5 Tips On How You Can Gain Weight Healthily

On one hand, we have people complaining about weight gain after eating two slices of bread. On the other hand, we have others who can consume an entire 16” pizza and still not put on any weight.

​Today, we will be talking about those whose dictionary doesn’t seem to have the two words “weight gain”, and how they can get out of being a hard-gainer and put gain weight healthily.

The Golden Formula

Just as weight loss relies on calorie deficit, weight gain relies on calorie surplus, meaning consuming more calories than you burn. The additional calories will then be either stored or used for growth and repair work in your body.

Do take note of the latter as it is a common misconception to think that any addition calories will naturally be stored as fats in your body. It is true to a certain extend of course if you live a sedentary lifestyle. However, it is also true that how much your body can grow depends on how much resource your body has to allow that to happen. Just like doing business, the more money you have, the faster or bigger your business can grow and vice-versa.

Below are 5 tips you can do to gain weight healthily. Do note that the key objective is to gain weight healthily, thus junk food, beer and pizza are definitely not going to be in the list.

1. Eat More

That’s right, it’s a no-brainer to say this but trust me, and reflect yourself (if you are one of those hard-gainer), that whenever you say that you are already eating a lot, chances are that 1) You know you can eat more if you have the chance to, and 2) You aren’t consistent with eating more to begin with, meaning you are eating more on some days but not all the time.

Here are some tricks on how you can consume more calories throughout the day.

• Wake up earlier or sleep later - To increase the time frame to squeeze in more meals.

• Drink your calories – You consume calories much faster this way and the chances of you being hungry sooner is much higher due to a quicker digestion rate, resulting in you consuming more calories throughout the day.

• Consume more healthy calorie dense food ­– These food contain a lot of calories per serving so it’s pretty useful for weight gain. Some good healthy examples are Dairy Food, Salmon and Oily Fish, Red Meat, Nuts, Avocados and Whole Eggs etc.

• Sprinkle healthy fats and oils to your food – Fats being the most caloric dense macronutrient, at 9 calories per gram, will definitely help raise your daily calories consumption. But of course, choose a healthier options of fats and oils such as olive, peanut or safflower oil which contains more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid which can help to improve blood cholesterol level and decrease the risk of heart disease.

Another common excuse that people use to say that they can't eat alot is that they have small stomach/appetite. Appetite, like many other functions of the body, can be conditioned. Beside manipulating your hunger level such as consuming food with low satiety level, being consistent with your eating habit will help greatly. For example, if you introduce a small snack before your bedtime, within the next one or two weeks, you will be use to and crave for some form of snack during that time. It works for portion size as well.

2. Strength Training

​Increasing muscle mass is also part of gaining weight. In fact, it should be the primary source of your weight gain as you don’t want those additional calories that you consume to be stored as fats. Thus, using those additional calories to build muscles through regular strength training is the way to go. Not only is strength training important for your Activities of Daily Living (ADL), it can also prevent many lifestyle and age-related problems such as postural deviation, joint pain and osteoporosis.

3. Consume More Protein

With the increase of strength training, it is essential to consume more protein as your body needs them to recover from workouts and build muscles. Food that are high in protein while still being calorie dense are Red Meat, Eggs and Salmon etc.

4. Have Ample Sleep And Rest Time

​Even if you train properly and supply sufficient nourishment, if you don’t provide enough sleep and overall rest between workouts, your body won’t be able to recover properly in order to build muscle and gain weight. Thus, have enough rest but not too much till you miss your meals.

5. Stay Focus, Be Consistent

​Lastly, stay focus at your goal and be consistent doing what needs to be done to achieve it. Set yourself a time frame or deadline to achieve a certain result and stick with the game plan throughout. Result doesn’t happen overnight so have patience and stay committed.