Heya folks,

Here's a curious one, that's very seldom come up in any of the discussion boards I've frequented before. I'm a 22 y/o semi-vegan vegetarian in the UK, who's 6'1" (1m 85cm) and weighs about 10 1/2 stone (147 Pounds). I look obviously thin, and it seems there's absolutely nothing I can do about it! I wanna put on about a stone, 14 pounds, and it seems whatever I eat, and however much of it, I don't put on an ounce. :confused:

I lead a naturally energetic life... I walk fairly long distances on a daily basis (probably around 3-4 miles/day on average), and I'm a very figity energetic person most of the time.

Any suggestions as to what foods I can try to put on a little weight, bearing in mind I'd like to try avoid dairy produce if possible? Oh, and alcohol isn't good for me, I'm supposed to avoid it. I hear peanuts are good... how true is this?

Any help on this one would be much appreciated.

Cheers folks,

Russ :)

use weight training. it is healthier than adding fat and you look a bit more sexy, or so im told.


Im 6'2" and weigh around 150 lbs. IM vegan and eat plenty of carbs and fatty foods like chips and french fries and other fried goods. It seems to have no effect on my weight as even when i dont eat that stuff for long periods of time i dont lose weight. So as far as what to eat to gain weight im not sure. Even when i was an omnivore and eating mainly junk food and dairy i weighed the same. I just feel better now though.

i have the same problem, i'm 5-8 or 5-9 and about 135 lbs. i was decently skinny before becomin veg*n but i'm actually skinner now i've noticed. recently i've been eating a lot of nuts, like you said - mostly almonds and walnuts because they are high sources of the good fat and low sources of the bad - in hopes that it'll help. but i honestly don't know if it will so i can't give you any advice. i too lead a pretty active life (bike around 10 miles/day, etc). it's frustrating, huh? :) my family keeps joking that i'm going to dwindle away to nothing soon.

Wouldn't that just be redistributing weight? Plus I don't really have time for that... I work around 50 hours/week, and all my other time goes on my web stuff, reading, distance walking to train for the 82 miles I'm doing in October, etc.

I do push ups every morning :p, and yeah my upper arms are fine at the mo, but things like having a 32" waist and 34" inside leg are really starting to irritate me... getting clothes to fit me is a nightmare! :(

Russ :)

weasels :mad:

Word. ;)

no i agree, weight training is the way to go. why would you want to bulk up with fat when you can bulk up with muscle? mmmm muscles. it doesn't take long to see a difference really, and you only need to work at it for about half an hour a day a few days a week. working out the chest and legs for a while should show some improvement. you probably won't lose weight cause it sounds like you have very little fat to burn. just remember to eat a lot of protein while you're weight training if you decide to do it.

other than that i don't know what foods would help. i'm having the same problem myself. i'm 5'5" and only 106 pounds. i've weighed 106/107 since i was like 12 years old. it's not due to my being vegan because i've only been vegan for a year or so. but people who don't know that tease me and say look how unhealthy veganism is, you're too skinny, probably undernurished :rolleyes:
my mom was my size at this age, her mother is STILL my size lol and so is my aunt. it's just genetics really but i'm sick of being told i look sick or like i "eat like a waif" (i actually heard this one just last night)

No no no, y'all don't get it... I'm a British web designer. Muscles ain't really in my vocabulary. :) Besides, I do enough... like I say, I do plenty distance walking, I don't think I'm likely to be putting on fat anytime soon walking 20+ miles/week!

So enough of the 'shape up' advice, could've figured that myself. Besides which, my cardio-vascular fitness is damn good, and I just wanna get my body to the ideal weight, in spite of doing in excess of the average physical activity someone my age over here does.

Plus I genuinely think I don't get enough fats in my diet, my metabolism is abnormally high. I've been veg since I was 6, so I ain't blaming the diet... nothing in the world would make me contemplate switching back! I reckon I just need a few good vegetarian sources of unsaturated fats.

Russ :)

i didnt think you were out of shape, just that the only way i know that would put on extra pounds would be to use weight training, as in my experience no food i have eaten has had any affect on my weight.

but for fats i would suggest avocados and nuts.

Russell, welcome! :hi:

I agree with the others, resistance training is the way to go. You want to put on weight. The weight you put on should be muscle. Resistance training, along with a healthy, high protein diet, should be the most efficient way to do that.

