How to Gain Weight

Hi everyone,

I've browsed this forum a lot, and just recently decided to start posting here. I'm a 21 y.o. male, diagnosed with UC about 4 years ago. Since I developed UC, I've had a lot of trouble gaining weight and keeping it on. I'm 6'3" and about 155 lb right now. - very skinny. Luckily I used to be a lot more active, i.e. rock climbing and swimming, and I've tried to keep it up, so I'm very lean.

Nevertheless, I've come off another taper of Prednisone and I find myself way underweight. I'd like to be somewhere in the 175-180 region.. Even if this means having some fat (dear god I would not mind a little fat on these bones). I'm on a gluten, dairy free diet with an emphasis on low oils and avoiding processed foods. I follow this diet after having a severe flareup of pancolitis last year, and it was either this diet with one doctor, or the other doctor insisting I take Remicade. The diet seems to be helping, or at least not AGGRAVATING my UC, as I used to constantly, but it also makes it VERY hard to gain any weight. At 6'3" I have to eat something like 3kcal to start tipping over my BMR. Couple this with chronic inflammation and steroidal fluctuation... I don't know if anyone here has ever played Diablo II but compared to other people gaining weight, I'm on Inferno mode.

Now, a couple of years ago, I was around 175. This may have been because I drank quite a bit at the time, and that it was booze weight, or cheese weight, or regular pizza weight, but whatever the reason, I was heavier. My guess is that all that weight dropped off once I stopped drinking regularly.

Does anyone here have any tips for how I can start putting on some weight (while avoiding tons of fats -which are inflammatory- and not eating dairy/gluten) ?? I'm tired of always being skinny! It makes it harder to be active, and I love to rock climb and lift weights. I feel like I'm slamming my head against a brick wall.

Thanks for your advice!

careful with nut butters until you're sure you can handle them as they can definitely aggravate UC

consider some forms of protein powders and almond milk. i used to do pb sandwiches and a casein shake before bed, but haven't done that since my days of UC...

You could try absorb plus shakes. Im in the hospital right now and drink about 4 of them a day. They are very calorically dense and taste great. Granted, ive lost a few lbs since being in here and down to 96.8 lbs, but they at least fill me up because theres like 30 grams of protein per serving.

I weighed 118 lbs when I got out of the hospital back in 1986 @ the age of 25.Focus on getting better.The weight will return.

I'm in the same boat. Since this flare started 8 weeks ago, I've lost 22lbs. I'm constantly nauseus and I don't want to eat at all. I force myself to have meals. Protien shakes are a life saver for me. Greek yogurt, milk, ice, peanutbutter, and chocolate protein powder.

Healthy fats are essential to good health. Don't listen to those who say to avoid flax and olive oil. Do your own research, they are not heavy on omega-6, in fact just the opposite. Olive oil is an excellent salad dressing and coconut oil for cooking.

I supplemented with flax oil for years. It was a very effective anti-inflammatory and kept my joints greased. I later switched to fish oil because it seemed even more effective.

Trans fats are the fats that really need to be avoided. So don't try eating junk food like potato chips or anything else with trans fat in order to gain weight. They will clog your arteries.

I agree with IPoop that the key to gaining weight is ending your flare. During my last flare I was losing 5 pounds a week. The first sign that my flare was ending was when I got on a scale and noticed that my weight stopped falling.

downgarden, i'm the same as you. after I read life without bread, I really cut down my carbs a lot. didn't realize til all the hospital blood tests this week that I have ketones in my urine. I really just focus on meat and kefir.

They have non-dairy protein powders. Check that stuff out. Other than that, just eat and eat.

Loolover,

Welcome to the forum.

Peanut butter is of concern to me for 2 reasons:

1) it's very difficult to digest, so it's hard on the gut

2) it's part of the legume family, which makes it inflammatory to the body(due to omega 6 contents)

Here's some info on it:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-bad-is-peanut-butter-really/#axzz2bHSZjgiJ

It generally contains aflatoxins.

Aflatoxins are naturally occurring fungal toxins, or mycotoxins, produced by certain members of Aspergillus, a type of fungus found pretty much everywhere throughout the world. Aspergillus tends to colonize any monosaccharide and polysaccharide it comes across, as long as the conditions are right, but peanuts are particularly susceptible. Most crops are colonized after harvest and during storage, but since Aspergillus is found in the soil (among other places) and peanuts grow underground, peanut colonization often occurs well before harvest. The result is that peanuts are among the most contaminated crops, along with corn and cottonseed.

It contains peanut agglutinin.

As of now, the harmful effects of peanut agglutinin, a peanut lectin, are mostly speculative

But it’s also got a significant amount of PUFAs, too. 33% of the total fat is omega-6

Hope this helps.

It's still your choice of course.

Because I am on Paleo, I gear everything in my diet towards anti-inflammatory because IMO inflammation is the cause of most diseases.

Maybe you could try pistachio butter, or almond butter, or macademia butter and see how you like those?

 

I'm 5' 8" and 130 lbs...heaviest ive been is prob 140lbs on 40 of pred eating 5 huge meals a day. Putting on weight is hard due to the pred.... once you're off its like you can't eat without it. My advice? Stop worrying about. Go do what you love to do, I don't see how being skinny makes it harder to be active.