advise for helping my son gain weight

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conniehv40
conniehv40 Posts: 442 Member
in Food and Nutrition
just curious... my son is 5'11", 119. He is still growing. We were talking about getting stronger and I mentioned weight gain would help him. He is just naturally very tall and thin.

Is there a way for him to add weight without too much trouble? Like protein shakes? If so, I'd take any advise with suggestions that any of you have!

thanks

Replies

  • MagnumBurrito
    MagnumBurrito Posts: 1,070 Member
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    Send him over to :

    http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/

    Let him check out the transformations, and tell him the truth that the ladies really like muscles.

    Also, if he's still growing, get him swimming. Everyone I swam with growing up got broad shoulders (including girls), because they swam as they went through puberty.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    My boyfriend was just like that for years - six feet and 120 pounds all through high school and beyond. It took him about six years of constant eating and consistent weight lifting, but he's been around 150 for a few years, although he's not made much progress beyond that. The truth is that at that size and age it's really hard for a skinny, active teenage boy to eat a big enough surplus of calories to really pack on weight. My boyfriend is closing in on 30 now and he still burns like 3000 calories a day just maintaining, and if he slips and doesn't eat enough for a couple days or works out too much (like if we go for a long day of skiing or something), he just drops 3-5 pounds again overnight. If your son really wants to build muscle, he needs both a really good training program and a decent calorie surplus every single day. He will need to read up on bulking and cutting too, because it can be scary for a guy who's been skinny his whole life to suddenly see fat around his middle while he's bulking if he's not prepared for it.

    Protein shakes can help but for my guy, we just try to feed him the most calorie-dense stuff we can find. Lots of fats like olive oil and nut butters, lots of not-super-lean protein, full-fat dairy...and I cook all his vegetables and lower-fat proteins (fish etc.) in plenty of oil or occasionally butter.
  • Bounce4
    Bounce4 Posts: 288 Member
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    My son is also 5'11, 108lbs. I don't think he is particularly motivated to gain weight either so always an uphill climb. I just encourage him to eat high calorie foods often. If I'm not home - he doesn't eat though - or might have a bowl of cereal. We add carnation instant breakfast to his milk and he has a med that he takes to hopefully increase appetite. He will not eat peanut butter or cheese, which my other kids will eat by the boat load. So frustrating. He's so thin - I don't know how he finds the energy to get through the day. All my kids are thin but he is the only one that is way to low on the BMI scale.
  • KatieMae75
    KatieMae75 Posts: 391 Member
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    In my younger days (definitely not a problem now), I had a lot of trouble gaining weight. I was that girl everyone assumed was sick or on drugs. I think I was 18 before I broke 90 pounds. I wasn't sick and I ate right, some people just burn energy faster than others. His body may just be burning everything he's taking in to support growth. Maybe try a lot of good fats? Alvarado, peanut butter, etc...
  • armnhammer85
    armnhammer85 Posts: 3 Member
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    EAT EAT EAT...but eat well and with proper ratios!

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