Myself, I'm 5'11 and weigh 205-210... I would much prefer to weigh 175-185... I was up to 235 for a while and dropped that extra weight pretty dramatically. Vitamins and bicycling... :) But I've been stuck at my present weight for a few months now... I need to add resistance training to my own routine. Tough to get started, I know. But it really is the only way to acheive the desired result, which (for me) is a strong, active, energized physical body that will continue to be strong, active, and energized until I'm 180 years old...

Plus I know I'd be a righteous hottie if I had lots of muscles in just the right places!! :tame:

If I wanted a healthy way to gain weight without lifting weights, I would eat lots of natural peanut butter.

Sounds reasonable to me. I'm assuming that the nuts I've seen mentioned are high in fat but what about cashews? Wouldn't they be really high in fat as well?

Bleurgh! Cashews! For some reason while I was in hospital for a few weeks as a youngster, my mom decided it was a good time to introduce me to cashew nuts. Every day. Needless to say, I now associate cashew nuts with feeling like crap, and can't touch the things! Kinda the same thing as I have with Sisqo and Dru Hill, though that's another story.

Anyhow, cheers for the natural peanut butter suggestion... I guess that means without all the sugar they put in the stuff normally? If anyone from the UK knows how easy to get hold of, and where, this stuff is, I'd be much obliged!

Russ :)

And without the trans fats, just the good kind of fats.

Resistance training is fine if you want to build muscle, but it is sort of an addiction: you have to continue at it to maintain the muscle. While a certain degree of muscular exercise is needed to maintain bone desnity and normal muscle mass, actual "training" is rarely necessary. Walking, and light upper arm exercise should be sufficient.

Regardless of whether one does resistance training or not, if you want to have more weight, whether it be in muscle mass, or fat -- you still have to make changes in your diet to make it possible.

Many vegans, as russel_allen hinted at, do not get enough dietary fat. Most get enough protein. What happens if you eat even more protein than that, is you simply convert it to carbs and fat. However if you eat fat directly, the conversion is more efficient, and thus you don't have to eat as much weight in food, to put on the same weight in human matter.

I would avoid peanuts except as occaisionaly in small amounts. They have toxicity problems, and digestibility problems. I think edamame is better: it is rich in both oil and protein. And of course avocados are wonderful. I would recommend chik peas, lentils, and white beans, in moderation. Red and brown beans cause digestion problems. I would continue with plenty of leafy greens. I wouldn't hesitate to put extra virgin olive oil, unrefined and untoasted sesame oil on my salad. I would eat plenty of carbohydrates and fats. Walnut oil is wonderful in oatmeal. I prefer "scottish" stone-ground oatmeal to quaker-style steam-rolled oats.

Yes, add oils to your salads and rice and veg dishes. Eat avocados. Eat nuts in moderation -- they are all difficult to digest. Cashews are very difficult to digest. Almonds are the easiest. Between them are walnuts, pecan, filbert (hazel nuts), brazilnuts. You can have a handful each day. These are really a better source of oil than of protein. Macadamia nuts are rich in oil and carbohydrates and not so high in protein. You can eat coconut -- but not too much -- the fats are saturated. Avoid other tropical oils too -- like palm kernal oil.

I think flax seeds are wonderful oily little thingies. Poppy seeds too. And sesame seeds. All have some protein too. Sesame seeds seem to be more readily digestible than even almonds.

Wowee, that's more the kinda advice I was looking for, no offense to Majake or WonderRandy. I had wondered where that muscle mass would have come from! I'll give some of that a go, cheers Soilman.

Russ :)

Many people are also overtly allergic to cashews, getting rashes on their lips, or generalized skin rashes, and "itchy anus syndrome." I recommend eating no more than about 20 cashews, no more frequently than every other day. They can be pretty bad news. Especially if, as sometimes happens, they aren't adequately washed before being roasted. They can actually burn your skin then.

Soybeans have oil and protein and are very low in carbohydrates. Peanuts have all 3. Most legumes have protein and carbohydrates and are pretty low in oil.

I think edamame is a better choice that rehydrated dry soybeans.

Edamame should be cooked though, as they have chemicals that, if not heated to decompose them, interfere with digestion. I am not sure about soaked or sprouted dry soybeans -- whether they have the digestion-intefering chemicals after being soaked or sprouted. I don't really like rehydrated-cooked soybeans, or sprouted soybeans, tho. Just edamame. And some soy products like tofu (in small amounts).

