How many calories needed to gain weight?

[DanielBishop]

If she had an eating disorder, I don't think she'd be trying to gain fat. She certainly doesn't have an eating disorder.... and she's been trying for some time to gain weight, and has been eating as much as she can. I think she's just cursed with a small appetite, and she gets full easily and feels nauseous if she pushes herself.

I know it seems weird to most of you. I thought it was strange when I first got to know her as well, but I guess I'm used to it now.

But 15-20lbs isn't gunna turn her into a lardass. She's managed to gain 10lbs or so before, and she was happy with the way it just thickened her thighs and arms up a bit.... that's all she wants. She's underweight. She just wants to be normal for her height.

Sometimes I worry about her health because I think something must be wrong if you're eating burgers and fries and pizza and ice-cream and still not gaining any weight.... but she's still menstrating okay so at least that shows her bodyfat levels aren't DANGEROUSLY low. Just too low for her liking and she would prefer to be slightly chubbier.

Anyway, no one really answered the question. How many calories per pound of bodyweight?

 

[Ingram]

Ok I'll throw out a number... how about 20 calories per body weight?

 

[DanielBishop]

Thank you. We'll give it a try.

 

[mlomker]

Anyway, no one really answered the question. How many calories per pound of bodyweight?

20 is a good number for a bodybuilder that wants to gain. Fat, I believe, is 3000 cals per pound. You'd have to eat 3000 cals per pound beyond her maintenance. You can figure out the basal metabolic rate by using a number of calculators on the Internet.

I'd seriously be talking to an MD about this, though. Has she checked her thyroid function and other key levels with a Doc? Hyperthyroidism can make someone abnormally thin (imagine being on Cytomel all of the time). They have drugs to treat that.

 

[toga22]

I read your thread a couple of weeks ago when you posted this before. My question to you is the last time that you posted did you start to increase your wife's calorie intake with foods that are higher in fat? And if you did increase her fat intake and you stated in this thread that she lost weight?

Dose your wife have an overactive thyroid? This may be something you might want to look into if she continues to eat higher calories and loses weight. My suggestion then would be to go to the doctor, and they would be able to prescribe medicine to slow her thyroid down and thus she will then gain weight!

Best of luck to you in you quest to get fat!