Do I need to gain weight?
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ppomoberry wrote: »
RENPHO scale that shows you your weight and then transfers what I assume are estimates to the app on the phone of fat, muscle and what not.
The scale does say around 5% body fat but I don’t necessarily know of its accuracy I think a dexa scan would be necessary for that matter.
The scale is consistent with your appearance and your BMI. This is not safe or healthy and you need to be under a doctor’s care, since it’s clear from your posts here that you aren’t hearing what people are saying to you.9 -
I am a mom. My middle son, who is a slim, muscular, 5’ 8” 15 year old weighs 140-150lbs. Please eat! Please talk to a counselor or your parents. Make up a good protein shake with some pb, or go to the nearest ice cream place and start getting a large shake daily! Everyone who has posted here has shown concern for you, at your height and growing rate you are severely limiting bodily functions. Please don’t. You need your body to grow and work optimally!6
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I'm the same height as you. You're the same weight I was when I was anorexic but I'm a girl. I'm currently just over 150. Your sister has an eating disorder, but I am about 99.9% certain you do too. Please talk to your parents. See if you can see a nutritionist, a psychologist, both.
If eating more calories is proving challenging to you, go buy you some Ensure. That's what I did. Not as a replacement to meals. In addition to meals. You need to be eating much more than this. Peanut butter. Olive or coconut oil.
Once your weight is back up you can start doing weights, but at this weight it's doing you more harm than good, I'd say.
You're not going to hear anyone else on this thread say anything different. Will you consider listening to us?8 -
If you let this go on much longer your choices will not be your own anymore. You will be gone - you won’t be able to step back when ‘things get too extreme’ because your rational thinking will be gone. My best friend died to this. Stop now6
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Current physic update seems about the same? I’m not sure how much I currently weigh till Saturday but hopefully the numbers went up.
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ppomoberry wrote: »Current physic update seems about the same? I’m not sure how much I currently weigh till Saturday but hopefully the numbers went up.Spoiler
Dude... this is long term thing. Any gains in weight are likely to come slowly so it's not worth stressing over on a day by day basis (even weekly). Try paying attention to trends over several weeks, not day-to-day fluctuations.
1st Question - Are you tracking diet? I know this sounds weird since most of us (like 99% of us) are tracking diet in a attempt to lose weight. However, in your case, if might make sense to track to your food to get an idea of how many calories you're burning on a daily basis.
For example - If you average 3,500-4,000 calories per day over a 2-3 week period and you're not gaining weight, then you have a good idea what your BMR is... 3,500-4,000 calories. Not uncommon for an active teenager.
Then, you know you need to boost your daily calories, so maybe 4,000-4,500 per day and then see how your body reacts.
Tracking your meals will help you plan future daily plans. Whether you need to add a protein shake and maybe add extra food to it... like bananas, other fruit or etc.
I wish I had your awareness when I was your age. I was just floating along back then and not paying attention to my body and what I put in it. You're developing life habits now that will service for a lifetime.
Good Luck
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These posts continue to be a cry for help. Your not answering anyone’s questions or seemingly taking any advice to eat significantly more food. Once more how many calories a day do you eat?
My guess is your barely eating and what you are eating is strictly volume foods without any caloric density. You are doing significant damage to yourself by under-fueling and I’d like to continue to encourage you to eat much more even tho I feel like it’s a wasted effort on me12 -
When I was 12 and 5'2" I weighed about what you do now (116lbs) and considered myself thin at the time.
So yes gain weight, eat 3,000 plus cals a day and follow a structured lifting program so that most of your gain can be muscle. Gain until you are 12% BF% then re-evaluate0 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Okay, you’re dropping into the 3-5% essential body fat level for a male, below which essential functions of the body start to be affected and if you keep losing weight you die. Please stop whatever you are doing right this instant and go talk to your parents about this.Not to scare you (well, maybe a little), but my younger brother is your height and weighs about 140 lbs. His doctor told him he needed to put on weight immediately or risk his internal organs shutting down. Please talk to your parents and a counselor asap.DancingMoosie wrote: »You might be having trouble moving and staying warmed up because your body weight and fat is so low that it is trying to conserve energy. Please eat more and take a break from the exercises until your weight has normalized.FFS man.
You need to add several LBS. Consistently. Over weeks and months.
The oz you are playing with is just playing with daily fluctuations.
If you're already eating volume you need to densify the calories in your volume.
Which part of adding weight do you not understand involves extra Calories that result in added weight? As someone mentioned above: eat and drink anything and everything.
