this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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If only it were that simple
Isn’t it? I was underweight from (American units incoming) elementary school until college, BMI under 17.5. At some point I got serious about packing calories and exercising and I gained a ton of weight. Back on Reddit there was a sub called gainit where longtime underweight people, well, gained it.
Now look, I don’t actually know if it was worth it. I don’t feel any different physically, despite being multiple times stronger than I was, nor do I feel healthier. I prefer the way I look now, but I actually hadn’t really noticed I was underweight until shortly before I started and I don’t spend too much time looking at myself. Almost no one commented on my thinness, and literally only one person ever did in a negative manner (saying I looked malnourished). Plus it was absolute misery packing bulk calories— when I finally got to cut the excess fat, it was delightful to return to a caloric deficit.
But for me, and a lot of others, it really was that simple. Not easy, but simple.
I also want to note that I have a lot of food allergies, making it difficult to eat high calorie fast food. To make matters worse I prefer lower calorie foods, almost 100% of the time I’ll take a no-protein salad over high calorie pasta or high protein chicken dishes. And finally I had to rely on small amounts of THC to block nausea while eating because I have a tiny stomach. The odds were stacked against me and I still don’t enjoy the amount of eating I have to do.
Anyone underweight reading this who wants to gain weight, it will probably be easier for you. Start now and you can put on >30lb in the first year. I was under 100lb when I started and gained over 1/3 of my body weight. Track every single thing you eat— trust me, on the 3000th calorie you will be grateful for the 15 calorie vitamins you had earlier— watching for calories per day and protein. Try for 1g protein per pound of weight, but you can get away with less. Copy a gym routine from a friend or the internet, 3-5 days a week, aiming for ~5hr every seven days. Drink your calories if and when you can’t eat them, there are mass gainer powders. The gains will come.
And if you don’t want it, well, having done it I don’t blame you. It didn’t change much besides how I felt about my appearance. Self love would probably give you the same thing without having to add a spoon of olive oil into everything you eat.
The length of your comment explicitly shows how such a process is not “simply eat.” With peace and love you contradict yourself from the get go :) It’s quite a task.
But! Thank you for taking the time to express this. I think you can allow yourself a certain sense of accomplishment for being able to pull that off and it’s very powerful of you to be willing to share with others. I just do think the “it’s simple” narrative is more harmful than it is welcoming to those who need it most.
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Word for word quote from the person I am replying to. Weight management is hard. You are a troll. You bring nothing to the conversation. Leave me alone.
That’s actually why I said “not easy, but simple.” The task is simple, but it is hard. Benching 200lb is simple, but not easy. My comment could have been “I ate more and gained dozens of pounds” if I wasn’t so prone to long comments (most of mine are really long, I have mild ADHD hence which is also why I use so many parentheticals according to memes).
I emphasize simplicity because, if your goal is merely gaining weight, for most it really is just eat more. The rest of my comment is my experience and my recommendations for gaining the weight healthily and in muscle mass vs just fat. The 4chan post is about getting fatter, so I mentioned my experience with weightlifting as an alternative. For the underweight, gaining just fat wouldn’t be unhealthy, but I would recommend the exercise.
I have to somewhat disagree that simplifying it is harmful. An underweight person could eat the exact same thing every day, add a chunk of tofu, and gain weight. I personally believe it is actually better to acknowledge that the task is simple because that allows for the acknowledgment that the task of eating can be physically uncomfortable. Now of course, there are some who have health conditions worse than mine, but for the majority of underweight people this is the case.
Btw I know you weren’t dissing the comment length, no worries, but I do wanna say why my comments go on for so long because I worry it can be associated with negative energy. If someday someone like younger me stumbles upon the comment, it was the most word efficient way I could condense the important information without, hopefully, reading in a boring manner. Over time I have developed this odd form of commenting wherein structure and sentence flow are considered alongside information. I want to be able to communicate without misunderstandings, have a fair balance of superfluous sayings and conversational feel, and minimize my chance of coming off as confrontational or rude. It’s not lost on me that this comment too could’ve been a single sentence: “it is simple, but not easy.” I think there’s still room for long form internet communication though, and I hope those who agree derive some enjoyment from the monologuing.
Thanks for sharing!
This changes my perspective. Thanks :)
I guess I came at it from a perspective of, a lot of the time when I see people say “it’s simple” they continue that paragraph by encouraging essentially eating disordered behavior (it’s happening elsewhere in this comment section right now). While your comment is excellent, I also fear for those who see “it should be simple” and choose the simplest and most dangerous of options, e.g. starvation diet or just pounding pints of ice cream and ceasing physical activity.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your understanding of this all. You are 100% in the right, I have just also seen firsthand how the internet can really amplify ED in already struggling individuals, so I try to keep an eye out.
(Sorry for late response)
Anyway yep, I know what you mean. It’s definitely reductive to say it like in the original image, even if it’s true. And it does lead to pounding pints of ice cream, which is typically counterproductive, unless you’re Rob McElhenney. Even then I think he tacitly stated he uses testosterone which somewhat allows for that.
I very much appreciate your original comment for starting a useful discussion. Hopefully someday every discussion about weight gain or loss is balanced with useful advice and compassion. It’s such a hard thing, I frequently lament how we don’t have a better internal gauge of how much to eat :(
Eat a lot and just don't move around.
I've basically tried that for a few years and haven't put on weight.
All my family is pretty much overweight, but I can eat kebabs, spaghetti and chocolate all day, drink beer and soda (until I was literally fed up of all of it, felt the mountain of food in my throat pretty much) and not move a muscle and I still actually lost some weight.
However I do think there's some actual malabsorption or something behind it as well, just can't get the public doctors to pay any fking attention no matter the evidence I have.
So yeah it should be as simple as that, and for most people, it definitely is. But someone who actually makes a post about the subject might be more likely to have some sort of aberration.
Personally I'm trying gluten free rn. I have been tested for celiacs in the past, but either I got false negatives or it's NCGS, which would explain a lot, as it's not as violent as celiac usually and wouldn't show up on tests.
Wishing you luck in your journey homie! And hope the docs start acting right 😤😤
I think that's sort of the default. It's more of a systemic issue, really.
Que sera sera.
Thank youo
Age might be a factor. Are you 30 yet? My metabolism slowed down in my 30s.
Mid-thirties yeah.
The point is if it was just normal high metabolism, then why does no-one else in my family have anything even remotely like it, as they're all overweight? (And I used to be a bit round at one point as a kid)
And I know my brother's are my brother's with the same certainty the Mario Bro's do, so it's not like I have completely different genes.
I do have a kidney thing and it caused high BP for some reason. And since the adrenals are located quite close to where the problem is and where they operated on, idk, might have something to do with that as well.
Stress, diet, all that. Hard to science out by myself though. The public doctors here suck. And not in a good way.
You know when you’re not hungry? Eat an ice cream or 2.
Anyone can gain weight.
Are you specifically trying to just gain muscle? If so, eat lots of steak and potatoes and lift weights.
Skinny people stay skinny because they don’t eat.
Previously underweight person here, it really is that simple. Just eat more, consistently, pay attention to it. I gained 35lbs and am now a healthy weight.