How can you recover from a very terrible metabolism damage from the past?

Question

I'll start this question with a small story so you all know how to answer this question right.

When I was a kid I was extremely picky, I refused to eat alot of things for very vague reasons, such as meat and veggies. My whole metabolism revolved around junk food in general. I was always underweighted (Terribly underweighted) and I still am. In that time I was eating randomly, I mostly didn't eat breakfast, and the other meals I would eat at random times.

Since last year I've taken serious attitude towards this and I've started by adding proper meals at proper times: Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm not as picky now, I eat lots more things despite there are things I still don't like. I am underweight, and from a previous question, I mentioned I'm 50 kgs at 1.85m.

This whole recovery plan has worked out terribly slow for the last year, I've gained 2 kilos in the past 3 years, and as I gain a kilo I drop it the next day. I should mention I'm a student and my calory burn is extremely high.

The real question here is how do I recover properly from such strong damage on the metabolism? I am eating like a normal person now, and I have all my meals set up properly now, however I am seeing little no to result. Every step forward comes with 2 steps back. Would it be possible for a faster recovery, or will I have to wait years just to get on the right track?

Answer 1

As Sancho says, you need to eat more.

It is often a surprise to skinny people how little they actually eat. What feels like a huge meal to you is probably not very much at all. I suggest that for the next few weeks to take a record of every thing you eat. Note down absolutely everything that goes in your mouth. Weigh out all the portions. Then look up the foods and note down the total calorie count as well as how many of those calories come from protein, carbs and fats.

Once you know how many calories you are eating, increase them. It is the only way to put on (healthy) weight.

You also need to look carefully at your protein / carb / fat ratio. There are many different guidelines about what these should be. Here is a good primal guideline. Some people think you need more carbs than that.... You need to experiment and find out what works best for you - you can only do this if you are properly informed (which is why it is so important to keep track of what you are eating).

Make sure you eat real food - nothing that's been through a factory. Fake food can mess with your hormones which confuses your body about what its supposed to do.

Finally, if all you do is eat more, you will just get fat. You probably don't want this, you want a lot of your weight gain to be muscle. To tell your body to make muscle rather than fat, you need to lift heavy weights. Join a gym or buy some weights and start on a good 5x5 program.

Take it steady. Make slow calculated changes to fine tune the process. Read and educate yourself as much as possible. Keep at it.

Answer 2

Eat more. There's no way you won't gain weight once you're eating enough. If you think you're eating enough, but you're not gaining weight, then you're wrong... eat more. You shouldn't be eating like a normal person, you should be eating like a person who has a super high metabolism.