How To Gain Weight Fast

Well, we’re here to help!

In the simplest sense, if you want to gain weight in a hurry, you need to eat more calories than you burn.

If you want to gain weight safely and naturally, though, it pays to learn a little about the mechanics so you can achieve your goal without resorting to steroids or harming yourself.

First thing’s first then…

Why would anyone want to put on weight in the first place?

Why Would Anyone Want To Gain Weight?

In short, there are plenty of reasons for people deciding to get a little heavier.

Since you’re here on this site, we’re going to assume that you are training and want to stack on some lean muscle mass.

Although everyone is acutely aware of the health issues associated with being overweight, it’s not good either if you weigh less than you should.

Being underweight can be equally frustrating as weighing too much.

It can also lead to serious health issues including:

• Vitamin deficiencies
• Immune system struggles
• Fertility problems
• Anemia
• Kidney disease
• Excessive tiredness
• Thinning hair
• Dry skin

We’ll look next at what being underweight translates to…

What Is Considered Underweight?

BMI (body mass index) is one benchmark used to determine whether or not you are underweight.

Calculating BMI is straightforward:

• Divide your weight in kilos by your height in meters
• Divide the answer by your height again to get your BMI

If this figure is 18.5 or below, it indicates you might need to gain some weight. To give some perspective, 25 or more is considered overweight while readings of over 30 show you are bordering on clinically obese.

Bear in mind that BMI is only a guide. It takes into account only weight and height rather than muscle mass.

A more accurate method calculates mass by body composition. This is the ratio of lean mass compared to fat mass resulting in a body fat percentage. Most men come in between 5% and 13% body fat while for women it tends to fall anywhere from 12% to 22%.

If your BMI comes in at less than 18.5 or your body fat percentage is creeping up, it’s time to think about taking action.

Weight or Bulk?

Putting on weight means different things to different people…

If you are living a healthy lifestyle, eating well and training hard, you’ll want to add mass rather than fat.

Lean mass is the mass in your body from:

• Muscles
• Bones
• Skin
• Organs
• Water

Muscle mass also incorporates skeletal muscle mass. Muscle mass isn’t the same as lean body mass but muscle mass is included in the overall calculation.

So…

If you want added bulk, you will be shooting for more muscle mass.

We’ll walk you through 10 easily actionable tips now if you want to know how to put on weight fast with absolute ease.

Top 10 Tips For Gaining Weight

If you pay attention to the following tips and analyze what you are doing and what you are neglecting, you should notice an upward swing in your muscle mass before too long.

1) Eat More Food

This might seem like a statement of the obvious but it’s also a sensible starting point.

If you need to take on board more calories than you burn, there’s no real substitute for calorie counting. Leave things to how you feel and you risk getting the sums wrong.

Determine how many calories you need to gain weight and make it your business to eat more on an ongoing basis.

For weight maintenance, most calorie counters suggest something around 16 kcal per pound of body weight. Add 500 calories to this number if you are looking to get bigger.

While it might initially seem tiresome to count those calories, you can get away with approximate figures. This is not rocket science.

Consistency is key here. It’s useless eating mountains one day and almost nothing the next. Try to hit your calories goals every day. If you slip up, don’t give yourself a hard time. Get back in the saddle and eat more tomorrow!

2) Eat More Smaller Meals

Most people were raised to accept 3 fairly large meals a day as standard.

For most, that works well and there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with eating like that.

For those of you looking to gain weight, though, it might be tough to eat 3 meals with perhaps 1000 calories in each without straying into the territory of consuming too fat.

The simple solution is to eat less but eat more often.

Eat at least 5 meals a day rather than just 3.

Here’s a rough and ready meal schedule that you can harness to gain weight:

• Breakfast 7am: Yoghurt, oats with raisins, milk
• Snack 10am: Scrambled eggs, banana
• Lunch 1pm: Pasta with chicken and cheese
• Snack 4pm: Dried nuts or fruits
• Dinner 7pm: Steak with potatoes

 Switch to more frequent meals and you should notice a distinct increase in the amount of food you’ll comfortably get down.

