Diet advice for an underweight teenager.

burrenguy

So I read through the stickies and I didn't find something answering this question, so I said i'd make a thread.
I'm 16, 5'8 and 110lbs. I'd like to put on some muscle mass If i can, i'm thinking maybe 10-15kg long term (optimistically). A lot of the nutrition and exercise advice on the internet is geared towards adults and/or Americans. I have a fair amount of trouble with chronic indigestion if I eat a little too much, which is mostly stress related. I eat clean: no chocolate, taytos or anything like that ever. I'm not looking to go completely Paleo or anything, I just want to gain some healthy weight atm.
E.g here what I've eaten today.
Breakfast: Peanut butter and jam sandwich on white bread.
Lunch: 1.5 chicken wraps.
Dinner: Potatoes, carrots, peas and pork chops.
I only drink water and milk.

I know this isn't much, but as I said its hard to eat much more. So could someone give me some cheap ideas of food I could add in to add calories?
Thanks.

Ri_Nollaig

You could try drinking more milk, loads of calories and you say you like it.
Perhaps a pint with every meal. Make sure its full fat.

Trying adding more fats as well; eggs, bacon, olive oil. Should up the calaorie intake nicely and help with muscle growth.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Could buy powdered oats and protein. Mix two scoops of each with full fat milk. Boom, loads of calories.

Chancer3001

+10 for the full fat milk.

You can make shakes in a blender easily too.
Add in cream, peanut butter, raw eggs,protein powder and then tasty stuff like bananas etc.
Youll easily get 1000 calorie shake.

Chancer3001

just re-read your post.

the start to your day isnt very substantial at all.

Could you try switching to eggs for breakfast? Steak and eggs if possible?

Then add the Pbutter sandwich to the chicken.

Add in pint/litre of milk at breakfast, dinner and lunch and thats an absolutely huge difference in calories.

keep eating clean. Start eating more.

PPS - youre allowed eat after dinner ya know

InTheTrees

There's some great food log apps out there too.

Keep a log. it really helps you see where you're missing out and where you can add more.

burrenguy

Thanks everyone for all the replies.

Ariana Embarrassed Tension wrote: »

Could buy powdered oats and protein. Mix two scoops of each with full fat milk. Boom, loads of calories.

When you say powdered oats, is that porridge you're talking about?

Chancer3001 wrote: »

just re-read your post.

the start to your day isnt very substantial at all.

Could you try switching to eggs for breakfast? Steak and eggs if possible?

Not sure I could get steak and eggs... but would a grilled rasher and scrambled eggs be alright?

jimeryan22

burrenguy wrote: »

So I read through the stickies and I didn't find something answering this question, so I said i'd make a thread.
I'm 16, 5'8 and 110lbs. I'd like to put on some muscle mass If i can, i'm thinking maybe 10-15kg long term (optimistically). A lot of the nutrition and exercise advice on the internet is geared towards adults and/or Americans. I have a fair amount of trouble with chronic indigestion if I eat a little too much, which is mostly stress related. I eat clean: no chocolate, taytos or anything like that ever. I'm not looking to go completely Paleo or anything, I just want to gain some healthy weight atm.
E.g here what I've eaten today.
Breakfast: Peanut butter and jam sandwich on white bread.
Lunch: 1.5 chicken wraps.
Dinner: Potatoes, carrots, peas and pork chops.
I only drink water and milk.

I know this isn't much, but as I said its hard to eat much more. So could someone give me some cheap ideas of food I could add in to add calories?
Thanks.

Dude.. You defo need to look up wallach if you suffer from indegestion. It should be called "lack of acid reflux" not "acid reflux"... You could be gluton intolerant.. If you don't take salt on your dinners... Start

jimeryan22

Chancer3001 wrote: »

just re-read your post.

the start to your day isnt very substantial at all.

Could you try switching to eggs for breakfast? Steak and eggs if possible?

Then add the Pbutter sandwich to the chicken.

Add in pint/litre of milk at breakfast, dinner and lunch and thats an absolutely huge difference in calories.

keep eating clean. Start eating more.