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If you are finding yourself unable to do it... does this not tell you that it is time to ask for help in real life?youngmomtaz wrote: »I am a mom. My middle son, who is a slim, muscular, 5’ 8” 15 year old weighs 140-150lbs. Please eat! Please talk to a counselor or your parents. Make up a good protein shake with some pb, or go to the nearest ice cream place and start getting a large shake daily! Everyone who has posted here has shown concern for you, at your height and growing rate you are severely limiting bodily functions. Please don’t. You need your body to grow and work optimally!staticsplit wrote: »I'm the same height as you. You're the same weight I was when I was anorexic but I'm a girl. I'm currently just over 150. Your sister has an eating disorder, but I am about 99.9% certain you do too. Please talk to your parents. See if you can see a nutritionist, a psychologist, both.
If eating more calories is proving challenging to you, go buy you some Ensure. That's what I did. Not as a replacement to meals. In addition to meals. You need to be eating much more than this. Peanut butter. Olive or coconut oil.
Once your weight is back up you can start doing weights, but at this weight it's doing you more harm than good, I'd say.
You're not going to hear anyone else on this thread say anything different. Will you consider listening to us?These posts continue to be a cry for help. Your not answering anyone’s questions or seemingly taking any advice to eat significantly more food. Once more how many calories a day do you eat?
My guess is your barely eating and what you are eating is strictly volume foods without any caloric density. You are doing significant damage to yourself by under-fueling and I’d like to continue to encourage you to eat much more even tho I feel like it’s a wasted effort on me
I’ve come to realise this is a cry for help you are right. I have always known I was underweight but yet despite knowing I could put on a few pounds I would try to maintain that underweight weight for some reason. I feel it’s due to being chubby in the past and finally slimming down and not wanting to lose the “progress” that took so long to make? I’m not afraid of gaining weight I just don’t want to gain fat which is why I started weight training in order to ensure only muscle gain but the way I’m going seems to only be hurting my body as it is constantly sore. I have been restricting my food intake lately and I don’t know why I’ve gone to eating less tortillas and on the days I don’t excediste completely skip out on lunch or drink a meal replacement as I don’t want to gain “fat” for not weight training adequately yet on those days still try to get 10,000 steps in no matter what my pain may be. On Saturdays I usually eat a turkey pesto panini but through the months since last year have reduced it I would take off the provolone to make it less calorie dense then I ordered it without pesto and yesterday first time I only eat half of the bread (they cut it in half and I put all the topping in one slice of the bread to still get my protein from the turkey). I know that I’m depriving my body yet I think I feel like not doing anything to improve until it gets to the point where I have too and I don’t know why… I guess it’s since I do my workouts and home and don’t know if I’m doing them adequately enough to be gaining muscle or just waisting my time… at this point I don’t know anymore.
Thank you all for the support really it may seem like I’m being ungrateful but I’m just confused now. Never thought I would get to this point.
I weighed in yesterday and it turns out my weight may be 5’ 10” to 5’ 11” so my bmi and weight is a tad less worse I guess…
Besides the weight everything else it’s my age and height and stuff so due to being between 5’ 10 and 5’ 11 may be a tad bit different
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I hope you speak to your doctor and get some support.2
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Youre making it too complicated. These numbers are pointless. You dont need them too see that you need to add weight. Eat more calories, lift some heavy things 3 times a week hitting every major muscle group with compound movements, and spend the remainder of the time chillin and patting yourself on the back for a job well done.....orrr, do none of the above and remain exactly as you are.
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Please see a doctor. You are underweight, you have clearly fallen over the edge into disordered eating, and now you are endangering yourself.
There are worse things than having some fat on your body. Like being dead.15 -
Dude you need to gain weight pronto. As everyone else is saying this is seriously unhealthy and could potentially have life long affects. See a doctor!! Stop skipping any meals! Stop doing cardio!
Eat as much as you can, then when you literally can’t physically eat any more drink a shake with another 1000 calories to top it off. Log your calorie intake on mfp, maybe it will help you realize how seriously deficient you are and how much you should actually be consuming. You should be able to gain a few pounds PER week. None of this .2 crap, you need POUNDS and you need it like way before yesterday.11 -
It’s okay not to be able to deal with this without some help. Anorexia is a serious illness. If your appendix hurt you wouldn’t say, “I don’t know why I can’t just stop having stomach pain,” you would go to the emergency room and get help from a doctor. I know it’s less scary to talk about it to people on the internet, because you are afraid if you tell someone nearer they will take over and you will lose control of your life. But we can’t help you from a distance. You have to go and get help yourself.
