Gaining Weight the “Right” Way

It’s funny…people wanting to lose weight often say that it is the most difficult thing they’ve ever tried to do, and yet those trying to gain weight say the exact same thing. You’d think it would be easy to pack on some mass—just hit the local fast food establishment, spend $5 or $10 on some burgers, fries and soda, and poof—weight gain city. We all know this could work, but if you want to add quality muscle mass, we need to be smarter than this. Let’s take a sneak peek at some strategies designed to help even the hardest of hard-gainers bulk up.

1. First of all, you have to figure out approximately how many calories it will take for you to gain weight. I can’t tell you how many people just try to increase their food intake or eat as much as they can, only to discover they’re 500 or 1,000 calories shy of their goal. Obtain an estimate of your RMR, either by having it measured or by using one of several different equations. Then, add an additional 10% for digestion, another 20% for activities of daily living and the calories you expend through exercise. This exercise component can be figured out using METS from the back of a textbook or by going to a web-site like www.caloriesperhour.com. Think we’re done…not quite. You still need to add another 350-500 calories per day for the actual weight gain!!
2. Ok, now it’s finally time to eat. Be sure to include several meals throughout the day, though the exact number is up to you. No skipping meals here folks!! This is also the time to liberalize your food intake a bit. That doesn’t mean donuts, soda and fast food per se, but having some pizza, loaded baked potatoes and other goodies are just fine if eaten in the context of a healthy weight gain plan. By the way, it is important to keep fat intake relatively low when you’re eating a higher carbohydrate meal because this situation lends itself to unwanted fat gain. Other than that, start eating in the am and don’t stop until you go to bed. Keep in mind, if you’re a hard-gainer, you could get up at night to eat as well…
3. Liquids are VERY important when trying to put on mass. It’s an easy way to get in calories without losing your normal hunger for your regular meals and snacks. Go for milk, juice, smoothies, protein shakes and even sports drinks. Try to consume these WITH your meals and snacks, but don’t be afraid to substitute a smoothie or shake for a snack if needed. It may seem counter-intuitive from a health standpoint, but minimizing calorie-free drinks will help you reach your goal.
4. Building on the issue with liquids, weight gain powders are another possible option. The ideal situation would be to eat as much “real food” as possible, but we also need to be realistic. Amazingly enough, some folks actually need to eat until they’re uncomfortably full to gain weight. I actually knew a few Navy Seals who did this…it worked, but it certainly wasn’t fun for them. As a result, I don’t blame someone who wants to take advantage of something that offers 600-1,000 calories in a single shot. If you decide to go this route, do some research on the products to see which one would work best for you.
5. Another important concept from a weight gain perspective is the idea of energy density. This is essentially the amount of calories in a given volume of food. If you’re trying to gain weight, the goal is to eat foods higher in energy density. As an example, let’s compare grapes to raisins. Thirty grapes has the same amount of calories as 30 raisins, but eating the raisins provides less volume, so theoretically you would need to eat a lot more raisins to equal the fullness obtained from the grapes. In other words, we don’t want you filling up on foods that have very few calories. Salads, vegetables, broth-based soups and fresh fruits are quite filling and don’t really provide all that many calories. Incorporate them for their health benefits, but be sure to focus in on higher calorie foods as well.
6. Supplementation can definitely help with gaining muscle mass and overall weight. Anything that has been proven in research to help exercisers train harder, longer and more consistently will obviously be beneficial. I don’t want to get into specific supplements here, but we will address specific supplement ingredients in subsequent articles. For now, if you have any questions about supplements and weight gain, just post them on Myfittribe. We’ll answer them as soon as we can…

The last issue to deal with is training. If you’re trying to gain weight, you need to put in the work in the weight room, period. This has been addressed in other articles, and I’m sure it will come up again soon (it always does). You also need to minimize your cardiovascular exercise. Increasing your calorie intake while burning a significant amount of calories doing cardio is entirely counter-productive. One to three light sessions a week is fine for cardiovascular health, but any more than that can make reaching your weight goals much more difficult. When you’re done with your bulking phase, you can increase your cardio to normal levels.