PPS - youre allowed eat after dinner ya know

Oh and the big breakfast things a fallacy also.. Putting to much strain on digestive system first thing in the morning is actually NOT healthy.. Small and regular.. And loading up with loads if carbs is also not good advice I'm afraid

jimeryan22

Look up also "one world whey" for all you bodybuilders

burrenguy

right thanks jimeryan22. Would adding salt to my diet help me digest food better? I've actually avoided using table salt.

jimeryan22

burrenguy wrote: »

right thanks jimeryan22. Would adding salt to my diet help me digest food better? I've actually avoided using table salt.

That's correct.. Chief cells of the lining of the stomach wall require sodium chloride (salt) to make hydrochloric acid..stomach acid...
Ant acids prescribed actually worsen the problem.. Sea salts better than table salt.. You can also look into getting suppliment "enzymes" that you then take with meals to help

burrenguy

jimeryan22 wrote: »

That's correct.. Chief cells of the lining of the stomach wall require sodium chloride (salt) to make hydrochloric acid..stomach acid...
Ant acids prescribed actually worsen the problem.. Sea salts better than table salt.. You can also look into getting suppliment "enzymes" that you then take with meals to help

we actually use sea salt mostly anymore.. I never would have thought of that, thanks!

jimeryan22

burrenguy wrote: »

we actually use sea salt mostly anymore.. I never would have thought of that, thanks!

Your most welcome..

Also, for anyone interested, I suggest a good documentary "food matters" found on either Netflix or YouTube...
Will blow your mind

thegreatiam

burrenguy wrote: »

So I read through the stickies and I didn't find something answering this question, so I said i'd make a thread.
I'm 16, 5'8 and 110lbs. I'd like to put on some muscle mass If i can, i'm thinking maybe 10-15kg long term (optimistically). A lot of the nutrition and exercise advice on the internet is geared towards adults and/or Americans. I have a fair amount of trouble with chronic indigestion if I eat a little too much, which is mostly stress related. I eat clean: no chocolate, taytos or anything like that ever. I'm not looking to go completely Paleo or anything, I just want to gain some healthy weight atm.
E.g here what I've eaten today.
Breakfast: Peanut butter and jam sandwich on white bread.
Lunch: 1.5 chicken wraps.
Dinner: Potatoes, carrots, peas and pork chops.
I only drink water and milk.

I know this isn't much, but as I said its hard to eat much more. So could someone give me some cheap ideas of food I could add in to add calories?
Thanks.

Breakfast is not "clean" white bread is actually pretty bad, and jam is just sugar.
Lunch is also not "clean" wraps are the same as white bread.

Dinner is clean, depending on how much pork you are eating.

My guess as a whole you r diet lacks good carbs, lacks fat and protein

There are a million threads offering advice, search through them and you will get ideas.

But basically it's:
Eat meat and 2 vegetables every meal.
not hard not complicated.

Avoid processed foods, white bread (actually white flour) wraps, tortilla, bagels, pita etc are all made with processed white flour and can contribute to digestion problems. stop eating them.
Breakfast. if you want to stick with peanut butter then take a couple of scoop and throw it on some sliced fruit instead of that dodgy sandwich. Sliced apples and P.butter are great, as is banana, pear, etc.
For lunch ditch the wrap, get salad, with real chicken breast, at least 150g and plenty of colourful veg. (veg not salad, ie not just cucumber, tomato and lettuce)
for dinner continue with eating meat and veg

Drinks. Stick with milk. morning noon and night. Milk has a good balance of carb, protein and fat (get full fat milk) and has a growth hormone.

Think about this: the most growing you ever did was when you were only drinking milk and nothing else. Your body doubled, near tripled in size on a solely milk based diet.

for some research look up GOMAD, Gallon Of Milk A Day

Other proteins which are cheap are turkey, minced beef, tuna and whole chicken, beans and of course milk.

burrenguy

thegreatiam wrote: »

Breakfast is not "clean" white bread is actually pretty bad, and jam is just sugar.
Lunch is also not "clean" wraps are the same as white bread.

Dinner is clean, depending on how much pork you are eating.

My guess as a whole you r diet lacks good carbs, lacks fat and protein

There are a million threads offering advice, search through them and you will get ideas.

But basically it's:
Eat meat and 2 vegetables every meal.
not hard not complicated.

