too thin?

Question
dear leigh-anne,

i am a 21 yr old female who is 5 feet 7 inches tall. i weigh approx 44-45 kgs. although people have brought this fact to my attention, i never thought it was necessary to gain weight before. my weight fluctuates, during periods of stress and at one time has actually dropped down to 38 kilos- abt a year ago. i have always been thin since i was a young child. i would always get remarks. i ignored them because i thot one should accept their body as it is. but lately ive been looking at it as a matter of health. when i was a kid and used to play more strenuous games on a regular basis, i remember gaining weight. this is the only time i remember gaining weight and feeling healthier. as of now, i have bad posture, i have had it since i was 13 and it used to be much worse then. i also have weak knees- they buckle slightly and this makes it more difficult to stand straight coz i feel the weight of my upper body on them. basically i feel like a stack of cans high enough to easily fall. i find it difficult to balance. when i stand straight the knees buckle and when i don't my back bears the brunt of it. a doctor has told me before that this is due to having weak knee muscles as there is little muscle mass there. my bones do show somewhat, especially my rib cage and the pelvic bone- one either side of my hip. i have erratic meal times as well- but this has been the case only for the last 2 years. i really have no idea how to approach this situation...so my first question is, should i really try to gain weight? is my current weight too low? could it hold me back from doing certain things? my father tells me to try not to gain weight because he says that in later life i will be just "ok". (u know maybe after having a baby, etc. etc.) i don't agree with him. another question is should i try to gain muscle or fat? if so, how should i approach it? by going to a gym or following a diet or both? i also did not mention earlier that i feel very physically weak or drained. should i also trying to play a sport? another thing is that i feel discomfort in my joints - hips, elbows, knees and back. will gaining weight help me to feel more "put together"? and lastly- should i look into doing exercise with weights and such? please do tell me, i understand that i will have to see a qualified physician in my area...but my basic question is whether i have to see one at all.


Answer
You do not need to see a physician in order to gain some weight healthily. I think the main key for you is going to be eating more protein and lifting weights. You would think that any type of exercise would be contradictory to GAINING weight, but it's not. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat. Protein helps build muscle. So, with increasing your protein in your diet (be it by protein shakes or food items such as meats, poultry, etc.) you are going to have the building blocks to build muscle and gain weight. Another key point to gaining weight is simply increasing your daily caloric intake. You didn't let me know what type of diet you follow right now, but start off with adding at least 500 calories per day to your diet. It doesn't sound like much, but could easily be done. You could simply eat a cup of peanuts a day... tons of protein and 1/4 cup serving is usually between 160-180 calories.

The issues with your joint COULD be because your weight is low and you don't have the muscle mass to support your bone structure. I calculated your weight to be around 97-99 pounds. A person of your height should be between 123-148. SO you are considerably underweight. But your joint pain could also be caused by other conditions and would need further evaluation by your physician. You may have the beginnings of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, etc. and those can't be diagnosed without complete evaluation.

I hope this information has given you a start in approaching your weight gain.

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