We’ll look in more detail at what you should eat for best results after the rest of these handy hints for weight gain…

3) Eat More Protein

As a rule of thumb, eat 1g of protein for every pound of bodyweight so your muscles can repair and rebuild giving you more mass.

While this might seem like quite a lot of protein, if you incorporate a solid source of protein with ever meal, you should have no significant problem hitting those numbers.

A few quick ideas for great ways to get your protein requirements sorted:

• Chicken breasts or thighs
• Steaks (rib eye and eye round)
• Eggs
• Cottage Cheese
• Yoghurt
• Milk
• Tuna
• Salmon

When you are trying to gain weight, the macro ratio of carbs to fat doesn’t make too much difference. The most important thing is to eat more calories than you use. If you hit your protein goals and the remaining calories come from carbs and fats, that’s no problem at all. In fact, carbs and fats have more calories than protein so don’t fear these macronutrients.

Ratchet up your protein consumption and get ready to buy some bigger clothes!

4) Eat Foods Dense In Nutrients

If you’re thinking about how to gain weight fast, quality trumps quantity when it comes to calories.

Think of it this way…

Soda and chocolate are laden with calories. What type of shape do you think you’d be in if you drank 10 sodas a day along with munching a pack of chocolate bars?

Processed foods and high-calorie junk food should be avoided except as an occasional treat.

Opt instead for nuts and seeds, olive oil, coconut oil and cheese for a much healthier approach to gaining weight. As an added bonus, you’ll benefit from a wide range of nutrients and goodness while you watch your muscles grow.

5) Rethink Your Approach To Water

Drinking at least 2 liters of water a day is essential for optimum health but if you’re looking to gain weight, a tweak in strategy is in order…

It’s not a case of cutting back on the amount of water you drink but rather changing the times you drink it.

Try to avoid water just before a meal. It will make you feel fuller and less able to polish off your food and hit your calorie goals. Try staving off your liquid intake until 30-60 minutes after you finish eating.

6) Approach Meals Like Training

One way to achieve your weight gain goals more rapidly is to think about eating in the same way you do training.

Think about it…

You don’t whip to the gym then decide what you’ll get up to. You have a plan in place.

Organizing your training program is simple because, generally, you’ll only be working out 3 times a week in a very similar fashion. Use a similar strategy with food and eat the same on a daily basis.

While eating precisely the same meals would get boring fast, most people tend to eat pretty repetitively anyway. One tactic is to eat the same 5 meals each day but in a different order. This will simplify grocery shopping and meal prep and give you more chance of sticking to your diet plan.

A systematic approach to food shopping, meal preparation and cooking is required if you want make gaining weight easy.

7) Increase Strength Training

If you want to gain weight fast, training is central to your efforts.

When you lift weights, your body is triggered into building muscle mass. Food taken on board will be used to help your muscles recover then grow.

Failing to supplement a high-calorie diet with sufficient exercise will lead to the excess being stored as fat.

You need specialized, laser-focused exercises to help you add mass.

• Hit the free weights: Machines have their place but free weights are more effective since you’ll also need to balance the weights rather than letting the machine do the work. Add weight a little at a time and hit them hard
• Progressive overload all the way: By attempting to always lift more than before, your body will be forced into gaining strength while also building muscle mass. Keep lifting the same weight and you’ll swiftly plateau
• Compound exercises work: The big compound exercises like benches, presses, deadlifts, rows and squats target several muscles simultaneously. Use heavy weights. Performing compound moves will stimulate strength and muscle growth throughout the whole body
• It’s all about proper form: Snatching away at exercises with poor form while obsessing about the number of reps is futile. You want your muscles to enjoy a full range of motion. Half the effort will give you half the gains. There are no shortcuts when it comes to form. You’ll also be far less susceptible to injury and you’ll end up being able to lift heavier weights in time
• Don’t forget to rest: Your muscles need plenty of rest and recovery time. Working out every day is not the answer if you want to gain weight fast. Rest for at least 24 hours between workouts while not forgetting to keep your calorie intake up

8) Think About Mass Gainer Shakes

Mixing up a daily shake is a fast track to boosting your size.

