The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
I'm underweight but am I unhealthy?
Phil G.
__BANNED USERS regular
__BANNED USERS regular
I'm that tall skinny guy that everyone says should gain more weight. I am 17 years old, about 5' 11" and weigh only 120 pounds. My BMI is 16.7 and I have no clue about my body fat percentage. My problem is that I don't know what to do to gain weight or if I even need to. Is it just my metabolism and body type or am I in need of a radical lifestyle change (ie. diet and exercise changes)? Just for some background information, here is my daily exercise routine and meal information:
I run about 8.5 km (5.3 miles) - 10 km (6.2) everyday (about 47 minutes is my average for the 10km), do 10+ chin-ups and 5 pull-ups twice daily (sometimes more, it depends) and walk at a damn fast pace everywhere I go. I usually function on little sleep, around 6 hours or so.
I generally have a breakfast of a small bowl of some cereal or 2 english muffins with Brie cheese, accompanied by iced tea or peach/orange juice. I have a lunch of a white bread turkey and miracle whip sandwich, with again iced tea or peach/orange juice. Dinner usually varies, but I usually have a large bowl of some type of Polish soup with rye bread (my parents are Polish immigrants, they love their soup :P), a chicken based meal with salad and baguette bread, or a pork based meal with beets and potatoes. Dinner can be different, but I usually eat a fair amount of it. Throughout the day, I snack on apples and other fruits, drink milk or peach/orange juice and have a bowl cream of wheat (made with milk) an hour or so before bed. I don't eat loads but I don't ever feel incredibly hungry.
What, if anything, am I doing wrong? Is there anything I should change in terms of exercise or food? I don't have an incredibly amount of time but I could probably take up some kind of sport... I'm open to any suggestions.
I run about 8.5 km (5.3 miles) - 10 km (6.2) everyday (about 47 minutes is my average for the 10km), do 10+ chin-ups and 5 pull-ups twice daily (sometimes more, it depends) and walk at a damn fast pace everywhere I go. I usually function on little sleep, around 6 hours or so.
I generally have a breakfast of a small bowl of some cereal or 2 english muffins with Brie cheese, accompanied by iced tea or peach/orange juice. I have a lunch of a white bread turkey and miracle whip sandwich, with again iced tea or peach/orange juice. Dinner usually varies, but I usually have a large bowl of some type of Polish soup with rye bread (my parents are Polish immigrants, they love their soup :P), a chicken based meal with salad and baguette bread, or a pork based meal with beets and potatoes. Dinner can be different, but I usually eat a fair amount of it. Throughout the day, I snack on apples and other fruits, drink milk or peach/orange juice and have a bowl cream of wheat (made with milk) an hour or so before bed. I don't eat loads but I don't ever feel incredibly hungry.
What, if anything, am I doing wrong? Is there anything I should change in terms of exercise or food? I don't have an incredibly amount of time but I could probably take up some kind of sport... I'm open to any suggestions.
Phil G. on
0
Posts
Minus one year (I'm 18), and a bit of weight (You're 120 pounds = 55kg, and I'm 66kg = 145 pounds)...
you are me...
Add more protein to your diet, and perhaps take up a martial art. I was your weight until I took up brazilian jiu jitsu, then I put on 11kg of muscle.
I even function on the same lack of sleep as you, due to recently starting up WoW again, and routinely playing until midnight when I have to be up at 6:30 for work.
As far as sports goes, they're good for building overall strength and not bad for muscle building. I play Basketball, Badminton and Soccer... each has their own benefits. You could always lift weights as well.
If you want to get bigger, eat more (especially protein) and add weightlifting to your exercise routine.
If you want to get bigger, do as Thanatos said. Eat more and lift weigths.
Skinny can be unhealthy when it comes to general muscle mass, but generally being underweight isn't too big of a deal. I've known skinny friends who have had collapsed lungs (a surprising amount) and who generally have a problem with physical activity, spraining or pulling muscles with regularity. You have a leg up since you run and do physical activity already.
Some people do just have a thinner frame, and will naturally weigh less. You're pretty underweight at 5'11", but defer to your doctor. Next time you go for a physical, bring it up.
The short of it, I think, is that you're healthy, but you wouldn't do bad to gain a little more weight. Personally, I'd suggest you simply wait for it to happen, rather than change your diet. You're 17, your metabolism is probably very high, and MOST skinny guys gain some weight going into their 20s. Far better to simply defer to your doctor and let time add some weight, than make a drastic change to your diet.
