Not everyone is trying to lose weight

You are right to point this out! Great progress

It can be very difficult to be on the other end of things.

Everyone always talks about losing weight and can give someone a hard time when they need to gain weight. I have a relative that has a very difficult time keeping the weight on. She has problems shopping for clothes, but not because she is too big, but because she is too small, they just fall off of her!

I think that society has come quite a way in acknowledging and helping people who need to lose weight, showing compassion and understanding for this, but we are a long way off for people who need to gain weight. Seems weird and definitely not fair.

There's a show in the UK called Supersize vs Superskinny. They'd get someone who was overweight and someone who was underweight, each week, and get them to swap diets. Generally, the underweight people had very poor nutrition (the overweight people varied from poor nutrition to good food, but far too much), so they'd point out what they were doing to their bodies, as well as showing the overweight people the effects of their lifestyles. That was quite a good show.

I've worked very hard over the years to gain weight. To the point where food was like a job to me. I'm long past that but still... I've been there.

Thanks for the reality check!

I'm maintaining now, and although sometimes I wish I had your problem, I can sympathize. When I first went to maintenance I found it hard to eat enough!

Now I'd love to learn how to add some lean muscle mass without adding fat. I have to reprogram my brain to accept that it may mean gaining weight. (But the good kind!)

Does anyone out there know how to gain muscle without adding fat? I'm scared just to eat more. . . .

a. Lifting weights (less repetitions and more weight) and any other exercise for increasing muscle mass or toning your muscles will orient your calories in that direction. That doesn´t mean you should give up your cardio because it also has a role in your health. If your workout lasts an hour, you could do half an hour of cardio and half an hour of weight lifting. Then again, apparently it is advisable that your cardio workout be LIGHT.
b. Snack often, which helps absorb calories. If you stuff in too many calories at once, your body won´t absorb all of them the way you want it to, and some of it will be stored as fat.

b. Snack often, which helps absorb calories. If you stuff in too many calories at once, your body won´t absorb all of them the way you want it to, and some of it will be stored as fat.

that concept doesn't really play out in the research actually.