If you’re naturally thin, then a proper weight gain diet becomes absolutely crucial in your endeavor to gain healthy lean muscle mass, probably far more so than your weight training program. The purpose of this article is to outline the fundamentals of a good weight gain diet and then we’ll look at specifically what and when you could eat over a sample day.
First up, is something you’ve almost certainly heard before…
Consume More Calories
The only way to gain weight whether it’s fat or muscle, is to consume more energy than you expend. There is no escaping this basic law of human anatomy regardless of how many explanations you hear to the contrary. Admittedly some of us have faster metabolisms than others but that simply means that those who do need to eat even more again.
The basis of any weight gain diet should contain nutritious, high calorie foods. If you find to hard to put on weight then the greatest challenge you face is to consume enough energy without feeling full all the time. Don’t worry it can be done… quite easily!
So how many calories should you consume? Well, there’s probably a separate formula for everyone who asks the question. Some base it solely on your weight and age, others take lean mass into account and the most complicated have you recounting every bit of activity during a typical day…
There’s a short article at the bottom of this page that has some formulas for calculating your caloric needs. It also briefly explains basal metabolism and why it’s important.
To sum up, calorie counting isn’t much fun and this is not something you have to do long term. Once you establish a quantity of food and energy that maintains your ideal weight, you will know instinctively how much to eat each day.
Protein
The issue of how much protein we should consume incites fierce debate between Nutritionists, Bodybuilders and Sports Scientists alike. We’ll leave the debate for another article dedicated to the protein issue. For now…
Just know that Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recommends 50g of protein per day for the average male adult and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 56g. But this is for the average sedentary Westerner…
The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein intake is 0.8g per kg or 0.36g per lb of bodyweight. A 140lb person would need to consume about 51g to meet their RDA. Sports Scientists concede that athletes and bodybuilders need more than this and conservatively recommend up to 1.5g per kg or 0.7g per lb of bodyweight. However…
If you talk to the vast majority of bodybuilders they will advocate a much higher intake than this. And they have some convincing arguments. In fact although in the minority at the moment the anecdotal evidence from bodybuilders is being backed up by some credible research. According to many lifters, coaches and some sports nutritionists an ideal weight gain diet should contain up to 2g per kg or 0.9g per lb of protein. This might seem like a lot but don’t forget you are consuming more calories than the general population and those calories have to come from somewhere. Is it unhealthier that they come purely from carbohydrates or just from fat? It’s probably best it it comes form all three.
So why is protein important?
From a weight gain perspective protein is made up of amino acids. There are 20 in total and 8 essential amino acids must come from food. Weight training increases the demand for amino acids and will break existing muscle down if it does not get enough from a weight gain diet. Without adequate protein, and more specifically, amino acids muscle gain is unachievable.
Good sources of protein include fresh and canned fish, lean cuts of red meat, chicken, turkey, low fat milk and yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, egg whites, soy products and whey protein powder.
Carbohydrate
Any weight gain diet worth its salt will contain plenty of unrefined carbohydrates. Just because you’re increasing your protein intake does not mean you should omit or even limit your carbohydrate intake.
Carbohydrate, which is converted into glucose and glycogen in the body, is the only macronutrient that can supply your body with an immediate source of energy – essential for any type of training.
Good sources of carbohydrate for a weight gain diet include whole meal bread, potatoes, brown rice, pasta, couscous, fresh and tinned fruit and dried fruit.
Fat
Certain dietary fats are crucial to both your well being and your ability to gain weight. One gram of fat contains more than twice the number of calories than 1g or protein or 1g of carbohydrate. A tablespoon of Flaxseed Oil contains as many calories as a banana for example so it makes sense to incorporate good fats into your weight gain diet. What is good fat?
Without going into too much detail about how fat is subdivided, the fats you want to consume are monounsaturated fats found in olive oil and avocados, and polyunsaturated fats found in oily fish, flax, sunflower, safflower and cod liver oil and some raw nuts.
Essential Fatty Acids (EFA’s) are what the health care professionals love to talk about. And with good reason. EFA’s also known as Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids are found in polyunsaturated fats, particularly oily fish. As well as having a numerous health benefits they also play an important role in muscle building.
In short, a weight gain diet containing fish like mackerel, tuna and salmon (to name a few) or supplemented with a product like Flaxseed oil will not only help you build muscle but will keep you alive longer too.
Meal Frequency
Finally, forget about eating 3 large meals a day with a few snacks. The best approach to an effective weight gain diet is to eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. Separate them by 3 hours so your stomach has time to digest each meal fully. If your goal is to consume 3300Kcals a day I would eat 3 larger meals of about 700kcals and 3 smaller meals of about 400kcals. You will find an example in one of the articles below.
