Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Underweight-what should I eat?

After a lot of hard work, I have finally started to gain weight. So far, after losing 40 pounds in the last year, I have gained back 12. Here's what I recommend:

1)Track calories. This is vital and the only way I have ever been able to gain weight. Figure out how many calories you need to eat in a given day and make sure you track every calorie you eat and meet your daily/weekly goals for calorie consumption. Here are two links I use that have worked wonders for figuring out how many calories to eat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation
http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

Instead of using the multiplier to determine calories, I actually figure out every sport/fitness activity I do and figure out my total calories burned. The estimate using the activity multiplier also works okay.

To gain weight, figure out your BMR using the first link. Then, add in the calories you burn doing exercise by using the 2nd link or the estimates in the first link. That will give you how many calories you are burning in a day...this is how many calories you need to eat to maintian your body weight. To gain weight, eat an additional 500 calories per day above and beyond that number for a gain of 1 pound per week. With IBS, I would recommend gradually adding calories over time to keep the shock to your system as minimal as possible.

After you have your calorie needs, track all of the food you eat to ensure you hit your numbers. This is a pain, especially at the beginning, but takes me less than 10 minutes per day now that I've been doing it for a long time.

Since water weight fluctuations can change your weight by 2-4 pounds or so, it may take a while to ensure you are gaining weight. If you stick to eating the calories you need, you'll gain weight and the results will start to show. Adding in a great weight lifting routine is an excellent addition and one that greatly helps me as well.

A good program to track calories is:

www.fitday.com

2) Eat, eat, eat. This is tough with IBS. I believe I have read in another thread that you are younger, and may not be able to make all of your own meals yet. If that's the case, you might want to add in a few IBS-friendly snacks to get some extra calories. I use:

-Baked Ruffles, Lays, or Tostitos Scoops (about 300-400 calories per sitting)
-Chocolate Silk Soy Milk, or vanilla rice milk (245 calories per tall glass)
-Quick Oats, cooked with vanilla rice milk, with a touch of fruit (450 calories approximately per bowl)
-Guacamole with baked tostitos, pita bread. Add a glass of vanilla rice milk and you have about 800 calories or so

Most of the above items are IBS-friendly. However, eating only these items on a daily basis would not be. You'd be lacking in the fiber you need, especially given that you're increasing your calories. So, what I recommend is to use these foods as a go to only when you do not have adequate time to make a full meal.

In addition to these snacks, try and get 3 full meals per day. The more balanced meals, the better. Try and follow the recommendations on the board to a 'T'. Soluble fiber base, low fat, getting some insoluble fiber at every meal but making sure you have soluble fiber base. Here are some examples taken from my food log:

-Fish with white rice or potato, boiled carrots
-Chicken quesadilla with mushrooms, red pepper, some spinach, and white rice
-Chicken with baked potato, boiled veggies
-Turkey breakfast burrito with pan fried potatoes
-Shrimp lemon pepper linguini with mushrooms
-Turkey burger on french bread w/ some veggies
-Oatmeal, cooked with rice milk, and fruit
-Tuna on french baguette

--------------------
----------------------------------------------
Likely IBS-C and Fructose Malabsorption
Undiagnosed and going through testing process

Print Remind Me Notify Moderator