Using MFP to gain weight.

missygail

I'm here to lose weight of course, but I have a very petite daughter. She is just turned thirteen and is only about 57 inches tall. She barely weighs 70 lbs.

She eats and she's been to the doctor, the doctor just says that it's her body type. My sister is worried that my daughter has some sort of eating problem and she doesn't, like I said she's been to the doctor and actually she's built just like my sister. She's not a snacker like her brother and sister, she does eat her food, but she burns everything pretty quick.

I'm just wondering if anyone has used this site for gaining weight? I think she'd like to get to at least 90 lbs.

alazarus

I'm sure MFP can be used to gain weight-- but if your daughter doesn't have an eating disorder, and the doctor says she's fine-- then let her alone.

I was a lanky kid too at her age. Then around age 16 I started filling out. Just like parents who harp on their kids for being too heavy, getting on their case for being too skinny can be equally frustrating for a young person's ego. Plus, having her track her food and calories at so young an age just seems like an added stress-- at her age, she shouldn't be worrying about calories and weight if she's already healthy!

Idahoheartmom

Yes, there is an option to set your goal weight higher, and to gain weekly rather than lose.

I have though about it for my son- I can't make him eat more, but it would be a great way for me to track what he's eating and know how much I need to use in his feeding tube (he has severe heart disease, failure to thrive and a feeding tube for extra calories)

lraymond558

there is an option to gain 1-2 pounds a week under your settings. go check it out !

kbloodworth

I know when I was 11-13, I was extremely sensitive of my weight. I went from really skinny, to skinny with hips, to hourglass over the course of two years. Does she actually want to change her weight, or is she comfortable? If she's comfortable, and the doctor says she's fine you may want to just let her be. I know most of my issues with food started when people made comments (even what they felt were positive or helpful or comments) about my figure when I was a pre-teen. I made the mistake about learning about calorie counting at the age of 11 (my mom had old college textbooks on nutrition, lying around the house). This started an obsession about weight control, rather than a focus on being healthy. I went from eating normally, to eating less than 900 calories per day, to binging (because I was starving), to working out 6+ hours a day, and I was only 95 lbs and 5 feet tall. I definitely screwed up my metabolism and probably stunted my growth.

If she is naturally thin and healthy, you might do more harm then good if you advise her to use a website to gain weight. If she actually wants to gain weight, it is possible to track it through the site, but at that age it will probably just happen on its own in due time.

missygail

She does want to gain weight. She's gotten a bit sensitive about it because she's so tiny her friends tell her that she looks like she's ten instead of 13. She's only a few inches shy of 5 feet tall and she weighs only 70 lbs.

Her younger sister is quite a bit more heavier and has begun puberty. Even though I tell my daughter than not beginning puberty is a good thing, she doesn't seem to think so when all her friends (who are mostly younger) are hitting puberty.

My sister (who is in school to be a nurse) doesn't trust the doctor I took my daughter to, because she went to the same doctor in her youth.

I think it goes back to when you eat too much, you don't realize what you're eating until you start to track it. I think that if I can get her on here and we can see what the healthy calorie in take is for a person her age, then perhaps she'll see what she needs to do to gain the needed weight.

I won't let her just gain for the sake of gaining. We'll work together to make sure that in gaining weight she's doing it healthily.

I only ask the question because her small size IS bugging her.

missygail

FYI: I don't harp on my daughter about her weight. I only ask because it bugs her and her aunt worries about her...

missygail

I put her on it just to see and there is the option to gain a pound per week. She requires more calories than I do. 1,800+ per day.