Most people use slimming diets throughout their lives, while others try to gain a few pounds. It is not easy to gain weight healthily. Eating fast food or sweets over time will result in excess body fat, especially on the stomach, but also deterioration of well-being and the development of diet-related diseases, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, and even type 2 diabetes. desired shapes?
How to Gain Weight Quickly?
Being underweight is as dangerous to your health as being overweight and obese. The first indicator to help diagnose underweight in adults is the BMI, which is the ratio of weight in kilograms to height in square meters. When our BMI drops below 18.5, we are talking about being underweight.
Being underweight is often the cause of constant weakness, drowsiness, hormonal and cardiac disorders, frequent infections, and anemia. In this situation, it is best to go to a dietitian who will help us achieve the correct body weight.
Putting on weight is often more difficult than losing weight. This mainly applies to people with a fast metabolic rate and an ectomorphic body structure (low muscle mass, low body fat, narrow shoulders and hips, flat chest, long and slender limbs). An individually selected and well-composed diet, appropriate physical activity, and, no less important, persistence in implementing the plan, can help you achieve your dream figure. Here are 9 tips to help you gain weight.
- Increase your meal frequency – eat 5 meals a day and never leave home without breakfast.
- Eat regularly – every 2-3 hours. Make sure that the breaks between meals are not longer than 3 hours and that individual meals are eaten at the same time during the day. Over time, the body will get used to the times of meals and hunger will appear almost on time.
- Increase the caloric and nutritional value of meals – meals do not have to be plentiful, but it is important that they are high in calories and bring important vitamins and minerals to our diet. On average, a person with an ectomorphic physique should increase their daily caloric intake by about 15–20% more than their body weight and level of physical activity would suggest. It is important to increase the caloric intake gradually, e.g. by 200 kcal a day, then after a week or two by another 200 kcal. A good way to increase the caloric content of dishes is to add oil to salads and eat flour dishes such as pancakes, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, dumplings, Silesian or lazy dumplings.
- Include “liquid calories” in your diet – they provide a lot of calories, vitamins, and minerals in a small amount. Additionally, drinking smoothies is less filling than consuming the same amount of calories in solid form. It can be a self-prepared smoothie, freshly squeezed fruit or vegetable juice, a shake, or a cocktail of your favorite fruits based on natural yogurt, milk, or kefir. Nuts, linseed, sesame, and honey can be added to the cocktail to enrich it with additional energy.
- Include healthy, high-calorie snacks – such as dried fruit (raisins, dates, apricots, bananas, peaches, apples, cranberries, mangoes), nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, almonds), pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes and flakes, peanut or almond butter.
- Give up processed food – chips, fries, burgers, Chinese soups, frozen pizza, bars, cakes, and cookies are a source of saturated fatty acids harmful to your health. Products of this type do not bring the desired nutrients to our diet, they are the so-called “Empty calories”, which are consumed in excess, and build up in the form of unwanted body fat.
- Use appetite-boosting herbs – added to dishes or prepared in the form of hot infusions, they stimulate the appetite. Herbs stimulate the secretion of digestive juices, thanks to which the products are digested efficiently and at a rapid pace. Spices that stimulate the appetite include mint, cayenne pepper, ginger, basil, thyme, chicory, rosemary, dill, cumin, and mustard.
- Remember about physical activity – in order for the weight gain to come from the muscle tissue and not the fat tissue, we should ensure adequate stimulation in the form of physical effort. Strength training 2-3 times a week will be great. Concentrate on more “complex” exercises such as squats, bench press, rowing, and pull down. The best number of repetitions will be 6-8, and the weight should be relatively high. These types of exercises stimulate the maximum number of muscle fibers in one movement and are therefore the fastest and most effective method of increasing muscle mass. However, you should avoid aerobic exercises (running, cycling, swimming), which help in the fight against obesity and overweight.
- Take care of the appropriate length of sleep – during sleep, growth hormone is released, which is responsible for the regeneration of the body, increases the production of proteins, and builds muscles. Let us make sure that our sleep lasts at least 7-8 hours.
What to Eat to Gain Weight?
On the menu for people struggling with low body weight, the basis should be complex carbohydrates with a low glycemic index, i.e. whole-grain products such as buckwheat, brown rice, whole grain pasta, oatmeal, rye bread, and potatoes. Remember that vegetables and fruits should be the basis of our diet, they should be included in every meal.
Among the fruits, bananas, grapes, pineapples, mangoes, and papaya are especially recommended. They provide slightly more carbohydrates than the other fruits. It is impossible to consume a large number of calories from carbohydrates alone, so fat-rich foods should be present in the diet. Fats provide more than 2 times more energy (9 kcal / 1 g) than carbohydrates and proteins (4 kcal / 1 g).
So it is worth including nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, linseed in your diet, avocado, vegetable oils, and olive oil. In order for meals to be wholesome, there must be products that are a source of protein, which is the natural building block of muscle tissue.
Meals should therefore include lean meats (chicken, turkey, rabbit, veal, beef), fish – including fatty sea fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sprat, sardines), eggs, full-fat milk and dairy products, and legume seeds.
And for dessert, instead of sweets, nutritious nuts, almonds, dried fruits such as raisins, dates, apricots, cranberries, plums, figs. fish – including oily sea fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sprat, sardines), eggs, full-fat milk and dairy products, and legume seeds.
And for dessert, instead of sweets, nutritious nuts, almonds, and dried fruits such as raisins, dates, apricots, cranberries, plums, and figs. fish – including oily sea fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sprat, sardines), eggs, full-fat milk and dairy products, and legume seeds. And for dessert, instead of sweets, nutritious nuts, almonds, and dried fruits such as raisins, dates, apricots, cranberries, plums, and figs.
It is worth remembering that both the daily caloric requirement and the proportions of individual ingredients should be selected individually. Therefore, people who have problems gaining weight should go to a dietitian who will help in obtaining the correct body weight.
Contrary to appearances, gaining weight is not easy. To achieve this, the products you eat should be caloric and nutritious at the same time. Strength training and adequate sleep can also help in the fight for extra pounds. You may find it difficult to get used to frequent meals at first, but over time your body will get used to it and be expecting them. Gaining weight takes time, so the most important thing is to keep going and patiently pursue your goal.
