Struggling With being underweight

Anthonyxj18

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I am 5 foot 8 male 117pounds (1m 73 & 53 kg) just not feeling my best. Feel extremely weak. I do alot of walking daily about 30k steps after the day is over I'm very active during the days. I eat about 2100 calories a day I dont see why I'm only 117 pounds maybe I'm underestimating how many I actually need ? If anyone can help I would appreciate it only issue is I eat whole foods and I'm not very often Hungry but at the same time I get fatigued and weak dizzy even sometimes all my blood work has been checked out I supplement vitamin D and B12 im very concerned.
 
Roughly, 30K steps is about 15 miles which is roughly 1500 calories burned. And your Basal Metabolic rate is also about 1500 calories.

You should be consuming 3000 calories a day just to maintain weight. To gain weight you should be eating 3500 to 4000 calories a day.

That might be hard to do if you are rarely hungry. You should gradually and incrementally add calories to your daily intake.

For instance, maybe this week makes it a goal to get up to 2500 calories a day. and next week go for 3000. and then the week after 3500.

One simple and easy way to add calories is with smoothies. You can add a smoothie to your meal plan. A good smoothie might have 300 or 400 calories. You can easily add one. either just chug it right after breakfast or take it with you and sip on it all morning. next week you could add a smoothie after lunch or you might make a double and take it with you to sip.

You could also start increasing the size of your meals. If you make your morning oatmeal with 1/2 cup of oats, then start making it with 3/4. then next week go and make it with a cup. If you add just a cup of rice to your dinners start slowing increasing it till you get to two.

Try to lean on calorie-dense foods. Like nuts and seeds.

You can also start using CronOmeter to keep track of nutrients.

BTW all my calculations are very rough. so be sure to keep an eye on things by weighing yourself.

 
Thank you all for the support I greatly appreciate it all truly. People always blame that I'm VEGAN for the issues i have feeling weak and being so small it gets irritating but I'm grateful for the advice I never feel too active it just adds up I work on my feet 8 hours a day never really stop moving cleaning/Walking in general working. I'm a food server I'm always running around at work it gets hectic I underestimated my activity level i guess i always thought i was slightly active. But i always end up around 25-35 I steps
 
Roughly, 30K steps is about 15 miles which is roughly 1500 calories burned. And your Basal Metabolic rate is also about 1500 calories.

You should be consuming 3000 calories a day just to maintain weight. To gain weight you should be eating 3500 to 4000 calories a day.

That might be hard to do if you are rarely hungry. You should gradually and incrementally add calories to your daily intake.

For instance, maybe this week makes it a goal to get up to 2500 calories a day. and next week go for 3000. and then the week after 3500.

One simple and easy way to add calories is with smoothies. You can add a smoothie to your meal plan. A good smoothie might have 300 or 400 calories. You can easily add one. either just chug it right after breakfast or take it with you and sip on it all morning. next week you could add a smoothie after lunch or you might make a double and take it with you to sip.

You could also start increasing the size of your meals. If you make your morning oatmeal with 1/2 cup of oats, then start making it with 3/4. then next week go and make it with a cup. If you add just a cup of rice to your dinners start slowing increasing it till you get to two.

Try to lean on calorie-dense foods. Like nuts and seeds.

You can also start using CronOmeter to keep track of nutrients.

BTW all my calculations are very rough. so be sure to keep an eye on things by weighing yourself.

Thank you all for the support I greatly appreciate it all truly. People always blame that I'm VEGAN for the issues i have feeling weak and being so small it gets irritating but I'm grateful for the advice I never feel too active it just adds up I work on my feet 8 hours a day never really stop moving cleaning/Walking in general working. I'm a food server I'm always running around at work it gets hectic I underestimated my activity level i guess i always thought i was slightly active. But i always end up around 25-35 I steps
 
I agree very much with this. Otherwise you might not be able to consume enough calories to support all that physical activity.
Yea. clearly going to need to make adjustments I've been vegan 3 years now started amazing but got weaker and weaker as time went on now down to 117 my parents are even concerned for me and docters want me go gain weight.
 
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Harvard Health Publications estimates a 125-pound person burns 150 calories per hour waiting tables.

How are the French fries?
 
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Harvard Health Publications estimates a 125-pound person burns 150 calories per hour waiting tables.

How are the French fries?
😂😂😂😂 I have never tried them funny enough I only eat whole foods to be honest I don't do deep fried stuff maybe I should start I need the weight 😂😂😂
 
Yea. clearly going to need to make adjustments I've been vegan 3 years now started amazing but got weaker and weaker as time went on now down to 117 my parents are even concerned for me and docters want me go gain weight.

Have you always been slim ? Some people are just naturally slim and have no health problems. Did your symptoms (feeling weak) commence once you became a vegan ?
What is a typical day's list of food/meals ? Not eating enough protein can make you feel weak. If you have little appetite, eating smaller meals and more often, should help you increase your calorie intake. :)
 
Have you always been slim ? Some people are just naturally slim and have no health problems. Did your symptoms (feeling weak) commence once you became a vegan ?
What is a typical day's list of food/meals ? Not eating enough protein can make you feel weak. If you have little appetite, eating smaller meals and more often, should help you increase your calorie intake. :)
No I use to he 270 pounds before going vegan. I lost all the weight after the transition I track my food on cronometer and hit my goals for the most part every single day. After supplementing for b12 and D3 every single say I occasionally take a Omega 3 algae supplement as well. All my major nutrients been to be hit.
 
No I use to he 270 pounds before going vegan. I lost all the weight after the transition I track my food on cronometer and hit my goals for the most part every single day. After supplementing for b12 and D3 every single say I occasionally take a Omega 3 algae supplement as well. All my major nutrients been to be hit.

That is a huge weight loss. What is a typical day's list of food intake ?

I have actually gained weight since I became a veg*an due to eating far more carbs.
 
Have you always been slim ? Some people are just naturally slim and have no health problems. Did your symptoms (feeling weak) commence once you became a vegan ?
What is a typical day's list of food/meals ? Not eating enough protein can make you feel weak. If you have little appetite, eating smaller meals and more often, should help you increase your calorie intake. :)
As you can see 😂😂
 

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That is a huge weight loss. What is a typical day's list of food intake ?

I have actually gained weight since I became a veg*an due to eating far more carbs.
I eat majority carbs actually. Breakfast is usually fruit Of some sort. Today I had Apples berries Grapes for breakfast

Lunch I had A bowl of Oatmeal with some Peanut butter and pumpkin seeds

Dinner a huge salad with 3 baked Potatoes and Brown rice with Hummus. Tons of veggies in there i mix Peas grilled Zuchini Onions peppers on a bed a greens Huge salad i like my biggest meal at dinner. I dont really do any snacks maybe i should try that but as I said it's hard because my appetite isn't really large today I consumed 2160 calories and it felt CRAZY hard to do.
 
I eat majority carbs actually. Breakfast is usually fruit Of some sort. Today I had Apples berries Grapes for breakfast

Lunch I had A bowl of Oatmeal with some Peanut butter and pumpkin seeds

Dinner a huge salad with 3 baked Potatoes and Brown rice with Hummus. Tons of veggies in there i mix Peas grilled Zuchini Onions peppers on a bed a greens Huge salad i like my biggest meal at dinner. I dont really do any snacks maybe i should try that but as I said it's hard because my appetite isn't really large today I consumed 2160 calories and it felt CRAZY hard to do.

I'm not a dietician but you're not getting enough protein. Have you ever tried seitan, tofu, Quorn, tempeh ?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to check some reputable websites and see what a typical meal for a vegan of your age should be eating. :)
 
I'm not a dietician but you're not getting enough protein. Have you ever tried seitan, tofu, Quorn, tempeh ?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to check some reputable websites and see what a typical meal for a vegan of your age should be eating. :)
Most people recommend 0.75x your bodyweight in protein I hit that mark easily today alone I had 80 grams of protein
 
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I do consume tofu from time to time and today was actually a lower protien intake day usually I'm over 100 grams
 
I track my food on cronometer and hit my goals for the most part every single day.

you are obviously not meeting your calorie goals. I suppose you could just be underestimating your "calories burned". Hopefully, you can fix that easily in Cronometer. Now that i think about it.... I'm surprised you could underestimate your calories so badly. You know how many steps you do. Oh, maybe you figured you didn't have to count "work" as exercise?

I thought Cronometer syncs up some fitness devices. My old Garmin used to plug the calories right into it. And I know some of the Fitbits do the same. But I think you could just the Fitbit to input the calorie burned directly into Cronometer. It would be nice to have a better idea of what your "calorie goal" is.
 
you are obviously not meeting your calorie goals. I suppose you could just be underestimating your "calories burned". Hopefully, you can fix that easily in Cronometer. Now that i think about it.... I'm surprised you could underestimate your calories so badly. You know how many steps you do. Oh, maybe you figured you didn't have to count "work" as exercise?

I thought Cronometer syncs up some fitness devices. My old Garmin used to plug the calories right into it. And I know some of the Fitbits do the same. But I think you could just the Fitbit to input the calorie burned directly into Cronometer. It would be nice to have a better idea of what your "calorie goal" is.
Yea I never knew that u could link the Fitbit into cronometer. And the reason I underestimated my calories is because of the lack of hunger. I figured my body knew when I am hungry or when I need more food but I'm never hungry I never get the hunger cues so for the longest time I thought I was eating enough until the weight kept falling off I wanted to he 130 ish 140ish pounds when I started not under 120
 
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