Underweight...

[MrBBQ]

Hey all,

I'm currently more underweight than I'd like to be for my height (1.7m @ 58kg) and I'm wondering how I can gain weight without having to include starches, which seem to screw me up in excess (my teeth/gums especially get a messy sensation about them).

I've been eating 200g fat + 200g meat, along with some fruits (maybe a few pieces per day), although I'm cold and struggle to maintain weight (especially with any physical exercise) at this measure.

It seems to me that I'm not getting enough calories from my diet (to create an energy excess) and the best thing I can think to do is increase fat (too much fruit is not good and too much protein is not good for me).

I've been trying to consume 300g fat per day and I was wondering if anyone else consumes this much fat (in the form of animal fat).

Did anyone particularly struggle to maintain weight thus far and find a resolution in more calories? I seem to think my body just burns calories like crazy (fast oxidiser), even though I lead a fairly sedentary personal/professional life.

Currently, I'm avoiding excessive physical activity (even though I love it) just to conserve energy.

Please help me...

Scotty

[ys]

I was able to gain about 10lb over the last year, and i'm one of those no-gainer types.  the amount of food you consume should not be that much.  this means that you have some kind of digestion/absorption issue.  even if you consume more it probably won't do you any good unless your digestive system recovers.

it took me about a year to recover my digestion ( i think it is still recovering) and now i have no problems maintaining body weight while eating less than before, about 1-1.5lb of fat/meat/organs per day.
i still would like to add 10 more pounds, hopefully i'll be able to do that by adding a little more food than usual.

[MrBBQ]

@ys: 1-1.5 lb is still more than I eat...1.5lb = ~680g...What percentage of that is fat?

When you say recover digestion, are you talking about recovery through food choices or other means?

[ys]

i would say 100g is fat and the rest is meat/organs.
500g of muscle/organs is not that much in my opinion, that corresponds roughly to 100-120g of protein given raw meat and various organs contain 70-80% water by weight.

i call it recovery based on the results that i am seeing. 
before: i was eating about the same and was not gaining anything and after: steady gain of mostly muscle mass, as my body fat is not yet measurable.  so i assume something changed in my body, so i call it recovery.

yes, food choices, fat/meat/organs about 80%, and the rest 20% are anything else, fried eggs, cheese, bone broth, any other cooked food, some fruits. but it took a while to start gaining weight. even though it is working for me, it may not be the right formula for everyone else.  i'm simply sharing my experience, draw your own conclusion.

[ForTheHunt]

I'd try the primal diet with added kefir. I've heard people gaining weight once they added kefir, my self included. When I was my heaviest and most muscular was when I was eating a lot of kefir. Granted I also I ate alot of grains and starches and high protein on top of that, but like I said, kefir is definitely worth the shot.

I can't picture anyone gaining much muscle weight with out carbs or dairy.

[ys]

i consumed kefir for about 2 years and it had no effect on me whatsoever. extra carbs of any kind also did not contribute to weight gain.  that's why i do not recommend anything to anybody as every one of us is different, what works for me may not work for others.

bottom line, try different things and see what works for you.

[kurite]

I know people are probably going to fight me on this one but try eating 30-100g of nuts a day like raw walnuts or raw almonds. This should help.

[ForTheHunt]

i consumed kefir for about 2 years and it had no effect on me whatsoever. extra carbs of any kind also did not contribute to weight gain.  that's why i do not recommend anything to anybody as every one of us is different, what works for me may not work for others.

bottom line, try different things and see what works for you.

Has to be executed right. A somewhat high carb diet a long with high protein and excessive calories is definitely what promotes muscle gain a long with weight training.

Carbs are protein sparing, meaning the body will use carbs as fuel instead of protein and thus use protein as building blocks. I'm still unclear if the same goes for fat/protein. I think not, since I struggle gaining muscle on fat/protein.

But anyway, I definitely won't recommend this sort of diet for general health or healing. But I think primal diet is what will promote most weight gain. You can also try the nuts, they personally don't work for me, but different things work for different people. But make sure you soak them

[miles]

You're eating too much fat, simples... All the people who talk about the same feelings as you, are eating wtfmotherfuckerbullshitmarryasscuntloads of fat. O_O Eat more meat, and less fat.

Shoutout to my homeboy Yuri, this one goes out to you bruv.

[goodsamaritan]

Hey all,

I'm currently more underweight than I'd like to be for my height (1.7m @ 58kg) and I'm wondering how I can gain weight without having to include starches, which seem to screw me up in excess (my teeth/gums especially get a messy sensation about them).

