Underweights

Weight Gain Tips

	The Basics   The basics to gaining weight are eating more calories than you expend, and exercising to build muscle. To make sure you get enough calories, eat three square meals a day plus 3-4 snacks. Make sure your meals always consist of a protein food such as meat or pulses, a starchy food like rice, potatoes or pasta, and vegetables. Also, drink milk or 100% fruit juice with your meals instead of water, for extra healthy calories.   For snack ideas, see column on the right. For exercise ideas, check out our Exercise Tips page.

	And here are some great tips from our members:   "I put myself on a schedule and I managed to gain 10+ pounds. You have to make the schedule to fit your daily life. Here is my example:   5:30am - Breakfast 8:00am - Snack & open an can of Boost (I kinda sip the boost and finish by 10:00am) 10:00am - Snack 11:30am - Lunch 2:00pm - Snack 3:00pm - another snack or small meal of leftovers from the night before 5:00pm - Dinner 7:00pm - Snack 9:00pm - Snack before bed Breakfast - a toaster strudel, poptarts, or toast with peanut butter. Lunch - soup, sandwich (p&j, or turkey (lately i've been having turkey, cheese and avocado) Dinner - a normal meal for me is meat, rice or potato, and a vegetable. For dinner I always try to eat seconds and a snack right after (dessert) Snacks - Bananas, Krave Bars, Granola bars, cookies, cheese, avocado (with a little salt), nuts, summer sausage are the ones I can think of. Sometimes I fix a plate with a few different ones and make a small meal out of it. Before bed i usaully have a banana and/or a big bowl of cereal or a peanut butter sandwich, banana, and glass of milk. Bananas make me hungrier in the morning or an hour after I eat one during the day.   Keep favorite snacks and foods stocked up, so that when you have those LOW appetite days, you'll be more likely to eat something. And try to be consistant, eat the same amount each day, but try to add to it. The way I did it was that I would add a snack time and after a few days I'd be used to having that snack, so I would add another one eventually I was eating all the time. I try to take snacks with me wherever I go."   posted by: blue_angel12001     1. Throw out the "no more than 30% of calories from fat" rule. Fat has twice as many calories as carbs or protein. If you like peanut butter, have at it. Straight out of the jar, in an apple, in a monster-sized medjool date... Don't skimp with vegetable oils either, and full-fat milk and cheeses are fair game. 2. Throw out the "whole grains only" rule. Refined grains were invented so people could absorb more calories from their food, which was an advantage when everyone was doing hard manual labor (farming, building, etc). 3. Eat whenever you like. You're hungry at 11? Don't wait until noon to have your lunch. Hungry again at 3? Have a second lunch! 4. Eat what you like. Pizza for breakfast, waffles and eggs for dinner, anything goes.                                         posted by: smallshark   Actually, there is such a thing as a weight gain diet. It is most commonly used for people recovering from serious injuries or illnesses, like severe burns or cancer. Some of the things used in a weight gain diet: Adding protein powder or and/or carbohydrate powder to baked goods, soups, mashed potatoes, hot cereals, and beverages. That can be something as simple as skim milk powder for the protein and table sugar for the carbs. Higher fat foods. Buy full-fat dairy instead of skimmed products, and add margarine or vegetable oil to anything that tastes good with it. Have some peanut butter on your waffles, put butter on your potato, roast your vegetables in olive oil, put some margarine in your oatmeal... Liquid supplements.Liquid calories are less filling, so milkshakes and smoothies are always a good idea - after a meal, not before! posted by: smallshark   "For a short answer, until I have a bit more time - lots of carbs and protein. Whole wheat pasta and oatmeal rock for me :) I'm VERY active to the point that I regularly burn between 6,000 - 7,000 calories a day, and can burn off up to 10,000 calories. Obviously, when that happens (as it has recently), it's impossible to keep weight on - I can't eat that much in a day if I sat and ate all day! If I'm being good.... (har har har - I'm not always) Breakfast - 5:30 am - bagel with cream cheese, a Coke and usually a banana. I was out this am of bananas :( - grab my 100 oz jug that I keep full of water. Snack - 8:00 am - piece of fruit, crackers if I need them - usually yes - refill water jug Lunch - 11:30 am - pasta with chicken & veggies usually or similar based meal, another Coke - keep in mind, I can eat 2 plates worth of food then. Refill water jug Snack - 2:00 pm - bowl of oatmeal with fruit thrown in, bottle of juice usually 3:00 pm - usually need water refill Snack - 4:00 pm - muffin or two granola bars Dinner - 5:30 pm - HEAVY carbohydrate load (rice or pasta usually) again with some protein source and veggies. usually 2 plates worth - refill water Snack - 7:45 pm - cold pasta salad, V-8 juice, refill the water again Snack - 9:45 pm - usually yogurt (plain, I can't stand the sweet stuff) and some veggies, refill water if needed Snack - 11:45 pm - usually veggies with crackers and some dip, drink more water, tho' I'm usually still fairly well hydrated if I'm good at drinking enough during the day. That generally maintains me at my normal weight - but I eat a lot, and I eat often. It's probably not the healthiest diet you'll find out there, but my doctor says it's fine for me. It may be a bit high in fat for you, I'm not sure on fat percentages. I don't even bother looking - I just don't buy anything that's labeled as low-fat, I just make sure it doesn't have the trans-fats in it. Disclaimer: I (the poster) know it's a VERY high-fat diet, I'm not getting all good calories (my pop addiction), I burn 6-7,000 calories a day at work, and I'm extremely well watched by my doctor for any health problems. If it matters, I'm also usually around 12% body fat - which for my doctor, he feels it's acceptable and as good as I'm likely to get since I don't show any other health problems. I'm not sure it's a good diet for normal weight gain, due to the high fat content. Probably cut half the fat out I'd guess and cut the amounts down to a normal diet and it'd be acceptable. Keep in mind, I'm also now usually adding a meal replacement shake into at least 2 of the snacks. I still don't like any, but I'll drink them in a hurry to get them down. Other snack options that I tend towards are a peanut butter sandwich with bananas and strawberries on it (yummy :) ), tuna salad or chicken salad and crackers, or a small sandwich from Subway - no mayo, but extra cheese. Those really are the more common ones with what I listed already - I've got some others, but nothing I can think of saying it's worth listing (because, yes, I'm prone to grabbing a Snickers bar, or a juice smoothie - which are horrid sources for the calories since I know, I may as well eat the pound of butter)                                                             posted by: retiredracersx3