Avoid processed foods, white bread (actually white flour) wraps, tortilla, bagels, pita etc are all made with processed white flour and can contribute to digestion problems. stop eating them.
Breakfast. if you want to stick with peanut butter then take a couple of scoop and throw it on some sliced fruit instead of that dodgy sandwich. Sliced apples and P.butter are great, as is banana, pear, etc.
For lunch ditch the wrap, get salad, with real chicken breast, at least 150g and plenty of colourful veg. (veg not salad, ie not just cucumber, tomato and lettuce)
for dinner continue with eating meat and veg

Drinks. Stick with milk. morning noon and night. Milk has a good balance of carb, protein and fat (get full fat milk) and has a growth hormone.

Think about this: the most growing you ever did was when you were only drinking milk and nothing else. Your body doubled, near tripled in size on a solely milk based diet.

for some research look up GOMAD, Gallon Of Milk A Day

Other proteins which are cheap are turkey, minced beef, tuna and whole chicken, beans and of course milk.

thanks for all the advice. Would switching over to whole wheat bread be beneficial? I know white bread isn't strictly "clean" but I don't think its as bad as its made out to be.

thegreatiam

burrenguy wrote: »

thanks for all the advice. Would switching over to whole wheat bread be beneficial? I know white bread isn't strictly "clean" but I don't think its as bad as its made out to be.

It's devoid of all nutrients. Its basically just cardboard because its processed so much.

Bread in general is pretty bad. More specifically wheat. Most people, even those which don't have a gluten intolerance don't efficiently digest wheat. and see almost immediate health benefits by removing it from their diet.

Replacing white for brown is like changing cardboard for thick paper.

I don't 100% subscribe to the idea, but in all honesty I got rid of 99% of bread from my diet and feel a lot better for it. Besides, you have multiple options to increase your calories with protein, fats and better carbs rather than fill up on bread.

burrenguy

thegreatiam wrote: »

It's devoid of all nutrients. Its basically just cardboard because its processed so much.

Bread in general is pretty bad. More specifically wheat. Most people, even those which don't have a gluten intolerance don't efficiently digest wheat. and see almost immediate health benefits by removing it from their diet.

Replacing white for brown is like changing cardboard for thick paper.

I don't 100% subscribe to the idea, but in all honesty I got rid of 99% of bread from my diet and feel a lot better for it. Besides, you have multiple options to increase your calories with protein, fats and better carbs rather than fill up on bread.

Right. Well I try to limit the amount of bread I eat in general, but I could make more of an effort to.. I won't be able to cut it out fully though, not while I'm living at home. But thanks for the advice anyway.

jimeryan22

thegreatiam wrote: »

It's devoid of all nutrients. Its basically just cardboard because its processed so much.

Bread in general is pretty bad. More specifically wheat. Most people, even those which don't have a gluten intolerance don't efficiently digest wheat. and see almost immediate health benefits by removing it from their diet.

Replacing white for brown is like changing cardboard for thick paper.

I don't 100% subscribe to the idea, but in all honesty I got rid of 99% of bread from my diet and feel a lot better for it. Besides, you have multiple options to increase your calories with protein, fats and better carbs rather than fill up on bread.

I'd agree with 99% of that, your right with the bread thing, this is the whole "gluton" thing.. The body doesn't digest it well at all.. Doctors don't seem to put 2 and 2 together and work out when someone's gluton intolerant.. Therefore all the digestive disorders, you could suffer for years and not know it..
As for the milk thing.. I'd whole heartedly agree if your drinking it straight out of your own grass fed cow.. But milk these days has had all the goodness boiled out of it..

Oryx

I have cleaned up some posts in this thread. jimeryan22 do not post to promote a product again.

Magenta

thegreatiam wrote: »

Drinks. Stick with milk. morning noon and night. Milk has a good balance of carb, protein and fat (get full fat milk) and has a growth hormone.

Think about this: the most growing you ever did was when you were only drinking milk and nothing else. Your body doubled, near tripled in size on a solely milk based diet.

Are you trying to say that the OP is suddenly going to start growing again if he drinks more milk?
There's a difference between growing and gaining weight.

thegreatiam

Magenta wrote: »

Are you trying to say that the OP is suddenly going to start growing again if he drinks more milk?
There's a difference between growing and gaining weight.

Im really not sure what you're trying to imply here.