I've been eating 200g fat + 200g meat, along with some fruits (maybe a few pieces per day), although I'm cold and struggle to maintain weight (especially with any physical exercise) at this measure.

It seems to me that I'm not getting enough calories from my diet (to create an energy excess) and the best thing I can think to do is increase fat (too much fruit is not good and too much protein is not good for me).

I've been trying to consume 300g fat per day and I was wondering if anyone else consumes this much fat (in the form of animal fat).

Did anyone particularly struggle to maintain weight thus far and find a resolution in more calories? I seem to think my body just burns calories like crazy (fast oxidiser), even though I lead a fairly sedentary personal/professional life.

Currently, I'm avoiding excessive physical activity (even though I love it) just to conserve energy.

Please help me...

Scotty

I upped my raw meat intake to 600 grams a day.  I lowered the amount of fat I was eating and upped the raw protein.  With this adjustment I gained and maintained an additional 5-6 pounds.  I followed Aajonus' tip to eat protein more frequently, like every 5 hours.  So I eat more frequently.  Morning noon and night and some snacks in the middle, usually fruit.

I also upped my carbs from tropical fruit since I live in a tropical country.

[KD]

for me intense activity seems to be necessary to even uptake a normal amount of food. Of course its double edged as all the intense endurance/lifting stuff and biking transport really takes its toll. My weight was fairly stable (at a weight under my desire) for the most part until I injured myself and was very inactive/ill. Now I'm at least 5 lbs under what I consider to be the low end of acceptable.

I'm consuming raw butter + lots of marrow bones and increasingly including fat trimmings. Can't say how many grams but I'm usually under 1 lb of muscle meat or organs so whatever the remainder is its either similar to yours on some days or I'm drastically under-eating on others. I eat 1-2 servings of fruit 1-2 times a week max if that. I eat eggs too when I have them..if I really wanted to discipline my own program, it would be 6 eggs in the morning and at night minimum probably with 3 moderate sized meals of meat and fat, occasionally with fruit + butter in the afternoons. I'm actually trying to eat some avocados at night a few times a week and see how that goes.

Part of me is bothered by a convo in lex's journal about adaptation to VLC/ZC and weight loss. I started RAF almost 2 years ago and had gone through other raw/'detox' in previous years but large periods in the last two were not all RAF or certainly VLC. There are so many things lead me to believe my uptake of minerals and nutrients is quite good these days, but there still seems to be some underlying issue in balancing out without it being a total pain in the ass chore. I mean my intake is probably astonishingly low per activity...but even so I really have no realy desire to eat much of the time, or forget etc...

[kurite]

KD have you ever tried a day or two of water fasting? It shocks your appetite into wanting more and more.

[KD]

KD have you ever tried a day or two of water fasting? It shocks your appetite into wanting more and more.

I've messed around with fasting a 'reasonable' amount in the past in raw veg days. not so much recently but I fasted for 3 days back in the spring when I had some nasty vomiting spells. My lack of appetite seems less severe than it was previously, I guess partly i'm just bitching, or commiserating or whatever. Some days I'll eat probably over 3000 cals but that should probably be my average, not my max ya know. If I want to actually GAIN with my current activity I have to be really on point with everything, which I don't really care to do. I seem to be pretty satisfied with whatever, I'm never clawing around for food in the late PM like on other diets, i'm just not jonsing to have meals all the time or can put too much away at one shot. There probably are some digestive things going on that might improve with fasting or juice/egg fasting or some kind of warrior plan or whatever, but I think those things would just be more off putting to me right now.

on the top side, I for sure have more definition and vascuarity in my muscles and so forth eating very little carbs. Also quite a bit more endurance, muscular endurance and even some slight strength increase, so I must be using fat energy fairly well, if not efficiently. Whether increased carbs would result in better gains I do not know. I've been testing the waters more and more and I actually seem to have less insulin sensitivity/insensitivity? and candida/burnout reactions etc...so maybe that will be the obvious direction in the near future.

[MrBBQ]

Good suggestions from everyone, although 500-600g meat is almost double my maintenance dosage for protein.

I reckon I'll try 300g meat per day and notch it up to see how I feel (and the general impact on my metabolism, like yawning throughout the day etc.).

Isn't it better to overeat fat and keep protein moderate? I know my kidneys start to tire of the nitrogen and metabolic acid clearance...I was wondering if the bubbly piss was actually due to higher bicarbonate content (produced by kidneys) for acid buffering - it really got me thinking (like carbonated water).

What says you?

[miles]

Eat meat, then rest and sleep, then awake and live.