One last point before we wrap up. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. They are the richest source of vitamins and minerals (particularly antioxidants) and have both health and weight gain implications.
The elements above have the most influence of your level and rate of weight and muscle gain. There are other important factors we haven’t touched on such as vitamins and minerals, fiber, water, alcohol and cholesterol… all very important to your health.
Now that you have a good grounding of what an effective weight gain diet should incorporate you can use this article as a starting point for reaching your weight goals.
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Hey guys, haha another update, since may 2010, i have lost the weight i gained. But im not telling ya’s to dishearten you. The reason i stopped gaining weight was because i didnt really have a choice in the matter. I had gone from 60kg(145lbs), to about 73kg(161lbs) within months. I did what pete has been saying time and time again.
OK its simple, You HAVE to eat, and not only that, get good at eating. Get good at preparing food, get organised, cook your meals of chicken and pasta or rice ready the night before. Aim for 6 solid meals a day! Eat loads of carbs, lots of protein and fruit and vegies. Enjoy your food, when you start doing this regulary you find your appetite goes up, you want to eat your meals. GET HUNGRY!
And train hard! go to gym 3-4 times a week, anymore is too much. Your body needs time to recover! But when your in gym, push like every rep matters. Get a gym partner, find a mate, make him/her go to gym with you. Doing this allows you a ‘spotter’. And having a spotter is probably one of the most beneficial things you can do for your weight gaining campaign! They will be the person saying “push harder” and helping you lift that last rep to push yourself to your limit!
Dont set impossible goals, set ‘GOOD HABITS!’ Saying “im 120lbs and i want to be 160lbs by next year” isnt the way to do it. Say this instead “I’m going to try and eat my 6 meals a day everyday this week. I want to pick up good eating habits that will last LONG TERM! I will make sure i dont skip dinner to play xbox or watch tv.”
And when you’ve completed that week prepare for next week! Everyone falls down but its about getting back on the horse and trying harder next time!
Anyway back to the reason why i now weigh 63kg lol. When i was training and eating as i mentioned before. I put on a crazy 13kg….but i wasnt stopping there! I would have kept going. The problem was my situation. I was offered a job that payed me a ridiculous amount of money a week, but the catch was, it was 7 days a week, night shift! I was making like 6 grand a week, no word of a lie! But i couldnt eat and i couldnt train, and over the next year i lost it all. Worth it for the money yes but in hindsight i know i would be 80+kgs now if i hadnt taken the job.
The lesson to learn from this is get back on the horse! I have just started training again and i will bulk up. And i will update to you all when i do!
GOOD LUCK SKINNY AMIGOS, trust me, its not too hard, i was there i did what no one thought i could, the only thing that hindered me was an opportunity to good to deny.
Irish Steve
I am 30 yrs old and I am 4’11″ and weigh 87lbs–if i am lucky. I have tried to gain weight by p90x and high protien diet. I would like some other hints of advice plz. I am tired of being under weight and all my dr tells me to do is eat!
I am 33 yrs old but still slim and i tried a lot of medicines and poweders to put on weight but did not turn out pls suggest me i am 5.6inch and my weight is only 48 kgs. so i too want to look little bit health but only thing i dont feel hungry and when i do then i have that time to spend with my children and then my appitiet goes away so please suggest some thing where i can improve my self.
Hi,
I am 40 years old man ,165 tall and 43 kg waight, would you please provide me an every day diet plan help me to know what to eat each meal to get to the ideal size and waight?
All Regards
Shah
Hello,
I am Screw Nicolas, 25 years old, 176 cm tall and 49kg. I want to gain weight so that I will have a good personality.
Hey, I am from India, I am 18 years old weight is rolling around 49-50kg and my height is 5″9 I want to gain more fat on my body, can u suggest me any tips… I can’t afford 5-6 meals per day but I can eat 3 meals every day!!! So if u can make a diet for me I would be tankful to you… Do email me so that I would know that anybody read my comment :-D but thanks for an amazing post on ur website
Im 18 and 90 pounds on a good day and I’m a girl. I was reading this article and realized it pertained to men but I also want to gain weight. Suprise! I woman who doesnt want to be a twig. I tried to gain weight a while back but the doctor just told my parents to make me eat more, which I did but I ended up feeling full to the point of puking everytime I ate. It got so bad I couldnt run or do any activity that I enjoyed without feeling sick to my stomach. I was wondering if I should go ahead and take the figures given in this article and attached articles and give the weight gaining another go, or if there are some adjustments I should make since I’m a girl. Thank you so much.