Firstly you never stop growing. something on your body is always growing, if its your ears, nose or hair.
Secondly, growing is gaining weight.
Dont confuse growing muscle and gaining fat.


protein + correct stress on the body will cause the body to grow muscle tissue. This is growth.

gaining weight is increasing the body's total mass. be it from muscle, or fat deposits. or excessive body hair.

jimeryan22

Sorry, I wasn't trying to pee anyone off.. Just trying to share something I think will have benifits for people.. Including myself like..

burrenguy

thegreatiam wrote: »

Im really not sure what you're trying to imply here.

Firstly you never stop growing. something on your body is always growing, if its your ears, nose or hair.
Secondly, growing is gaining weight.
Dont confuse growing muscle and gaining fat.


protein + correct stress on the body will cause the body to grow muscle tissue. This is growth.

gaining weight is increasing the body's total mass. be it from muscle, or fat deposits. or excessive body hair.

Off topic, but will milk help me grow taller at my age? That'd be good.

Oryx

burrenguy wrote: »

Off topic, but will milk help me grow taller at my age? That'd be good.

No. Your height is genetic.

thegreatiam

burrenguy wrote: »

Off topic, but will milk help me grow taller at my age? That'd be good.

Ah, bless

burrenguy

sorry guys. I know its genetic... but does milk help you grow taller within your genetic limit? I'm not looking to go beyond that, as that can't be done.

Chancer3001

So what's the plan for breakfast?

I'm still promoting steak and eggs.

And yeah scrambled eggs are excellent.

Rashers are processed to pieces usually. Try and fit in unprocessed meat if you can handle it at that hour?

burrenguy

Chancer3001 wrote: »

So what's the plan for breakfast?

I'm still promoting steak and eggs.

And yeah scrambled eggs are excellent.

Rashers are processed to pieces usually. Try and fit in unprocessed meat if you can handle it at that hour?

I'll try, but I don't know if I'll be able to eat something like steak/pork/beef in the morning... even cooking it might be an issue. Would butcher bought rashers be any good?

Chancer3001

If you can't eat it then dont force it.

Scrambled eggs is good.

An egg has roughly 7g of protein in it afaik...

Keep a food diary too. Add up the total carbs, protein, fat, calories.

Even for a few days.

It can be a huge eye opener.

burrenguy

Chancer3001 wrote: »

If you can't eat it then dont force it.

Scrambled eggs is good.

An egg has roughly 7g of protein in it afaik...

Keep a food diary too. Add up the total carbs, protein, fat, calories.

Even for a few days.

It can be a huge eye opener.

right thanks chancer.. I'll do that. I'd say i'm eating between 1500-2000 a day anyway, but no harm in making sure.

Chancer3001

Ok, next hing you need to do is figure out how many calories you burn.

If you got out of bed and lay on the couch all day you'd burn more than 1500 calories...

Google calorie calculator, add in exercise etc.

To gain weight you could be looking at almost 3000 calories a day.

Literally doubling everything you eat!

Food diary will help you get a much clearer picture.

burrenguy

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Ok, next hing you need to do is figure out how many calories you burn.

If you got out of bed and lay on the couch all day you'd burn more than 1500 calories...

Google calorie calculator, add in exercise etc.

To gain weight you could be looking at almost 3000 calories a day.

Literally doubling everything you eat!

Food diary will help you get a much clearer picture.

ugh. I have a feeling this is not going to be fun. But oh well, it'll be grand. Thanks anyway! I may update here in a few day with a food diary.

InTheTrees

+1 on keeping a log. You'll be suprised how much youre missing. I've managed to out on 5lbs with it over the last couple of months.

I've been using this:

www.myfitnesspal.com

Works on PC, also Apps for iphone, android etc and they sync together. The ony issue could be that its american.

InTheTrees

burrenguy wrote: »

right thanks chancer.. I'll do that. I'd say i'm eating between 1500-2000 a day anyway, but no harm in making sure.

Yeah, Thats seems very low and you have to be more precise than that.

A 20 minute run and you'd need to add 400 for instance just to stay even.

burrenguy

Just checking out that website now. I'll give it a go anyway. And ya, I'm sure it will be difficult to get in enough calories, but hopefully I'll manage.

InTheTrees

I'm struggling from around 70kgs to my goal of 75kgs. I started around 67.

Consuming around 3500 cals a day when I exercise, 2600 when I dont. And I lost weight last week. Argh...