Hi

[Silver47]

Hi everyone! After catching the flu (again), I decided I need to do something about my health. So a quick google search and shifting through a lot of shady articles, I found this site, which looks pretty legit and helpful.

 

In an ideal world, I could post about my problem and someone would reply with the magical answer to everything. Unfortunately, I figure I'll need to go look up stuff myself. But as this is a pretty big site, and googling comes up with shady answers, I figured I should ask for directions.

 

A bit of background about myself: I am the person that catches every virus and bacteria that passes through the area, then stay sick for  3-4 weeks. And since I am currently a university student staying in dorms, that's obviously a problem. Another problem is I'm 1-2kg away from being underweight. Which is actually a big problem for me, skipped two meals and I'll start feeling faint. Asking advice from friends is impossible because how dare I try to put on weight when everyone is trying to do the opposite. Anyway, that's my two big problems. Moving on to my lifestyle.

 

Exercise-wise, I'm doing archery and horse-riding, which I know isn't a typical workout, but I do feel warm during and sore after, as opposed to running, which just leaves me in a world of pain. Gym membership here is pretty expensive for a non-regular-gym person to consider.

 

Food-wise, I've paid for hall food, so it seems like a waste not to eat it. A typical hall meal consists of three choices (one vegetarian) and salad. Any advice on what to get or avoid will be pretty neat. Recently, I've taken a friend's advice and have started eating a clove of raw garlic a day to boost immunity, so far all its done is burn my mouth.

 

Sorry for the long post, any pointers or advice will be much appreciated.

[Infinity.Creates]

Hi!

 

I have to say that eating a raw clove of garlic is incredibly hard-core way of trying to boost immunity. Perhaps you can mix it with something else/eat it with a salad/etc if you want to keep it eating it?

Hopefully, someone will have a solution to each of your questions, and I hope you find them!

As for putting on weight, you need to stay healthy, but are you asking what the healthiest methods of putting on weight are?

Archery and horse-riding sound incredibly cool! It sounds like its doing you some work, and if you enjoy it then it should definitely count! What some people may also recommend are doing some body-weight workouts you can do at home alongside, to build your strength further.

For food, a lot of people are Paleo, so will skip anything with grain, or that are processed. For more food advice, look around the Nutrition section. I'm pretty sure there will be some more information for you there. 

 

Good luck with your fitness journey! If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[Stellakin]

Hey there! I'm Stella. Welcome to the community! I've always been skinny and now that I've found myself in the midst of some heart complications I've wasted away further, so I know what you mean about people saying "oh no, must be so hard to be *too* thin" haha! Nobody means bad by it though, of course. But hey, I can relate! Hm... a clove of garlic? As an italian I love garlic but even I would find that hard to stomach. My immune system is *down for maintenance* at the moment due to my health problems, but have you tried talking to your doctor? Feeling faint when your blood sugar dips could also be slightly low blood pressure (which I get sometimes, I think a lot of underweight or borderline-underweight people do), or anaemia. On the other hand if you want to try garlic for enhancing your immune health you can get plain tablets with nothing but ground garlic in them, or tasteless garlic; I think most chemists sell them - just incase you have as weak a stomach as mine, although if you're finding it easy then kudos to you!!

 

Anyways, looking forwards to seeing you around and hope you find what you're looking for!

 

Yours,

Stella  

[Bookish Badger]

Welcome to the Rebellion!

 

Regarding exercise: horseback riding and archery sound way fun! Since weightlifting is currently out (assuming you even enjoy it), you can do a lot to improve strength with bodyweight exercise. The NF blog/website has some good workouts. Darebee.com also has a huge selection to choose from.

 

Regarding gaining weight/nutrition: Lurk around the Warrior's forum and see what advice they might have. They are all about eating to gain/lose weight and improve/maintain performance.

 

Regarding illness: Have you seen a doctor to determine what might be causing your predisposition to get sick? There's a lot in the paleo news about thyroid and compromised immune systems lately. There could be some underlying issue that's causing every wandering virus to see a big "VACANCY - ROOMS AVAILABLE" sign when you walk by.

 

At the very least, eating well, exercising and getting good sleep (you are sleeping, right??) will make it easier to fight off illness and maybe give you a shorter recovery time.

 

Good luck on your journey!

[Silver47]

Thanks for the replies! Since I have the flu right now, I can't really taste the garlic, which I think is the only reason I can eat them raw right now. I'll see if I can still continue it when I can taste it properly. And I'll definitely check out the links and stuff! And the thyroid and compromised immune system thingy sounds like something I should get check out on, I'll see how I can do that! Thanks

[The lone wolfie]

Hi 

welcome to the rebellion.

I have nothing to add about your flu than what every one else have said. Eat wisely and seek professional help if you think it  is needed.  And eat your vegetable esp the leafy ones. They really help

You dont need a gym. You can find plenty of body weight exercises in NF.

[Raxie]

Horseback riding and archery are awesome!!!! Sounds like so much fun. You are just in time to join up with a four week challenge if you feel so inclined - it's a great place to add some structure (and get some GREAT support) for your goals.  Let me know if you have any questions on how to set one up! We have lots of archery and some horseback riders over in the Rangers guild if you would like to check it out over there