Hey Hi,
I am 22 yrs old I weigh around 60kgs and my ht. is 5.9. I am joining the gym next week and this is the first time I am going to the gym in my life. I have never done any workouts or played sports before even though I wanted to do one because of my peers pulling my legs due to my skinny figure. Now in any condition I am going to do what I really want let any body say any thing to me.
Sir, I just want to know what should be the intial steps that I have to start up with like basic exercises that I would have to do , could you give me details of how to workout and train myself . On what all parts of the body I need to work on what are basic exercises.
Your reply on this would really help me.
Thank you.
Hi, I am from Delhi, India. Age – 30 yrs and weight arround 49 kgs. Somebody suggested me for HGH products such as injections and pills. Please suggest which one is better.
I find it funny that guys who weigh 140 lbs. are commenting about themselves being a “skinny guy who needs tips to put on weight”.
I am 24 years old, 5’7″ tall, and I currently weigh 115 lbs. I have never been higher than 119 lbs. in my entire life and there have been times that I have slipped down to 112 lbs.
Try being me.
I bought dumbbells and a curling bar and started working out twice a week. I began a strict diet full of pasta, good fat, and lots of the other foods suggested in various weight gain articles. Nothing has worked and I am ready to give up. Girls are not attracted to me and it is severely effecting my self esteem along with my quality of life.
Help?
Cory,
Take this chance to be very fit..
I think your lucky because you should find it very easy to get defined..
Just do weights, not to become huge, but to become strong..
Don’t worry about getting big, you should worry about getting strong.
It’s not hard to do either.
Just get strong, and girls ain’t going to care how much u weigh.. you should get a six pack and nice arms.. It only takes 6 months for that..and it will help to attract a girl.
It is sure to make you feel good about being you too..
It’s a no brainer cory..
Do weights, Not to be big but to be strong..
P.S, Regardless of not being able to put on weight or not,, Doing weights WILL improve your body image DRASTICALLY, even if you don’t put on a single pound. DUH
Maybe you missed the part about me buying weights and using them twice a week. I’m actually at the five month mark for weight training right now. My triceps are bigger and my biceps are a bit harder than they were before, but that’s it for my “results” which are minor at best.
Obviously I’m not a fitness professional and there’s probably at least a few things that I’m doing wrong, it’s just frustrating that I spent a lot of money and invested a good amount of time into getting bigger and stronger and that certainly hasn’t happened for me.
K I don’t mean to be an A-hole but maybe you missed that part where I said you will see results if you work out..
I don’t give a shit if your a stroke victim or not, working out is going to improve your ‘condition’ drastically..
I didn’t think I had to tell you how to bloody work out, but since your such a fool I will..
1 )You have to increase your eating..
What does this mean? It means eating a bigger breakfast..
So buy yourself some weet bix and try and munch through those every morning with alot of full cream milk..
drink 2 raw eggs every day after break fast..
then have lunch and dinner, try and stack up a little more food on your plate, even if it’s a can of beans or something, and make sure you eat plenty of vegetables through the day like carrots and especially greens and salad!
2.) Alot of people would think your niave for saying that working out twice a week is a good effort..If a person wants to be good at anything wether it me music or being a strong man, it takes a bit more than two 30 minute seshions a week.. albeit i hate regarding the two together. They are different mind states but alas it is all about PRACTICE.
In saying that, working out for an hour for 3 days a week consistantly is a pretty good routine, as long as the work outs were streinuous.
and lastly, and sorry for the language but i’m being frank, doing your biceps and gonna do SHIT!!
You gotta grow as a whole..
Look up compound exercises..
Start doing pull ups and chin ups, every day.
Do 100 push ups twice a week
slow down on the bicep curls.
go for runs.
do sit ups!! haha, you should get abs in like 2 weeks if your such a skinny cunt, no offence, but it’s a good thing..
once you have done this for 3 months, you should have a good enough frame and an idea about what it takes to get BIG and STRONG..
Then u might want to look into a gym membership because you will have a sweet frame and be prime for some real weights!! not that i go to the gym or anything (yet)
also learn about eating habits and change yours.. start eating more protein because it is a building block for all cells. Don’t have to over do it though..
PAY ATTENTION, don’t get lured into the BODYBUILDING bullshit..
Don’t think you have to take supplements to get big
and don’t think you need to buy a whey protein to get ‘all your protein needs!’
Use your common sense you twat.
Good job assuming that I do “two thirty minute sessions a week”, you twat. I work out for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday nights since I’m either at my job or volunteering most of the time throughout the rest of the week.
You generalized an entire page of suggestions based off of complete assumptions and you look like the fucking fool, not me. I completely changed my diet and usually try to hit 3500 calories per day and I will be asking for more time away from work this week so that I can add another two hour lifting session on Saturdays. I’ve been pretty strict for the past five months and so far I’ve gained three pounds and I don’t feel or look any bigger/stronger.
