What's water retention and what's fat gain?

aniazawadzki

Trying to gain weight from a bmi of 15 and over the last 3 weeks I gained 8 lbs, I see love handles and my thighs are bigger and my arms are bigger and my stomach is bigger. Been eating between 3500 and 5000 calories daily, is this water retention or real weight gain? Could fat have layered up so quickly?

stevencloser

To make a better guess we'd need your height, weight before and age. But since you're a female 3500 - 5000 is more than twice your TDEE most of the time. So a 1500-3000 or even higher surplus EVERY DAY, yeah, you could have gotten a lot of that as fat.

My recommendation: go to gym and lift heavy weights if you don't already. The weight you gain will be more muscle and lean mass than fat.

3laine75

At least 5lb is probably water but, like above poster said, that sounds like a massive surplus. Why not shoot for + 0.5 lb or 1 lb a week (while lifting some weight to get the full benefit).

If you gain mostly lean mass, I think you'd be less likely to end up at an unhealthy weight in the future.

aniazawadzki

To make a better guess we'd need your height, weight before and age. But since you're a female 3500 - 5000 is more than twice your TDEE most of the time. So a 1500-3000 or even higher surplus EVERY DAY, yeah, you could have gotten a lot of that as fat.

My recommendation: go to gym and lift heavy weights if you don't already. The weight you gain will be more muscle and lean mass than fat.

I am 5'6 21 years old and weighed myself at 101 from the 93 I was 3 weeks ago lol my doctor told me to consume 6000 a day

stevencloser

Ah, I see. You were very underweight. Keep eating a lot but also go lift weights. It's a better weight gain than if it's just fat and nothing else.

_Terrapin_

To make a better guess we'd need your height, weight before and age. But since you're a female 3500 - 5000 is more than twice your TDEE most of the time. So a 1500-3000 or even higher surplus EVERY DAY, yeah, you could have gotten a lot of that as fat.

My recommendation: go to gym and lift heavy weights if you don't already. The weight you gain will be more muscle and lean mass than fat.

I am 5'6 21 years old and weighed myself at 101 from the 93 I was 3 weeks ago lol my doctor told me to consume 6000 a day

What were you consuming prior to the doc's recommendation? And a doctor of what?

aniazawadzki

To make a better guess we'd need your height, weight before and age. But since you're a female 3500 - 5000 is more than twice your TDEE most of the time. So a 1500-3000 or even higher surplus EVERY DAY, yeah, you could have gotten a lot of that as fat.

My recommendation: go to gym and lift heavy weights if you don't already. The weight you gain will be more muscle and lean mass than fat.

I am 5'6 21 years old and weighed myself at 101 from the 93 I was 3 weeks ago lol my doctor told me to consume 6000 a day

What were you consuming prior to the doc's recommendation? And a doctor of what?

1200 and he's my primary doctor lol

Unknown

This content has been removed.

aniazawadzki

To make a better guess we'd need your height, weight before and age. But since you're a female 3500 - 5000 is more than twice your TDEE most of the time. So a 1500-3000 or even higher surplus EVERY DAY, yeah, you could have gotten a lot of that as fat.

My recommendation: go to gym and lift heavy weights if you don't already. The weight you gain will be more muscle and lean mass than fat.

I am 5'6 21 years old and weighed myself at 101 from the 93 I was 3 weeks ago lol my doctor told me to consume 6000 a day

What were you consuming prior to the doc's recommendation? And a doctor of what?

1200 and he's my primary doctor lol

I think you need to go see another doctor. I'm definitely not a doctor but I'm pretty sure him telling you to go from 1200 to 6000 is pretty terrible advice.

Is it because the weight gain would be too quick?

brianpperkins

If he isn't a specialist then I will reiterate what I've put in your threads over and over ... GET A REFERRAL TO A DOCTOR THAT SPECIALIZES IN THE TREATMENT OF EATING DISORDERS.


Honestly, the only positive thing is that you claim a doctor is giving you this advice rather than a blog ... that's progress for you.

forkofpower

Actually, I think eating that many calories is not unusual for people who are trying to recover from an eating disorder (don't know if the OP had an eatng disorder). I've heard that recovering anorexics are put on a super high cal diet (I think upping calories gradually is a good idea though). Also, if OP was so thin due to an eating disorder, I'm not sure she should work out immediately, since the goal is to gain weight, and working out can be a trigger for people who are trying to recover. OP, I think you would be better served seeing a specialist than asking on a forum.

FaylinaMeir

I've watched a lot/done a lot of research on anorexia and when they "refeed" anorexics to gain weight, they don't feed them 6000 calories a day! You need a new doctor. -_- If I was you I'd aim for like 2000 and work from there. I calculated your BMR (or the calories your body burns just being alive) at around 1300. At 2000 you'd still gain a pound a week and it would be FAR more healthy than triple that. If you pack it on too fast, it will turn to fat and you'll not be healthy.
If you are exercising, make sure you track it and "eat back" all the calories burned to stay around 2000.

Another good thing about eating 2000 is once you get to your goal weight, you should stop putting on weight. You might have to go down 200 calories ,depending on exercise but I think you get what I mean.

earthboundmisfit

When someone is anorexic and starts eating again the metabolism sometimes goes into overdrive. I was anorexic as a teenager and needed about 3000 calories a day to gain weight. But 6000 calories seems extreme.

zoeysasha37

I'm very proud of you for wanting to gain! That's great!! But I'm concerned that your doctor took you from 1200 calories to 6000 so quickly, they usually slowly refeed. But either way, keep eating and definitely look into lifting some weights.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

nomeejerome

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/find-help-support

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/find-treatment

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/information-referral-helpline


1-800-931-2237

LoupGarouTFTs

People who are severely underweight can die if they regain weight too quickly. The OP knows that she needs to go see an ED specialist, as she's posted several times since the beginning of the month looking for validation. She doesn't need our feedback. She needs to stop posting here and get professional advice or admission to a hospital where she can be treated by professionals.