Backwards diet help?

[Vivid-Dawn]

I am under doctor order to gain 5 pounds by the end of October. (and probably another 5 pounds by Thanksgiving, then another 5 by Christmas...ugh!) I need to eat 350-500 calories every 2 hours. I do okay with the main meals - breakfast, lunch, dinner - but kind of struggling with the inbetween snacks.
I don't want to eat too many items, or something too filling, then not want to eat the bigger meal in 2 hours later.

Here's what I've been doing so far. I keep rotating these, and starting to get bored. Any suggestions or ideas for other stuff is appreciated

CALORIES ITEM(S)
400 "diet" shake (banana, peanut butter, chocolate drink powder (like Nesquick), 10 oz whole milk) I can really only drink this once every other day, it gets boring fast.

150 fruit juice
200 milk (whole fat)
+
150 “yogurt” raisins
200 chocolate covered peanuts 
200 tortilla chips & sour cream 
200 cottage cheese with mandarin orange slices
250 candy/granola bars
250 graham crackers & cream cheese 
250 fruit (dried or fresh) & yogurt 
300 chocolate pudding & cookies

P.s. I have a tight grocery budget. $200 monthly. I do like avocados/guacamole, but it's kind of expensive. Never been able to find a Hummus that's over 100 calories for 2 tablespoon servings, and it's filling! 
I do the home made diet shake, because my insurance won't pay for Ensure, Boost, Scandishake, etc.

 

[compassrose]

You might want to be a little careful of the carbs. Add a neutral protein powder to a lot of your foods to build muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat. I use whey protein (to lose weight) as I have a very, very low tolerance to soy anything.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Try adding ice cream (the more 'cream' the better) to your shakes.  Different flavors add variety.  Adding protein powder adds calories.  But beware, fat and protein take longer to digest and make you feel satisfied longer, so you will have to force yourself to eat.

If you just want to gain weight (fat), without consideration of nutrition, refined starches and sugars will do it the fastest, easiest, cheapest.  Unless you are a gym rat, I don't think 5 lb of muscle is possible in a month; for that you need lots of protein and lots of strength training.

-- Spiff

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

The only muscle I'm worried about right now, is my heart. It's the reason I need to gain... I've lost 15 pounds in the last 18 months, 5 of those since this July. My heart failure has suddenly gotten worse, and the poor clunky ticker is struggling. My doctor says I am using 2 to 3 times more energy than most people just for daily function.

He says it doesn't matter what I eat, just as long as I pack in the calories. I can eat all the junk food I want, if it helps (I have been eating quite a lot of donuts and brownies, but not getting bored of those LOL). I take a daily multi-vitamin to make up in the deficiency of not having as many veggies. I do like fruit, though!

I'm going to switch to having the shake at night, though, because it IS very filling. Then I can let it settle while I'm sleeping. Might also help with the fact I keep waking up at 3 am feeling hungry. (like right now, except it's only 12:45. So I just had a burrito with cheese and sour cream = 500 calories!)
I thought about adding whey protein powder to anything I can, but it's only 20 calories per spoonful. I can get more out of heavy cream or olive oil, so I'll be putting that in stuff like my scrambled eggs in the morning and mashed potatoes at dinner.

 

[offroad]

Make a recipe of GORP and snack on it all day. Your digestive system will turn that into pounds. That's what hikers need when they burn calories during 20 mile hiking days on the Appalachian trail.

 

[highdesertranger]

If you can truly eat anything, throw in some mayo on that list. you no you can add mayo to cake mixes when baking. I am not sure how you do this maybe someone can chime in. but I have had cakes with mayo and they are very moist and very rich. highdesertranger

 

[NickTheoBennett]

highdesertranger, I imagine if you were adding mayo to a baking recipe you would just need to reduce the other liquids to compensate. Might not be that helpful to remove oil or butter just to add mayo though.


Vivid-Dawn - You know they sell ice cream by the gallon, right? =D

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Vivid-Dawn - You know they sell ice cream by the gallon, right? =D

When I was young and trying to gain weight ice cream was my go to snack 

Now that I am old and trying to loose weight ice cream is still my go to snack   :huh: 

-- Spiff

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

If only they sold Haagan Dasz by the gallon... that stuff is 300 calories per serving! (and tastes better too)

 

[Rivmage]

What you need is calories...protein and carbs provide 4 calories per gram vs fat at 9 calories per gram. You need high fat foods.

Replace all milk with whipping cream as much as possible. 1 cup of whipping cream is 821 calories vs 1 cup whole milk at 142 calories.

Scott

 

[offroad]

Be careful about clogging your arteries with fast overload of that fat diet. There is only so much calories your body can process. Exercise for strength will help you gain weight.

