Tired of being WAY too skinny... Help!

[timiscoolerthanyou]

Hey, I'm 31 male caucasian, and I started going through the wringer with my crohn's about nine years ago. When this all started I was 6'1" 260 lbs, I was always the fat kid all through school. I shed about 70 lbs and the first three months of throwing up everything but water. I was misdiagnosed over and over and through a bunch of insurance and doctor changes didn't have an answer to my issues till about 3 years ago when I was diagnosed with Crohn's after the third colonoscopy. Smh..... now I'm sitting at 6'2" 153lbs this morning. I'm in central California so ya seer an unhealthy looking skinny guy with bad teeth you don't think "man this guy is sick" you think"tweaker.....". I'm sick of it, I've got my diet under control (no alcohol, no dairy, no tomato) and I've got appetite, but it seems like no matter how much I eat I can't put on any weight! The highest I've been was 165 two weeks ago, then some crazy home life stress reared its head, and I dropped.
Any suggestions for putting back on pounds? Btw, I work in an extremely physically demanding job, wrecking yard, on my feet all day, good 10+ miles of walking a day.

 

[idlebrain]

hi timiscollerthanyou,
i am no diet expert but am sure more experienced and knowledgeable people on this forum will respond or refer you to better sources of information. Obviously, we all (Crohnies) have absorption issues which makes it that much more difficult to gain or maintain healthy weight.
I feel for you and always wondered how people with physical and demanding jobs cope up with this condition. Good luck and best wishes friend.

 

[theOcean]

I also lost a lot of weight after my last flare, and had to ask my doctor for tips on putting back weight. She said it isn't really how much you're eating, as it is how many calories you're consuming in a day. So try drinking and eating things with higher calories when you're hungry, and you could also try meal supplement drinks too for additional calories.

 

[fastfourier]

Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength. Take a look at it, it's pretty cheap on Amazon and a pretty good introduction into strength building and getting denser.

 

[hugh]

If you are not absorbing your food then you will not put on weight - it does not help and may do alot of harm to force more crap food into yourself!!!!!
Try the Paleo/SCD/GAPS route. (plenty of posts on the forum)
I didn't start putting on any weight until i stopped eating carbs, but once i went paleo i put on 11 kg (mostly muscle) without any exercise at all

 

[kel]

Hugh as much as I agree with you on diet I find it unlikely you gained 25 lbs (mostly?) of muscle without working for it.

 

[hugh]

i went from a walking skeleton back to my pre-ilness weight with only my normal (fairly physical) work and no exercise over a period of about 6 months.
Once i reached my normal (and still fairly thin) weight i stopped gaining weight and have hovered around 64-66kg no matter what i eat (paleo with rice)

I was active but not exercising.

 

[kel]

I have no doubts about that but what makes you think it was not just your normal bodyfat coming back on?

 

[hugh]

I'm sure it was both fat and muscle, but i have very little body fat, and muscle gain (thighs,arms,chest) was easily visible.
I'm not saying i turned into the Hulk, just that i returned to my pre-illness size.

 

[kel]

A return to normality sounds more reasonable. Ok.

Sorry for the derail.

 

[chrohnotrigger]

Something similar happened to me right after I fixed my diet. I went from walking skeltor at 6ft 130 lbs to 149 lbs in one month. Mind you my pre-crohns weight was ~170. I gained back almost 20 lbs by strictly following SCD/Paleo diet (nearly every meal cooked by me, tons of eggs, beef, chicken soup) and some moderate lifting in the gym (moderate in that I was trying not to exert myself nearly as much as I would pre-crohns). I've since basically plateaued though ... still trying to figure myself out! I'm looking forward to the challenge.

I (also) recommend picking up a program like Rippetoe's Starting Strength (others similar are the stronglifts.com and the greyskull lp). These workouts focus on the big olympic lifts, specifically the squat, deadlift, press, and bench press. I like them because I can omit parts of the workout based on how I'm feeling but still know I did not squander my time in the gym. Specifically, if I'm tired and lethargic, I just know I got to do my squats and my bench and everything after that is negligible, but if I'm feeling good I'll do all the supplementary exercises (curls for the gurls).

 

[kel]

You've stopped progressing because you still need to gain a lot more weight. At 6'3 you should not stop gaining until you're at least 200 lbs.

