How to Gain Weight

Edited by Krystle C., Mel, Babymelany, Lisa Brooks and 198 others
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Do you need to put on a few pounds to make a sports team, better your health, or
simply to bulk up? Most people are out to lose weight, but you can reverse some
basic dieting principles to gain some girth. Here's how to do it..
Edit Steps
Eating for Weight Gain
1
Determine how much more you need to eat to gain a pound or a kilo. To gain a
pound, you'll need an excess of 3500 calories above your resting metabolic rate
(RMR) that is, you
[1]

Calculate your RMR. Your resting metabolic rate is the amount of calories per day
that your body requires to maintain your existing weight. Here's how to figure it out
with the Mifflin - St. Jeor formula
[2]
:

Convert your weight from pounds to kilograms. Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2.
The result is your weight in kilograms.
Convert your height from inches to centimeters. Multiply your height in inches by
2.54. The result is your height in centimeters.
Plug your information into the formula. The basic formula is RMR = 10 * weight(kg)
+ 6.25 * height(cm) - 5 * age(y) + x. For men, x = 5; for women, x = -161.
Understand that the formula calculates how many calories you would burn if you
spent the entire day resting. You probably burn a few hundred more than your RMR
during the course of a normal day this is just a rough estimate to get your
weight-gain diet started.
2
Account for your activity level. Since you (hopefully) do not sit still in bed all day,
you must account for the calories you burn through activity. Once you have your
BMR, use the Harris Benedict Formula below to determine your total daily calorie
needs depending on your activity level. To determine your total daily calorie needs,
multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor:
If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : BMR x 1.375
If you are moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job or 2x training) :
BMR x 1.9
For example, a 19-year-old woman who is 55 and 130 pounds would plug her
information into the calculator and find out that her BMR is 1366.8 calories. Then,
since she is moderately active, exercising 3-5 days per week, she would multiply
1366.8 by 1.55, to equal 2118.5 calories. That is the number of calories that her
boded to add to your diet. Now that you have an idea of how many calories your
body burns in a day, you can calculate how many more you need to gain weight.

Aim for one or two pounds per week. More than that could lead to a cycle of crash
dieting, in which you gain and lose weight quickly.
At first, try adding 500 calories a day to your diet. For instance, if you need 2300
calories a day to maintain your current weight, strive to consume 2800 calories daily.
This should be an extra 3500 calories over the course of a week, which will lead to
one pound of weight gained.
3
Eat three meals per day, as well as two snacks. Eating on a regular schedule can
help you make sure you're getting enough calories every day. Aim to have
generously-portioned breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as two snacks in between.
4
Focus on hefty foods. You don't have to exclusively eat high-fat foods to gain
weight. Actually, you'll gain weight more steadily and safely if you adjust your diet
slightly to include denser foods and extra condiments. Consider these options:

Drinks Try protein shakes, juices or whole milk. Avoid diet sodas.
Breads Hearty and dense breads, such as whole wheat, oat bran, pumpernickel
and rye, are more nutritious than white bread. Cut thick slices and spread
generously with peanut butter, jam, honey, hummus, or cream cheese.
Vegetables Look for starchy vegetables (potatoes, peas, corns, carrots, winter
squash, beets). Avoid vegetables that are mostly water (broccoli, cauliflower,
zucchini, green beans, cucumbers).
Fruit Choose dense fruit (bananas, pears, apples, pineapple, dried fruit) over
watery fruit (oranges, peaches, plums, berries, watermelon).
Soups Go for hearty cream soups instead of broth-based soups. If you have
trouble with edema or high blood pressure, you may want to avoid store-bought
soups that are high in sodium.
Added oils When you're cooking, add a generous amount of oil to your food. The
healthiest oils are unrefined (extra virgin) oils such as olive, coconut, canola, palm,
and (of course) butter. Less healthy but still acceptable sources of oil are those high
in omega-6 fatty acids (pro-inflammatory) such as safflower, sunflower, and peanut
oils. Unhealthy oils that contain trans fats include shortening and soybean oil (aka
vegetable oil).
Spreads Spreading delicious calorie-rich toppings on toast, crackers, pitas, and
any other carbohydrate source is an excellent way to increase caloric intake. Some
good high-calorie spreads are guacamole, olive oil, cream cheese, hummus, butter,
nut butters, sour cream, cheese slices, and mayonnaise. For even more calories, mix
these with shredded meats like chicken or fish.
Supplements Some nutritional supplements are designed specifically for weight
gain. Investigate brands and products that are suggested for people suffering from
illnesses that lead to weight loss, such as Crohn's disease or hyperthyroidism.
5
Avoid trans fats. Trans fats can increase belly fat, as well as inducing unhealthy
insulin levels
[3]
. Steer clear of margarine, shortening, packaged snack foods, and
processed meats.
6
Eat more protein. A lack of protein in your diet can lead to the loss of lean body
mass, even if you're consuming excess calories
[4]
. Here are some foods to consider
[5]
:
Boiled soybeans
Soy or whey protein powder
Peanuts or peanut butter
Steak or hamburger
Chicken
Tuna
Building Muscle to Gain Weight
1
Start weight training. Building muscle through weight training will not only convert
your extra weight into lean body mass, but it will also stimulate your appetite.
Consider these points before you begin:

The extra muscle will increase the speed of your metabolism, so you'll need to
consume more calories to maintain or gain weight.
During the first month of weight training, you may experience tremendous gains if
you are faithful to your schedule. However, also expect this to level off after this
initiatory period (known in the bodybuilding world as a plateau). You overcome this
by re-evaluating your weight and muscle mass, while altering your diet to include
more food and heavier weights.
When you start a new training routine, you will often experience extreme muscle
soreness, called DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).
[6]
This soreness is
completely normal and should not prevent one from keeping to their weight training
schedule. It goes away in 3 to 5 days.
2
Lift heavy weights for maximum muscle gain. To achieve hypertrophy (or large
muscles), you should be lifting weights that are as close as possible to the maximum
you can handle
[7]
.

The weights should be so heavy that you hit "failure" (or the physical inability to lift
again) after 12 or 13 reps.
Use forced reps. With the assistance of a spotter, you can do 2 or 3 more lifts after
the point of failure. Forced reps increase the stress placed on muscle fibers and
overload the target muscles, making them work harder than ever. Have your training
partner assist you in the last few lifts.
Up your weight as soon as you need to. If you can do 15 lifts without hitting failure,
you need more weight. It's vital that you keep increasing the weight of your lifts so
that you can stave off plateauing.
3
Supplement your diet with more protein. A protein-rich diet can help you gain mass
while you're weight training
[8]
. Try to eat a meal that's heavy on protein shortly after
you finish exercising.
Avoid "rabbit starvation"
[9]
, which can result from increased physical activity coupled
by a diet focused almost exclusively on lean protein. Make sure your diet still has
plenty of fat in it.
Troubleshooting
1
Don't get your hopes set on gaining weight in one spot by eating more. The way
your body distributes fat is largely determined by genetics, and can't be changed by
diet alone. If you usually gain weight in your stomach but you want to gain it in your
butt, your best bet is to build your gluteal muscles instead of trying to eat more.
2
See a doctor. If you can't gain weight in spite of following the above steps, schedule
an appointment with your family physician. You may have a medical condition that
prevents your body from absorbing fat or building muscle.

3
Weigh yourself at the same time each day. Because your weight can fluctuate
throughout the day, try to set one time at which you'll step onto the scale. Many
people prefer to weigh themselves first thing in the morning, before eating
breakfast.

4
Avoid binging. Cycles of binging (or overeating) and fasting have been shown to
have negative effects on glucose and insulin levels, as well as potentially damaging
metabolic processes over a long term
[10][11]
. Instead of pigging out at one meal
because you want to consume as many calories as possible, try to spread that intake
out over the entire day.

Edit Tips
Don't work out the same muscle group on consecutive days. Your muscles grow
when resting, so try to work the same muscle group every other day.
Drink a lot of water. Being hydrated is very important for your body, especially as
your body is undergoing changes.
Eat more fattening foods and eat over the number of calories you are supposed to
eat.
Make sure that you ARE aware of the amount of calories you take in a day and
roughly how much you burn if you're weight training.
Don't give up.
Always stretch before doing exercises .
When weight training to gain weight try doing between 6-8 reps for 5 sets. Between
each set rest for 3 minutes max and drink plenty of water before and after every
exercise.
If you deal with medical conditions such as depression or diabetes, that might affect
your ability to gain weight.

Edit Warnings
Eating too much of one food can be especially unhealthy. Make sure to balance your
food intake with meats, grains, and vegetables.
Rapid weight gain may cause stretch marks and other skin damage.