 

[Caroline57]

I struggled with excessive weight loss when I was 17 due to my small intestine being severely damaged not working, ulcers, and bleeding in the intestines. Let me tell you, getting to a point where I was no longer anemic, malnourished, and exhausted all the time was incredibly difficult. It's hard to gain weight when the organ that Absorbs nutrients and calories, your small intestine, is so damaged or barely works. When I got sick I saw tons of doctors who all told me to eat different things. But when eating is painful and you have appetite loss it's hard to do. You don't have to take my advice but I'm just telling you what worked for me. I eat a ton of fruit and potatoes and oatmeal and rice and pasta, no processed sugar hardly any oil and no animal products. I'm not saying by any means go vegan that's a personal choice. But I found that although fruit and potatoes and such are lower in calories than ice cream, fruit usually digest and leaves the stomach in 20min. 4 bananas (400 calories) leaves the stomach in 20 minutes and digest very quickly. Where as dairy and meat takes hours sometimes to leave the stomach. The faster it leaves the stomach the sooner you'll be hungry enough to eat again. Mangoes are 150-200 calories each. I can easily eat 3 and be hungry again in an hour or two. If I eat meat, I'll be full for hours.

I now happily and easily eat 3000 calories or so a day. I get all the nutrients I need, no vitamins needed and I have not only returned myself to a healthy weight, but I can now compete athletically again. My health is back to normal and I can still eat 3000 calories a day and not loose or gain weight. If you wanted to try it my way you don't need to give up any foods just try to focus on high carb plant foods and eat less oil and fat with them. Fat takes a lot longer to digest and keeps you full longer. If you want to eat every few hours try easy to digest foods. Like oatmeal with maple syrup and raspberries and cinnamon. High in calories, quick digesting, delicious, and healthy. Or eat a ton of high calories fruits or dried fruits. And baked potatoes with ketchup. White rice digest faster than brown, so white rice and veggie stir frys are great. These foods will easily leave the stomach and digest quickly so you can eat again without discomfort in an hour of two. I hope this helps. I know how awful and overwhelming health problems can be. Recovery and health are possible again, and eating healthy did so much for me after everything else failed. I wish you the absolute best. I know my advice sounds backwards, but i swear it's the only thing that helped me. I tried eating a lot of meat and high calorie foods, it didn't work.

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

I talked to my nurse yesterday, and after having LOST another 1.5 lbs, even with eating every 2 hours (sometimes stuffing myself to the point of nausea), I asked her if it could be something other than my clunky ticker. I've heard that cancers inside the body (that don't have lumps or anything obviously visible) can sometimes waste you away. She said she doubts it.
They finally ordered me some high calorie formula for me to drink.

I will try a combination of the suggestions. More dense calories and faster digesting. Like mangoes dipped in heavy cream? LOL that actually sounds kinda good...
Anyhoo, if continuing to eat 6 times a day AND that formula doesn't work, I may have to get a feeding tube so I can also "eat" all night long too.

 

[Magicwolf]

If you can afford this once in a while as a treat, a medium Culver's chocolate shake (made with frozen custard) has 900 (!) calories.

Healthier things: Croissants, pasta, granola with cream. Fried (pre-boiled) potatoes in bacon drippings. Salad is fast-digesting (calories can come from a favorite dressing). I agree with Caroline, I've found proteins tend to 'stick around' longer. You could try some different smoothies (mango & cream? lol), they may digest faster than solids.

I feel for you. I was underweight from stress for some time. It wasn't as easy as one would think to try and gain weight.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Good luck, Vivid-Dawn  :exclamation:  I know it is difficult to make your body do something it does not want to do  :s 

-- Spiff

 

[Canine]

Wishing you well on your diet and hope your health improves.

 

[CTP]

For eating protein I found protein digesting enzymes ( chewable) worked to speed up digestion.

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

I've gained 3 pounds! YAY!
Having that Boost formula really helped. I'm still trying to eat a little more at each meal every day, but don't want to over do it. I tried eating 600 calories for lunch once, and nearly ended up losing it 10 minutes later. No point in stuffing myself silly if it's not going to stay in me.

 

[LeeRevell]

Of course you know you are seriously POing those of us who are heavily overweight and trying to LOSE poundage......?  
I'd gladly give you some of mine if I could.

 

[Vivid-Dawn]

I is sowwies!
But hey, everybody keeps saying they'll give me theirs, but nobody has yet to actually do it! We need to figure out how to invent reverse liposuction! LOL

Ironically, I actually could live on a normal diet. My favorite snack is green bell peppers cut into strips, or sugar snap peas... both of which only have like 15 calories for a whole serving. I always gotta add stuff like Ranch dressing or Hummus, or something.
I also love watermelon and grapes...it's sugary, but not nearly as much (or as bad as processed junk) as other stuff some people consider a treat!