When you want to gain weight, the first thing to do is plan. Without a plan of steady goals and steps to reach them, when you plateau in your efforts your mental wellbeing is going to take a huge hit, because you won’t be able to see steps ahead, and all you’ve accomplished so far. This involves planning long-term, but also daily targets around diet, exercise and sleep wellness.
The second saving grace is your diet, which basically boils down to consuming more calories than you lose. This doesn’t mean stuffing your face with empty, unhealthy junk food calories, but rather you need to break down nutrient-rich healthy foods into six equal meal sizes. Some trainers advise three meals and three snacks, but as most weight gainers have a fast metabolism, the snack calories will disappear pretty soon after consumption. You can try drinking milk once or twice daily, as this will give you plenty of calories and the protein you need to repair your muscles, which leads to healthy weight gain.
Saving grace number three is to make sure 40-50% of your plate contains complex carbohydrates, meaning potatoes and whole wheat bread, rice and pasta. This gives you all the energy you need to exercise to your highest potential, without your high metabolism getting in the way and causing you to lose weight. You only need to have 500 calories more of carbs than what you need each day, otherwise you will grow fat rather than gain weight healthily.
Fourthly, choose your protein correctly. Makes sure that 20-30% of your calories come from protein alone, or 1.5g/kg of your current weight, not what you intend to weigh. You need to do this to ensure your muscles have enough nutrients for repairs, and you put on denser and healthier weight rather than fat.
However, fat is the fifth saving grace of weight gain, as have too little of it in your body can lower your immune system, and your body needs fat to transport essential vitamins and nutrients. Without enough fat, you can become ill which, if nothing else causes you to lose weight. Therefore, you need to consume a healthy amount of healthy fats.
Finally, rest is important to weight gain because you simply will not grow body mass without it. A late-night lifestyle can, like fat, damage your immune system and also not provide you with the energy you need for your muscle-building workouts. You need plenty of sleep so your muscles can repair at night, and grow even bigger.
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