is it possible for to eat more and not gain weight?

Question

i eat an 500 - 800 calories a day (650 on average)
i am 5'6 and want to sustain my weight of 96 lbs
i want to be healthy AND thin! is it possible? or if i increase my calorie intake will i gain lots of weight?

Answer 1

Yes, it's possible.

At your level of caloric intake, your body is probably in "starvation mode" and doing everything it can to conserve body mass. To do that it usually slows down your metabolism so that you're not burning any calories. Sometimes eating more and adding a little exercise will actually make you lose weight because your body comes out of "starvation mode" and your metabolism speeds up, burning more calories.

I do think that you are underweight, based on your height, but your doctor is a much better person to consult about that than anyone on Yahoo Answers. I know someone who is 5'3" tall and 99 pounds who looks like a very unhealthy starving refugee. Gaining weight sometimes makes you look better. Talk to your doctor.

Answer 2

I'm going to assume you're quite young - not because your question is adolescent, but because 96 lbs is a teenage weight. I was 110 and 5'5 at the end of high school and I wanted to maintain that weight forever!

You can't eat more and not gain weight unless what you're eating (cucumber etc) has a really high water count. But if you go that route, you'll miss out on all the nutrients you need to survive. Multivitamins won't be enough to help you and, um, well don't go that route. If you want to be healthy and thin, you need to gain some weight. What you are now is skinny. Skinny is unattractive to boys. They worry about breaking you and think you have a boy body. What you want to do to be healthy AND attractive is slowly gain about 20 lbs. Then you'll have curves without having ugly fat deposits. Men are attracted to hips, breasts and butts. Nobody likes a no-bum. To maintain your thin waist, do sit-ups. To keep your arms and lets firm, walk or run and grab some light weights. Heavy weights will build big muscles, which you want to avoid. Stringy muscles are awesome. The stronger you are, the more energy you'll have and the more you'll burn calories. If you maintain your 96 lbs, muscle will disappear and you'll end up being saggy. Boo saggy.

Let go of the numbers. Stop measuring your calories. Throw out your scale. Never look at another scale again. That way you can concentrate on how your body looks and feels and not end up being that anorexic girl nobody wants to date.

Answer 3

The minimum average amount of calories that a person should consume is 1200 per day. At 5'6", an ideal weight would be around 120 pounds. Your calorie intake is not healthy and could put a lot of strain on your heart and other organs.

Answer 4

i think for a 5'6 person you are extremely thin!

your height should be around the 120s. and thats still thin.

of course eating healthy will keep you thin.


what you need to realise is that you can 50000000 calories a day and not gain weight...AS long as you burn off 50000000 doing soe excercise. so if you want to eat something delicous and faty you can as long as you end up spending the same amount of calories in excercise..walking etc.

you can increase your calorie intake depending on how much you move. if you are a couch potato then dont. but if u work. go too school, walk alot, then u can easily eat up to 1000+. :)


hope that helps.

Answer 5

96 pounds is NOT healthy for someone of your height; nor are you consuming enough calories for your body to function properly. A reasonable weight for you would be, at the smallest, no less than 105-110 pounds. And, at the very least, you should consume somewhere between 1600 to 1800 calories a day. To condition your body to use these calories for basic health maintenence and energy expenditure, you should incorporate a half hour to an hour of exercise into your daily routine.

Please consult a doctor at once. You are endangering your health at your present weight.

Answer 6

well first of all at 5'6 you need to be about 110lb, but anyway it is possible to eat more and not gain weight if you eat less calorie foods in replacement of what you eat, only drink water, and exercise a little. To not gain weight you just have to maintain a healthy life style, and if you eat more than 800 calories just exercise it off....though 1200 is the bare minimum for anyone to not be considered anorexic , or have a eating disorder

Answer 7

No if you eat 2,000 calories a day and go on a 2-3 mile run everyday it is extremely easy to stay fit and thin i used to count calories like that and eat very little calories like you but then i joined xc running to see if would loose even more weight but i got hungrier since i exercised more. A nutrisionist came to our running team once and he said that running is the best thing you can do to burn calories he said a good diet is:
Breakfast:
*option1*- yogurt with granola
*option2*- 1 cup bowl of frosted mini wheats with low fat milk
*option3*- 1 table spoon of peanut butter and half a banana
Orange or Apple Juice

Lunch:
carrots
peanut butter and jelly sandwich or nutella sandwich
apple or banana
cheez its
Water

Dinner:
Pasta or another main dish
Veggies
Water

I consider myself thin at 102 lbs seriously running really helps
have you seen any fat runners?
I didn't like running at all when i first tryed it. I got tired very easily but staying healthy meant a lot to me so i stuck to it and now it is really easy for me
try to eat 1000-2000 calories a day

stay healthy =]]

Answer 8

Increase the amount of calories spent as well. Do some more exercise or some stronger exercise. Add more calorie burning tasks to your day. An extra walk or playing with kids or stopping a supervillian. Do this stuff and you will burn more calories which means you can eat a bit more.

Answer 9

500-800 calories a day? It sounds like you're starving yourself. You shouldn't be eating any fewer than at least 1500 calories a day.

96 pounds is way too thin. You're putting your health at risk by being that underweight.

Answer 10

It depends on your metabolism. I am what they term as the greyhound breed I can eat what I want and not gain weight, I will get a bit of a pot belly but it goes as quick as it comes. I have been roughly the same weight 11 stone at 5ft 8ins all my life the most it would vary is around 5lbs.
Just lucky I guess?
The above is not of any help to you, but you will probably have to follow a regime in order to keep your weight in check. It's very easy for some people to put on weight but getting rid of it is very hard work, so be careful.

Good Luck.