Hello everyone! It is a beautiful day here in Western Washington!!!
I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on foods or additions to food that might help gramma gain some weight.

She was in the hospital all last week with mild pneumonia and lost at least 10 pounds. Not good for someone who weighs less than 100 soaking wet on a good day. She is currently on a soft food diet. I have been giving her the Ensure weight gain formula at least twice a day as well as adding soy protein powder to almost everything.

I went out and purchased a bunch of TV dinners (YUCK) as they tend to be higher calorie and are usually soft enough for her.

Just wondering if anybody had any further tips, tricks or ideas. Thanks much

If push comes to shove with her appetite, ask her doc to prescribe some Magestrol. It is a steroid that stimulates appetite. While I try to stay away from steroids when at all possible (because of the "high" and other behavioral problems they can produce), I have used it as needed a few times to "spark" Mom's appetite. Usually it only takes a couple of doses and she's eating everything in sight!

Does she have problems chewing? Mom does, but really resents pureed type foods, and really is insulted by boost or ensure except on rare occassions. But some things I have learned to make for her really keep the boat afloat. One favorite is mashed potato pancakes. (a good vehicle for some full fat plain yogurt or sour cream). She also feels elegant if I fix her a salmon mousse. It was hard to rewrite some of her favorite recipees to leave out certain ingredients that interfered with her chewing, chicken salad with no celery for instance.

Deviled eggs make a great snack. Homemade cream of potato soup is easy to add extra calories and still control sodium.

Mmmmmmmmm! CHOCOLATE !!!!!!!! Yeah, I forgot that!

Canned fruit like peaches, pears, etc. in syrup.

Creamy dressings (like ranch) on cooked vegies.

Mac and cheese.

Absolutely right, MB, lots of little meals and snacks throughout the day will help!

A little exercise (small walks, sitting up and down from a chair), and fresh air might boost the appetite and keep everything flowing smoothly, if ya know what I mean.

Thanks MB and Dochka! I have already swapped out to whole milk and bought a ton of instant puddings. I will go buy some whey protein later today, I hadn't heard that about the soy. I am very conscientious about the sodium levels of food as my youngest has only 1/2 a kidney due to 2 bouts of cancer. Almost everything we eat is made from scratch, the only reason for the TV dinners is as a back up in case I make something she can't have or really won't eat.
MB clogging her pipes is usually not a problem as she almost always has diarrhea due to a bowel resection from perionitis when she was in her 30s.
I've also bought her some of the premade "smoothies" not lite which she seems to enjoy.

She hasn't really wanted to eat anything. Thank God she is so vain, I remind her that she is worried about how skinny her arms are (her big concern) and it really works getting her to eat.

Of course, I will be having to starve myself now to keep from gaining back the 27 pounds I just lost. But maybe hubby will finally gain some weight.

Give her ANYTHING she wants. Pack extra calories and nutrition into every bite or sip she takes. Boost makes a good extra-calorie, high protein shake. Personally, I think they taste like crap cold, but heated like hot chocolate, they're WONDERFUL. You can also use the vanilla flavor in her coffee instead of milk. I switched mom's milk to cream or Boost and she loves it.

PLEASE try a different protein supplement other than soy (whey for example), unless she's allergic or something. Soy can cause problems with thyroid hormone uptake and is a very common cause of low thyroid levels. It's NOT the great thing that it's being hyped to be... Ice cream, shakes, mashed potatoes with butter and cream, fruit sorbet, pasta is great, not TOO much cheese, though - don't wanna clog her pipes! Pretty much anything that WE can't have, will help her to gain. Vitamin waters have extra calories as well as extra nutrients. Try to err on the side of packing in nutrition and not just sugar. Healthy oils such as olive oil are also a good source of extra calories. Until her lungs clear, try not to use TOO much dairy because that contributes to mucous production that she doesn't need right now... After that, unless she's lactose intolerant, get her the rich things like cottage cheese (4% milkfat and not the low-cal kind). If it says "lite" on the label, look for the higher calorie one. Lasagna, souffles, pasta dishes, most good cajun cooking . French toast with real butter and whipping cream, oatmeal or cream of wheat with loads of brown sugar, butter and cream... Offer her small amounts frequently so as not to overload her intestines with too much food at one sitting. AND there's nothing wrong with some chocolates unless she is diabetic or allergic!

I would recommend more whole milk, cheese, yogurt, pudding, ice cream, creamy soups, mayonnaise (egg salad, tuna salad), potatoes with sour cream, or scalloped potatoes with cheese, whipped cream on berries, etc. Think creamy and it's bound to have extra calories. Yum!

Be careful with processed packaged foods they have alot of salt!