This question may sound weird for you, but yes diet and nutrition don’t always have to mean weight loss, fitness, low- fat and all of these terms.

A lot of people just wish they can increase their body weight despite all the big amounts of food they ingest!

Wow how lucky they are! Aren’t they?? 😀

 

Metabolism plays a role, that’s for sure. People who can’t increase their weight have definitely a very high metabolism. Their body burns a lot of calories and this is without doing a lot of efforts. We notice that they are very hyper, they stress a lot and they get angry easily.

Some other people think that they eat a lot, but in fact they are not.

 I personally have a lot of underweight people who visit me wanting to gain weight. When I start to do the 24 hour- recall, seeing where is the problem (asking about the meals they had for 2 days), I find out that sometimes they forget about eating, they just eat when the food is there, so food is not that important for them!

 

Genetics also plays a role in that. I also notice that almost all the family members have thin and small frame sizes, they don’t actually have large hips or fat around the tummy (pear shape v\s apple shape).

My sister is one example of that. I’ve always felt jealous of her; she eats everything from fatty foods to sweets and never gains weight! Sometimes she forgets to eat, and when I used to notice that, I was running to the kitchen to prepare a rich and tasty sandwich for her, putting all together the ingredients I was craving for!! 😀

Believe me preparing a meal is like eating it!

 

 

Calculate your Body Mass Index, BMI, to see if you are underweight.

If you are underweight, or you know someone who is, continue reading!

 

Weight Gain Pointers

 

Exercise and eat to build muscles

Don’t do cardio or fat burning exercises. These kinds of work out will make you lose weight. Instead, use strength-training exercises to gain muscle weight.

Add about 700-1000 kcal a day above normal energy needs to support both exercise and build muscles.

Check your  Total Daily Energy Expenditure TDEE, and then increase your total needs by up to 1000 calories.

Eat energy- dense food regularly

Pick highest calorie items from each food group like milkshakes, peanut butter, avocados, whole-wheat muffins, nuts, more olive oil in salads…

So you don’t have to increase the quantities of your meals to increase the calories, just increase the quality.

Eat at least three heavy meals a day

Try to let someone prepare the food for you. As I mentioned above, preparing the food is like eating it. You feel that you don’t wish to eat it anymore.

Start your main course first and leave soup or salad for later.

Eat large portions of food

Increase your plates to increase your meal portions instead of eating them in small ones; drink milk and cereals from a larger bowl.

Eat snacks between meals

In addition to eating more calories at each meal, it is also necessary to eat more frequently.

That’s why, have snacks between your meals, such as biscuits, cornflakes, juices, nuts…

 

Drink plenty of juices and milk

Beverages provide an easy way to increase energy needs or calories. Increase your intake of juices, add powdered chocolate to milk and add packets of nutritional supplement to beverages.

 

 

Weight gain doesn’t have to be done improperly.

You need to eat healthy to gain weight in a healthy way.

Don’t binge on junk food all the time!

Pick healthy food choices that are high quality, and don’t forget to work out to build muscles and to gain muscle mass!