Please help!! Being this slim is horrid and painful

JaycobBell wrote: »

Maybe it could be that you have a over active thyroid which the doc might be able to help you with that

This. And again with the smoothie idea. It REALLY helped my friend Kristen who has an over active thyroid. High calorie and easy to drink on the go.

I would probalby eat foods high in fats.. not only are they calorie dense, fats help regulate hormones. If you have a history of very low calories, there is a good chance your have deregulated your hormones. Eating in a surplus will help this out, especially if you have a good amount of fats in your diet. I would look into nut butters, nuts/legumes, and foods like avocados. Also, adding carbs is another way of getting additional calories in.

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OP: I can sympathise, it sounds like you are in a similar situation to myself only a few months ago. For years I didn't eat properly, I ran off tea/coffee and occasional snacks. My weight levelled off at about 9 stone (126lbs), that's for a 5'11" male (that's been the last 15 to 18 years of my life). I was constantly lethargic, I would fatigue very easily and the simplest of tasks started to feel like a major chore. I wont assume you have an eating disorder or medical condition that effects your weight; of course get these things checked though, the more data you have, the better.

Over time you get used to eating very little and it becomes normality, your hunger cues do disappear and small meals can make you feel really full, even to the point of feeling sick. I felt like I was having to force feed myself just to come remotely close to what I was supposed to be eating. Even right now as I'm typing this, it's 12:42pm, I'm drinking a tea, the last time I ate was yesterday at around 4pm and I don't feel hungry at all. Old habits die hard lol.

Turning this around isn't easy and getting yourself back to a 'normal' level of eating feels like training and I suppose, in a way, it is. Luckily it doesn't take long to start turning it around and you'll feel the difference very quickly. Get yourself mentally prepared to do it, you'll need to drop the thought of 'I don't feel like it' and just do it anyway. I had to ignore what my taste buds were happy with just to get myself started.

Log everything you eat with myfitnesspal, even if you haven't started eating better, it's a bit of an eye opener when you see what you are consuming compared to what you should be consuming. You can then use the calorie count on MFP like a minimum high score that you have to hit each day. That helped me a lot, I hate seeing that I haven't hit my calories in a day now.

When you are ready to get the eating back on track, plan out your eating. I wouldn't say you have to plan the whole day but at least sort out breakfast and choose things to eat that will help the process along. This was my starting breakfast...

Cup of tea (I will never stop that)
Hot water with a slice of lemon (after the tea to freshen the palate)
Orange
Banana (both of the fruit were chosen for nutrition and the quick sugar hit from the fructose, it helps get you jump started in the morning)
Vanilla whey protein shake (this was recommended by a friend just to bump up my daily protein intake, it turned out I love the things lol, so I stuck to it)
Bowl of porridge oats (I chose this for the carbs, it gives a good steady energy supply until lunch time)

Even that was a task for me to do (the force feeding feeling again) but I forced the issue anyway (my breakfast is bigger now). I was always one for forgetting to eat so I set three alarms on my phone to remind me to eat, breakfast, lunch and dinner alarms. When an alarm goes off, eat as soon as you can to keep you eating at the correct times (more eating training lol) and always try to have a portion of a good size, not just a wee nibble. After about a week of this my energy started coming back, after two weeks my stomach grumbled! What a shock that was lol. My aim was to force myself into the eating pattern until it was habit (still working on that).

I was struggling to get my calories high enough so I used a few things as 'boosters' just to get the numbers up. Whole milk was my main one, it's full of fat and protein and is very calorific. It does have a good bit of saturated fat so it's not the best to drink a lot in the long run but for a short time it's fine. Pistachios were the next one, they are full of protein and healthy fats, they are easy to snack on and don't make you feel full. I would try to always keep a few bags of them laying around the house. I also got a big *kitten* tub of peanut butter, I absolutely hate peanut butter but it definitely does the job. I did buy avocados but I never used them, they always ended up getting thrown out but I believe they are good for gaining weight.

When you get your numbers up the weight doesn't take long to come back. I fall off the program quite often, like today not having breakfast but I'm getting good at consuming food anyway, so at some point today I'll still have my breakfast items, along with everything else I need to reach my calorie goal. It does take a bit of focus and just being stubborn but you can get it back on track. I know the feeling of having to wear baggy clothes, I was once compared to a holocaust victim, so yeah, it was baggy clothes for me too (notice the past tense ). A couple of months down the line and you'll be way happier with yourself.