I'm a pretty bony character, I can see a little bit of 3 ribs centered on the sides of my chest. My shoulder blades stick out a bit and my wrists are as small as a little girl's. In short, I have a smaller bone structure.
I guess I'll be eating more protein based snacks throughout the day and I'll try the weight lifting. Since the weightlifting will probably not work out for me (so damn boring) I'll check-out some martial arts. I'm due to go to my doctor for a check-up soon so I'll bring it up then.
Start taking a multivitamin.
If you want to put on weight, lifting+protein is always a good combo, but it's not like you're in danger of dying from being so skinny. I've always been in pretty good health despite being 20+ pounds underweight. I also took Tae Kwon Do for about two years. That might not make you put on weight, but it will turn you into a fucking machine if you go for it seriously. I recommend doing any kind of martial art. It just makes your body better at doing stuff.
I used to eat pretty much what you did one year ago. I'm 18 right now, first year in college.
6'0, 120 lbs, extremely thin. Ran track in high school, the whole 3-4 miles + sprint workout and occasional weightlifting.
I used to weigh 120, pretty much throughout high school up til college.
I think the problem was that I was eating around...3,000 calories? in high school
Now, in college, I upped the intake to 5,000 with tons of protein (chicken, fish, red meat), and carbs.
Been doing crew for a month, been trying to gain some weight and muscle to bulk up.
In one month, gained 10 lbs. Even more workouts than high school, tons more. 4 miles running + rowing + more core training.
I'd say you're fine.
You run decently fast, so it's not as if you're unhealthy.
If you want to gain weight, maybe increase your protein intake a bit. (bigger portions? 4th meal perhaps?)
Your diet looks fine to me though.
I'm Jacob Wilson. | facebook | thegreat2nd | [url="aim:goim?screenname=TheGreatSecond&message=Hello+from+the+Penny+Arcade+Forums!"]aim[/url]
It sounds like you're getting a reasonable amount of protein, which would have been my first suggestion, but it's not like you're choking down an entire cow every day, which may contribute a bit to your leanness. Most of my vegetarian friends were very, very thin at that age. Maybe start drinking some milk instead of or in addition to your fruit juices (milk debate in another forum). My nutrition textbook here says to add about 500 calories/day to your diet, including a total daily intake of about 1.5 grams of protein/kilogram of body weight. So for you that would be...81.75grams of protein. I am not a nutritionist, remember, but that seems to be a reasonable guideline to me.
If you haven't been seeing any detrimental effects, however, I'm not sure you should even be concerned. Some people carry their weight differently, and need that amount of fat or muscle in very different ways. Have you had trouble with bone fractures? Do you tend to get tired very easily? Malnutrition will manifest itself in ways much harsher than just "looking shinny." Maybe check with your doctor to see if you're at risk for anything that may be complicated by being underweight.
I tell him he looks like a starving ethiopian child and he needs to eat more or he will die
but the doctor says he is okay
o.o;;
Start off with a high-protein breakfast.
Eggs are great for this, oats and grains not so much. Also, make sure you eat at least one yolk. I usually keep 1-2 yolks when cooking 4 eggs.
Run more hills. Like, lots of hills for even more endurance. Do interval workouts at a local track to build more fast-twitch muscles and improve overall cardio. Hill intervals are the best.If you run 5 times a week, try this:
Week 1
Day 1: Hills
Day 2: Long(er) run
Day 3: Rest or light jog
Day 4: Hills
Day 5: Long(er) run
Day 6: Rest or light jog
Day 7: Rest or another activity w/stretching
Week 2
Day 1: Sprints/Intervals
Day 2: Long(er) run
Day 3: Rest or light jog
Day 4: Sprints/Intervals
Day 5: Long(er) run
Day 6: Rest or light jog
Day 7: Rest or other activity w/stretching
Also, if you decide to take up weight-lifting (recommended as part of a healthy/active lifestyle) you need at least 8 hours of sleep each night.
You'll be able to put on muscle very quickly and have good results for the first several months because it's your first time lifting (even with only 6 hours each night), but as you crest that initial explosive growth curve sleep is one of the main ingredients in putting on muscle effectively.
This is simply because muscle fibers are repaired during sleep only.
That's a myth.
I'm that height, and 110-120 now, but there was a time when I weighed 95.
I was "okay", but not healthy.
The FDA and EPA beg to differ.
