ANSWERS: 1
  • Although it is a lot less common, being underweight is as dangerous to your health as being overweight. Being underweight makes you prone to infection, fatigue, bone loss, anemia and hair loss. Women who are underweight also suffer from reproductive issues such as the loss of their periods. If you're underweight, try to gain enough weight to put you into a healthy range, but this must be done in a gradual and healthy way.

    Dietary Changes

    To gain weight you must consume more calories, but that does not mean you have to eat more food. Insead, make it more calorie-dense. A lot of people may assume that means junk food, but that is not a beneficial way to gain weight. Eating food higher in fats, like avocados, nuts and olive oil, as a part of every meal helps to boost calories. Sneaking more calories into a serving size works as well: choose raisins over the same serving size of grapes. Aim for a pound-a-week weight gain, which means an additional 500 calories a day or 3500 calories a week.

    Changes in Eating Habits

    Changing your eating patterns may help you to eat more over the course of the day. Eating three smaller meals a day, with three good-sized snacks, lets you avoid feeling full at any one time, which may help you to eat more. It's what you eat over the course of the day that counts, not how much you eat at one sitting.

    Healthy Eating

    Follow the food pyramid to eat a balanced diet every day. Try to get the maximum number of servings of all groups but saturated fat, trans fats and sweets. Remember, you are gaining weight to be healthier, so you need a healthy diet to reach that goal. There's no point in gaining more weight to improve your health if you get high cholesterol and blood pressure along with it. It will also be easier to continue to eat well once you reach your goal weight.

    Exercise

    Exercise is an important part of gaining weight. You don't need to go for broke; mild aerobic exercise like walking daily and weight-bearing exercises two to three times a week is all it takes. Aerobic exercise speeds up your metabolism, which bumps up your appetite. Weight-bearing exercises like weight lifting help to fill out your physique or give you curves. Plus, muscle weighs more than fat, so building muscle can help you gain weight more quickly than food alone can.

    Support

    Consider an online support group, since you may have a hard time finding a group of people close by who all need to gain weight. A support group will help you deal with people around you who may not understand your need to gain weight. Going through the process with others can help you persevere when things get rough.

    Source:

    Ask the Dietician: Underweight

    Diet Health Club: 5 diet tips to gain weight over 5 kilograms

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy