Dear intgrp01,
Let me begin by reassuring you that you are not so thin that your health
is at risk. Based on the figures you provided, I calculate that your
Body Mass Index (BMI) is 19.1, or just this side of underweight. If your
BMI were 18.5 or less, you would be considered underweight and medical
intervention might be warranted. As it is, however, you are merely on
the thin side but not hazardously so, since you still fall inside the
range considered to be normal. The following webpage has a BMI chart
that lets you determine this for yourself.
consumer.gov: Body Mass Index (BMI)
http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/bmi.htm
You say that you are interested in learning in all possible methods of
weight gain. I'm afraid there are few pharmaceutical remedies, since
much more research is directed at speeding up the metabolism than at
slowing it down. There are a number of drugs, some very effective but
also very dangerous to the heart and nervous system, that speed up the
metabolism so that it burns calories faster. I know of none that are
expressly designed to slow it down.
I will discuss human growth hormone at the end of my answer, but let me
point out for the time being that the most common method of achieving
weight gain is to raise the calorie count in one's diet. This doesn't
necessarily mean eating more, mind you. It means that whenever you do have
a meal, you should select foods that are high in fat and protein. You
should emphasize meat, butter, potatoes, vegetable oil, sauces, nuts,
and dairy products in your diet, without cutting out fresh fruit and
vegetables.
But the very best advice on gaining weight belongs to a former era,
when social prejudice favored the ample girth as a sign of privilege. In
centuries past, when living standards were lower in every stratum of
society, poverty meant insufficient food intake and therefore a trim
waistline. Only the wealthy could afford to be plump. Today, it is the
lowest classes who consume the fattiest foods and therefore weigh the
most, while the rich and educated are concerned with keeping off weight
at all costs. So the greatest experts on weight gain belong to the past.
It so happens that I have on my shelf a slim volume dating to 1935,
the height of the Depression, authored by a famous fitness guru of
the day named Artie McGovern. McGovern had among his clients numerous
celebrities and sports figures such as Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth,
none of them especially thin but all of them strong and healthy. The
title of this book is The Secret of Keeping Fit. Much of it is devoted
to calisthenics and muscular strengthening. Then there is one chapter,
occupying ten of the 200 pages in this book, entitled "Building Up the
Body". Since that is exactly where your interest lies, and since the
copyright on The Secret of Keeping Fit elapsed in 1963, I shall reproduce
this chapter here in its entirety. I think you will agree that it offers
brisk and appealing advice on the problem of gaining weight.
====================================================================
Chapter VII: Building Up the Body
=================================
In Wonderland, it was no trick at all for Alice to nibble first at
one side, and then at the other, of a mushroom, thus arriving at her
very best size. Fortunately for a great many quacks, we don't live in
Wonderland. Many constantly nibble on the reducing side of the mushroom,
while a nearly equal number munch hopefully at the increasing side. And
the majority get precisely nowhere.
Why? Because they don't know how -- because they don't tackle the basic
problems involved in putting on or taking off weight. Their attitude is
just as unscientific as Alice's -- and a lot less productive of results!
Take the job of putting on weight, for instance. It hasn't been much
publicized, probably only because the thin man or woman isn't nearly
so much noticed as his or her fat friend... and also because results
obtained from additional poundage aren't nearly so spectacular as those
derived from a reducing orgy. But even though the thin man isn't a figure
of fun, yet he has a much harder job in putting on weight than he would
have in taking it off. He must first resolve to make free use of several
rare human virtues -- patience, a willingness to listen and to learn,
good humor, and a special bulldog brand of tenacity.
So, granted that your particular problem is thinness, you must decide
which of the following three types has you in its clutches.
Hereditary Leanness
-------------------
You may descend from a long line of leanies -- in short, your thinness
may be hereditary. In this event, I could not and would not prescribe
any cure for you. Whoever saw a fat greyhound or whippet?
If you are thin and consistently hold to the same weight year in and
year out, and have been unable to put on weight through rational methods,
yours is a completely normal thinness. Don't worry about it.
Functional Leanness
-------------------
Your thinness may be caused by ill health or some fundamental functional
disturbance. If you are underweight, and are continuing to lose poundage
over a period of months, there is always the chance that your trouble is
due to some functional disorder or focal infection. In this case, don't
fret. Not only does fretting accomplish nothing, but it takes additional
weight off faster than would the most rigorous reducing program.
First, see your doctor -- and your dentist. They can determine whether or
not your thinness is due to your teeth, your tonsils, to the pernicious
activity of your thyroid or pituitary glands, or to some other infection
which is emptying poisons into your blood stream. If such a condition
is found, it can be treated readily, and in nine cases out of ten you
will put on weight immediately.
This type of person is not in my province, but in that of a licensed
physician. I repeat -- I can only help you if your underweight condition
is due to the usual nonhereditary causes, which do not encroach on the
physician's province.
