[ashia]

Hello again all, I'm looking for some suggestions for foods that will help me gain weight while maintaining a gluten and lactose-free diet. My problem is that I've been losing about 300-500 grams/week (2/3 to 1 pound a week) without trying or wanting to. In the last week I made an extra effort to eat a LOT - I was literally cooking or eating almost all day every day (fortunately I'm self-employed so have this flexibility) - and still I lost another 300 grams. I am now down to 46.6 kilos (102.5 lbs). I've outlined my current situation in other posts, but briefly, I had a GI infection in March and have had sticky D ever since. The one thing that has really helped so far is cutting out dairy and gluten and hard to digest foods like nuts or greasy foods. Thinking it would be good and fattening, I tried some almond butter a couple of days ago and that did not go well. I've been eating lots of veggies and avocados and fish and chicken, a little bit of red meat, plus non-gluten-containing grains of various sorts. I've been putting honey in my tea... So, I'm at a little bit of a loss.The additional complicating factor -- and I know you all are going to say "go to see your doctor" -- is that my GI doctor has been completely unresponsive. After my last appt, he basically said, "Well, I didn't find anything in your blood work, the stool tests or the endoscopy, so you're fine. Get some rest." Of course I just got back from vacation so don't really need extra rest. Which is all to say that I am now changing GI doctors, but can't get an appointment with the new doc for another 2 weeks. I'd like to avoid losing yet more weight in that time. Is there hope?Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Kathleen M.]

Have you added up your calories?You can gain weight on any food (you don't have to eat greasy or fatty foods, plenty of people gain a ton of weight on a low fat diet because they think if the food has no fat they can eat as much as they want and will eat a whole box of fat free cookies at a sitting).But you do have to find the portions that will give you enough calories to maintain weight. If you tolerate avocados those have quite a bit of good fat in them. Also even if it is just a few drops see if you can tolerate just a bit of olive oil on your veggies or with your grains.

 

[ashia]

I'm doing a food diary, but haven't tried to count calories. It seems like it would be complicated if I'm not eating prepackaged foods that already tell you the calorie values. Is there an online resource you like for this purpose? My google search has so far not been that helpful..Based on my height and activity level, it sounds like I need 1500 calories/day to maintain my weight; I'm guessing around 2000+/day to gain weight. In principle, i would have no problem going and getting a couple of pints of ice cream to take care of the job, but, well... not an option at the moment!

 

[ashia]

I take that back... I just found this calorie counter + nutrition look-up. Seems pretty comprehensive.http://www.acaloriecounter.com

 

[Kathleen M.]

There usually are several on-line resources.I use http://www.fitday.com which will add up your daily totals and give nutrition info as well. It also says how many calories you need a day. Looks like yours has a daily log as well. That can really help in figuring out how much you need to eat when just going with the flow isn't working the way you want it to.http://www.practicalweightloss.com is another source that has a calculator for base calories needed to maintain weight.You are right, it takes about 500 calories a day (either + or minus) to change your weight by one pound in a week.

 

[ashia]

Thanks again, Kathleen.