You can use avocados plain with lemon juice and salt is nice,and in all kinds of recipes. I spread riper ones on bread. I use them in salads. I spread them on tortillas. I have occaisionally added them to cold non-cheese "pizza".

Why would you want weight......it serves no purpose...now muscles i would agree with, yet working out doesnt seem natural if your suppose to have muscles would you think your body would make em that big?

I'm almost 5'7" (5'6 and 3/4..) and i weigh 109...i dont think its bad, but my parents think i have a problem and like to get on me a lot for it....

i agree with killstheweak about the wanting extra weight..i wouldnt, at all...

Go for muscle..its healthier, and sexier, and will actually put more weight on you then the fat will, since muscle is denser

what's bothering me about this thread is i am sensing that there is some...unhappiness about our bodies, and the shape of our bodies, that come naturally to us.

some of us are born with high metabolisms; that naturally means that we will be thinner.

some of us are born with low metabolisms; that naturally means that we will be fatter.

i am of the opinion that if you are eating a balanced diet, that provides you with the essential nutrients you require to be healthy, and your body maintains a certain weight and shape "no matter what", that is the shape that genetics has determined for you. and to try and force yourself to adhere to some other form, weight or shape that perhaps only our society and/or culture deems "correct" or appropriate, through rigorous eating and/or exercise routines, is almost like trying to fight nature, and will lead only to frustration.

Cm'on... you mean everyone here isn't veg*an becauase they want to loose weight?

</sarcasm>

lol

i'm actually more or less comfortable with my body now, though i wasn't for a long time, but i still feel like i need to gain some weight to be able to wear the types of clothing i like on other women. let's face it, some styles are really only suited to one body type, and mine just ain't that type. i just really want to be able to wear what i want to wear and look decent in it. but i also want muscle because i'm sick and tired of having no upper body strength and having to depend on others all the time for any lifting or other things that require strength of any degree.
the average person can wrap their entire hand, finger to thumb, around my bicep.

Lady Faile writes:
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no i agree, weight training is the way to go. why would you want to bulk up with fat when you can bulk up with muscle? mmmm muscles. it doesn't take long to see a difference really, and you only need to work at it for about half an hour a day a few days a week. working out the chest and legs for a while should show some improvement. you probably won't lose weight cause it sounds like you have very little fat to burn.
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This makes no sense. You will not bulk up with muscles if the only change you make in your life, is to start weight training. If you don't increase how many calories you intake, you will indeed lose weight. Nor can you make the assumption that by doing weight training, one will develop muscles. If you don't take in adequate proteins, your body will convert the muscles you have into fats and carbohydrates, that it will need to supply the energy needed to lift or move the weights.

The only way to increase body weight is to eat more, or exercise less.

All weight training does is determine whether, if you increase the total amount of a balanced food intake, whether the additional food will be converted to muscle tissue, or fat deposits.

Again weight training alone, without a concomitant change in diet, will result in weight loss, not weight gain. If you are large and fat, it will result in fat loss. If you are skinny, it will result in muscle loss.

If you are large and fat, and you continue eating the same way, and the same amount, some of the new protein you take in will be converted to muscle, but overall you will lose weight, not gain weight. You can convert muscle to fat, but not vice versa, so if you do weight training, and at the same time reduce your food intake, depending upon how much you reduce your food intake, you could very well lose fat without gaining any muscle (tho your ratio of muscle to fat will of course, be an increased numerical value). If you even more severely restrict your food intake, you could experience a muscle loss, as muscle is lost all by itself, over time, and if you don't intake more protein to use to replace it, you will experience a loss in muscle. We burn fats for energy, but we cannot convert them to muscle, to replace the muscle that is lost simply as a result of time.

I am happy about my body. There is no point in being unhappy about it. But that doesn't mean that if i had a choice I wouldn't prefer a body that I thought would be a preferable kind.

I am perfectly happy with my inguinal hernias and brain damage. That doesn't mean that if I had a choice, I wouldn't prefer to have all my brains, and to have guts that kept out of my scrotum -- provided that having my preferences wouldn't mean having to sacrifice something else. In other words I wouldn't want to have guts that kept out of my scrotum, if that meant having a chronic groin infection around a surgically implanted gut-catcher mesh.