Weight gaining and muscle mass
Can anyone suggest other products that might assist me in gaining more weight and maybe improving my muscle mass?
Due to my weight I don't have much reserve energy at all and run down pretty much around 2 o'clock everyday........I'm soon too be visiting the speech therapy people to determine a plan of action to widen my esophagus but that is a couple or weeks off yet.
On another note.........I had surgery again last Monday to remove a small skin cancer spot on my right ear,remove my chemo port and install a new PEG.......I feel fair at best during the day but want to continue to improve which right now I am not....My hair is beginning to grow back although I don't think it will ever be shoulder length again...(guess the old hippie look is gone forever).....lmao
any input or suggestions will be appreciated.
Peace to all.......
Comments
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Instead of the Ensure and
Instead of the Ensure and instant breakfast stuff, is there anyway you could take in real whole foods? By getting a Vitamix or a HealthMaster or a good emulsifier and straining the smoothies you could put it through your peg tube. I even put baby food and yogurt through mine while I was going thru treatment. Getting real whole foods instead of that canned stuff really made a world of difference for me.
For instance this is my standard drink when I cannot eat because I don't have enough time because it takes me an hour or more to eat. I did the nutrition analysis for you, so you can see what you would be getting with my smoothie. The first number is the amount in the smoothie, the second is how much I need per day based on my 1600 cals per day. Which makes me think of my next point. How many cals are you getting a day and how many do you need to gain?
1 medium apple
1 medium carrot
1 banana
3 leaves of romaine
1 tbs almond butter
1 cup milk
1 tbs flax seed oil
1 tbs protein powder
Total Calories (kcals) 597 - 1658
Protein (gm) 17 - 46
Carbohydrate (gm) 76 - 130
Total Fiber (gm) 10 - 25
Total Fat (gm) 29 - 13.3 - 23.2
Saturated Fat (gm) 5.4 < 6.6
Monounsaturated Fat (gm) 10 **
Polyunsaturated Fat (gm) 12 **
Linoleic (omega 6) (gm) 4.1 12
Alpha Linolenic (omega 3) (gm) 7.5 1.1
Cholesterol (mg) 19 < 300
Vitamin A (mcg RAE) 735 - 700
Vitamin C (mg) 32.7 - 75
Vitamin E (mg a-TE) 9.5 - 15
Thiamin (mg) 0.4 - 1.1
Riboflavin (mg) 0.8 - 1.1
Niacin (mg) 4.1 - 14
Folate (mcg, DFE) 148.4 - 400
Vitamin B6 (mg) 0.9 - 1.3
Vitamin B12 (mcg) 1.3 - 2.4
Calcium (mg) 486.2 - 1000
Phosphorus (mg) 485 - 700
Magnesium (mg) 152 - 320
Iron (mg) 3.2 - 18
Zinc (mg) 3.1 - 8
Selenium (mcg) 11.7 - 55
Potassium (mg) 1540 - 4700
Sodium (mg) 288 - 1500 - 2300
** Nutrient has no established recommendation.
you could use almond milk or coconut milk, if you don't want dairy
And you can always try hemp protein. I've not tried it tho, so I cannot comment on it. Thinning it out with extra water and or putting it through a strainer you should be able to put it through your tube.
I would seriously consider getting in real food instead of the canned and packaged stuff. That's just my flea bitten opinion tho...0 -
Sweetsweetblood22 said:Instead of the Ensure and
Instead of the Ensure and instant breakfast stuff, is there anyway you could take in real whole foods? By getting a Vitamix or a HealthMaster or a good emulsifier and straining the smoothies you could put it through your peg tube. I even put baby food and yogurt through mine while I was going thru treatment. Getting real whole foods instead of that canned stuff really made a world of difference for me.
For instance this is my standard drink when I cannot eat because I don't have enough time because it takes me an hour or more to eat. I did the nutrition analysis for you, so you can see what you would be getting with my smoothie. The first number is the amount in the smoothie, the second is how much I need per day based on my 1600 cals per day. Which makes me think of my next point. How many cals are you getting a day and how many do you need to gain?
