Strategies to gain weight

[slinkster]

I am a 34 year old woman, 5'4" and I have fluctuated between 95 and 100 lbs during my adult life. I suffer from IBS and have started Whole30 to try and heal my gut and gain weight. Its a constant cycle of IBS - malabsorption - no weight gain. I have a very slender build already so the most I'm likely to ever weigh is 110-115 - but that would be awesome! Celiac, Crohns, SIBO, pernicious anemia along with some other common other issues have all been ruled out.

The diet has not been that difficult to follow but I am hungry all of the time. I am trying to incorporate a potato or avocado into every meal but it's not really addressing the hunger. I'm about 2 weeks in and I want to stick it out for the potential gut healing outcomes but I'm feeling like I need more food. I eat about every 2 hours for snacks (almonds, almond butter, fruit) and 3 full meals a day. To really heal my gut this will likely be at least a 45-60 day process for me but I'm going to need to address the hunger to make it that far. There is no way I'm going to gain any weight with the way this is going.

On the upside, I already am starting to get a glimpse of less bloat and more energy.

Any advice? Any high calorie recipes to try? Thanks!

[ShannonM816]

You might check out this article:  https://whole30.com/2013/12/keeping-weight-whole30/

I'd also strongly urge you not to rely on nuts as a fat source. Even in people with healthy digestive systems, they can cause issues. 

If you're hungry between meals, work on making your meals larger, and rather than snacking on fruit and nuts, have a combination of protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three. 

[slinkster]

Thanks! I read this article prior to starting and it has been one of the few I've found about trying to gain weight on whole 30. I was trying to access the meal planning template but it doesn't appear to work. I will give the recipes imbedded in the article a try.

[SugarcubeOD]

26 minutes ago, slinkster said:

Thanks! I read this article prior to starting and it has been one of the few I've found about trying to gain weight on whole 30. I was trying to access the meal planning template but it doesn't appear to work. I will give the recipes imbedded in the article a try.

The meal planning template linked in my signature below should work