Weight gain

Many people wish they could put weight on as they struggle to keep weight on no matter what or how much they eat.

To put it simply, the key to gaining weight is eating more calories than you burn through your daily activities and the opposite is true if you’re trying to lose weight. But many people are still unable to gain weight even when they are downing lots of food.

Here are some reasons you may be struggling to pack on the pounds.

- Exercising too much: If you do a lot of cardio, you may be burning too many calories to gain weight. People trying to gain weight may want to concentrate more of their efforts on resistance training, which will help you put on weight in the form of muscle.

- ‘High metabolism’: If a person has a high metabolism, they may not gain much weight even when eating high energy foods.

- Chronic disorders: Some disease types can cause regular nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, making it difficult to gain weight. Other conditions may decrease a person's appetite, so they do not feel like eating. Examples include cancer, diabetes, thyroid disorders, and digestive conditions, such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.

Mental illness: Poor mental health can affect a person's ability to eat, including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. Each of these conditions can affect a person's body image and appetite.

If you are struggling with being underweight, it is important to try and target what’s causing the problem. Being underweight can cause other serious health issues such as osteoporosis and other bone disorders where the bones are brittle and more prone to breaking.

See you registered TICM doctor.