From what I have read it is that span of sleep and late/no breakfast that is what prevents you from actually gaining weight with a high metabolism, since your body starts eating up what little body fat you have managed to store from previous days in lieu of breakfast.
I have started eating a snack and drinking a protein shake in ze morning, I guess I'll let you know if it works out in a month or two.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Those are both myths. Do you know ANYONE who works for the FDA/EPA?
You can get protein from all sorts of stuff beyond fish. Like tofu.
Wouldn't exactly be the first example of either agency being full of shit though would it.
If you feel good, you're probably fine. If you're concerned, ask a doctor. Otherwise, just enjoy the ease with which you can stay fit when you're young.
So what, they buckled under the weight of cut-throat salmon lobbyists or something? What would they have to gain by lying and saying they were dangerous?
Obviously working out will be the easiest way, I had a friend who was about the same build as I was but got into working out / eating protein shakes / etc etc and got reasonably more built up, which is another option (but he's still pretty skinny, though noticeably less so than in high school)... the other option is to just enjoy it while it lasts.. McDonalds has their monopoly game going on you know! :P
More seriously though, if you're actually worried just have your doctor set you up with a couple general metabolism/health blood tests and find out (I did that a couple times, mainly because I was paranoid about diabetes that runs in my family)... but as long as everything seems fine it's not like being average weight is something to aspire to
So you're saying I could go back to eating 2 cans a day (because that would be pretty awesome).
Hrm, I can't really picture 5'11 and 120, but as to 160 and 5'11? My lowest weight since highschool has been 175, and I'm 6'3'', also, I have(had at 175 too) a gut and thick thighs, and my arms and legs weren't exactly rails.
And as to being underweight, I believe the old advice about there even being an "underweight" are mostly abolished. With the qualification that you have a good/decent diet, I don't believe there is any weight that is too low, and the old correlation between really low weight and poor health was due to smoking.
I would argue that eating that much of anything (including some fruits/vegetables, or drinking a 64oz container of OJ every day) is probably not the healthiest thing for you in general, but tuna especially I wouldn't try that with... the levels are low enough that eating a tuna sandwich every few days won't do anything to you, but two cans a day is high enough that it's not inconceivable that after 30 years you'll see some (probably still minor) effect
Actually, they did testing on this and it seems the health benefits of eating 1 6oz. can of tuna a day as a pregnant woman put out healthier babies due to the health benefits overweighting the faults.
As for eating healthy, do what I did, same size as you, but maybe 20 pounds more. Just cut soda and other sugary snacks out of your diet. Drink plenty of water and do your best to cut high sodium, high oil, fast food out of your diet as well. Also, start to read labels. I found that my store generic peanut butter was actually healthier than the organic brand they offer. More protein, less calories, less fat. Go figure, huh?
Satans..... hints.....
Just because people think you need to gain more weight doesn't mean they are right or that you should gain weight. As long as you eat a balanced diet and listen to your own body you should be fine. Eat when you are hungry and don't eat if you are not hungry. There aren't any major signs or reasons to begin changing the way you live your life so don't start poking around when nothing is broken.
Yeah, that was my conclusion looking at the data out there. It's a pity, since 2 cans a day is 65g of protein a hell of a lot cheaper than protein powder. Still, I don't want to be retarded when I'm 50.
For some reason I seem to be hungrier nowadays. Would it be because I gave blood a week ago, and my body is starved for more stuff to replenish itself, or might it be because of the sport and protein?
No, it's entirely possible. I'm bony, visibile ribs, fast metabolism, 6'3" and 145 ponds, and while this is not just underweight but also very unhealthy, I'm still doing fine.
Not that I didn't wish I weighed more...
But yes, you wanna get big, you gotta eat big and you gotta lift big. Obviously you shouldn't eat as much as them, but pro strongmen eat 7000+calories a day.
Ah well, we'll see what happens after a few months of regular exercising.
If it only were so easy . . . some of my family friends still say I should put on more weight, but they've stopped saying I need to just eat more. They've seen just how much I'll pack away compared to them in one sitting. Afterwards, they tend to look at me much like they just watched a swarm of locusts.
Anyway, I figure that exchanging ideas for how to get more protein and other stuff into the diets of the thin ones among us would be helpful. Because just knowing that you need to eat more often so your body never thinks it's starving is kind of vague. Time constraints due to work and the like don't help either since not everyone has the luxury of taking multiple breaks in a day for food or time to spare for some things that require more preparation.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772