[rubric]

Hi all, I've been underweight since I was a child of about 9 years old. I don't have an eating disorder, but was picky about food when young. Even as an adult, though I'm a lot more adventurous with food, my stomach doesn't seem very distensible. I feel full very easily, though I also seem to get short hunger pangs that quickly go away. I did try to take powdered milk years ago but it had no effect on me.

So I've decided that I need to gain weight, and hopefully gain some boobage as well. I think I have sufficient tissue glands as my boobs have quite a lot of slightly lumpy stuff growing outwards. Do I need healthy fats or protein, or both? I'm thinking of taking meal replacement drinks as a snack in between meals, since I'm hopeless with calculating calories. Would that be enough? Which brands or products would you recommend?

I'm really hoping that the weight gain will be where I need it: arms, boobs, rather than face or tummy, which is where they usually seem to go for me!

[SapphireRain]

Hi Rubric! You sound a lot like me. My doctors always tell me I'm underweight even though I've never had an eating disorder.

To gain weight, you need to eat more in general and make sure you are keeping your diet balanced. Make sure you're getting both protein and healthy fats. You may need to experiment with meal replacement drinks to find out what works for you.

I'm currently taking Suplimed Substimeal to help maintain my own weight. It's a bit expensive but is high in calories and was developed for people who need to gain weight. I have the chocolate flavor and mix it with milk. I use a little bit less than their suggested serving and I think it tastes pretty good.

Also, it will help if you work out while you're trying to gain weight. There's no way to wish your fat to certain parts of your body. You need to work to get what you want and honestly, if you want it badly enough, you won't mind working for it. Working out will help the fat stay away from your face and tummy and is good for your overall health anyway! Muscle also weighs more than fat, so gaining some muscle will help keep you toned while also making you weigh more.

[TibetanPrincess]

This was me for the longest time. check your adrenal output, thyroid and clean your liver and gut. You may have malabsorption or leaky gut. Look into any food allergens and check your stools for undigested food and fatty mucus like floaters. If this is you, you have malabsorption and cannot breakdown fats, carbs and proteins correctly, being an easy reason one is very skinny and have no lady curves. This is something that will make your nbe fail if its not addressed before hand.

[jiberish]

Those expensive drinks are typically protein and dextrose monohydrate. So you can make your own and save. Get a protein flavour of your choice, then buy brewing sugar from the supermarket.

[loverstilly]

Hi Tibetan, then how did you overcome malabsorption may I know? Because I'm afraid I'm like that, as sometimes I do see a corn kernel or something like that in my stool. :O Sorry for the excess information.

[Anastasia916]

Corn does not digest in the body. There are plenty of articles out there that tell just that. Our bodies are not designed to digest corn, and it's actually not good for us. That's why fructose corn syrup is bad for us. I very very very rarely eat corn, when I do it's in my stool too. The only time you won't notice it is if you chew the corn very very well.

[usehername]

I am in the same boat. I have been skinny all my life and I dont have an eating disorder. I'm 19 5'4 and have been a steady 95 pounds for years now. People think is so great to be skinny but its not. People TELL me i'm anorexic and iv been made fun of for being small breasted.

I have a hard time gaining weight and i was a little afraid to because I was scared that all of the fat would go to my stomach and not my boobs. Honestly the only way I found that worked for me was to just eat food I like and eat every few hours. It would be best if you could eat healthy foods but I tried that and I couldn't eat enough of them to gain any weight. So try to find the happy medium I have gone from 95 too 100 within a few months. I dont look that much different but I do look a but "fuller" I love it. I would eventually like to be 110.

If you see a doctor I sure they could assist you, perhaps put you on a pill to stimulate your appetite.

I take maca and PM (herbs) and they may have helped with this recent weight gain.

and what I mean by find the happy medium is dont eat Twinkies all day but dont force yourself to eat healthy foods all day either. Have a Twinkies for a snack, few hours later have a healthy sandwich or veggies that you like.

Its also something your body will get use too. I could go for hours and hours without eating, now its natural for me to want to eat every few hour. If you stick with it long enough your body will adapt to your new eating habits.

