Article # 505. How To Gain Weight For The Naturally Thin

For most people, losing weight is a top priority, but if you are naturally thin, you might be constantly struggling with how to gain weight. Whatever your reason that you decide you need to put some weight on, be it for health or body image reasons, here is a step-by-step process on how to gain some weight in a healthy manner.

Step 1: Determine Your Calorie Level

You should first look at how many calories your body requires on a daily level to maintain your existing weight. This is easily done by calculating your resting metabolic rate (RMR). You can either use an online calculator or follow this equation to calculate your resting metabolic rate:

RMR = 9.99w + 6.25s – 4.92a + 166g – 161

W=weight in kilograms; divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to calculate your weight in kilograms

S= height in centimeters; multiply your height in inches by 2.54 to calculate your height in centimeters

A= age in years

G= gender; use 1 for males and 0 for females

Once you calculate your RMR, you need to calculate your daily consumption. To do this, you multiply your RMR by 1.15. This is the amount of calories that you must have on a daily basis to maintain your current weight.

Step 2: Determine How Many Calories to Consume

Next, you need to determine how many calories you need to intake in order to begin putting on weight. Generally. to see the best results and gain weight in a healthy way, you are going to want to add about 500 calories daily to your diet. If you will be working out or practicing any heavy physical activity for more than 30 minutes a day, you are going to want to add even more calories. You should determine how many calories your activity burns and add those calories on to your daily intake, as well to ensure that you continue to gain weight instead of lose it.

Step 3: Change Your Diet to Reflect a Higher Calorie Count

Be sure to eat 3 solid meals daily, along with 2 to 3 large snacks daily. Drink milk, juice and shakes with your meals or in between to add extra calories. Include nutritious and high calorie foods in your diet like whole grain breads topped with peanut butter, jelly, low fat cream cheese or hummus. Eat plenty of hearty and starchy vegetables and dense fruits. Use generous servings of healthy oils like olive oil, canola oil, palm oil and butter.

Step 4: Avoid Empty Calories and Unhealthy Foods

Just because something is high in calories, does not mean you should eat it when trying to gain weight. Trans fats that are found in processed foods should be avoided so as not to increase your heart disease risk. This includes more processed and packaged foods like cakes, cookies, meats, margarine, shortening and snack foods.

Step 5: Lift Weights

Lifting weights will help you convert the extra calories that you are eating into muscle instead of fat. It will also stimulate your appetite and increase your metabolism, meaning that you will need to eat even more to maintain your weight.

Follow these steps to put on pounds in a healthy way and reach your ideal weight.