Get help for your internet nerd rage.
Okay mother fucker,
Doesn’t change the fact that your an idiot for thinking a ‘solid’ 2 seshions a week working out your ‘biceps and tris’ is going to do a world of good..
I was just trying to help you ignorant fuck witt..
Stick to the 3500 calories and the bicep curls LOL.
Oh, more nerd rage.
I said “my biceps look a little bigger” so that must mean that all I do is bicep curls, right? Fuck wit.
If you consider yourself “just trying to help” with your original comment then you need to re-think how you talk to people. Half of it was insults and profanity you fucking idiot.
Hi Cory,
I have been in your shoes before – have tried eating and going to the gym often but could never go above 55kg (I’m 5 foot 5). So I enlisted the help of a personal trainer who showed me how to train properly, and I gained from 54kg to 61kg in 6 months which made a big diff.
If you can afford it, the best way is to pay for a few personal training sessions. If not, maybe a few things can be done if you have not done them yet:
- Do a lot more compound excercises, particularly the legs as they are the biggest muscles. Squats and deadlifts are a must – you can’t really gain signifiant weights without those two excercises.
-Do more dips and chin-up/pull-up.
- Slow down your movements significantly while you do weight, for example as you do a pull up, when you drop down, slow it down by counting 4 seconds. This will mean you do much lighter weights than before, but who cares, the gym is not a place where you compete on how much weight you can lift.
- Rest time between sets must be strict. For example in German Volume Training where you do 10 sets of 10 reps, you must not rest for more than 60 seconds between sets no matter how tired you feel, or you will compromise the excercise effectiveness. Have a timer to time yourself, people tend to rest toooo much between sets
Good luck
Thank you for the constructive, helpful, and NON-INSULTING advice, Derrick. I appreciate it and will try to incorporate those tips into my future workouts.
While I can’t afford a personal trainer, I certainly can afford a gym membership, and I will soon be joining a gym that a friend of mine goes to often. I’d just like to put on a few more pounds first so that it isn’t quite as embarrassing to work out in front of people at 118 lbs.
is it healthy to be working out for an hour 5 times a week doin 8 different exersises,each 4 sets 15 reps..im 50kgs
Hey Guys, i just wanna say i am probably a prime example of if you wanna get big you gotta eat!!
I went from 78kg(171.96) on 5th May 2012 to 98kg(about 216.05lbs) today 19/07/2012, im not cut or shredded to the bullshit like arny <3!! which is a part of the Bulking stage but i have gained some considerable size.. everyone, even my own family and gym mate who is with me nearly everytime thinks i am roids… well I am NOT!
if you are a skinny guy like i was, the main things you need to be eatting is Very high protein foods, with heaps of carbs!!! i was eatting 3 main meals a day.. snacks in between (Make sure your snacks are lean foods with little carbs, and DO NOT eat high carb foods before bed as it will only sit in your stomach and produce fat.. you wont burn it off in ur sleep and u dont want a gut!!)
I have now started my Shredding stage and going to cut down to about 90-94kg :D if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask.. ask i have only started working out since May this year.. and i know what its like to start out and how hard it is to gain weight believe me i been trying for years and now its working lol
Hey ya Alex,
I personally think it is possible to gain such extreme amount of weight for ectomorph, I myself am one too (tho the science of this is more complicated, in fact every metabolism is different, and can even be a mix of ecto/mezo/endomorph, like 30perc ecto 70 endo and such). I recall holiday at my granny, staying at her house for two months and gaining 12kgs during that time, which was a shocking jump for me (and really welcomed, too). In my opinion, we may burn fast, but given the law of balance (that goes into philosophy of ying/yang and touches a lot of things in reality) :), we can also gain fast.
