Nutrition
Six Keys to Gaining Weight Properly
1. Increase caloric intake. In order to gain weight properly caloric intake must be increased. More calories need to be consumed than burned during the day so that food energy intake is greater than energy expenditure. Just as creating a calorie deficit is the key to losing weight, consuming more calories than burned is the key to gaining weight. To do this, you must consistently eat larger than normal meals, which consist mainly of carbohydrates. On days that purposeful exercise is involved, such as weight lifting or basketball practice, you must eat even more calories to make up for what you burn during the exercise session. In theory, it takes an extra 500 extra calories per day above your typical intake (an extra 3500 extra calories per week) to gain 1 pound of body weight per week (Clark, 2008). However, that does not mean go out and indulge in candy, cake, cookies, doughnuts, etc. Only 20-35 percent of your daily calories should appropriately come from fat. However, you should limit yourself to only 7 percent of those calories coming from saturated fat and 1 percent from trans fat (Clark,2008). To gain weight healthily, you must eat nourishing foods that provide your body with the essential vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fat needed to maintain a healthy body.
2. Eat at the right times. Eating at the correct times is essential to gaining muscle weight. First, you must fuel yourself before you exercise with a carbohydrate-protein snack in order to provide your body with the available glucose for fuel and amino acids to protect muscles. If you fail to consume carbohydrates prior to exercising you will not have as much energy to get in a good workout as you would had you eaten carbohydrates. Next, you must refuel immediately after exercising with more protein to heal and rebuild muscles and more carbohydrate to refuel depleted glycogen stores (Clark, 2008). Both are crucial because protein is going to help rebuild bigger, stronger muscles which will therefore add muscle weight and carbohydrates will refuel you so you have adequate energy to attend your next workout. Refuel your body with protein and carbohydrates within 30-45 mintues for optimal results. Studies have shown that eating immediately before and after a workout leads to significantly greater muscle gain than eating meals in the morning and evening (away from the workout) (Clark, 2008). Some good examples of carbohydrate-protein combinations include chocolate milk, cereal with milk, a turkey sandwich, a fruit smoothie, and apple with cheese, a canned liquid meal, or any number of commercial sports foods (Clark, 2008).
3. Eating frequently throughout the day. Eating frequently, preferably every four hours, ensures an even distribution of calories throughout the day (Clark, 2008). An example of how you might do this is to eat breakfast, lunch, a second lunch, and finally dinner. This will not only keep your muscles refueled with a constant source of glucose but also amino acids for muscles to enhance growth. If you go too long without eating, your body may break down muscle for fuel; which is counterproductive to reaching your goal of gaining weight. A great way to consume adequate amounts of protein throughout the day is to consume milk with each meal and yogurt for snacks (Clark, 2008). Milk is high in calories as well which will assist in gaining weight. Listed below is a sample weight gain menu consisting of four meals that you could follow. If that does not work for you, try a six meal per day plan instead which is listed below as well.
Breakfast:
16 oz pineapple juice
1 cup granola
¼ cup raisins
1 large banana
16 oz low-fat milk
Total calories: 1230
Lunch:
1 7 in. pita pocket
6 oz turkey breast
2 tbsp light mayo
16 oz apple juice
1 medium muffin
1 cup fruit yogurt
Total calories: 1420
Second lunch:
1 large NY-style bagel
3 oz light cheese
16 oz cran-grape juice
Total calories: 1050
Dinner:
6 oz chicken breast
2 large potatoes
2 pats margarine
1 cup peas
2 biscuits
2 tbsp honey
16 oz low-fat milk
Total calories: 1500
Total calories for day: 5200
65% carbohydrate
15% protein
20% fat
Breakfast:
2 scrambled eggs
2 egg whites
2 cups plain oatmeal
16 oz apple juice
¼ cup clover honey
Snack:
1 Protein Clif Bar
1 Whole wheat bagel
1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
Lunch:
1 cup canned chicken breast
2 medium asparagus spears
2 baked potatoes
3 oz spinach
3 oz watermelon
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar dressing
Snack:
12 oz low fat milk
1.5 cups Corn Flakes
1 medium banana
¼ cup raisins
20 oz Gatorade
Dinner:
2 oz extra lean ground beef
1.5 cups wheat pasta
1 cup marinara sauce
3 medium asparagus spears
1 half bell pepper
8 oz low fat milk
2 cups cherry cola
1 chocolate chip cookie
Snack:
3 cups popcorn
12 oz low fat milk
Total calories: 4645
68% carbohydrates
17% protein
15% fat
4. Write it down. Just as it is extremely important to write down calorie consumption throughout the day for someone trying to lose weight, it plays a key role for someone trying to gain weight as well. Writing it down ensures that not too many or too little calories are consumed, but just the right amount. Not only will it tell you how many calories are consumed daily, but also carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Recording each meal will allow you to successfully determine where your calories are coming from. By writing it down, I do not mean literally on pencil and paper. There are numerous resources on the Web that can be used to calculate calorie consumption such as fitday.com and mydietanalysis.com. Another benefit of writing down exactly what you eat daily is to ensure you are obtaining the right amount of carbohydrates, fat, and protein to fuel yourself through yet another essential key aspect to gaining weight: strength training!
5. Strength training. Strength training is a vital key to gaining weight properly. By consuming an extra 500 to 1,000 additional calories per day, weight gain should be apparent. However, if no muscle-building resistance exercise is included to promote muscular growth, the extra calories may be stored as fat deposits rather than muscle (Clark, 2008). Squats, bench press, and pull-ups are just a few excellent exercises that you may include in your workout routine. To ensure adequate muscle growth which inevitably leads to weight gain, you must eat 0.7 to 0.8 grams protein and 3-5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight. Since muscles break down during a vigorous workout, it is best to eat as soon as tolerable in order to take advantage of the 30-45 minute post exercise window of opportunity to optimally nourish, repair, and build muscles (Clark, 2008). Although intense strength training exercises are tremendously important for gaining weight, rest and recovery is equally important to ensure each and every workout is given 100 percent effort!
6. Rest and recovery. Finally, rest and recovery is an important key to gaining muscle weight. Each exercise session should be given 100 percent effort and rest and recovery will ensure that happens. If a workout is attempted with inadequate amount of sleep, there is a good chance that the workout will not be too efficient. Also, the temptation to give up on the workout will be much greater. Not only will rest make certain that the workout will be more effective, but it will also help build and repair muscles. Sleeping is an important part of the recovery process.