Maybe it would be easier if you frame it in terms of something you choose to do for yourself. When you are taking those selfies, instead of worrying about your percentages, say, “I choose to be strong and healthy and ask for the help I need.” Then go talk to someone who loves you and can help.12 -
My friend, as you, yourself, are saying when you say: "I don't know why", you HAVE slipped into unwanted thought and action territory.
That's where you're now. You're looking at medical intervention, doing something yourself, or, more likely, a bit of both. I would encourage medical intervention. I just know that it is often very hard to come by and I am only suggesting the below as a stop gap while you try to arrange for some real life help.
First step is to get to AT LEAST BMI 20. Regardless of what that BMI 20 looks like. Regardless of how you get there. There is nothing more unhealthy than where you're at right now. The lack of body fat and available calories in and by themselves are changing your hormonal balance, influencing your neurotransmitter levels, and influencing your decision making and ability to think!
Even if you were to gain 100% fat on your way to BMI 20 (which is impossible to do starting from where you are) it would still be more healthy than where you're currently at!
Once you're there (and we all know that BMI 20 being near the bottom end of the normal weight range cannot in any way or form be considered "chubby") you can evaluate your body composition and either start a recomp to become more muscular (by strength training while maintaining your new weight level) or decide on a more effective for muscle growth slow bulk regiment.
But now is not the time to be worrying about all this. Now is the time to move out of the danger zone and just add weight.
10,000 steps is an activity level commensurate with MFP's ACTIVE setting. Eating back exercise calories that are spent in addition to the calories for the MFP active level should be added on top!
It doesn't sound as if you're eating to that +1000 Cal on top. OR at the very least +750 on top. OR even +500 on top in order to gain weight. Frankly it doesn't even sound as if you're eating MFP active level maintenance calories in the first place!!!
Being this active means you have to eat more calories than if you were sedentary.
It will be much easier to become weight restored if you cut off ALL un-necessary activity.
If you're sore you're also retaining water. Your actual underlying weight is probably lower than what you see on your scale.
Dude... you need to be eating in the 3K calorie range while sitting on your duff12 -
Yeah, if it were easy you'd be doing it.
Eating disorders are sneaky, sneaky things. They lie. I had a bulimia slip up last year and reached for help early because I didn't want to go back down that road. I've been doing outpatient therapy since about October and will for a few more months.
Going from serious undereating to having to overeat enough to gain weight is very difficult, which is where seeing a professional is a very good idea. Starting from now, though, I urge you to try and up calories every day. Eat tortillas every day! The tortillas as your friend. At this point, food is medicine.7 -
Yeah its all true. Just trying help from a different angle. We've done sympathetic, get to a dr.....which by the way i highly recommend rather than asking for help on the Internet kind of approach. If the tough love approach did not work then hey, i tried my best. That being said, maybe my opinion has not helped, i was just frustrated at the original posters plight, and i want him to get help. Im sure if we all work together he will read these posts and take actio from them...2
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I will try and have told my parents however I am curious if I should take a week off from lifting eat more and then commence next week with lifting again or can I (should I) continue this week as well?0
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ppomoberry wrote: »I will try and have told my parents however I am curious if I should take a week off from lifting eat more and then commence next week with lifting again or can I (should I) continue this week as well?
What you have been describing with fatigue and your muscles having trouble warming up makes me think you need to focus all your efforts on eating more and stop exercising for right now. A week off won’t hurt you in any way, while exercise when you are very underweight could hurt you.
What does your doctor say about what you should do?3 -
Doesn’t really matter . Think big picture. Lift don’t lift. Lifting doesn’t really burn many calories. The only thing and i repeat the only thing that matters right now is upping your calories 5 fold. Adding POUNDS per week.
Even if you gained ten pounds of pure fat ( which you won’t) you would still be shredded body fat levels. My picture here is about 12-13 % body fat. That’s about 25 pounds of fat on me. Way more then you and I wouldn’t consider that “fat”. You want and need to gain some fat4 -
ppomoberry wrote: »I will try and have told my parents however I am curious if I should take a week off from lifting eat more and then commence next week with lifting again or can I (should I) continue this week as well?
Just. Eat. More.
Do whatever the heck else you want. Lift. Don’t lift. Don’t you get it? This is no longer about what is the perfect way to get you the body you want, this is about any way to get you a body that isn’t a decomposing skeleton six feet under the earth.
For the sake of all the gods stop faffing around rearranging the deckchairs while the Titanic is sinking. And see a medical professional!10
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