And Cory, you mentioned you bought some free weights and even with working with them hard, you’re not gaining. I’ll tell ya this… Human body is amazing, perfect natural machine, able to respond to any situation, if given enough time to accomodate. If you bought, say, 15kgs dumbbells, and you’re working them all the time for half of year, then your body must’ve adapted, your strenght grown, thus those 15 kilos don’t mean any challenge now. And guess what? That’s bad. Lemme get into this.. Basically, working a muscle makes it tear apart with micro cuts, you feed yourself with protein, your body repairs those cuts with protein = your muscle is bigger. If you have ever managed to cut yourself, you can notice a small (really small:) gain of mass at the scar. And muscles work exactly same. You need to tear them up, feed ‘em with protein, leave them to rest and repair, then rinse and repeat over and over again. But! Since the body adapts, your muscles won’t get damaged with those weights you became accustomed to. You have to load more. It’s said that for hypertrophy (hope I spelled it right), your lifts should be in range of 6-8 reps, meaning not that you pick up 15kgs and lift them 8 times, but you pick up bigger weight, say 20kgs, which will let you do those 8 reps max, then you’re unable to work more, since your muscles are dead tired. Got me? Not sure how much you know about this, but I was at same situation like you, and had to do some studying about this, and I recall you saying that you don’t know much about weights training (if that was you, I’m tired as hell:). One good advice: Take those dumbbells, sell them and buy a gym entry. You need weight, lots of weight, and that costs a fortune if you plan to have it at home. Do compound exercises, which force way more muscles to work, unlike those dumbbells.. If you’re dry on inspiration, take a look at powerlifters. They’re all beasts, why? They do only compound exercises like bench press, squats, dead lifts, and they have hard time to walk through the door. Last, but FIRST, as everyone who works out and knows his game will tell you, it’s not really the lifting but the food that makes all the difference. I even dare to say it’s 70perc food and 30perc lifting. Live healthy (if not, screw it, I smoke and hell, I live too), eat healthy (this one is really important), give that iron game hell every time you hit the gym, follow this for half, maybe one year, and I guarantee, those b*tches won’t be able to pull their eyes off you. Good luck bro’
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/topicoftheweek25.htm
Words of gold there, my friend. Just screw that supplements bullshit, you don’t need them. Don’t fall to these motherfu…uh, marketing assholes, all this brainwashing that you need powder protein and shakes is just clear bullshit made for only one reason, to make money. Otherwise, everything about food you need is there (beware, that damn food itself costs something).. If you need anything more, just shout. Haha, one day I’ll be a couch, *cough* Coach.
I definitely was aware that I was going to “plateau” eventually when I bought my dumbbells, so a few months ago I decided to get a heavy barbell as well to change up my routine and to keep climbing the proverbial hill. It made a significant difference in my overall strength to the point where I only use the barbell for 90% of my workout. When I do go back and use the dumbbells, I use both at the same time instead of just one (which I never thought would be possible on day one) and I feel really good about that. As far as definition and weight gain goes, I’ve gained four pounds since my first day of lifting and my arms, pecs, and abs look slightly more defined than when I first started. I recently began incorporating leg routines into my workouts as well, but I don’t go too crazy with them since I’m trying to pace myself and avoid injury.
Whoever it was that said “forget about gaining big amounts of mass, just get strong” gave me the right idea. I don’t care if I max out at 120 lbs. as long as I’m strong and have a toned physique. Obviously this article is about gaining weight but I just don’t have the financial means to buy the food necessary for extreme weight gain. That being said, I don’t get discouraged and just eat chips and ice cream all day. I’ve changed my diet significantly and buy lots of healthier foods. Even though I can’t afford to buy what I would probably need to gain 50+ pounds, I am now buying what I need to be an overall healthy person.
I appreciate everyone’s advice. I know that if I continue that I will get to where I want to be sometime soon.
Eh, I got same trouble here, money’s where the fun stops. Right now I do have enough to follow this eat ’till I die routine, but that won’t last forever.. Whatever, what I wanted to say, focus on compound work – squats, bench, dead lift. Also, don’t forget, everyone has his genetical limits, if you’re a small guy by default, you can’t grow into 150kg monster. But no one said you can’t look great :) If you plan to be something, you’ll have to pop those squats in your routine, since legs are 1) biggest muscles in the body and 2) they produce most testosterone. No wonder there’s a saying, “power comes from legs”..
Cory m u needa do legs at least twice a week it help ure upper body get bigger by building needa core u
hey,
i am 23 yrs old and weigh only 56 kgs and 5’5″. i have tried going to gym and increasing my appetite plus my weight, but did not work. Any suggestions to increase my weight.
sir,
i am 19 years old.My weight is only 40kg and my height is 5?5 I want to gain more fat on my body.I am doing engineering and i am slimmest of my all class also from girls..i eat very much food,Many people give suggestions to me but it doesn’t work out.sir please help me out.give me a proper diet to gain fat.
i will be grateful to u.
also give some tips for increasing height
Like I said I have done it and sill gaining!!
If you want some help I am more than happy to!!
Drop me an email – air_bizcut4me@hotmail.com
Good luck training!!!
Alex
I’m a 5’10, 33 yr old male who was 115-122 from age 14 until 33. Earlier this year, I had a small surgery and quit smoking. Since Feb. I have gained almost 35 lbs! I read on this blog about Cyproheptadine. I talked to my doctor and I think a lot of my gains are due to it. Now, its not a magic pill, but it did help my appetite a lot and I actually had cravings for the first time in my life.
