Ok it's weird for me to be here concidering i'm trying to gain weight.
I have searched Millions of sites and did much research on this topic yet I fail to gain the weight I want even with a 2,500-4000 calorie a day diet.
I have gained from 125-143 in 6 months with no fat gain
My wife is trying to loss weight which she doesn't seem to do in a healthy way she consumes 600-1000 calories a day with some weight Loss.
So I'm here to better understand both spectrums.
The first thing I find funny is that most scientific research shows a diet below 1,200 calories will drive your metabolism into starvation mode and it will ruin your diet. yet she loses weight like this and if she goes to over 1,200 gains weight weird. while I lose weight on anything less then 3,000.
I kind of see it hard to gain weight from were I stand example is check basic metabolism rate using a calculator it states on average I burn 2,000 calories a day doing nothing now if I do anything this is added to whats burned.
so say in the morning I have my bowl of fruit loops thats 110 milk 120 for cereal thats Breakfast 230 calories
Lunch I have a frozen pizza thats 500 calories with can of pop which is 100 Lunch 600 Calories
After workout 1 whey protein in milk thats 120=110=230 + grape juice 110 calories Snack=330
Dinner 2 tuna sandwiches with milk 110=110 bread+90Tuna+110 Milk Dinner=330
Before bed maybe m&m pack and glass of Milk 110+120=330
330 before bed
Total=1,820 Calories 4 Meals
hey maybe on the weekends on wake up at 12:00 noon and miss the first 2 meals
or some days i'm working in the garage from 9am to 6pm with just a snack because I want to finish a project.
Well what I want to share that may help you guys loss weight
1.First off genetics
2.BMI and how much muscle you carry this can be your best friend
Muscle burns 66 calories per pound at rest.
3.Exercise
4.Meal frequency and protein intake.protein stimulates metabolism and takes longer to breakdown also keeps your sugar levels stable might beable to stop sugar cravings.
5.Complex carbohydrates low on the glycimic index burn slower and keep you full along with fiber
6.Glutamine maybe able to safe some muscle *** while dieting
7.fidgeting studies show people who fidget and have high calorie diets seem to still be thin.
8.Fiber can ake you feel full and may keep some of your food from being digested.
9.It takes 15 mins before your brain sends signals to you telling you your full so chew your food completly and eat slow.
Why I think Gaining weight is harder then gaining first it's always easier to do nothing then something. no dishes to do if you don't eat ,cheaper to buy food
maybe no time to cook , running late always busy.
Now i'm trying to gain I have to make sure I have enough meals prepared then cook some ahead of time because if not readly available I won't eat, do dishes more often stop doing things to make time to eat.force feed myself so that i can finish in less time.
Just think 3 quaterpounder value eals a day is what it takes to eat 3,000 calories in a day and you might not live to long on that.
And my wife I never see her eat yet she is always at the scale saying dam I gained another pound and she has the same frustration as me just opposite.
Creating a calorie deficit is really the best way to lose weight. I emphathize with your wife's frustration, eating less and moving more is not easy. You are lucky that you are able to eat so much without gaining (if I understood you correctly). Could have something to do with you doing a lot of exercising/lifting, or a man's ability to turn some amount of fat into muscle. I hope you stick around so that you and your wife can glean off the valuable information on these threads.
There are some people who have an overactive thyroid-and they have trouble gaining weight. Have you ever checked for this? My husband has a male co-worker that has this, and he is stick thin and eats ALL DAY LONG. Sometimes, genetics can also be a factor as well-some people just have fast metabolisms, and can eat whatever they want and stay slim-I have a friend Jenny, who falls into this category. But-we must remember that thin does not always equal "healthy". You can still be at risk for health issues if you at poorly, even if you are thin.
I also would like to say that the calculators of how much you should eat each day are only guides, they are not set in stone. There are too many variables for them to be completely accurate for everyone.
Also, your wife, it sounds like she may have done a little damage to herself in the diet realm with her 600-1000 calorie eating habits. Does she exercise? What kind of exercise does she do, and how often? What kind of foods does she eat for her 600-1000 calories?