The market is saturated with protein shakes of all stripes so it can seem somewhat confusing.

Weight gain shakes are a great way to bulk up without falling prey to consuming too many empty calories. A shake will give you plenty of nutrients highly beneficial for ensuring your muscles recover and build properly.

Think carefully about your goals and look for shakes designed to aid recovery and increase gains. Be aware that many pre-made protein shakes also have cheap sugars, one of the reasons they cause you to pass wind frequently.

If you want to make your own, though, it couldn’t be less hassle.

Blend the following ingredients together:

• Oats (100g)
• Banana (1)
• Peanut butter (1 tbsp)
• Whole milk (300ml)
• Whey protein (2 scoops)

This tasty shake delivers over 1000 calories with 80g of protein and less than 30g of fat.

For anyone finding it tough to eat as much as they’d like, mass gainer shakes are the smart solution.

9) Dairy: Your New Best Friend

Another nifty way to pack on some size is to introduce more dairy into your diet.

You can get started right away by adding cream to your coffee, snacking on yoghurt or switching to full-fat or whole-milk products.

Think about what dairy products you like best and make a concerted effort to get more down you.

10) Monitor Your Progress

If you are serious about gaining weight, it makes sense to track your progress.

You don’t need to go over the top but a weekly weigh-in, at the same time of day and wearing the same outfit, will be enough to know whether you’re still on track.

As a rough guide, adding 1 pound of mass each week is a decent effort.

Remember, too, that the more you eat and the bigger you get, the more you’ll need to eat to get bigger still!

OK…

Now you’ve got to grips with 10 easy ways to gain weight fast, what about some classic foods you should sidestep?

What To Avoid If You Want To Get Bigger

Eliminate the following from your diet as much as possible…

• Refined carbs: You can think of refined carbohydrates as fake foods. All meaningful nutrients have been stripped out and they catapult into your blood stream like an intense shot of sugar with little benefit. Beyond this, eating refined carbs causes insulin to be released. Instead of giving your body the fuel it needs to build muscle, the energy will be converted into stored fat. What does this mean? Avoid white pasta, white bread, cereal and refined grains if you want to maximize your weight gain the healthy and natural way
• White sugar: Everyone knows the dangers of eating too much sugar. Hammer refined white sugar too much and you run the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatigue and unhealthy weight gain. Cut out sweetened soft drinks and any foods containing too much added sugar
• Hydrogenated oils: The snag with hydrogenated oils is that they contain trans fats which disrupt cell metabolism and potentially lead to digestive disorders, heart disease and elevated cholesterol levels. If you use vegetable oil, corn oil or soybean oil, think long and hard about switching to a healthier oil that will not slow your muscle recovery and stunt gains

 As we near the end of this study of how to gain weight fast, we’ll break down 10 of the very best foods to accomplish your goal quick smart…

10 Great Foods If You Want To Gain Weight

Try building any of the following foods into your diet along with a heavy lifting program and you’ll soon start bulking up…

1) Whole Fat Milk

Milk has been a classic muscle builder and weight gainer for many years.

You get a superb balance of protein, carbs and fats with an abundance of calcium, vitamins and minerals for good measure.

Milk has both casein and whey proteins so it’s a great supplement to your weight training. Studies have shown that combining these 2 types of protein potentially leads to greater gains.

Switching from skim milk to whole fat will only add an extra 50 calories a glass but all the nutrients remain.

Whether you pop it in your coffee, pour it on your cereal or simply enjoy downing it by the glass, start drinking more whole fat milk to gain weight fast.

