How to Gain Dry Weight While on Dialysis

According to Medline Plus, dialysis is a procedure that acts to mimic the function of healthy kidneys, acting to regulate fluid balance within the body while removing waste products that could prove harmful. The crucial distinction to make when discussing dialysis-induced weight gain is that between fluid weight and dry weight. Dry weight is healthy weight gain such as from added muscle mass.

Instructions

• 1

  Follow your doctor-prescribed renal diet to avoid overstressing your kidneys while attempting to gain dry weight when undergoing dialysis. While a renal diet can vary from person to person, this generally means following a low protein, low sodium, low potassium, and low phosphorous approach, as these four substances are the ones that most heavily stress the kidneys and can most readily affect your fluid weight while undergoing dialysis.

• 2

  Increase slowly the number of renal-diet friendly calories you are consuming per day, aiming to increase your "normal" food intake by 200 extra daily calories each week until your body starts to gain dry weight. This will necessitate keeping a food journal, in which you record the number of calories (and the foods you consume) each day so that you can properly track your intake. Aim to remain consistent by consuming the same general number of calories per day (plus or minus 10 percent) to facilitate a healthy environment for gaining weight.

• 3

  Monitor your weight gain through weekly weigh-ins (preferably using the more accurate scale at the doctor's office) to ensure that the weight you are gaining is indeed dry weight. Aim to gain between one-half and one pound per week to minimize the chance of gaining fat while following this approach. Remember that your body has a limited capacity to add dry weight, so do not think you can rush to your goal by overfeeding yourself, lest you gain excessive unwanted weight from fat.