What do you need to gain weight? Most people ask themselves this question when they are trying to figure out how to get bigger. Eating more is a good way, but there are other considerations as well. For example, what if you have an eating disorder and can’t eat enough food for your body’s needs? What about the person who doesn’t know how many calories their body needs to grow? This article will answer those questions to ensure you have all the information you need to start a healthy diet plan.
1. Eat More Frequently
How many times do you eat a day? If the answer is three, then the chances are that’s why you’re not getting bigger. You need to eat more frequently to get enough calories. That is if you want your body to respond positively and start putting on some mass. Remember that without energy (calories), your body won’t fuel itself properly and grow no matter how much protein and steroids you take.
By increasing meal frequency, you are consuming more calories every single day. That means that the total amount of calories your body consumes each week will be much higher, and thus you’ll see results sooner. However, if you find yourself not gaining weight from this, then chances are that you are consuming less nutrients.
Tip: Make sure there’s a source of food available at all times during the day. That helps prevent overeating at one particular time of day and keeps your stomach from shrinking in size. Also, you should try to eat every two hours.
2. Eat More Food
This is a piece of advice that seems contradictory to the previous one – but it’s not. Eating more food don’t mean you should stop eating fewer meals per day (because that would result in overstuffing during those larger meals), but rather – fill up on more foods.
For example, instead of having one large dinner at night where most of your intake comes from protein or carbs (and no fats), try spreading the calories out evenly throughout the day by adding fats into each meal. This way, you’ll have a constant supply of nutrients going through your body and will cause no harm to your system.
You can also try to double the meals in size and add some good quality fats into them. Either will work perfectly fine as long as there’s enough food for your body – and if there is, then sooner or later, that mass will start coming on fast.
3. Eat More Calories from Fats
Muscle tissue is composed of proteins. It requires an excessive amount of protein for growth (as well as vitamins and minerals). The problem with most diets is that they rely too much on carbs or protein but not enough on fat.
Now, if you’re trying to gain muscle fast, it’s best to base your diet on foods with a low-to-medium fat content and contain a large amount of protein (meat, eggs, etc.). But if you’re trying to gain weight in general (fat or muscle), then you’re better off basing your diet on foods that have a high-fat content.
In addition to the above, it’s also essential that you eat good quality fats because bad fats can hurt your body more than they help it. Use meal plans to help determine what foods are best for gaining mass.
4. Consume Shakes and Smoothies
There’s no easier way to consume a ton of calories than by drinking them. Shakes and smoothies are an excellent source for the following reasons:
- Easy to make – all you have to do is add water or milk.
- Easy to consume – drink it through a straw so that you can barely taste it.
- A quick source of energy – shakes and smoothies provide your body with the nutrients it needs to function correctly.
- Fill up on other things – if you’re trying to eat whole foods, then there’s always room for a shake or two per day, especially when combined with protein-rich meals. They will fill up your stomach without stuffing yourself and help prevent a sudden drop in blood sugar levels (which would lead to hunger later on).
Tip: Make your shakes and smoothies using a home blender. Better yet, you can purchase an online meal replacement shake which is 10x more convenient.
5. Eat Every 2-3 Hours
Many people fail in their attempts to gain weight because they are skipping meals or eating too few times per day. The body requires time to digest food before it can be assimilated into fat cells, so remember not to wait too long between meals – at the minimum, eat every 3 hours.
Take small snacks with you wherever you go and follow our tips for choosing healthy options when snacking to prevent sudden drops in blood sugar levels (which would lead to hunger and cravings later on).
Tip: Eat every 2-3 hours, regardless of whether you’re hungry or not. Try scheduling your meals throughout the day so that you don’t have room for excuses.
6. Use Supplements for Muscle Growth and Fat Gain
If you don’t mind taking extra pills, then here are two supplements worth considering:
- Creatine
Creatine is one of the most popular (and practical) muscle-building supplements out there. It’s also cheap and easy to use. You have to start with a small dosage (powder or capsules) and increase it over time as your body will get used to the supplement. Creatine helps produce ATP, which gives the body energy for working out and powering muscles to grow.
- Protein shakes
Protein shakes allow you to add calories fast. Remember that your gains will be slow without excess calories, regardless of whether you’re eating all organic food, exercising at high intensity five days per week, and following all other steps listed on this page.
7. E wexercise Regularly
The truth is that exercising will help you reach your weight-gain goals even faster. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t build muscle and gain fat fast at first. Everyone needs to start from zero, including those genetically gifted guys who need to work less than others.
Start with a simple workout program that doesn’t require any equipment (these are always the best) and do it three days per week for at least 20 minutes. Remember that consistency is critical, so don’t skip or miss workouts because they don’t give you quick results. If you do, the results will not come, and eventually, you’ll stop exercising altogether.
8. Top It Off with a Healthy Lifestyle
Gaining weight fast is not just about following this list of steps. It’s also about eating and living healthy. In other words, you need to do more than take in more calories. You also need to reduce your risk of developing health problems by eating healthier foods and doing things that keep your heart healthy.
There are numerous benefits to eating foods high in nutrients: they make us feel better, help our cognitive performance (memory), have anti-aging properties, improve bone strength, prevent diseases, and even fight cancer. Eating well also keeps us motivated to exercise because we feel good physically and mentally.
9. Stay Consistent
Consistency is one of the most critical steps in gaining weight fast. You need to follow these tips consistently over a long period until they become habits. Only then will your body get used to digesting large amounts of food, and only then will those calories start adding up, leading to fat gain or muscle growth.
The more consistent you are with your diet and exercise, the better your body will adjust to constant positive changes, and the faster you will see results. If you start doing it all at once, then there’s a 99% chance that you’ll eventually burn out.
This is one of the most common mistakes people make in their weight-gain efforts. They think, “I want to gain muscle fast, so I’m going to do this for two weeks and stop.” Well, guess what? They don’t last two weeks because they get frustrated by not seeing results soon enough and quit before anything good can happen.
Tip: Stay consistent with everything. Change your diet habits slowly over time and never deprive yourself of food or skip meals. Remember that it takes time to change your lifestyle.
Conclusion
Neuroscience has shown that the brain is more likely to remember a message when paired with images and videos. When you’re trying to gain weight, this means your best bet for remembering how much food to eat at meals or what foods are good sources of specific nutrients is by being present during meals to see the amount of food you need to consume.
Whatever you do, make sure that it doesn’t interfere with your sleep. When we’re tired, our brains release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, which can cause us to lose weight. So if you want the best chance of gaining weight and maintaining it, eat a healthy diet, get plenty of exercises, and don’t forget to get enough sleep.
