Advice on gaining weight?

angeldaisy

I know most posters are looking to lose weight, myself included, but my OH is struggling to keep his weight up.

Bit of history, he's had a total gastrectomy (stomach removed) and after a long period of recovery he is back to full health and has returned to work. only trouble is that now he is doing more exercise (through working) the weight is starting to come off, he's lost a stone in the last 4months or so. As you can imagine he can't eat too much in one sitting, although he does pretty well, so I need some ideas to calorie rich and nutrient dense foods to give him. Anyone any ideas?

neuro-praxis

Coconut, avocado, nuts, nut butters, butter, cheese and cream are all high calorie nutrient dense foods, and can be added to dishes and drinks without adding much volume. I would suggest a chat with a nutritionist though.

ApeXaviour

The above are calorie dense and fairly nutritious. They may stop weight-loss but I dunno if you'll really gain a lot. High fat diets ironically don't tend to put on much fat! But yes definitely good calories and good density if he can't eat a lot

AFAIK it's pretty important to get a significant amount of protein after something like this. I remember a friend of mine's father was more or less prescribed whey protein after a similar procedure.

The main thing I will say is if he can drink milk... then drink it. It's pretty darn easy to drink a litre of milk and that's what about 650 calories? A whole meal! Milk also possesses anti-catabolic properties (think about the age of those who are meant to drink it), which basically means it stops you wasting away.

Strength trainers drink 4 litres of whole milk a day as well as their regular meals when trying to bulk up to get stronger. Sumo wrestlers eat lots of rice before they go to sleep... (I'll let you decide who looks better).

Whey with whole milk and plenty of cheese will keep him good and strong and keep the atrophy away!

El_Dangeroso

I second ApeXaviour's point to avoid coconut, it really isn't good for putting on weight.

Khannie

Big +1 for milk.

angeldaisy

thanks for all the advice, I'm going to start getting him to drink milk, it will have to be drunk over the course of the day as too much liquid at once fills him up too much. he already has peanut butter, but I think the milk would be a good starting point. I have him at the doctors soon to get looked at to make sure there are no other issues and then maybe get referred to a dietician.

Thanks again

Sapsorrow

Hiya, my boyf has the same problem, he was really sick for about 3 months over christmas and went down to about 7 stone. He's recovering well now but it's taken ages and he's a greyhound breed as it is so it's been tough getting him to put on weight. A good one is to make smoothies to have between meals, load em up with yoghurt, coconut milk, bananas, avocado and nut butters to cram loads of extra protein and calories in. TBH though he's only managed to put on a significant amount of weight since he bought himself a weights bench and has gotten serious about working out, before he was doing that daily, the calories he consumed seemed to disappear into thin air. Now he works out at least once a day and has put on a lot of muscle and looks healthier than ever. I think last tim he weighed himself he was 8 stone and he must be 8 1/2 by now.

EDIT: forgot protein powder can be added to the smoothies too

CathyMoran

angeldaisy wrote: »

I know most posters are looking to lose weight, myself included, but my OH is struggling to keep his weight up.

Bit of history, he's had a total gastrectomy (stomach removed) and after a long period of recovery he is back to full health and has returned to work. only trouble is that now he is doing more exercise (through working) the weight is starting to come off, he's lost a stone in the last 4months or so. As you can imagine he can't eat too much in one sitting, although he does pretty well, so I need some ideas to calorie rich and nutrient dense foods to give him. Anyone any ideas?

I had similar surgery (oesphagectomy - oesophagus removed - they pulled up my stomach and removed some valves so my stomach is up by my lungs). I found that milk made me ill for about a year after the surgery but after that I could have it again. I ate a lot of fish pastes, they were easy to eat and high in protein. Cottage cheese was also good. Nut butters were brilliant. It does get easier over time. I found that eating out was really akward and tough as they were always pushing food at me so I either told the waiting staff once or went to a place that serves tapas. I know that I was told to eat several times a day and to constantly graze which I did at first but it is not practical or fun. It really does get easier with time.

angeldaisy

Hi Cathy thanks for the advice, I'm delighted that you are doing so well and are managing food ok.

I've started OH on full fat milk and he is having more peanut butter on crackers as a snack in between meals. He is having a full set of blood tests done tomorrow and hopefully this will show that all is well and his weight loss is just down to being back at work. He is down to 11 stone at the minute which is still in the ok limits for his height but he's down about 1.5 stones in the last month or so.
He never stops eating and eats really well but I guess that without having a stomach his body just doesn't absorb all the nutrients it needs.

Thanks for all the advice given