Not seeming to gain weight. Any suggestions?

daughterand3: Perhaps your mother should be seen by her primary care physician.

Hey Sweetie.
Add Geritol (liquid Geritol is best) and Cod Liver Oil. These are excellent tonics and notorious for adding weight. I needed a good vitamin and something that build my tolerance to the cold weather. It worked great. 😃 I felt so healthy, regained strength but I wasn't expecting the weight gain. Speak with her doctor first. We don't want her to overdose on vitamins, if she is already taking some. The doctor can balance them out. Too, much of some vitamins can be very harmful.

You do not mention if your mother is I'll. She should have a full health assessment with her PCP to determine her health and weight, nutrition needs. Often people who have adequate intake but no wt gain are ill, undiagnosed or diagnosed.
Start with the physical assessment and go from there.

Could be, but Boost seems to make my MIL…..poop.

P.S. It also depends on the age of your mom.
My friend is almost 90 bedridden in a nursing home.
He continues to lose weight. He was 170-180 and now around 150 (very thin).
One of his pleasures is eating (food I bring).
I bring Wh Foods cheese/cake, good pizza from elsewhere, KFC wings (no teeth although he loves it and sucks on the bones), sushi ---and the best corn beef, patrami, roast beef sandwiches from UNITED MARKET. He loves all of this.

It isn't all about eating healthy as one ages, losing independence and abilities - and has little else to look forward to ... It isn't about keeping them alive but finding the joys of the life - and moments - they have now.
It all depends on how old your mom is, what her health is like, and intention.
At 90, I feel a person can eat what they enjoy. Gena / Touch Matters

Dear Daughter 3, The Boost high calorie is good. It is meant to be a supplement/ snack. Make every bite count by adding calories with fat: butter/margarine, cream, cheese. An example: Her oatmeal can be made with whole milk instead of water and add some butter or margarine melted into the hot cereal. Get full fat yogurt/ cottage cheese, use cream soups and stir in baby food meats for more protein. Peanut butter powder or powdered milk will add extra protein to shakes and sauces. The pasta dishes can have sauce with added cheese, chopped hard cooked eggs, fine ground cooked beef/ or baby food meat. Butter/margaine can be put in this also.

We all experience muscle loss (sarcopenia) as we age. Exercise and protein are helpful to maintain muscle. Not sure if your mother will be able to exercise, but you can get more protein into her diet.

Again, make every bite count for higher calories. Aim for 3 meals and 2-3 snacks daily. Good luck.

Boosts aren't that caloric. Skip or put the boosts in a bullet (or blender) and add:
BANANA
AVACADO
For myself, I add lots of nutrients, i.e., Vit C, collagen, cinnamon (which is healthy), and almonds (protein), and more. If you want my ingredient list, please let me know. I drink this about 4-5 x a week, with a yogurt base. That is another good idea, get whole yogurt. My liquid is usually coconut water (very healthy). Whatever liquid you use, make sure it is 100% juice. You can also find many fruit juices loaded with vitamins.
With all this, you don't need the Boost.
Do READ ingredients on the label.

Gena / Touch Matters

IMO, boost is not good for you. One a day in addition to other foods OK but not as the complete diet.

As we age, we loose muscle mass and so we lose weight. But I would have labs run. It could be her Thyroid. I think its Hyperthyroidism that causes weight loss.

Talk to her doctor. She may have diabetes, lack some digestive enzymes, or have another health issue that keeps her from gaining weight.

The boost is probably helping her to maintain her weight. Not sure of your circumstances, but because my LO has loose stools after every meal, I add high fat items, such as avocado every single day. I order her meal items based on what digests most quickly to the slowest to digest. My LO doesn’t have HBP, diabetes, cholesterol, etc., so I use real butter. If dairy doesn’t bother her, ice cream daily wouldn’t hurt. Does she move around a lot or is her in an “agitative” state?

Digestive enzymes may be reduced due to age or illness. If food is not well digested, there is unlikely to be weight gain no matter what is eaten. Ask doctor about testing for enzymes.

it all depends on her bowel movements as well -- is she losing it all, when she goes to the bathroom? liquid bowel movements? then her body isn't absorbing well the food.

as much as possible, it's good to eat yummy, scrumptious, REAL food, with good nutrients. (not packaged protein shakes, bottled food, bottled drinks, etc.) -- but real protein (vegetables also have protein). if she has trouble swallowing, it can be boiled, pureed, made softer.

it also helps to eat with company. no one feels like eating much when they're alone. eating together with another person also eating, is more enjoyable.

every situation (and causes for the situation) is different.
...if my elderly LO knows there's a yummy dessert waiting after finishing the plate, the speed of eating increases by 1,000,000,000,000.
(i'm like that too 🙂).