It isn't all about the calorie defecit. yes, you have to eat less and move more, but you also have to eat RIGHT. Your body cannot burn fat and gain muscle if you are not fueling it to do so.
My recommendation for her is to up her calorie intake, but SLOWLY to a normal level. If she normally eats in that low range, then I suggest that she stick to 1000 calories (not lower!) for a week or two, and then the next week up it to 1100 for two weeks, and then to 1200 for a while. When you have gone as low a 600 calories a day, and gotten your body used to that-then you WILL gain if you just up and start eating 1400 a day. (which is about a normal LOW calorie diet for weight loss for a lot of women!)
She needs to up her calorie intake slowly-so her body can adjust to a normal low calorie diet. If she gains a couple pounds during this period, don't fret. As a matter of fact, keep her off the scale if you have to. Her body needs to adjust back to a healthy diet, and in a few weeks her body should start to stable out a bit.
She also needs to look at her food choices. My mother for years ate mainly carbohydrates and vegetables when she ate low calorie-and didn't eat near enough protein or fruit. Her body needed that protein to keep muscle, and it wasn't getting it. She was also missing out on a lot of the vitamins that are only in fruit. A balanced diet is the key. The result was that she lost weight in pounds, but she had way too little protein, meaning she lost muscle tone. She was "skinny-flabby".
My father is very thin along with my grandmother very thin and my thyroid and my wifes are fine.
As for my diet I eat more protein and less carbs not on porpose trying to add more but I love meat - noodles,oats,and rice fill me so fast and provide little calories
example I ate rice last night I was so full only 200 calories I mean a whole bowl which was 1 cup of rice cooked but the water made it heavy
I workout 3 times a week with weights no cardio in winter but summer I run and play basketball and boxing.
My wife eats almost all carbs and craves sugars I never crav sugar I think maybe my protein levels of my inslulin from dipping low causing sugar cravings.
She does not workout she gets on kicks for a few days doing everything she can then quits very soon.
I do eat 80g of simple sugars right after a heavy workout to refill my muscle cells
which does work good.
A thought I have 1 pound of Muscle Burns 66 calories a day
ok at 8% bodyfat I weigh 143 my research says that 129 pounds of that is Muscle I will round down to 100 well 100x66=6,600 Calories without even moving
well I now average 3,000 a day and have not gained or lost weight so how can the above statement be true.
Many calculations have me at close to 4,000 calories which is hard to do in a day.
The numbers are hard to figure out for sure.Each known fact seems to contradict another
If you are really trying to gain muscle weight try healthier sources of calories. maybe instead of fruit loops some oatmeal, with flax and almonds, and peanut butter with wheat crackers for snack instead of M&M's? still are higher calorie treats but the calories aren't junk either.
At 143 pounds and 8% body fat, that means you have about 11.5 pounds of fat on your body, which leaves 131.5. If you only have 131.5 pounds of lean body mass total , I highly doubt that 129 (or even 100) pounds of it is solid muscle. You have to account for bones, blood, WATER (since so much of our body is water), and all that other fun stuff inside that is NOT muscle, and it's really difficult to pinpoint exactly how many pounds ARE only muscle, so that calculation is really difficult to do accurately.
I agree that your wife has probably done damage by staying in such a low calorie range for an extended amount of time. Aphil is right--she should start gradually increasing her calories to a normal range. She probably will not lose weight by doing this, but once her body gets used to having, say, 1400 calories a day, then things will get back to normal, and she should be able to lose weight.
And, no offense, but I have no sympathy for you not being able to gain weight I'm sure many people on here would much rather be in your shoes than the reverse! I know I would (God, why I can't I just get ABOVE 120 pounds ). Besides, if you're healthy and in good shape, then what difference does the number on the scale make? It's not like that for us--being overweight, sure, you can still be healthy for the most part, but those extra pounds are constantly making your organs (especially your heart) work harder than they should have to, so even though you may have no symptoms, extra weight is slowly doing damage, and eventually, that damage will show.
