There are many reasons people come to Welcome to wellbeing for support. One of the main reasons if unintentional weight loss. This can happen to indivduals for loads of different reasons. In may be a medical condition such as cancer treatment that has caused taste buds to alter and appetite to change.
Or it could be a stressful life event that has negatively affected peoples’ food intake.
Gaining weight can be extremely difficult, especially doing this alone. We will help you to find out the reason you have lost weight, discuss symptom relief so eating is easier and tips to make every mouthful as energy rich as possible.
The main steps we follow are:
Step 1: Every day place 1 pint of full fat milk and 4 tablespoons of skimmed milk powder into a jug. Use this during the day in cereal and milky drinks
Step 2: Add extra calories to all meals and snacks by adding some cream, jam, honey, grated cheese, ground nuts or milk powder
Step 3: Try to have 2 to 3 extra snacks in between meals, see list below for some ideas.
A small handful of nuts
A small handful of dried fruit
Chocolate mini roll
Half a croissant
1 shortbread finger
1 bag of crisps
1 slice of malt loaf
Half a hot cross bun with butter
2 Jaffa Cakes
3 squares of milk chocolate
Two fingers of KitKat
Five jelly babies or wine gums
A serving of Angel Delight
30g piece of cheese
Here are some more general tips to get you started:
Always use full fat and full sugar products.
Try to eat little and often, aim for every 2-3 hours If you are unable to manage a meal, try to have a nourishing drink with a snack instead.
Fresh air and gentle exercise before meals may help to stimulate your appetite.
Relaxing and enjoying meals in company may help to increase your appetite.
If a large plate of food is overwhelming, try a smaller plate; you can always go back for more.
Freeze extra portions so you have meals available without needing to cook every day.
The last thing I would recommend you do is weigh yourself weekly. Then you will know if these changes have helped to increase your weight. If you have not seen a difference in 4 weeks, please speak to us as we may need to ask your GP to prescribe some specialised nutrition drinks.
Comments