My mom went from 150lb to 117lb before she got her PD diagnosis, she already had moderate dementia. When I took over her care, I took her off of unnecessary meds (ones I knew weren't needed) put her on a ketogenic diet. Her tremors went away and the neurologist said she didn't have to see her anymore. Not that this will happen for everyone, but the keto diet advocates for healthy fats that improve brain function. Exercise too improves symptoms. Sugar is a precursor to death in my opinion. My doctor started embracing the keto diet and featured my mom and I on a health series she did. It was very impressive and such a relief to see my mom come back from the brink of death.

I want to share that the fact that my body's thin frame comes from my German maternal side that is and was tall and thin. All my weight goes to the waist, the visceral danger zone, while most of my figure is thin 5.7 and around 115 lbs. I'd like to gain more overall weight, but I have prediabetes for Type II diabetes, also inherited, and have to watch the carbs, refined products and cane sugar and relevant sweets in my diet. Otherwise, very healthy and fit at 67.

My mother is 91, has Parkinson’s, and lost lots of weight too. She is gaining a bit back.

She likes Boursin cheese and crackers, fresh fruit cut up, ice cream cones, and pancakes. Try some of those items. McDonald’s shakes are good too.

How old is your mom? My mom started losing her appetite as she aged.

How far along is her Parkinson’s disease. My mom suffered with tremors and lack of strength due to her Parkinson’s disease.

I had to cut everything very small for her. She still only took a few bites. She would eat a bit of ice cream. She drank ensure sometimes.

Ask her doctor to order labwork. Does she have
thyroid problems?
My mom lost 17lbs after a hospital/rehab fiasco in April 2021 & her tsh was low, wasn't gaining weight. Once her doctor lowered the levothyroxine dose she started to gain some weight.

Later stage Parkinson's patients often lose weight. The whole process of digestion slows down in Parkinson's and the Parkinson's patient often has little appetite. The sense of smell can also be diminished and thus food may not be as appealing as before. Small frequent eating episodes may help because the person can feel full very quickly. Parkinson's patient here commenting...

There's 240 calories in 1 Boost, so that's 720 calories there, plus 150 calories from yoghurt, another 150 or so from oatmeal, and 'something' for dinner which you'd have to calculate the calories for, but basically, the woman is eating 1000 calories w/o dinner, which is what a person LOSING weight would strive to eat. Unless she's eating 1000 calories for dinner, she's on a weight loss diet. Boost is not a good source of nutrition and should not be used to replace food, but as a snack in ADDITION to 3 high calorie (or at least normal calorie) meals per day. Boost also makes a product called Very High Calorie Boost which contains 530 calories in one 8 oz container. This product is what's recommended for an elder to use to help MAINTAIN their weight, or to gain weight in rare instances. Not regular Boost.

You should start feeding your mother full fat ice cream shakes made with full fat milk, high calorie meals like a chicken pot pie from Boston Market and things of that nature that are LOADED with calories if you want to see her gain weight. These foods are what was suggested to my DH when he needed to gain weight after a triple bypass surgery in 2020. High fat/high calorie foods for a few months until he gained back some weight he'd rapidly lost; same thing after his liver transplant; supplemented with VHCB (very high calorie Boost which tastes like chalk). What she's eating now is what dieters eat to lose weight.

If she's eating high sugar content and does not have diabetes, I wouldn't worry about it b/c a person with dementia loves sweets, so she'd likely be amenable to milkshakes.

With Parkinsons and dementia going on, she could be approaching end of life now which would cause her to lose weight no matter how much she eats. That could also be what's happening IF you feed her appropriately, IF she agrees to eat what you give her, and IF she continues to lose weight or not gain weight with a very high calorie diet. Then you may want to get a hospice evaluation going forward.

Good luck

My mom had the same issue. She was tiny. She also had Parkinson’s disease with dementia. She would take a bite of food here and a bite of food there, never eating a complete meal.

Her doctor told her that she needed to gain weight too. For some people it isn’t easy to gain weight.

She has parkinsons dementia. I would ask her doctor but she is usually not much help.

Just learned that there is a diagnostic condition known as “geriatric failure to thrive”.

I was familiar with PEDIATRIC FTT, but the designation on my LO’s Death Certificate was a new one to me. She ate about 50% of her pulverized meals + frequent servings of extra nutritious supplements right up until her death, but definitely did not maintain anything like her typical weight.

Have you asked her medical care person about your concerns?

Be careful she doesn't develop gout. My mother did from drinking nothing but Ensure, which was loaded with sugar.

I can't speak to the weight gain issue, but I'm sure someone here can.

What health conditions does your mother have that could be impacting her weight? What does her doctor say about it?