Trying to take weight gain more seriously

autismalanimal

I have been underweight pretty much since I hit puberty. I have 2 kids now and have been able to gain weight fine during pregnancy, but with both little ones, as soon as I gave birth, my appetite went away. At 2 months postpartum, between the nursing and low appetite, I have already lost 15 or 20 lbs. People think it's amazing but really it is scary. I struggle with hypoglycemia and easily become woozy. If I am too neglectful, my milk supply will even drop. It's really not that great being unable to keep on weight, as much as my "ability" is desired by fellow mothers. I really want to gain weight so I decided to try calorie counting! I can already see that I have definitely not been meeting my caloric needs, but am not overwhelmingly far off from doing so! I'm optimistic that I will be able to put some weight back on if I keep up with this. After my first birth, I dropped back down to 95 lbs pretty fast (btw I'm 5'4" so I was very underweight). I really want to prevent that from happening again this time and hope this works!!

What are your go to high calorie meals? 😁

giancarlov1191

Look for high-density foods like nuts, avocados, nut butters, rice, potatoes, oats, eggs, etc.

sardelsa

Congrats on your new baby!

I can relate, I lose very easily and if I'm not careful can get really low in weight when breastfeeding as well. I am almost 6 months pp and trying to maintain right now and it is a lot of work. My son wakes up at night so I use that opportunity to eat, so as sucky as that is, it helps!

This thread is helpful, includes calorie dense foods and tips

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1

What also works for me: making smoothies (protein powder, yogurt, milk, peanut butter, fruit, you can get to around 700-1000 extra cals that way), also using big thick bagels instead of other thin breads, adding olive oil or butter to things to add more calories without adding volume, using higher fat dairy, nuts, seeds, granola, nut butters are all great to snack on too.

youngmomtaz

Sneak in calories as stated above. Slightly more pb on your toast, a splash more oil to a stir fry, whole fat dairy, larger protein servings, add boiled eggs/avocado/nuts to salads, drink some calories in a protein shake, have dessert, add cream to your coffee, etc.

happysquatter

Congratulations on your new baby!

I've found Oats + Milk + Greek Yogurt plus taste additives like raisins/blueberries/honey to be a very malleable breakfast/calorie platform to start my day with. If I want to up my weight, I just add more oats and milk; to reduce, I do the opposite.

Hope one or all of these suggestions help And that your hypoglycemia goes away