriously has she had her metabolism checked? You might want to check with a doctor because I assuming you want healthy weight gain and not just body fat.