Also, comparing yourself and your wife is not a fair comparison by any means. Men burn more calories than women in general, so of course your diets and calories levels would have to vary. Men typically have more muscle and have an easier time building additional muscle, whereas women often have difficulty building muscle due to lack of testosterone and increased estrogen (fat contains estrogen, from what I understand). Your chemical makeups are drastically different, and if you both ate the same number of calories even if you were the exact same weight to begin with, you would no doubt have drastically different results.
I agree that the calories you eat are junk. Even if you're skinny you might not stay healthy on that fare. If you want to add muscle do what the body builders do. They don't eat fruit loops, that's for sure. Try eating protein and high quality carbs. Cut the pop and m&ms. If what you posted is a typical diet there is very little for your body to work with nutritionally. But I have to say that a lot of the other info you post (about insulin, etc) leads me to believe you should know that. So it makes me wonder about this whole post in general.
And I'm always skeptical of women eating 600 calories a day and not losing weight. Starvation just doesn't work like that. I believe the whole "starvation mode" hype to be very overblown. Our metabolisms may slow a bit as our calories decrease, but weight loss does boil down to calorie in calorie out.
jillybean720 post is right on but my diet does have good balance that was just a sample of maybe one of the days.
I eat potatos,apples,oranges,grape juice,oats,rice,chicken,tuna,milk,cheese ect
And yes I know that I know most of what is being said I Know I just post in the hopes of learning something new and maybe others can read the post and learn.
As for gaining weight I don't think it should hurt my organs to be Say 155lbs at 9% vs 135 at 8%
The only thing that sucks about cutting the junk out is junk makes it easy to get many calories and as long as the rest of the meals are good shouldn't make a diffrence
I'm sorry if I jumped into your forums and made people upset I just wanted to converse and talk and maybe share ideas which maybe able to help both of us.
apple juice is high in calorie and a healthier choice...also soy protein is a good calorie source, there is a cheese called soya kaas and it has the same calorie as regular cheese, its just healthier for you!
nuts are good source of calories, whole grain noodles (try the japanese kind called udon) contain calories, lots of em!
corn is a good cource of calories as well, how about a big bowl a grits in the morning, if you include a non hydrogenated butter or just a little real butter and maybe some honey on them or maple syrup..
try easting millet bread, its yummy and high calorie!
I sympathize with your problem, my husband is a cystic fibrosis patioent and is constantly trying to gain weight...he is also an amateur macrobiotic counselor and knows how to eat healthy, the only problem for him is he has no time to eat with all of his breathing treatments every day.
I agree with everyone else as well that your wife was at a too low calorie range....your body needs more calories and its hard to get all the good stuff she needs every day with such a low amount, she needs fresh veggies, fruits, lean meats/fishes, whole grains and low fat dairy products to maintain a healthy body!
also, along the peanut butter lines, there is a all natural peanut butter with homey instead of sugar and no hydrogenated oils
I actually use a peanut butter in which the ONLY ingredient is peanuts--how healthy is that?! Plus it still packs 180 calories in 2 tablespoons. For breakfast, I like a whoe-wheat English muffin (130 cals) with the peanut butter (180 cals) and sliced banana on top (something like 80 calories in a SMALL banana, I think). I sometimes also add a glass of milk (90 cals for skim, more if it has fat). It's not too much food (I would think it's more than a bowl of cereal), yet it packs up to 480 calories (more than DOUBLE your weenie bowl of cereal ), and all from good stuff Jeez, maybe I should be trying to GAIN weight
May Be Able To Help May Not
I'm sure many people on here would much rather be in your shoes than the reverse! I know I would (God, why I can't I just get ABOVE 120 pounds 
). Besides, if you're healthy and in good shape, then what difference does the number on the scale make? It's not like that for us--being overweight, sure, you can still be healthy for the most part, but those extra pounds are constantly making your organs (especially your heart) work harder than they should have to, so even though you may have no symptoms, extra weight is slowly doing damage, and eventually, that damage will show.
Jeez, maybe I should be trying to GAIN weight 