When it comes to weight, I've always been on the lighter side, but recently, I went home and some members of my extended family told me I looked way too skinny. I'm 5'10" and weigh about 130, but that's down about ten pounds from earlier this year.
I think several things may be contributing to my relatively sudden weight loss:
- I'm continually stressed out - I work two jobs, both of which have pretty weird but intense hours. I'm pretty sure my body's in overdrive all the time.
- I've been cutting out a significant portion of dairy from my diet (I think I may have a lactose sensitivity)
- My mom died less than a year ago and I still have trouble coping
- Living in a big city means walking at least three miles a day, if not more - that means burning 300 calories from my daily commute alone.
My normal breakfast is coffee and a bagel with cream cheese; I eat a big lunch and a little dinner and typically snack twice a day, so I don't think I'm undereating or anything.
I want to do this healthily and not just by downing venti Frappuccinos instead of my normal coffee...but what kinds of foods should I be eating to keep me from losing more weight? The whole collarbone-sticking-out thing is not attractive when it's on your own body. Also, if anyone's sensitive to lactose and has suggestions for substitutes, I'm all ears.
Guest blog submitted by a healthkicker reader.
Comments (33)
You could add juice to your diet. Easy way to get extra calories. I've also heard almond milk is a delicious substitute for regular milk (not a big fan of soy milk, and vegan cheese is usually just bad). Peanut butter is my personal favorite way to get a lot of calories too. Spread it on an apple, crackers, etc. In fact, nuts in general are a great calorie-dense healthy snack. Basically just look for little ways to add calories, such as higher-calorie foods similar to what you already eat.
Eat.
i suggest mcdonalds.. i don't know
get you some butter, yay clogged arteries
Rice milk is good. It's not nasty but it's something you would have to get used to. I think it has a sort of sweet taste.
Honestly, talk to your doctor or nutritionist about all this really. If they say you're healthy, great, if they say otherwise, they'll help you.
my boyfriend is lactose-interolant~so he drinks lactacid milk. juice can add extra calories easy. and its healthy too.
i wish i can lose wt that easy too! :)
hmm that's how much I weigh and I'm 5'6... I guess I better start hitting the gym.
I wouldn't worry too much about that weight drop as long as it doesn't continue. I suggest maybe packing with you some homemade oatmeal bars that you can nibble on at work. They are pretty high cal and you can spice them up with various fruits and stuff.
If you're interested just message me and I'll send you the recipe.
They're healthy as well, you don't want to resort to Mcdonalds to up your weight! :)
Another tip for weight gain is to buy resource (i did that when I was severely underweight), as well as forcing myself to gobble down a lot of müsli which is surprisingly high cal but very healthy. (i wanted to gain weight the right way) and now I'm up to 111lbs which ought to be good.
You're stressed out, and you're compounding the problem by starting your day with coffee. I'd suggest cutting out the caffeine to start with.
Plus, you need a bigger breakfast. I'd be losing weight, too, if all I ate was a bagel with cream cheese. Maybe replace the coffee with a fresh fruit smoothie (and still have your bagel, of course). That will add some calories and will be better for your body than a daily caffeine jolt.
Get more sleep and try to destress when possible. I'm sorry to hear about your mother.
Bagel with cream cheese is a good sized breakfast. I don't think diet is the concern....it's just stress
(stress would normally cause a person to gain weight, usually)
You can try eating foods that contain a lot of healthy fats like nuts (cashews, almonds, peanuts), avocados, peanut butter, salmon, etc. You can also try supplement drinks like Boost. Now that I think about it, that might have lactose in it. Good luck!
@LadyLibellule@xanga - "Plus, you need a bigger breakfast. I'd be losing weight, too, if all I ate was a bagel with cream cheese."
Not true. Look up the caloric and fat intake on that. That's more than plenty.
Open your mouth. Put food in. Close mouth. Chew. Repeat.
A healthy way to gain weight is to gain muscle. Pump some iron, and make sure enough of what you eat is protein.
I have a lactose sensitivity too, but I've noticed non-fat or reduced fat yogurts/dairy products generally don't have a negative impact for me. I wish I had your problem of LOSING weight, but, good luck! You could also drink lots of juice - 100% if you want to stay healthy.
your caloric intake sounds good, and walking 3 miles a day isn't something you should be worried about at all! do some resistance training (weights and such) and add some protein to your diet. it won't make you beef up, but you'll get toned, gain a little muscle weight, and look healthier overall.
caffeine raises your metabolism and benefits weight loss. cut those out. it also cause dehydration, high blood pressure, and some other stuff.
if you could, try eating 6-7 meals a day. if it helps, 3500 calories = one lb. i suggest also taking calcium and vit D supplements due to your lactose sensitivity. you'll need those maintain bone strength.
try to throw in 3-5 weight bearing exercises if you could every week. it shouldn't take any longer than an hour to do. it should also help your sleeping pattern and reduce stress.
I tried Lactaid milk for awhile when I thought I might be intolerant, and I actually thought it was delicious. =D
Drink chocolate lactaid milk, juice, or thicker smoothies. Cut the caffine, as others have said (it's bad for your teeth, anyway). And try eating more at dinner; you're more likely to hold it over night.
Good luck!
more carbs, more proteins. Burritos do the trick, but make sure you stick lean. pasta works really well too, but you might feel a little gross from all the water weight you retain.
I recommend peanut butter and soy milk. When I went vegan I lost a lot of weight, too much apparently, so I started eating more peanut butter, having soy milk instead of almond milk (almond usually has less cals, from my experience) with my cereal. I think they've done the trick.Â
Thank you sooooooooo much to the original poster for posting this. I'm one of those people who have always been on the slimmer side, and have gotten pretty darn skinny due to stress and being sick. Find it extremely hard to gain and maintain steady, healthy weight the healthy way.
There's just too many books dedicated to losing weight, and not enough research and instructions about gaining and keeping the weight the healthy way.
Don't fuck with your body. You're probably just trimming down to what you should be. I'm very slender, and trust me, collarbone-showing is normal in healthy skinny people, which you seem to be since you say you are eating right. And anyway, why do this when your arteries will jsut have more stress put on them?
lactose free milk. or take lactase pills. test it first with small amounts of dairy.
build muscle. its healthier than eating a bunch of fatty foods. lactose free milk is good; i use it even though i'm not sensitive to lactose or anything.
eat more carbs and protein :)