Also try GOMAD diet. Basically it is drinking a gallon of day of milk for 30 days. Trust me, you will definately put on weight. Even try it for 14 days. Also try the 5 X 5 stronlifts exercise.
It can be done and faster than you think. I tried everything and the things above have put on weight like I have never been able to before. Good luck
@mark- that’s great about the weight gaining, unfortunately it looks as though it is due to you quitting smoking!
Because you have stopped fulfilling a major craving in your life your body now turns to an alternative which is food, smoking of any substabce can also in many cases stop growth and weight gain and stop your cardio vascular system from pumping much needed blood around the body to help promote growth and healthy muscles!!
Keep it up!
Alex
love all the comments on here. (most of it crap) im a plasterer weigh 13.1 stone and am 5-10″. i easily cosume 3 litres of fluids a day.(no concentrated drinks as they take water from the cells to dilute the juice) and over 4000 calories a day. i work 8 hours and smoke. dont go to the gym and i smoke… saying that i have 9% body fat and am always pulling a muscle… in my mind i should be consuming 4500 cals a day at a ratio of 25% fats 50% protein and 25% carbs. the body needs fat to produce all the chemical processes the body needs to function and THE BRAIN is only fed by fats…. so in essence for anyone thinking tht a poxy 2x a week session down the local gym is going to do anything is seriously mislead and underestimates the bodies need to perform…. without working and giving up smoking i would shoot up to 15 stone and be shredded like a tax bill… im also a instructor and try not to laugh when i see people use bad form in exercising, bad training methods, training too hard and for too long. seriously 40 min a day 5x a week is the only way. mon= front legs and forearms – tue= lower back and biceps-wed-hamstrings and chest- thu= calves and stomach- friday lats and obliques. try to train the antagonist muscle first then the agonist. train a muscle as far away from the other muscle and dont train using the mirror system!( only muscles that you can see.) hope this helps.. i also train people !! durs9@hotmail.co.uk
Hi All
This topic seems to have diverged to muscle gain, physique toning and basically becoming a ‘JOCK’ (heaven forbid).
All those in excess of 65 kgs do not really have a weight problem … this weight is my goal as it is classified as a ‘normal’ weight bracket.
Please can this topic be kept to helping those who are underweight and genuinely have issues with weight gain; let’s keep the body-building topic seperate as this is not directly proportionate to weight gain.
Not to be confused with exercise, which every human being should be partaking in one means or another …
Thanks.
since high school my goal was always to get my weight up to a “healthy strong size” I’m 5’11″ and throughout high school weighted between 150 and 160lbs. I was a weightlifter in high school, and even though I was light, I was the strongest pound for pound person on my weight lifting team. I would eat lots of protein and vegtables but never go the amount of calories to gain the “extra” weight I felt I needed to feel filled out. Even though I was very strong for my size I was dissatisfied. I tried powdered weight gainers (tru mass) on top of my regular 3 meals a day diet and gained only a couple of lbs. I was discouraged. I have such a high metabolism that 1000 extra calories made little difference. once I hit my twenties I decided enough was enough and really started researching weight gaining methods and finally success! At twenty I was a mere 155lbs when I started. What I did was a whole change of lifestyle. I started to get up very early 5am every day and would prepare a breakfast of: Boiled potatoes lightly browned in oil, 3 hard boiled or scrambled eggs, 2o oz of whole milk, 2 buttermilk biscuits, and one fruit usually an orange or banana. For lunch a large sandwich on 13 grain bread turkey, ham, or beef, a large serving of coleslaw or potato salad, one fruit, 2 large whole wheat cookies, and juice. Dinner large serving of pasta or meat ( beef, ham, turkey, or even soy meats) vegetables, 2 cookies or 1 small piece of cake (no frosting), whole milk, mashed or boiled potatoes. Throughout the day I would snack on wheat crackers with fish (tuna or makeral) cold pasta salads, fruit, cheese, yogurt. Average daily calories was about 3500-4000 per day. In 4 months i went from 155lbs to 187lbs. I worked out 6 days a week but no gym or weights simply pushups, situps, crunches, dips and other various self weighted exercises. I think the main thing that helped me gain the weight was all of the extra protein and carbohydrates from the eggs, meats, pastas, bread, and whole wheat. It has been very hard to keep up a routine of eating as much as I do, and slip at times I do. I have had weeks or months where my weight would drop from 187lbs down to 180, 175 even as low as 170, which is very discouraging because I have to work so hard to gain the weight back, but It can be done, but it’s not a simple task for people like me with the high metabolism, and I’m assuming like you, if you’re reading this and also have trouble gaining weight. But know, it can be done, it’s a lifestyle choice, it’s hard work, and you do need some exercise to be successful at it, but nothing extreme. So pick up your fork, eat more protein and carbs, and most importantly, STICK TO IT. The change won’t happen overnight, in a week or even a month. In several to many months, get on the scale, and see your hard work pay off when you tip the scale at +20-40lbs greater and you know it was all work it!