Careless Leanness
-----------------
Your condition, like that of most thin people, may be the result of any
one of a dozen normal causes. If so, my methods can help you.
Let's suppose that you have visited your physician and dentist and
have been given a clean bill of health by both. You are a person whose
weight fluctuates uncertainly; it is not hereditary. You want to put
on weight, to build up your body, to add anywhere from five to fifty
pounds. Good! You can do it.
The addition of weight is the result of combining the proper elements
of these four all-important factors:
a. Diet
b. Exercise
c. Relaxation
d. Sleep
Of all of these, Diet is head man. You can put on weight not only by
eating more but also by cutting down the quantity of your food! However,
you must select the proper foods.
The thin person is usually the one who picks at his food, tastes
everything, and eats nothing. This is a magnificent habit -- to get
rid of. Exercise, relaxation, and sleep will improve your appetite. But
what your appetite does for you is something else again. It is a force,
like steam or electricity, that you must harness and control.
None of the suggestions below are original. If they were, they would
probably be false. They are the proven findings of science based on
thousands of case histories, and to follow them is to take the first
step to readjustment. Here they are, good old standbys, all of them:
1. Concentrate a little more on the fatty foods and starches, without
slighting the proteins to too great an extent. Don't unbalance your diet.
2. Fatty foods, such as all fat meats, butter, cheese, nuts of all
kinds, chocolate, potatoes, peanuts, crackers, cream, sugar, oatmeal,
and dozens of other well-known flesh-builders, should play an important
role on your daily diet.
3. Try bananas or crackers and milk between meals. They'll help.
4. Cod-liver oil is an ancient remedy, but a proven one.
5. If your appetite is normal, don't stuff yourself in your frenzied
efforts to put on a few added pounds. Such weight won't stay with you
and is apt to give you nothing but indigestion.
6. Smoking and drinking are both all right, in small doses. But remember
that either of these tends to reduce the appetite and so must not be
put ahead of vital food requirements.
It isn't necessary for me to indicate further the exact items which should
be made a part of your diet each day. You know what the fatty foods
are without my telling you. You've heard your weight-lifting friends
talking about cutting out bread and butter, cakes and pies. Therefore,
my final word in respect to diet is: Make sure your appetite is a healthy
one. Eat normally, concentrate somewhat on fatty foods.
Exercise
--------
You remember that we have already decided that the amount of food a person
consumes is not nearly as important as the amount of nourishment he gets
from that food. All the coal you can jam into a furnace isn't going to
make that furnace any better if the coal is not being consumed. Proper
exercise assures the thorough assimilation of your food.
But how? Well, the old Biblical quotation might be paraphrased. "Take
a little exercise for thy stomach's sake." Remember what was said about
the abdominal muscles in the chapter on exercise?
Furthermore, it is not only possible, but preferable to put on weight
by cutting down on the amound of food you consume. Johnny Farrell,
the golfer, is a sensational example of this paradoxical statement.
Farrell, as lean and hungry-looking as they come, asked to be "built
up". We couldn't suggest more exercise for him, merely exercise of a
different nature. He also had to forgo all golf during his period of
rehabilitation.
Examination showed that Farrell was not assimilating his food properly. He
was the victim of intestinal intoxication due to a sagging condition,
or ptosis, of the abdomen. Some of his digestive organs were an inch
or more below their proper position. So a special series of abdominal
exercises were prescribed to raise these organs back to normal. We also
cut down on the number of calories he was ingesting. The results were
thoroughly beneficial. He started to gain weight -- and kept it up. we
got him to take additional rest, which in this case was particularly
important. He is the restless, nervous type of person who burns up an
incalculable amount of energy without realizing it.
Proper exercise, less food, more rest -- a ridiculously simple formula
-- gave Johnny Farrell what he needed. In six weeks he gained seventeen
pounds.
Self-discipline is hard, I know. But to gain weight you must practise,
conscientiously, the exercises that have been especially designed to
strengthen the abdominal muscles. I don't recommend vigorous sports
such as handball, tennis, and basketball. In short, be reasonable about
exercising. My exercises will tone up your whole system, increase your
appetite, put sagging organs back into place. Don't slight your abdominal
wall, and the exercises designed to keep it in good trim. These will
repay you.
The Art of Relaxation
---------------------
The hardest job in the world, I have found, is to make a thin man rest,
take it easy, stop worrying, and relax.
Perhaps you are a high-strung, nervous person. You can't sit still. You
pace the floor. You run instead of walking. You keep your muscles tense,
for all the world as if you expect to run somewhere at any moment. You eat
rapidly lest you lose precious time that might be spent doing something
else. You worry. You fear that nothing is going to turn out well. You are
subject to spells of depression, irritability, and downright despondency.
With you, the problem is entirely a mental one. Until you adopt a more
cheerful, restful attitude toward life, until you learn how to sit down,
close your eyes, and relax, it will be virtually impossible for you to
put on weight.
