After 2 weeks of extreme experimentation with food, diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, I found a way in which to gain weight.
-Eat carbohydrates-After having limited yourself to a certain amount of carbs a day, it is not easy to bring them back into your diet. On a diet of 2,000 calories, one should have around 300 grams of carbs. Before I began eating carbohydrates on a regular basis I was probably intaking about 50 grams a day-only from vegetables. I never ate bread, sugar, or anything refined-simply because I feared the wrath of a wide backside. During my experiment , I upped my intake to around 200-300 grams a day. Let me just say...the food pyramid is crap. If you actually follow it as far as serving amounts go, you gain weight! I did, but it was probably because my body was not used to that high of a carb intake. In order to fix this dilemma, one must simply add carbs to their diet SLOWLY. A little bit more everyday will keep the jiggle from those thighs.
A problem I noticed was that many people think that by strictly counting calories, one can loose or even maintain weight-FALSE! It all depends on what you eat and how much of it you eat. If you eat 1200 calories of only bread everyday-it will show. If you eat 1200 of just fruit everyday -it will show. In order for your body to properly digest and burn the food you intake, one must get the proper amount of vitamins, minerals, and fat.
Also, you can have a little bit of any kind of food without getting fat. However, if you are like me and enjoy spending your evening in front of the television with a plate of food-STOP! This is a horrible habit, and one very hard to break. Just think every time you sit down to eat a meal, all your attention should be focused on the food. Take small bites, chew properly, and really think about how good it tastes on your taste buds. Also, by ensuring that every time you eat you are sitting at a table or eating with someone else-one will eat less.
If a snack is necessary before bed or during a movie, choose a fat free yogurt or a grapefruit. The casein protein in yogurt helps fill your belly and stays full while you are sleeping. It makes you sleep better, with less waking up. Grapefruits are also good because they are very low in calories , help stabilize your blood sugar, and help satisfy all cravings.
One last thing, even though the food pyramid says to have a certain amount of foods on a daily basis-this is not necessary. What you eat and how much of it you eat in order to maintain the proper weight all depends on your size. For me, I am a 125 lb female and therefore only take in around 1200-1500 calories a day. If I go over this, I usually gain weight. However, if you are larger, you can have more calories. The best thing to do is experiment with it. Write down all you have eaten in a day and weigh yourself every morning to see how much it fluctuates.
Remember...mind over matter. The food does not control you, you control the food