Personal Story

I had morning sickness. No! I had an all-day sickness! I lost weight and was concerned that my body wasn’t going to have enough nutrition to help my unborn child develop well. I had to choose nutrient dense foods and eat them in small amounts throughout the day. I needed to work toward eating enough calories for the energy I was using up in my daily life of college, work, and household tasks. I needed to have energy balance, and maybe even some extra calories to make up the difference for the weight I had been losing due to my nausea. This is my only experience of having to eat more to maintain a healthy weight. Now I can empathize with someone who needs to gain weight for some reason. Let’s see what we can learn about this important topic.

Energy Balance

What is energy balance and why is it important? A person’s weight is maintained when the amount of energy (food) taken in is about equal to the amount of energy used (daily expenditures and exercise). If the energy costs are more than the energy intakes, weight will be lost. If a person loses too much weight, they need to learn how to gain weight to come up to a healthy level.

Who might need to gain weight?

Some people may need to gain weight:

• Someone who is below a healthy body weight.
• A pregnant woman with morning sickness.
• A person who is fighting illnesses like stomach bugs, ulcerative colitis, respiratory ailments, or cancer.
• Someone with wasting disease
• An elderly person
• Someone who has abused drugs and not maintained a healthy weight.

How Does a Person Gain Weight Healthfully?

There are three steps to healthy weight gain. First, the best way to gain weight would be to eat food that is nutrient dense and being mindful of getting enough protein.

To create a positive energy balance, and thus increasing weight, requires consuming more calories. You would think that you would want to exercise less, but muscle is important to a healthy metabolism, so go ahead and exercise.

Calorie-dense food to include:

• Potatoes
• Dried fruit
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Peanut butter
• Cheese
• Almonds, walnuts, pistachios
• Peanuts
• Trail mix
• Smoothies/protein shakes
• Whole milk Greek yogurt
• Beef

Second, eat regularly throughout the day.

Third, avoid drinking a lot of water or other fluids right before dinner because that could fill you up so you are not hungry for the good food you need to consume to gain weight.

Action

If you are underweight, please make some time to plan menus for gaining a half pound to two pounds a week. I suggest working with a knowledgeable person to help you.

May God bless you on your wellness journey!

Joni

P.S. What experience do you have with needing to gain weight?