If you belong to the high-strung school, you must learn these simple
rules:
1. Stop going at things as if you expect to die before finishing them.
2. In exercise and athletics, stop tearing all over the tennis court,
galloping across golf courses, or hiking endless miles.
The problem of relaxation is fun to master, but not at first. You must
learn to stop yourself, as it were, in midflight. In playing a game, don't
play so fiercely that you exhaust both muscular and nervous energy. Learn
to conserve your strength while going through all the motions.
I have had many occasions to note what happens to those afflicted with
an overabundance of nervous energy. One of my clients, a Wall Street
man who traded on the floor of the Stock Exchange, worked, in an active
market, under tremendous strain, and lost from ten to fifteen pounds
in an unbelievably short time. After a few days restful vacation he was
able to put it right back on.
If you are really serious about gaining weight, you may benefit from the
method adopted by several of my patrons. I suggested that they install
couches in their offices and once or twice daily retire with the order,
"I am not in to anyone." They then lay down and relaxed completely
for fifteen minutes. This rest was just the type of mental pick-up
they needed. The person at home might profitably do this two or three
times a day. If the couch idea is impracticable you might try dropping
all activity and sitting back in your chair for a few moments, at two-
or three-hour intervals, giving yourself up completely to rest.
Tied up closely with your ability to relax is your ability to sleep. A
person who wants to put on weight should get at least eight hours of sleep
a night -- perhaps a bit more. Don't permit yourself to lie awake tossing
half the night. If you are a member of the sheep-counting fraternity,
try reading the chapter in this book on insomnia. That may help.
====================================================================
So much for the natural methods. You mention that you are not averse to
pharmaceutical solutions. Although I cannot recommend that you take this
course, I can mention to you what I have read on the subject.
Human growth hormone (HGH) is not what you are looking for. HGH is used
therapeutically to boost musculoskeletal development in growing children
and adolescents, but it does not increase weight per se and will certainly
not have this effect in adults. In fact, HGH is used illicitly as an
athletic enhancement drug because it promotes the conversion of fat into
muscle. Since your problem is the exact opposite, HGH is not for you. See
the following page for a medical description of the physiological effects
of HGH.
Colorado State University: Pathophysiology of the Endocrine System:
Growth Hormone
http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/hypopit/gh.html
The other thing I'd like to bring to your attention is that certain
prescription drugs have weight gain as a side effect, but these should
only be taken on the advice of a physician as treatment for the ailment
targeted by each medication.
Weight gain is among side effects listed in official information
sheets for some of the most frequently prescribed drugs in the
United States. They include drugs taken by tens of millions of
people for diabetes, clinical depression, high blood pressure,
gastric reflux and heartburn, and serious mental disorders like
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Among them are top-selling medications like the antidepressants
Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil; heartburn drugs such as Nexium
and Prevacid; Clozaril and Zypexa, used to treat serious
mental disorders; diabetes drugs like Glucotrol, Diabeta,
and Diabinese; and the high blood pressure drugs Minipress,
Cardura, and Inderal. Some, like Inderal, are prescribed for
several different health problems.
"Weight-gain drugs" is how Dr. George A. Bray, an obesity expert
at Louisiana State University, described such medications.
Healthy Place: Weight Gain in a Pill
http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Thought_Disorders/schizo/articles/weight_gain.asp
The following article discusses antidepressants in particular.
Web4Health: Weight gain and Antidepressant Medication
http://web4health.info/en/answers/bipolar-antidep-weight.htm
Here is a chart showing the likelihood that patients will gain weight
on various medications.
Consumer Reports: Drugs that can cause weight gain
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/crh/displayc.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=435699&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=363609
I would steer clear of these drugs myself, since an otherwise healthy man
has no business taking insulin, cortisone, or antidepressants. Perhaps
the least dangerous drug listed in the chart is the antihistamine nasal
spray, which is something that I can actually see myself using during
hay-fever season.
Among the drugs listed in the "Weight Gain in a Pill" article, I
do recognize the antidepressants, as well as the heartburn treatment
Nexium. An interesting fact about Nexium is that although it is marketed
as a major advance in heartburn treatment, it is a very slight chemical
variant -- an isomer -- of the earlier drug Prilosec. Prilosec, in turn,
is available as a cheap generic drug and even on an over-the-counter
basis.
Community Catalyst: Consumers Sue Pharmaceutical AstraZeneca Over
Misleading Nexium Campaign
http://www.communitycatalyst.org/index.php?doc_id=571
If I wanted to take advantage of the possible weight-gain properties
of Nexium while safeguarding myself against heartburn, I would buy an
over-the-counter package of generic Prilosec and use it before every meal,
especially a greasy or spicy one.
I have enjoyed addressing this question on your behalf. I hope you are
pleased with my findings and that you will be successful in your endeavor
to gain weight.
Regards,
leapinglizard |