2) Beef

Red meat is one of the strongest muscle-building foods available.

One of the principal amino acids your body needs to encourage protein synthesis is leucine. A single 6-ounce steak contains about 3g of leucine for maximum gains.

Steaks are also a rich source of dietary creatine.

Watch out for the calories and fat in beef if your goal is to get ripped not just bigger. Opt for leaner cuts like rib eye and round eye steak.

You can’t lose with steak. Just opt for lean or fatty cuts according to your specific goals.

3) Tropical Fruits

For anyone looking to gain weight fast, tropical fruits are a taste sensation packed with natural sugars capable of providing plenty of energy.

From mango and banana through to papaya and pineapple, tropical fruits are a great way to pep up fruit salads.

Many people find it tough to eat enough fruit and veg. If you struggle in this area, consider pulping up your tropical fruits and making a delicious smoothie.

Broaden the range of fruit you consume to include tropical varieties and gain weight fast!

4) Avocado

Avocados are packed with healthy fats which is not so great if you’re watching your waistline but fantastic news if you’re looking to put on some size.

An inbuilt bonus with avocados is that they’re calorie-dense so your best friend if you want to get bigger. They are also packed with potassium, vitamin E and folic acid.

A single large avocado will give you over 300 calories with almost 30g of fat. Don’t munch them down all day long but seriously consider popping them in with your salad from time to time. Avocado also works well in sandwiches or omelets.

5) Rice

Brown rice is a very convenient source of carbohydrate perfect for adding a little weight.

A single cup provided almost 200 calories, a whopping 40 grams of carbs and very little by the way of fat.

Rice is calorie-dense so helps you achieve your goal of eating more food to gain weight fast.

For anyone with particular busy schedules, microwave rice is a smart way to avoid the 15-minute cooking time with regular rice. An alternative is to prepare a large amount of rice in one go then portion it up for the week and keep refrigerated.

6) Nuts

If you’re hoping to gain weight fast, nuts make a first-rate, calorie-dense snack.

A very small handful of almonds has an incredible 7g of protein along with nearly 20g of healthy fats.

Make sure you always carry a bag of nuts with you to prevent snacking on the wrong type of food and delivering yourself a shot of protein and goodness instead.

Nut butters work effectively but avoid any with too many ingredients and too much added sugar or oils.

7) Potatoes

Potatoes, much like all starchy foods, are an extremely cheap and effective way to put on weight.

The first advantage of potatoes and starches is that they are stuffed with calories and carbs, excellent news if you are hoping to gain weight fast. As an added kicker, they will help enhance your stores of muscle glycogen. Glycogen is a source of fuel that will help you train hard.

For fiber and nutrients alongside a glut of carbs, add potatoes to the shopping list and watch your weight start edging upward.

8) Salmon and Oily Fish

Salmon and other oily fish are a superb source of protein and healthy fats much like red meat.

Omega-3 fatty acids are highly beneficial for your health and can also help prevent disease. Salmon and oily fish are swimming in omega-3s.

With 350 calories in a single 6-ounce serving and 35g of top-notch protein, you can do your system a favor while also maxing out your gains.

9) Cheese

Cheese is high in fats and calories. In larger quantities, you’ll also get some protein.

One of the advantages of cheese is that it’s so versatile and comes in so many variants that it’s possible to include it in a huge selection of recipes with ease.

If you’re looking to supplement food full of carbs and protein for something a little fattier and tastier, you’ll certainly gain weight if you hit the cheese hard.

10) Eggs

Last but not least, the bodybuilders’ favorite eggs.

Most of the nutrients gather in the yolk so if you want to gain weight, don’t separate the yolk and eat only the white. Get it all down you.

For the ideal source of great protein and healthy fats, eggs take some beating.

Ignore scare stories about eating too many eggs being harmful. Unless you have an intolerance, wolfing down a couple of eggs a day is not likely to cause any problems at all.