Hello to all,

I am new to the site. I had UC and my entire colon removed on 6/23/2004, and the ostomy take down and j-pouch hook up on 12/29/2004, but I still can not gain ANY weight!!! I weighed 160 before the surgery, probably about 5 or 10 pounds of that was steroids. I am 21 now and I weight 132 at the doctor a couple of days ago...132!!! I am 6 ft tall. I have tried everything but nothing works. Its not that big of a deal for me but I got married in August of 2006 and I married an absoltely amazingly beautiful girl. The most beautiful women i have ever seen in my life hands down!!! And I just want to look my best for her. She doesn't care and loves me the way I am but I just want to put on a little weight and was wondering if any of you all could help me?? Thank you so much in advance.

Cody

Hi Cody. I am pretty much a carbon copy of you. I also weighed 160 before all of this and am now about 132. I am 6 weeks post takedown so I haven't gone as long as you without gaining weight. But I'm currently trying hard to gain it back. What i am trying is eating a lot of meat like grilled chicken, hamburgers and fish. A lot of pasta and peanut butter sandwiches too. I also drink Boost. Sometimes I make smoothie type things with the Boost. I put Boost, a banana and maybe some ice cream or ice, in a blender and drink away. Also I am trying to build more muscle by staying active and eventually lifting weights. It is going slow right now but I am slowly gaining a little weight. I hope you find something that works for you. If you do please let me know!!

Hi,

I too am trying to gain weight. I am 5'9" and I managed to get up to 130 over the Christmas holidays but developed pouchitis and lost 8lbs in the past couple of months Now I am only 127 on a good day.

I too try to eat lots of protein and carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta, breads etc), but nothing seems to stick. I don't seem to be bothered at all when eating sugar or chocolate and so I tend to feed my sweet tooth a little too often but that doesn't even seem to add any pounds.

I am going to sign up for a gym membership to get my strength back and hopefully that will help to add a bit of muscle tone and weight.

but yes, if anyone has any magical ways to gain some weight I would love to hear from them.

Most people I know are trying to lose weight and I am trying to gain it, too bad there wasn't some weight transfer machine out there

Short of slowing down your metabolism somehow I'm not sure of the solution either.

I weighed 180-185 (I'm 6'2") prior to getting sick last year. After step 1 of 3 I was down to about 150. I had TD last Oct. and now weigh about about 172. Count 3-5 pounds off my original weight due to losing the colon (which is what a typical colon weighs) and I'm still down about 10 pounds. I'm not to unhappy about that actually - but have also found that I have a hard time putting much more on.

After steps 1 and 2 I really tried to gain weight and at a LOT of protein - mainly chicken. I was surprised how much weight and muscle came back. I have not attempted to do the same this time, but that is how I would go about it.

Back then my buddy suggested several things:
1. High protein diet - including protein powders (so long as they don't give you the runs)
2. Eat about 6 meals a day if you can stand it. They don't have to be huge meals either
3. Exercise in the afternoon
4. Never exercise aerobically (where your heart rate is over 140/150 beats a minute) more than 20 minutes at a time. It's counterproductive to building muscle

Here is his specific advice:
"5-6 meals a day....here's how i suggest you break it down..

upon rising - whole food of some sort. lots of protein from eggs or meat/chicken, do you have any cholesterol issues? if so, you can just eat the whites (3-6 whites)

2 hours after first meal - protein shake with some complex carbs (the carbs will be mixed with the protein powder in proper ratios)

lunch - chicken breast/lean beef/tuna salad/etc along with some brown rice or yams (1 - 1.5 cups)

mid afternoon - a protein shake or a protein bar (this is a snack and will keep your blood sugar under control)

dinner - make this a larger meal, it will help to put on muscle and aid in recovery. good balance of protein and veggies, limit the carbs at dinner, they wont be used for energy at this point in the day and will turn to fat

shake before bed - this shake will prevent catabolism during the 8 hours of sleep. we'll also supplement with zinc, magnesium and glutamine to aid in muscle repair and optimal hormone levels.

go shopping for some protein sources - beef, chicken, fish. you can buy these in bulk, individually wrap and freeze the chicken/beef. get a george forman grill ($20), you can use it to cook fully frozen meat/chicken straight from the freezer. i eat a lot of tuna from the can - if you can handle this get some otherwise fish is kinda $$$...if possible get organic beef/chicken, its more $$$ but is better overall. i eat 2 dozen eggs a week, so you could pick up some of those as well... "