Sir iam 19 year old and my height is 185cm and weight is 60kg and my body is slim and i want fat on my body please give me a proper diet chart.
Hi, I’m 15 years of age and only 45kg. I absolutely hate my body mass and would like to gain more far on my legs and muscle, because I feel insecure about my body mass when all of my friends have amazing bodies. PLEASE help me and I can’t put wait on when I eat loads of fat foods.
You guys are all idiots. Eat healthy, and get an hour of physical activity each day. Follow the food guide, and work on a daily basis. CARLSON your a dumb ass, end of conversation. Cory is 24 and weighs 115lb. he doesn’t need to become more stronger, (maybe for his selfesteem) he needs to consume more calories per day. Your a jerk, and some fag like you sure in hell doesn’t deserve a peice of advice in this.
ANYBODY here does NOT need a proper body “chart.” You need to exempt fastfood, gramas baked goods, and your own oven easy, microwave fast junk perservative foods. Eat, veggies, more fruits, budget your balance, and take into account everything your eating and track your calories. No matter what everyone here should be consuming more than 2000+ calories each day (no matter the size, or age)
And clearly nobody here is even close to that.
@mandy you can offer advice without being rude, ya know?
Hello there, I am a guy with 53 Kg. And height of 167.5 cm. At the age of 19 years of old. I really want to gain weight because I am skinny, Please tell some nutritional diet that would help me with my problem. Thank you
Alright, I had enough of this article bugging my email with people asking how to gain weight. I’ll tell you all I researched, and it works, tried it and it’s true – I gained 3kgs in 10 days, if I could follow it, I’d be much heavier today, my problem is in fact that it needs money, since food itself does cost a lot. I’m ectomorph type, same as everyone here, 183cm tall and my weight is around 69kgs now, so I know what it’s like. So, read, do your own research, you’ll see it’s true. *** Your body needs certain daily amount of energy to keep its weight. Everyone’s energy demands are bit different, they’re based on age, sex, metabolism type which all contribute to your —> basal metabolic rate (bmr, amount of energy needed to run your system by itself, without any expenditure like moving your body and such), and amount of additional energy expended in daily activities (like in work, school, gardening, working out with weights, name-any-activity-here). Thus it means that this amount of daily energy you need to keep your weight is different for everyone, not everyone has so active days like I do (hard manual labor, calisthenics workouts, heavy bag work most of the day). Still, average male should consume 2000 kcal a day at least. BUT, none of you are average males/females. We all suffer from fast metabolism, burning even more calories than average Joe, that’s the reason why we can stuff like a pig and gain nothing, while the other guy just looks on the fridge and is 10kg heavier. Yet, don’t become depressed now -> doesn’t really matter how fast metabolism you got, everyone can either lose weight or gain weight, you just have to know how to eat and WHAT to eat (the latter is important). So… let’s say you’re a typical ecto dude (women got bit lower energy demands, but still, they should follow this too, it’s same principle), who comes home from work/school, has some activity, then goes to bed for some Z’s. Sum of all these activities (bmr, traveling to work/school, traveling back, some activity like workouts maybe, and Z’s – your body needs energy to keep itself alive even while you sleep) makes up for 2500 kcal a day – if you need to count it for yourself, google out CALORIE INTAKE CALCULATOR (be aware that each of these calc’s will show you bit different amount, take it just as a hint, we’re not scientists to work with exact amounts). So, if you need to keep your weight, you have to consume 2500 kcal a day. If you wish to lose weight (no one here, I guess), you should consume lower amount – usually around 500 kcal less. If you wish to GAIN, you should consume 500 kcal more. You can consume even more, if you wish, I did, and I really don’t care about this bullshit they say that gaining more than 5kgs per month is unhealthy – hell I’m doing way more unhealthy things than this. Watch out, since we’re ectos, we should consume even 300 kcal more (from what I heard), so, 800 kcal more in the end. So – if your daily average energy need equals to 2500 kcal, you need to consume 3300 kcal to gain, say, 5kgs per month. I was even somewhere around 3100 and my weight still rocketed to heavens like Apollo. And here comes the big problem for all of us – you think you eat, but you don’t. My average day was one big breakfast, then little something, then one big meal before going to sleep. When I changed to breakfast, lunch, dinner – still, it wasn’t enough. You need energy intake all the time, so your body won’t be able to burn it all and MUST store it. You have to eat 5-6 (!) times per day, meaning breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and if you’re able, even one more somewhere between this all. Got this? Ok, now for the most important part – it’s not really that easy to consume 3300 kcal a day. It’s ridiculous amount. So, how the hell are you supposed to eat it all? 1) you’re eating 5-6 times per day, that is a big help, and 2) you have to eat CALORIE DENSE FOODS. (I did my part here, if you find even more, lemme know.) Those are: meat, curd, eggs, milk, cottage cheese, vegetables, fruit, pasta, potatoes, rice, oat flakes, bananas, müsli, nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, oatmeal porridge, cereals, raisins.. also whey and whey protein (first one is cheaper, these come in handy when you’re working out). Yep, you’re probably surprised now, it looks like a healthy nutrition. In fact, it is. You can either lose weight with it, or gain. Least in our case, we don’t have to screw around with meat, we don’t care how fat is it… And that’s all, folks. I myself am using one website that counts calories for you, you just need to add what you eaten during the day, but it’s in my native language, and you wouldn’t understand jack there – so find your own one, I’m sure there are more of them on web. Good luck!
