desperate...i want to gain weight!!!

Is anyone else really skinny here? I'm almost 18 1/2, about 5'6", and I was around 95-96 pounds in September. I lost some weight starting college walking around all over campus but then gained back. When I had to clear out for my colonoscopy and endoscopy though I dropped to around 84. The Tuesday before last I was at the gastro's office and was 89. In the hospital I ate pretty well and was around 91-93 when I got home apparently. But I weighed myself last night and it was like back down to 86. I have been keeping up with the 3 meals a day as best I can and trying to eat snacks whenever I feel hungry. I've always been really thin and my pediatrician had attributed it to a high metabolism. My thyroid had been checked and there were no problems. It's just so frustrating to be a teenage girl who WANTS to gain weight, but can't. I'm not even a health nut...I eat fast food and stuff all the time. It doesn't make much sense to me. Most of my friends don't even eat breakfast, and I'll eat the same amount as or more than them for lunch and dinner...especially if I'm having some big meaty dinner and they're eating a salad. I'd just kill for some curves so that I'm not a bony twig..it makes me so self conscious and no clothes ever fit. At this point I can't even wear 00 jeans, I have to wear sweatpants with a drawstring because even with a belt everything else falls down. It's scaring me because especially with Crohn's there is the weight and nutrition problem. Can anyone else relate, or share any suggestions? I'm so tired of people assuming I have an eating disorder when I never have, or saying that I'm "so lucky to be able to eat whatever I want and not gain anything." Not only did that always bother me..but especially now with the Crohn's I'm more limited with foods. And if my stomach hurts from a flare or medications and I can't eat much people give me that look and I hate having to explain. I know my friends understand but with certain people it's like if we're all together eating I feel like I have to show them I'm eating the meal and then even if I have to pee I try to avoid the bathroom so nobody can think "oh she was throwing it up." Oh, and nobody believes I'm 18 or in college..when people ask they all gasp when they find out my real age..kind of embarassing sometimes. Sorry for the rant..I just can't stand being so tiny

Yeah I definitely should try that Ensure. I remember they reccommended that when I started college before my diagnosis, but that's when I was severely constipated and they said Ensure might make it worse so I didn't end up drinking it. But I'll try that now since I'm currently on the diarrhea side. I'm also trying to force myself to finish what's on my plate, even if I feel like I've eaten enough...I just make sure I don't overstuff to the point where I want to throw up because obviously that's not the answer since the food wouldn't stay down that way.

They also started me on Prednisone in the hospital, obviously orally now that I'm home. I started it two days ago at 40 mg I believe. Every four days it is going to be tapered down by 5 mg. Everyone keeps saying weight gain comes with Prednisone so I'm actually hoping that maybe that will just give me a little boost. I mean even being stuck at 95-96 I always wanted to gain weight, but being in the 80's is really making me nervous. One day our scale was malfunctioning and it said 70 so I started screaming but my mom rushed in and said something had been going on with the scale...phew!

And I believe I'm absorbing nutrition..at least I'm sure they checked that out in the hospital. I got lots of the IV fluids and the last morning I was there they had taken me off...or the night before actually I think...with the exception of the medications and also the iron infusion on the last day. I have to also see the hemotologist this week for some shot and I think he said something about prescribing "folate"...hmm.

Thanks for replying!

Ensure milkshakes did help me gain weight I was tinier than you .........
plus i made self eat many times a day healthy small meals and it worked for me

Hope you have some luck
It is a pain when ppl say oh you are so LUCKY to eat and eat and not gain it dont help to sleep or sit or do anything with no weight on ya does it

Others have already given you great suggestions. Just to add that Ensure Plus has 350 calories, 100 more than the regular Ensure, so it might be a good choice. There's also another product made by Abbott called Hi-Cal. I'm not sure if it is the same thing that sjkly referred to, which seems to have a rather similar name, but Hi-Cal has 475 calories per 8 ounces. I suspect it probably costs more than Ensure, though. Here's the link if you want to investigate: http://abbottnutrition.com/products/products.aspx?pid=267

I carry creamy peanut butter around with me (mainly because I am a poor student and can't afford much else), but I gain weight with that.

Not trying to shoot down some of the advice of some people above, just expressing my concern over some of suggestions, it seems some people are just suggesting you load up on foods high in fat to gain weight, but as with everyone trying to lose weight as well, fat is no the sole cause of you gaining fat. For some reason most of the Americas has this association with fat on the label=fat on them, which is quite ridicoulous since what it really comes down to is overal calorie intake. Carbs, Protein and Fat are all broken down into calories when your body uses it for fuel, so if you eat low fat but make up for that in carbs and protein, well guess what, 2000 calories whether it be made up of 30% fat or 0% fat is still 2000 calories.

My suggestion for you, coming from someone who has had to adapt their own diet to their metabolic needs (i am on a 4500-5000 calorie/day diet to keep my weight maintained) is to make your sure you stick with a proper ratio, i follow the 1-2-3 rule (1 part fat, 2 part protein, 3 part carbs, or in percentages 16.6% fat, 33.3% protein, 50% carb, therefore 16.6% of your total calories should come from fats, and so on) when i am eating. And as far as fast food goes, please avoid it, it may make lots of other ppl gain weight, but those people are gaining weight on garbage food that has no nutrients to it at all, and if you are going to try and throw on weight, i dont suggest you do it in a fashion that is going to lead to you having a stroke or heart attack in 10 years from your arterys being clogged by bad fats (yes, some fats are actually good for you, some are not), besides, as far as i know, fast food is a killer for a lot of ppls digestive systems when it comes to their crohns. If you have any questions about diet and such let me know, its taken me about a year to fine tune mine after a great amoutn of research but now i have mine down to a T, in fact in February lone i gained about 6 lbs of basically pure muscle, something i havent been able to do since i was diagnosed a little over 2 years ago...

PS on a side not, my diet DOES NOT include any forms of High Calorie drinks such as Ensure...

yay someone like me! im really skinny too! all my life i use to be skinny as,i went to a all girls school and i use to get picked on for being skinny!!!!! and people use to ask me if i was annorexic and i use to eat like a horse and never put on weight.Think most of that was my crohns coz i now weigh 57 kgs the heaviest i haf been in my life.Once your d settles down you might start to put on weight,and maybe your just naturally skinny.And if you are dont worry remind urself people die trying to be skinny.

yea and guess who came down with the flu on friday =[ me and my parents. i threw up 4 times and had really bad diarrhea. i'm not going on the scale until i see the doctor tuesday..no use in scaring myself. blehh. and i was just feeling a lot better too!!