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Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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Posted 4/19/2006 10:27 PM (GMT 0)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12388081/

A story about a man who eats 6,500 calories a day and has just now been able to weigh in at 101 pounds.  May provide some usual information on his stomach condition that some of you who are chronically underweight can use. 

Posted 4/19/2006 10:44 PM (GMT 0)
I can afford to gain weight... I'm just worried about protein shakes. Can they do a number on your guts? I hate trying new things.
Posted 4/20/2006 1:01 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone,,  I am underweight to..  I am 5'6 and struggle to stay at 110...  What do you all weigh??  It is hard to keep weight on when you can't eat much..  I am lactose intolerant..  Any suggestions??  I would love to weigh 120...   Everyone says you are so lucky you are so thin..  I am like please I would rather be heavy without IBS!!!! lol  :-)
Posted 4/20/2006 2:38 PM (GMT 0)
Amen!!! I'm with you, Ryleigh. People tell me they want my diet... "No you don't!!" I'm 5'4" and I used to weight 120. Now I'm lucky to stay at 105. I just can't eat enough (in qty), or enough junk, to put on weight. Besides, it didn't help that I got off birth control. I dropped several more pounds after that.
Posted 4/20/2006 2:53 PM (GMT 0)
Hey, I'll share! How about we split the cost of liposuction and you all can inject some of my hip fat, lol.

Having lived through the can't-eat-I'm-too-sick period, I certainly do not want that kind of diet. In fact, I don't want any kind of diet at all. I'm looking to more mindful eating and exercise to take off a little weight. It amazes me to no end that there are people out there that will take that new fat-blocking drug just to try to lose a few pounds when the side affects include diarrhea and anal leakage. I spend my days trying to avoid that and other people do it on purpose? Weirdos! I'd definitely rather be fat and continent, thank you.

We do have our new member, Lil, who said he was on a bulking-up diet and was doing great with it until he suddenly developed IBS, but he thinks maybe the whey powder he just added may have been the cause. I don't know what's in that--it's a by-product of the cheese-making process, but I'd have to get out my Laura Ingalls books to figure out which part--but you should probably avoid it just in case. Protein can be hard to digest, but if it's in a shake form, it's partially digested for you, so it may not bother you so much. You may just want to go into the GNC store (or whatever) and tell them that you need to gain some weight because you have a stomach problem that keeps you from eating as much as you should and see what they recommend. Vitamins would probably be the first thing. Make sure whatever shake you get it doesn't have a lot of fiber in it--at least not more than you are used to taking already--so you don't get sick from that. And then just buy the smallest bottle of what they recommend and try it and see how you do. If no worse for wear, then try the next thing that's recommended--only add one new product at a time. They may even have a return policy if you find that you can't take something because it makes you ill.
Posted 4/20/2006 5:21 PM (GMT 0)
Keri, my sister dragged me to a GNC store and all they have are gallon+ size containers of protein shakes. It's insane. The cup ratio to water (or whatever liquid) is crazy too. I thought you make that stuff with a few table spoons - NOPE, it's like cups.
Anyway, I'm not keen on trying it. I will stick to my vitamins and scarfing chocolate.
Posted 4/20/2006 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
Hmm... wonder why it takes so much? I guess pulverized meat takes up some space. Come to think of it, I bet it doens't taste too good.

Have you tried any protein or energy bars, though? I've heard some of them don't taste bad (of course that's probably coming from people who are used to drinking protein powders).

I am rather fond of Slim Fast bars; they taste good and have some good vitamins in them--not much in the way of calories or fat, though. The only problem is Slim Fast release the Optima line of shakes and candy bars and touted them as being lower in sugar. The problem is the candy bars are made with evil sugar alcohol. 24 grams in one bar I saw!!! My fiance said even that much would give him diarrhea (maybe that's how you lose weight?). And because they charge more for the new kind, grocery stores have largely quit carrying the old, real-sugared kind. But they are still good if you can get them.
Posted 4/24/2006 11:18 PM (GMT 0)
I need to gain weight too, badly,  Guess if I stopped smoking that might help some.  I tried one of those powerbars and had to spit it out immediately.  it tasted like a mix of clay and dirt, or what i imagine clay and dirt must taste like.  then, even though i spit it out immediately it left a clay and dirt taste in my mouth and i had to suck on hard candy to get rid of it.

Posted 4/25/2006 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
Hi sawyer,
Welcome to HealingWell! :-)
I'm with you on the power bars... Yuck! I'm going for protein in meats. I might break down and try the protein shakes, but I'm that desperate yet.
Hope to see you continue to post.
Take care.
Posted 4/25/2006 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
I've heard stopping smoking is a sure way to gain 10 pounds. The nicotine dulls your tastebuds and your sense of smell and makes it so that food doesn't taste so good, so you eat less of it. So when you quit smoking you regain the ability to taste your food and you feel the need to have something in your mouth all the time, so in goes the food. I wish my grandmother would quit smoking and eat more. I don't care if she gets on the nicotine patch and keeps it on for the rest of her life; just so she'd meat up a bit and quit coughing so much. But when you're 81 and you've been smoking since 14 or so, I guess it's hard to give up. Or she's being stubborn one.

Better to try giving it up now, Sawyer, than when you are an emaciated 81 year-old.
Posted 4/25/2006 4:18 PM (GMT 0)

i agree. i definitely need to quit.  i think for me it;s more psychological addiction than physical as i am able to get down to 10 cigs a day without any physical withdrawal symptoms.  But i have to focus really hard to get down even to that because it's such a nervous habit and as i also have panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive disorder and secondary depression it seems i'm always anxious and always have to have something to do.  however i desperately want to quit in order to gain weight.  i'm only 30 so lung cancer and heart disease, though I know they're possible even at my age, seem kind of remote and i don't really worry about that right now.  But being able to gain 10 to 20 pounds would be freakin awesome.  I wish I was one of those people who ate when I was anxious or depressed.  Course, with my nerves, if i did that i'd probably end up morbidly obese. 

Posted 4/25/2006 5:12 PM (GMT 0)
I have heard that they have smokeless cigarettes you can get. They are shaped like a cigarette and they have a nicotine taste to them. I think you are supposed to use them in connection with the gum or a patch, though--I don't think they do anything other than taste like a cigarette. But they're supposed to help you quit by giving you something to hold on to and to stick into your mouth--they fulfill that habit you were talking about.

I've heard other people take up crafts to keep their hands busy. Knitting or crocheting or even needlepoint is something you can take with you anywhere and do. Chew on some gum (I've heard the nicotine gum tastes really nasty, though) to keep your mouth occupied and knit to keep your hands and mind occupied and you might can overcome it.
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