Great, helpful post, Sonny, many thanks. And I would say that again in your native language if I knew what it was.
Hello!
I have decided to take on your meal plan for wight gain but I am a very impatient person and sometimes inconsistent!
I will fight it out until I succeed. I weight 63kg and am 5.6 tall. I am targeting min of 75kg by June, 2013.
My request is that you keep me company until I acquire the new eating habits. Do you have a menu I can use to start off??
Isaac.
Keith: Glad it helped. I’m still following it (though last week I’m more focusing on getting drunk than eating right), gained 5kgs from 12.12.2012 (easy to remember, huh) till today (8.1.2013). At first, it was fast, too fast, gained 3kgs in few days, then lost 1 (even while eating right), since then, it’s going steadily up. It just takes some time getting used to it, calorie dense foods are pretty filling, but after few days, you’ll find out you’re getting hungrier more and more.
Isaac: Not sure if you mean me, since I’m not author of this site, just another twiggy guy who had enough of everyone telling him “you’ve got big head”, and I suck at helping people, this thing itself is still new to me, but I’ll tell you something: true secret lies in those snacks (or brunches, hell if I know what I’m writing). My breakfast hadn’t changed much, bread with cottage cheese + coffee with milk. But these snacks.. Get a bowl, fill it with oat flakes (how much, well, that depends on you), add sugar, then full fat milk, drop an ample amount of raisins in it, add full fat curd (These packs I buy weight some 250 grams, I use half of it on each snack), eat it, then don’t forget to eat a banana after this, make yourself a coffee (just kidding, you don’t have to, but I usually do), drink it and behold, you just consumed 800 kcal. Anyone trying to lose weight who would see this would shoot himself in head. Otherwise, I can’t help you, you have to find out your own recipes, but they usually contain ingredients listed in my previous post.
there’s a line on the article:” There’s a short article at the bottom of this page that has some formulas for calculating your caloric needs. It also briefly explains basal metabolism and why it’s important. ” where’s that ?
@herny This is the article How Many Calories Do You Need To Gain Weight
for anyone that needs to gain weight its simple ignore all that / POLYCAL is all you need google it £5 a 400g tub, they use this for premature babys and anorexic people such as african people, my father took this for 2 weeks and went like a tank!
Hey guys and girls jus been reading this whole blog I was exactly the same I was skinny really skinny for a long time but now I’ve put on some mass the key is eating and lifting heavy, as a starter 3 – 4,000 calories,200gm protein a day then after a month eat an extra 2000 making a total of 5 – 6,000 calories, 300gm protein a day even 7 – 8,000 calories, 400gm protein a day for you body to grow the key is to eat big and to lift big and you will grow 100%, and yes protein shakes do help why coz it is added protein to ur daily consumption after u finish training there’s a window of building blocks of muscle repair wht u need is fast acting protein and plenty of carbs, then after may be 45mins get some quality food in ur stomach. Most importantly u have to be real to yourself dont say u go gym 4-5 times a week and dont go be real to urself go gym eat loads, have that mojo make a diary of when u go gym the days u go wht u lift and how heavy each time u go. Packing on size can be time consuming but it’s worth it. Trust me the key is eating and lifting heavy. Oh and another thing getting a training partner is not nessessary coz if u go to a decent gym u will always get someone to spot u on a heavy weight, but for obvious reason try not to go over heavy. Everybody has a different routine of training wht might work for someone else might not work for you. But the key to Gettn mass is eating big lifting big and make sure u get rest as in quality sleep that is when ur body grows whn u sleep. Whn u train u need recovery and ur body recovers whn u sleep. On that note I have to wake up in a couple hrs and hit gym feel free to drop me a email zahnl@hotmail.com.
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