Weight Gainer Drinks?

[cardiactec]

Hi all, I need to gain some weight - like STAT! I have tried ensure and boost and hate the taste of both -- plus, in order to actually have those drinks put pounds to you, you need to drink a bunch a day (and THAT can get expensive). the only thing I really like are instant carnation drinks -- these can be rough on my tummy - trying to bulk up the calories in those things by adding whole milk to them is KILLING me.

does anyone know of any other types of high calorie drinks that could help put weight on these bones???

thanks!

cardiactec.

[Jan]

When I had to put on weight I drank Slim Fast. It is the same thing as ensure only not so THICK. It is milk based so if milk is killing you for some reason, they might have a soy based one?

Ice cream was also a main stay in my diet. Vanilla shakes would go down when nothing else would.

Good luck.

[lalalisa]

I was also going to say ice cream. You could make a shake out of your favorite flavor.

Yum!!

Lisa

[Sunfish]

there are actually quite a number of ways to be pretty creative. some GP diets have ideas.

while i know you don't like them (i don't think most people do), in case you didn't know boost & ensure & the like have "plus" versions that are more dense caloricly. when they were a staple for me i always watched for sales and played around with store brands as well, i.e. cvs, walgreens, rite aid. i found them to be about the same other than the containers being less convenient if on the go (cans rather than plastic bottles with lids that can come on & off). chocolate & vanilla varieties were the "best" to me, & i tried butterscotch once which was also okay. i also drank snapple one-a-days and some yogurt drinks when i could tolerate them for variety. i scoured sale adds for whatever was on sale; the yogurt drinks were yummiest to me, though not quite "complete" nutrition if that's your entire intake. none of the stuff is cheap, but it's all a lot cheaper than artificial nutrition &/or many of the medical interventions.

ice cream (without chunks of anything) also helped me keep my weight/calories up at times.

another something i've done is to actually use boost or ensure combined with other stuff. a super dense calorie fest with needed vitamins/nutrients can also be whipped up by making a milkshake out of ice cream and boost/ensure. if you get the mix right it just tastes like a yummy milkshake. a "dreamsicle" type shake can be made out of vanilla ice cream, a supplement drink, & a bit of OJ. i could tolerate OJ like this even when it bothered me on its own. some people can do fruits (bananas, berries) if mixed up into a smoothie in this way, or you can try other fruit juices. yogurt - frozen or regular - could be tried too.

the carnation mixes can be used with other things too, i.e. with ice cream for milkshakes, combined with ensure/boost, etc. volume was a huge issue for me so slim fast wouldn't have been a good idea; it's less calories/ounce so wouldn't have given me as much "bang for my buck" so to speak. if you can tolerate more of it though and you prefer the taste, jan's right that it's the same idea...essentially just more watered down

creamy soups are good to add in for some people but i tended to feel fuller with warm things so didn't do this much myself.

supplement powders often used by athletes can be helpful & added into lots of things, made into smoothies, etc. just make sure you don't get something that has any type of "supplement" in it that could be problematic. there are some weird things out there that you wouldn't want to play around with.

hot chocolate mix can be mixed with things to pack in calories as well, i.e. milkshakes, though obviously not for nutrients per se.

boost makes puddings that might work for you. if you can handle some solids the boost and/or ensure websites actually have recipe ideas of things to make with boost/ensure products (though i'm sure generics would work) to make things super calorie-dense.

you may have to get a bit creative, but there really are a lot of calorie-dense drink options. the more "ready to go" the more expensive; you can do a lot on your own with a blender but it takes a bit more time & energy (not a lot, but more than just opening a bottle).

hope this helps...

melissa

[dawn]

Does it have to be liquid shakes? I can't tolerate milk (bloating). I used to get soy protein powder, mix it with ice cubes and

orange juice in the blender. It was very good. There is also a soy powder flavored, cookies and creme, which was good, I mixed

it with water. Otherwise peanut butter packs on the pounds (speaking from experience).

Dawn

[flop]

On the medical front the ensure and ensure plus are very milky and quite a lot of people don't like them. In the UK we can also get enlive and enlive plus which are fruit based supplements (they do have a lot of fruit sugars in so not so good for diabetics) and might suit you better. There are also things like calogen which looks awful but is essentially 30mls of a high fat strawberry medicine that you drink a couple of times a day - not balanced nutrition but it does contain a lot of energy.

If you are not milk sensitive there are lots of things you can make with milk / cream / ice cream. McDonald's milkshakes are actually quite calorific if you like them. I used to whizz up full fat milk with peanut butter in a blender.

I also love bananas so used to mash them with some brown sugar and dairy cream.

Hope you find some things that suit you - let us know if you create any new combinations yourself.

Flop

[mom4cem]

When I was dropping weight a few years ago, the doc had me drink Myoplex. I know it has quite a bit of protein but if I remember it had a lot of fillers also. it may have changed since then. Myoplex can be bought at a vitamin store. Athletes use it also.

Milk shakes I like, but like you, to much milk kills my stomach. Hope you find something soon.