Hey guys, I'm only 5 feet tall, but definitely underweight at only 84 lbs. I had my takedown in November of 2004. I have gained some weight but have platoed (SP?) at 84lbs. I have to admit that my appetite is just not what it used to be. I wish there was a calorie pill!
Other J pouchers out there don't have this issue at all.
I did hear once that I am not absorbing all the nutrients and calories that I ingest. ...and I have had problems with bacterial overgrowth and yeast (Thrush) Do any of you other "skinnys" have either of these issues? I'd love to figure out WHY were not gaining, short of just high metabolisms.

Thanks guys, I will for sure try the high protein and lots of meals. I have tried it before on and off, but I am really going to try and make a plan and stick with it a while and see if it helps.

Thanks a ton guys and gals and keep the advice coming!!

Cody

I don;t know what to say, but you can go the way of my diet and have salami sandwiches and chips for meals, breakfast INCLUDED. I gained my weight back fervently w/ this method!

but sandwiches and potatoes are my favorite foods and I prefer a hearty breakfast, even as a female at 5'1.. AND A HALF. I am at a steady and healthy 117.

I'm in the same boat as you guys. It's been a little over 3 years from surgery for me and on a good day I'm about 103 and I'm 5'3". I was just on vacation at an all-inclusive, non-stop eating and drinking. When we got home we all weighed ourselves and I was a whopping 105.7. It's been 2 weeks since vacation and I'm barely 100 pounds. I eat regularly and healthy (but I never skimp on dessert!), but still don't put on the pounds. People say I'm lucky, but when I get sick it's scary because I have nothing to lose. I'd like to be about ten pounds heavier too.
Rani

From being on this site for a couple of years it seems that people either can't gain weight or feel that they gain too much, I am one of the latter. Being so thin when I finally got my appetite back it was like a free for all, now I need to watch as I definitely don't want to gain any more weight and could stand to loose a few pounds. Though I am happy to report that I have a lot of my muscle tone back and that makes a big difference.

It's taken time, but, I'm back to my "fighting" weight.

I'm 6'3" and weigh around 198-203, just varies within that range.

Prior to my surgery in 2004, my weight had gone down to about 185, then after surgery I was near 150. It's taken quite a bit of time to get back to my "normal" weight.

All I'm going to say is be careful what you ask for, you just might get your wish and balloon up to some astronomical weight. I have a fast/high metabolism, but, also know I could very easily go and weigh 250 with a bit of effort and am very, very comfy at my current weight.

I was prescribed periactin, appetite enhancer, I took it as directed for 2-3 moths, gained 25 lbs and never had to take it again, kept most of the weight on even with a stressful life and poor eating habits.

Has anyone tried Crispy creams newest 870 calorie shake?

I'm only 5lbs shy from my normal weight before all these happened. I'm 149 lbs 5'7" skinny by nature.

It really comes down to calories - if you're taking in more than you're burning you should gain weight. Eating eggs and hashbrowns every morning after my surgeries really helped me pack on the weigh - not to mention it was really yummy :-). In any case - now I'm back to lifting so I take protein powder at least 3 times a day - spread out between my main 3 meals. You should def. be able to gain weight with a j-pouch. After my first surgery - I was under 150 lbs. and could barely walk. Now - less than 4 months from takedown I'm a little over 205 and I'm only 5'7" - and no - it's not fat. Lift weighs - keep your calories high - and you should start to gain weight.

Cody, I would try eating a healthy diet (not junk just to put on the weight - unless you fancy the weight being fat and making yourself very unhealthy), maybe with a bit of a protein bias, and doing a basic weight training programme 2 or 3 times a week. By basic, I mean squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, bent over rows, curls, shoulder press, dips and calf raises but leaving it at that (and not doing any more than 3 sets of each). Split them across your work outs so you only do each once a week. I can recommend "Brawn" by Stuart McRobert as an excellent book to follow. He also does another good follow-up book called "Beyond Brawn". The titles sound a bit daft but it's basically a weight training methodology for normal guys who don't easily gain muscle (unlike most books and magazines with totally unrealistic programmes). I gained about 2 stones (largely muscle) following his advice.