How to gain weight

[rawfoodistdavid]

While I love eating raw and the way it makes me feel I'm worried that I'm getting too thin. Even if I eat plenty of fattier raw foods (cold press oils, avocado, coconut, etc.) I just can't keep my weight up. I tried getting my carbs up by spouting lots of quinoa and cheating with brown rice cooked but I'm still loosing wieght.

I'm just short of 5'11" and weigh just over 9 stone 6 pounds, which is way thinner than most people I know, although that's apparently an okay Body Mass Index on the charts. I'm getting a touch of the skeleton ribs!

On a calorific basis I should be fine - I'm not eating like a sparrow. A day's eating might mean a 1/2 litre + smoothie in the morning with two apples, a head of spring greens, berries, a handful of seeds, a little cocnut oil.

At work, I'll maybe eat a few nuts, or a shop-bought raw bar, and some seeds mid-morning.

Lunch might be a BIG salad with a near plateful of mixed sprouts - broccili, alfafa, mustard, radish, chick peas, mung, sunflower, seasoned with olive oila and liquid aminos.

Dinner is often a raw soup or curry. Again a 1/2 litre quanity and often with either sprouted quinoa grains of cheaty brown rice and seeds and/or sprouts sprinked on top.

Interspersed I may have juices, small smoothies snack during the day so I don't think I'm eating in some anorexic way.

Anyone else feel they're losing too much weight and did you find a simple solution?

[Raene]

There are tons of threads about this...click the yellow search banana.
For some quick tips, I've read that eating your largest meal in the morning is best.
The majority of people trying to gain weight here agree that it's not going to happen without exercise. You need to start lifting weights. It's HEAVY weights and FEW reps. That's the way to do it.
I'm working on this too. I practically drink olive oil from the jar, eat lots of bananas and dates, etc, but until I start really exercising, I realize I'm not going to gain all that much.
However, you have to lose before you gain on raw, and it's true that you might just still be in the process of releasing toxins. You'll gain back weight your body needs when that process is finished.
Good luck!

[lalakis]

YOGA!

I packed on a good 15-20 lbs of muscle this way. Went from 95 to 115! Yay! I'm not underweight anymore!

[steveoregon]

I hear you. I've never been overweight. I was about 150lbs (5' 10" medium build) when I started switching to raw in Feb (had been about 70% raw for three years). 150 lbs was just about right.

I'm now 2.5 months 100% raw. I've been 130lbs for about two months now. Kinda scary.

There are a lot of older threads on this. Do an advanced search on "skinny" (titles only).

I can certainly tell you that eating more isn't the answer for me. I already feel like I'm eating too much. Even gorging on those very expensive raw nut butters ($15-$30 per bottle) doesn't help - which is not something I would recommend anyway - nor will I be doing any more.

Steve

[Sugar Snap Pea]

Just follow me around, eat what I eat. You'll gain weight! :rolleyes:

[walnutty]

Just follow me around, eat what I eat. You'll gain weight! :rolleyes:

You go, girl!!! Ha ha ha...or me! If I didn't count calories and exercise like crazy I would EASILY gain weight on raw.

[Raw Angel Mom]

You could have a problem of absorbion, leaky guts etc.... For my personal experience, i went down to 106 lb when i am 5'6" tall quite underweight and i am back up now to a normal weight 126lb. I think that i even droped to 104 at some point but not long. Maybe our body needs to get the bad fat before it wants to store the good one. DEFINETELY WEIGH LIFTING AND EXERCISE is a must. Exercise bring balance, too much weight you will loose it not enough you will gain it. When i was young i was underweight and it is only when i started to exercise and do weight lifting that i finally gained weight.

[Eva]

Ha! You could try fasting then binging to mess with your metabolism. Seriously though -- it slows your metabolism even to juice fast so you get to the point where your body needs fewer calories.

[RawDancer]

I'm trying to gain weight too. It's more dificult to gain weight on raw but it is possible. I know weight lifting is the key. For some people it is impossible to gain fat on raw so the only way to gain weight is to build muscle.
Try eating alot of sprouted grains, bananas, avocados, hempseeds, dark leafy greens. You could have the type of body that loses weight when you eat fat so you have to eat carbs instead.