Cooking for my boyfriend, who wants to gain weight.

joanaliachristina

Hi all!

Hoping to get some advice or input from others on this. I cross-posted this in the weight loss forum but hoped to get input from others who are trying to gain weight.

I am working to lose weight, but my boyfriend is underweight and wants to gain a little bit of weight. We live together so it is difficult to cook for both of us. Most of the time, he just eats the meals I cook for myself. This isn't always ideal as I am trying to cook low-carb and low-cal meals! I've tried to just give him bigger portions, but his stomach has shrunk (from his bad eating habits) so he can't eat too much in a meal, and he often doesn't have an appetite.

I love him the way he is, but he really wants to gain some weight for himself (the same way he feels about me and my desire to lose weight). I asked him to get MFP but I'm not sure he wants to or is the kind of person who can stick to it. Perhaps I can get him to look at the weight gain community here!

Does anyone have similar experiences or advice on how I can motivate him to eat more?

Jo

sjohnson__1

Bring him ice cream/milkshakes/pizza etc. Anything you think he'll eat as long as you can stay away, lol. Ideally he should eat in a small surplus everyday and track his consumption and weight patterns... is he lifting?

ndj1979

have him fill in his calories with calorie dense foods like bagels, ice cream, cookies, pasta, bread, etc, but at the same time make sure he is meeting his micronutrient needs.

Also, is he trying to bulk or do you think that he needs to bulk? You last sentence made it sound like maybe you want him to eat more, but he does not want to eat more/bulk…?

mysteps2beauty

Also, is he trying to bulk or do you think that he needs to bulk? You last sentence made it sound like maybe you want him to eat more, but he does not want to eat more/bulk…?[/quote]

...and we all know how that works....

jgnatca

I think he can eat what you are having with a plus. The pluses are full-fat milk with the meal, shredded full fat cheese on top, added nuts and dried fruit, an extra serving of garlic bread, and ice cream for dessert. You can enjoy your low fat frozen yogurt. Fatty foods add calories in a low volume package for his little stomach.

LastingChanges

jgnatca wrote: »

I think he can eat what you are having with a plus. The pluses are full-fat milk with the meal, shredded full fat cheese on top, added nuts and dried fruit, an extra serving of garlic bread, and ice cream for dessert. You can enjoy your low fat frozen yogurt. Fatty foods add calories in a low volume package for his little stomach.

Agree with this, I have the same problem as OG poster. I make the same meals for both of us but bf will add things like avocados, or a snack after dinner. Also if the meal I am making includes rice or potatoes, I make an extra portion for him.

Also sometimes it is hard to eat a large amount of calories in one meal, so maybe get some snacks for him to eat through out the day so that he doesn't feel so stuffed from dinner.

joanaliachristina

mysteps2beauty wrote: »

Also, is he trying to bulk or do you think that he needs to bulk? You last sentence made it sound like maybe you want him to eat more, but he does not want to eat more/bulk…?

I don't want or need him to bulk, I just hate seeing him eat maybe one or half a meal on some days because he's the kind of person who will get distracted and forget to eat. He doesn't care much about food. I personally want to help him eat more/enough to be healthy, HE is the one who wishes he weighed more. I love him and his body the way he is.

He isn't lifting, and I don't think he has any interest in bulking muscle.

Thank you so much for the advice so far guys! I will try to head to the store today and pick up a few high-fat, high-carb options that I can add on top of meals I make. We have a blender so I can also look into making him milkshakes. I'm sure he will LOVE that so thank you so much for this suggestion!

LastingChanges wrote: »

Agree with this, I have the same problem as OG poster. I make the same meals for both of us but bf will add things like avocados, or a snack after dinner. Also if the meal I am making includes rice or potatoes, I make an extra portion for him.

Also sometimes it is hard to eat a large amount of calories in one meal, so maybe get some snacks for him to eat through out the day so that he doesn't feel so stuffed from dinner.

I used to buy him a lot of snacks because I thought this would help with his not eating, but he ends up just eating some snacks and telling me that he's too full to eat dinner, or full meals. He's gone so long just neglecting to eat that his stomach has shrunken... He eats even smaller portions than I do even when I do portion control. Does anyone know anything we can try to expand his stomach a bit?

LastingChanges

Not a scientific fact, but I think expanding stomach takes time and have to do it little by little. Maybe add 50-100 calories every couple of weeks and then gradually increase it every time he gets used to it.
I used to be that person who couldn't tolerate too much food but overtime unintentionally my tolerance grew, would love to have this problem again lol.

LastingChanges

Does he exercise? Maybe a little exercise will build up his appetite? I also heard before that spicy or salty foods increases appetites. Can try adding pickles or something spicy to his meals and see if that gets his appetite going.

joanaliachristina

LastingChanges wrote: »

Not a scientific fact, but I think expanding stomach takes time and have to do it little by little. Maybe add 50-100 calories every couple of weeks and then gradually increase it every time he gets used to.
I used to be that person who couldn't tolerate too much food but overtime unintentionally my tolerance grew, would love to have this problem again lol.

Haha, yes! In a perfect world, I will just give my cravings/calories to him.

I usually give him a slightly bigger portion than he can handle so hopefully this motivates him to try eating a little bit more each time.

He's quite sedentary... I do try to take him hiking or walking but he's so reluctant, haha. I ask him if he wants to go on a hike with our puppy and he says I can just go hiking myself. Maybe I can try harder to motivate him. You're right, exercising will probably increase his appetite!

AliceDark

If he's having trouble eating more volume, he needs high-calorie, low-volume foods. Drizzle olive oil on his portions, cook with extra butter for him, add cheese or avocado, things like that. He's going to do better if he eats things that add extra calories but don't take up any more room in his stomach (instead of increasing his portions, which may just make him feel too full).