1 medium apple
1 medium carrot
1 banana
3 leaves of romaine
1 tbs almond butter
1 cup milk
1 tbs flax seed oil
1 tbs protein powder
Total Calories (kcals) 597 - 1658
Protein (gm) 17 - 46
Carbohydrate (gm) 76 - 130
Total Fiber (gm) 10 - 25
Total Fat (gm) 29 - 13.3 - 23.2
Saturated Fat (gm) 5.4 < 6.6
Monounsaturated Fat (gm) 10 **
Polyunsaturated Fat (gm) 12 **
Linoleic (omega 6) (gm) 4.1 12
Alpha Linolenic (omega 3) (gm) 7.5 1.1
Cholesterol (mg) 19 < 300
Vitamin A (mcg RAE) 735 - 700
Vitamin C (mg) 32.7 - 75
Vitamin E (mg a-TE) 9.5 - 15
Thiamin (mg) 0.4 - 1.1
Riboflavin (mg) 0.8 - 1.1
Niacin (mg) 4.1 - 14
Folate (mcg, DFE) 148.4 - 400
Vitamin B6 (mg) 0.9 - 1.3
Vitamin B12 (mcg) 1.3 - 2.4
Calcium (mg) 486.2 - 1000
Phosphorus (mg) 485 - 700
Magnesium (mg) 152 - 320
Iron (mg) 3.2 - 18
Zinc (mg) 3.1 - 8
Selenium (mcg) 11.7 - 55
Potassium (mg) 1540 - 4700
Sodium (mg) 288 - 1500 - 2300
** Nutrient has no established recommendation.
you could use almond milk or coconut milk, if you don't want dairy
And you can always try hemp protein. I've not tried it tho, so I cannot comment on it. Thinning it out with extra water and or putting it through a strainer you should be able to put it through your tube.
I would seriously consider getting in real food instead of the canned and packaged stuff. That's just my flea bitten opinion tho...
What kind of baby food did you use? That sounds like a great idea, especially since you can buy organic baby food and they generally have no sugar added!0 -
Quality of the intake is important
Hey Crimson,
While many may differ - I would suggest the following (not too far from what Sweets is saying above):
1. Start using L-Glutamine in your shakes and probably 2-3 heaped Tbl spoons + a day (powder form) to help rebuild muscle mass.
2. Try to replace cows milks with a Non-Dairy milk (i.e Nut milks like Hazelnut, Almond, Coconut and also Oat milk, Hemp and limited Soy). Rotate them.
3. Look for a vege based Supplement shake, not the Ensure. *(PM me if you need a source or search vege based based supplements)
4. Look at trying Cansema / Black Salve for the Skin Cancers (see my Expressions Page)
You only gain weight in 2 ways. 1. by building muscle due to resistance exercise and 2. Eating too much food that converts to fat. The only healthy one is the first. Check what your BMI is and you may be surprised how low you ideal weight is. If you work to reach your ideal BMI weight, then you are home.
Getting better quality nutrition will assist in recovery, general health, energy levels and that leads to you being able to exercise, eat better still, and so everything starts to get better. PM Micktissue as he may have good advice.
Regds
Scambuster0 -
OopsScambuster said:Quality of the intake is important
Hey Crimson,
While many may differ - I would suggest the following (not too far from what Sweets is saying above):
1. Start using L-Glutamine in your shakes and probably 2-3 heaped Tbl spoons + a day (powder form) to help rebuild muscle mass.
2. Try to replace cows milks with a Non-Dairy milk (i.e Nut milks like Hazelnut, Almond, Coconut and also Oat milk, Hemp and limited Soy). Rotate them.
3. Look for a vege based Supplement shake, not the Ensure. *(PM me if you need a source or search vege based based supplements)
4. Look at trying Cansema / Black Salve for the Skin Cancers (see my Expressions Page)
You only gain weight in 2 ways. 1. by building muscle due to resistance exercise and 2. Eating too much food that converts to fat. The only healthy one is the first. Check what your BMI is and you may be surprised how low you ideal weight is. If you work to reach your ideal BMI weight, then you are home.
Getting better quality nutrition will assist in recovery, general health, energy levels and that leads to you being able to exercise, eat better still, and so everything starts to get better. PM Micktissue as he may have good advice.
Regds
Scambuster
Scam, thank you, I see I forgot to say that I always add a spoonful of l-glutamine into my smoothies everyday. It's sort of difficult to proof read and read on my tiny iPhone screen.
As far as baby food goes, I did use organic. I was having a very hard time staying hydrated even though I was taking in tons of liquids and tons of water. I was also having trouble with getting in enough potassium. I kept struggling with low potassium, I passed out at the nurses station one day. After that they were giving me IV fluids once a week. Also wasn't getting enough fibre. So, to get the extra potassium, fibre, and regularity going, in addition to my peg canned stuff, daily - I added 1 Activia yogurt, 4 ounces of prune juice, and for the organic baby food, I looked for the highest in potassium and fibre- which was sweet potato or the squash. I tried to look for high fibre and high nutrient baby food. Those two stick in my head as the highest. I think I was just using Gerber. I would add it right into my can of nutren and a little water if needed to make sure it was thin enough.
I did not have my HealthMaster at the time, so I couldn't make my own. I thought of the baby food. My RO thought it was brilliant.0 -
a mixed bag
of suggestions.
