How to Gain Weight

For some people it is really hard to lose weight but other people find it really hard to gain weight when they are skinny. This article will show you how to gain weight if you are really skinny.

Build Calories and increase diet – Skinny guys often overestimate what they eat. Read the labels. o gain weight. Add at least 500 calories per day to your daily requirement. If you need 2300 calories a day to maintain your current weight, strive to consume 2800 calories daily. If you engage in any physical activity, add more calories to account for the calories burned through physical activity. For instance, a 130 lb. person who does 30 minutes of vigorous weight training burns approximately 180 calories. On that day, he or she should consume 500 + 180 calories in addition to the daily requirement calculated in the previous step.

Set a Goal Weight – A rule of thumb is at least 1kg for each cm above 1m . Anything less you’ll always look skinny. There’s no upper limit, if you want to weigh more go for it. Examples of minimum goal weights:

1m70/5?7? at least 70kg/154lbs
1m75/5?9? at least 75kg/165lbs
1m80/5?11? at least 80kg/176lbs
1m85/6?1? at least 85kg/187lbs
1m90/6?3? at least 90kg/200lbs

Eat Every 3 Hours. You need at least your body-weight in lbs x 20 kcal to gain weight. That’s 2700kcal/day if you’re 135lbs. If you have a physical job or move a lot, you’ll need even more. Eat every 3 hours.

Breakfast. Get calories from the first hour.
Lunch & Diner. Prepare double portions while making breakfast. 1 portion for work/school, 1 portion when you get back.
Snacks. Mixed nuts, fruits, dried fruits, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs, sandwiches, milk, protein shakes, …
Post Workout. Physical activities burn calories. Eat post workout to get that energy back.

Eat Calorie Dense Foods. 100g raw rice is 380kcals. 100g raw spinach is only 25kcals. Getting your daily calorie intake is easier if you eat foods high in calories. Your best options:

Pasta. 100g pasta is 380kcal and easier to ingest than 100g rice. Whole grain pasta is healthier, but takes longer to digest. Eat white pasta.
Whole Milk. If you don’t bother gaining some fat, drink 1 gallon whole milk per day on top of your current food intake. I’ve seen guys gaining 60lbs/year drinking 1 gallon per milk per day while Squatting 3x/week.
Nuts. Mixed nuts & natural peanut butter have +500kcal/100g, about 50% healthy fats and 25% protein. Use mixed nuts as snack & throw peanut butter on sandwiches for work/school.
Olive Oil. Protects against heart diseases & cancer. Sip it like vodka (it’s not that bad, really) or use it for tomato pasta sauce. 1tbsp is 100kcal.
Breads – hearty and dense (whole wheat, oat bran, pumpernickel, 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) versus watery vegetables (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 all store-bought soup.

Eat alot of Protein – You need 1g protein per pound of body-weight per day to build & maintain muscle. Either drink protein shakes or eat foods high in protein. If you weigh 150lbs/68kg, that’s 150g protein per day. Eat whole protein with each meal. Sources of protein:

Red Meat. Ground round, steaks, deer, buffalo, …
Poultry. Chicken breast, whole chicken, turkey, duck, …
Fish. Tuna, salmon, sardines, mackerel, …
Eggs. Eat the yolk, it’s full of vitamins.
Dairy. Milk, cottage cheese, quark, yogurt, whey, …

Weight train. This will not only help convert the additional calories into muscle rather than fat, but it will also stimulate your appetite. The added muscle will increase your metabolism, so you’ll need to consume more calories per day to maintain that 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 (This is 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.

Drink enough water usually about 8 glasses of water

Remember that anything in excess is bad, so watch out for surpassing the limit when eating proteins and fats.

Weigh Yourself Weekly. Gaining weight? Don’t change anything. Not gaining weight? Increase your daily caloric intake by 500kcal.
Take Pictures. The mirror is subjective. Pictures don’t lie. Shoot pictures bi-monthly so you have objective measurements of your progress.