 

[Wallace]

I spoke with a dietitian this afternoon over the phone, she recommended Absorb Plus.

http://www.absorbplus.com/index.php

 

[TexasCoach]

have you tried to eat a bunch of potatoes and Roman Noodles and Peanut Butter and a ton of yogurt and Salmon, and tuna all which are easy to digest in my experience

 

[kjkenny45]

I have walked a mile in your shoes exactly! I understand the "why the heck is this person so skinny........is it drugs or AIDS?".........I am 5'10", never overweight and lost 50lbs.....a few pounds more and I would be in the hospital.

After 5 long years of pain, living close to a bathroom, having various medicines not work, listening to medical professionals pitch other FDA approved garbage with deadly side-effects, I found LDN and it took 2 years for me to try it. I wish I did not waste those 2 years.

I started using LDN (Low Does Naltrexone) in Sept 2013. Within 48 hours I stopped having diarrhea, pains subsided and went away in a week, started feeling a bit better and my energy started improving. It took 5 months for my body to heal in order to properly absorb the nutrients and vitamins I was lacking and for the first time (so long I forgot how long) I actually have gained weight. Not a lot but it is a start. I weighted in at 139lbs this past Friday March 28, 2014. May not sound like much but when you should be at 175lbs and have not seen a number over 140lbs for over 2 years it makes you wonder.

Here is what I did, not saying this is a cure all but logically it makes perfect sense to try since there is no risk compared to using 6-MP or Humira or any other garbage out there.

I used high levels of vitamins due to malabsorption issues....vitamin D, E, all B's and of course Iron. Started the higher levels of vitamins in Sept 2013
Started using medical marijuana for the sole purpose of having the "munchies".
Started acupuncture in Oct 2013 once a week. It helped with reducing pain and gastro issue improvement.
Started using LDN at the end of Sept 2013. Using 4.5mg per day at night. I never had a side-effects or trouble tolerating it.
Started "juicing" in Dec 2013 meaning drinking my veggies and fruit more often. Heavy use of apples, oranges and blueberries......Cant wait until they are in season!
Also by medical necessity I have to maintain a gluen-free diet so no junk foods like the processed garbage most Americans eat and wonder why they are fat and tired and not feeling well.......just my opinion.

Sounds like a simple plan to consider. Sorry, no big pharma will get rich off of this approach.....I have noticed the normal medical solution for CD or any other IBD issues is an ongoing expensive pill or injection. I conclude that if you get a few million folks taking a medicine that costs $800 a month or more then you can have real money as it adds up...........my painful journey has concluded that if you follow the money you will find the truth..........

I hope this post and suggestion helps someone as it helped me greatly. My goal is to get to 150lbs before my birthday in July........it is not cool weighting less now than I did in eight grade.....

Be good!
Kevin

 

[Basmah]

I think most of the folks have given you sound advice, but just to reiterate, you might need to tweak something in your diet. I was underweight for 10 years, until I started doing some research. I think it's different for each person, but for some reason, protein shakes has been what worked best for me. I use rice protein powder, which is easy to digest. In the last year I gained about 30 pounds (I was 120 before, and 5'11" tall). I work an incredibly demanding job with at risk children, so I have to make sure to take care of myself. The point of my reply is to try to change something in your diet, whether it is food or extra supplements, and see where it takes you. Good luck, and let us know how you are doing!!

 

[kjkenny45]

I agree and did already address the diet issue some time ago. With crohns, celiac disease and UC I was having absorption issues and food passed right out of me once consumed. That has stopped after a few weeks of using LDN, which to me works very well. After stabilizing around 130-134lbs I finally made it to 139lbs as of this past Friday. Goal is to get to 150lbs by July.

Thank you!

 

[mish2575]

It helped me to realize what diarrhea was too. Diarrhea is the food you have chewed up and is then mashed and mixed with acid (and other liquids) in the stomach. It then moves to the intestines where the liquid part of the mash (which contains nutrients/calories) is absorbed. But if your intestines are pushing stuff through too fast due to crohns your intestines never have a chance to absorb the food.

anti-diarrheal helped me. I had a prescription for Lomotil but found that Immodium-AD worked fine for me.

That along with white, starchy foods helped me gain weight . . . too much weight. LOL