Looking for ways to gain weight (85lbs wanting to be (115+) advice needed

I have. Numerous times throughout my life and not one I have been to has had an answer, so I'm not sure I have an underlying issue. I have been much smaller then many people my entire life, even as a child. My mother is the same way, after her 2nd child she was only 115lbs? And to this day she doesn't get over 130lbs? So I don't think this is a huge health issue, but thanks for the advice.

Brolympus wrote: »

I would definitely talk to your doctor about what your calorie intake should be. Looks like median healthy weight for somebody your height is roughly 100-130 lbs (depends on your lean mass obviously).

If you don't want to take the med professional route, or really don't have the money/insurance to do the nutrition counseling, here is the random internet advice:

I would set a calorie goal based on getting to 100 lbs as a first goal, and making sure to incorporate strength training (and not a whole lot of cardio right now, maybe just a 5-6 minute warmup prior to lifitng) to make sure that a majority of the mass you add is useful muscle. Using Scooby's calculator, somebody your age/height, at a weight of 100lbs has maintenance of roughly 1700 per day.

How to approach: I would find out what your caloric intake is now by logging for a few days, and ramp up your cals over a month or two from what you were eating to this new maintenance level. If you are eating at anything below 1500 calories, I would immediately start your intake to at least 1500 calories, since your BMR + allotment for light activity level for your current weight is ~ 1500 calories. This is the base amount your body needs to function normally and do normal daily activities. If you have been eating less than this for an extended period, its very possible you have actually slowed your metabolism down. It will bounce back after you start to eat normally and exercise regularly, you will notice a change in energy once it does. But it might take some time to recover.

Once you have been eating at maintenance level for a week or two, and logged weight changes, you could tack on 100 calories to your daily goal every 2-3 weeks until you notice the weight start to creep up. You will want to be strength training during all this, which will allow you to tack on useful muscle mass as you gain weight. I will note that at your extremely low weight, it won't hurt to add both fat and muscle overall, at least until you get into the healthy weight bracket, but I know some women hear the word "fat" and they immediately freak.

After you hit a healthy weight range, you could possibly tweak your eating/training plan based on where you want to go from there.

Please note, that in any case where I am noting as a calorie level, that is a net calorie level. I am assuming you eat back all your exercise cals so that you arrive at the same net each day.

Hope this helps. Add me if you want some support!