First of all, if you are trying to regain muscle mass, you can't do it without some kind of weight training (even if it is just challenging your leg muscles by running or walking). You are taking in calories, but you need to tell them where to go if you are building muscle.
It sounds like you are getting a fair amount of protein, so you probably need carbs to deal with that energy issue. A good way to get some non-sugar carbs into you if you can't do thick drinks is maltodextrin - it is a long-chain carbohydrate, but it doesn't thicken liquids, so throwing a cup or so in a milkshake is no problem. We found that the cheapest way to get this was by buying a big bottle of Carbogain from our local Vitamin Shoppe, but there might be better ways available near you.
Everyone is different, but Doug has been on a fairly consistent diet of Boost Plus, milkshakes (1/2 cup Carbogain, 1 scoop Blue Bonnet Whey Isolate, 1 cup milk, some Torani vanilla syrup) and whatever "normal" food (stuff I make from scratch) he could eat, which is at least 3 meals a day now, for 6 months. He looks pretty good and he says he feels fairly good - he did take a nap today after working 6 hours in the back yard advancing work on the patio (they hit a road that used to run through our property, so were doing a fair amount of asphalt busting).
Lastly, don't forget water. You probably think you drink a lot, but your metabolism also needs a lot in order to build anything. Drink more.
I hope you see results soon.0 -
nutritionist
When you see the speech therapist, or even your personal physician before that, whomever you get to see next, ask about being referred to a nutritionist at your hospital. Such an expert might suggest some of the same things that sweetblood and others are suggesting. But, a nutritionist will be seeing you firsthand and will have a better understanding of whatever swallow (and/or PEG tube intake) issues you might have.
Good luck!
Take care,
Joe0 -
Had to smilesoccerfreaks said:nutritionist
When you see the speech therapist, or even your personal physician before that, whomever you get to see next, ask about being referred to a nutritionist at your hospital. Such an expert might suggest some of the same things that sweetblood and others are suggesting. But, a nutritionist will be seeing you firsthand and will have a better understanding of whatever swallow (and/or PEG tube intake) issues you might have.
Good luck!
Take care,
Joe
When they inserted my G-tube the ENT insisted I see a nutrionist, which I did. I explained I could not swallow capsules (and most if not all solid foods) and needed something I could crush and run through the tube. They did blood work and I was surprised, all I needed was vitamin D. Got my script visited pharmacy and guess what? What she gave me only came in a hard capsule.
Oh well.... :>)
Denny
PS Took care of it with diet which I wanted to do in the first place.0 -
WEIGHT GAIN
Are you able to do any kind of weight training? Even light weight with allot of reps and sets will aid in the quest to gain weight. I also had purchased some protien powders from my gym that when mixed in the right ratios with whole milk gave me a 900 calorie drink.
I went from 240 down to my lightest of 172 and am now sitting steady at 190. It seems that my body metabolism is returning to normal as I now have to watch what I eat and drink or I will start to gain too fast, which will result in just a fat gain VS a muscle gain.
I also swear by oatmeal, I eat it along with 1-2 bananas and yogurt in the morning.
Hang in there, it will get better and easier. It is healthier for you to gain good quality weight slowly VS packing it on too quick.
Best!!
Mike0 -
WEIGHT GAIN
Are you able to do any kind of weight training? Even light weight with allot of reps and sets will aid in the quest to gain weight. I also had purchased some protien powders from my gym that when mixed in the right ratios with whole milk gave me a 900 calorie drink.
I went from 240 down to my lightest of 172 and am now sitting steady at 190. It seems that my body metabolism is returning to normal as I now have to watch what I eat and drink or I will start to gain too fast, which will result in just a fat gain VS a muscle gain.
I also swear by oatmeal, I eat it along with 1-2 bananas and yogurt in the morning.
Hang in there, it will get better and easier. It is healthier for you to gain good quality weight slowly VS packing it on too quick.
Best!!
Mike0 -
WEIGHT GAIN
Are you able to do any kind of weight training? Even light weight with allot of reps and sets will aid in the quest to gain weight. I also had purchased some protien powders from my gym that when mixed in the right ratios with whole milk gave me a 900 calorie drink.
I went from 240 down to my lightest of 172 and am now sitting steady at 190. It seems that my body metabolism is returning to normal as I now have to watch what I eat and drink or I will start to gain too fast, which will result in just a fat gain VS a muscle gain.
I also swear by oatmeal, I eat it along with 1-2 bananas and yogurt in the morning.
Hang in there, it will get better and easier. It is healthier for you to gain good quality weight slowly VS packing it on too quick.
Best!!
Mike0
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