[rubric]

Thank you for all the insightful comments and tips. I dislike people staring at me thinking I have an eating disorder, when I just eat normally! It's also hard to find clothes that fit and flatter. I did see a doc about possible hormone imbalance due to my perennial acne--for more than 2 decades--and I mentioned being under-developed too. She thinks I may be that way due to being underweight. She suggested a meal replacement drink and I'm taking that once a day, on top of my daily meals. It's ok except that it has a diuretic effect for me, and I usually take it between lunch and dinner as that's the longest period when my body goes without food.

Ushername, have you ever checked if you have hormonal imbalance too? I'm waiting for my blood test results. I read conflicting info about maca, some call it an adaptogen, others say it's more for those with estrogen dominance. Did it help you gain in the breasts or butt? How did you take that with PM?

Jiberish, I have been checking out the online shops. What kind of protein do you suggest? If I take what the body builders do but don't exercise, will I be a pudgy mess?

Tibetan, the doc orderrd a blood test that involves thyroid for me, not sure about adrenals. I'm intrigued by your suggestion about malabsorption as it sounds like me, I get the feeling that most of my food consumption goes to waste! Many years ago I had strange discharge from the rear end and intense itching but I never saw a doc as I thought it will go away quickly and I was embarrassed too. Sorry, tmi I know but just in case others suffer from that too. It went away after a few agonising weeks.

Sapphirerain, thanks for the tip aboit Suplimed, I'll indeed experiment with some. I'm a little lactose intolerant but there are definitely alternatives out there.I'll try harder to psyche myself up about working out!

[TibetanPrincess]

Thank you for all the insightful comments and tips. I dislike people staring at me thinking I have an eating disorder, when I just eat normally! It's also hard to find clothes that fit and flatter. I did see a doc about possible hormone imbalance due to my perennial acne--for more than 2 decades--and I mentioned being under-developed too. She thinks I may be that way due to being underweight. She suggested a meal replacement drink and I'm taking that once a day, on top of my daily meals. It's ok except that it has a diuretic effect for me, and I usually take it between lunch and dinner as that's the longest period when my body goes without food.

Ushername, have you ever checked if you have hormonal imbalance too? I'm waiting for my blood test results. I read conflicting info about maca, some call it an adaptogen, others say it's more for those with estrogen dominance. Did it help you gain in the breasts or butt? How did you take that with PM?

Jiberish, I have been checking out the online shops. What kind of protein do you suggest? If I take what the body builders do but don't exercise, will I be a pudgy mess?

Tibetan, the doc orderrd a blood test that involves thyroid for me, not sure about adrenals. I'm intrigued by your suggestion about malabsorption as it sounds like me, I get the feeling that most of my food consumption goes to waste! Many years ago I had strange discharge from the rear end and intense itching but I never saw a doc as I thought it will go away quickly and I was embarrassed too. Sorry, tmi I know but just in case others suffer from that too. It went away after a few agonising weeks.

Sapphirerain, thanks for the tip aboit Suplimed, I'll indeed experiment with some. I'm a little lactose intolerant but there are definitely alternatives out there.I'll try harder to psyche myself up about working out!

Good you are looking into it. Hyperadrenia can cause weightloss and then you become hypo and then gain midsection fat(vesceral fat). Malabsorption mainly means you have food allergies destroying your gut lining.

Enzymes are good but healing and staying away from allergens is the best thing you can do. I still have pancreas or blood sugar issues but I am no longer hypoglycemia and I am also staying gluten free. I eat as much as I want and manage to gain 8 lbs. But my main issue right now is yeast ;(

[rubric]

Thanks, Tibetan. I'm also alternating colon and liver cleansing for a short period before embarking on NBE. I'm not really keen on finding out about my food allergies through the skin prick test as I've heard of people being allergic to many food items! I think my life will be really miserable if that's the case. I'll rather just cleanse my body once in a while...

Edited to add: I think the liver cleanse is helping my tummy to slim down a little, for some strange reason. Does it mean I had slightly fatty liver? :p