Practical Tips on Gaining Weight

This blog is for tips on how to gain weight if that's something you're struggling with. It is not a guide for bodybuilders, or advice for mental health issues - just practical advice on how to reach a healthy body weight. I am not a professional - this is all my personal opinions and experience, as I am also currently trying to gain weight.

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Weight Gain Tip #15

Not to be too Millennial or anything, but avocados really are good for gaining weight. It’s a calorie-high fruit that has a bunch of healthy fats and vitamins in it, and you can eat it by itself, or in sandwiches or omelettes or whatever. 

So yeah, eat that avocado toast! It’s good for you. 

And, as always, if you don’t like the food I’m suggesting - just don’t eat it. Don’t do it. I hate avocados, so I don’t eat them, but other people like them, which is great!

Don’t eat food you don’t like. It won’t help you gain weight in the long run. Focus on eating as many calories as possible, in the most healthy way possible, with the food you do like and can eat. 

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Weight Gain Tip #14

Nuts! Nuts are great - perfect for snacking, and you can throw them in some meals, like stirfries. And, you can control how much you eat. Only want one nut? Eat one nut. Better than no nuts!

I like cashew nuts, because they’re a mild taste and relatively soft, and I’m a wimp, but go for whatever you like. They’re all high-calorie foods, with protein and good fats. 

Peanuts are the most common and cheapest, but you’ve got almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios. Try them out, experiment. And if you have to get the salty ones, or spicy or cheesy or whatever else flavour there is, then go for it! 

Don’t be afraid to eat food that isn’t as healthy as it could be. 

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Weight Gain Tip #13

Don’t feel bad if you have a bad day. Or a bad week, or month, or year. Progression isn’t linear, you won’t always improve, you’ll take steps backwards and that’s okay. You don’t have to be perfect. 

Some days, I eat terribly. I don’t have enough, and I berate myself for it. But making yourself guilty won’t make you eat more - if anything, it’ll make you associate the feeling of guilt with eating, and that will encourage you to eat less.

So don’t feel guilty! Because you have nothing to feel guilty about. Maybe you didn’t do as well as you liked today, but you always have tomorrow. And you’ll have more days after that. Every day is an opportunity to eat a little more. Tomorrow is always an opportunity to eat a little more. 

You can do this. 

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Weight Gain Tip #12

Don’t dismiss tiny changes! Adding a tiny bit of something to your meal may not look like much, and you may be tempted to not do it because it’s so small, but these small additions accumulate. And when you’re trying to boost your calories, small things can make a big difference.

Remember - something is better than nothing! Adding it in, no matter how small it is, is better than adding nothing in at all.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t make a big change. The goal is progression, and small changes with help with that. 

Something is better than nothing. 

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Weight Gain Tip #11

Add healthy oils to things - things like olive oil, canola oil, flaxseed, sesame, walnut. It’s basically hidden calories. I like to put an extra spoonful into a lot of what I cook, especially pasta and stirfries. You won’t notice, and it’ll add up the calorie count of your meal in a healthy way. 

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Weight Gain Tip #10

Add cheese to anything that cheese can go into - pasta, rice, potatoes, anything you want. I add mozzarella because I don’t particularly like melted cheese, and it tends to disappear into nothing if you add it in while cooking. Do what works for you!

Listen, cheese isn’t the healthiest of food, but it’s better than eating nothing. It’s got a lot of calories, and some protein too! Don’t eat a block a day, and you’re probably fine. 

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Weight Gain Tip #9

Do you like milk? Drink it! Milk is a good source of calories as well as other healthy stuff, and it’s not as filling or time-consuming as eating - have one of your mid-meal snacks be a glass of milk, or drink it with a meal. Try full-fat, or as full-fat as you can get, for the full effect.  

Milk-based things as also great for gaining weight. Cheese, yogurt - they make good snacks or meal-additions. 

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You May Be Concerned of the Signs of Losing Too Much Weight

Are you concerned about low body weight? Read about the causes and signs of being underweight and tips to gain weight if you need to.

Are you underweight? This article talks about how to find out if you’re underweight, the signs and risks of it, and has some tips.

BMI isn’t a perfect guideline, but it’s a good place to start, and this article has a BMI calculator in it. If you’re not sure, I’d recommend giving it a try - it’s useful to know.

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Sorry about the absence, guys! This is something I started in my free time, and I recently started a new job, so free time hasn’t really been a thing for me the past month or so.

I’ll be honest - there’s probably not going to be any fixed schedule for this blog. But hopefully I’ll keep coming back to it, and you guys will too, and together this will become the resource that I think it could be. 

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Weight Gain Tip #8

If you’re struggling with eating a certain volume of food, and can stomach it, protein powder is very useful. Don’t use it as a meal substitution - use it as a snack substitution. Something to have between meals. Even a small amount is better than nothing.

If (like me) you can’t stand the taste, you can get flavourless protein powder (try supermarkets, health stores, places like that). You can then put a spoonful of it in other liquid foods and mix it in - pasta sauce, gravy, soups. It’s not a lot, but every little extra calories helps.

Or mix it with a small amount of juice, water, or soda, and down it.  

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Weight Gain Tip #7

Eggs are good! Little balls of protein and calories. If you can, and you like them, stick an egg in things. Pasta, stirfries, casseroles, mash potato - anything that you think ‘huh, I can stick an egg in this’ - do it!

If it’s only one egg, you’ll often won’t notice it’s there, and it’ll add a bit extra to whatever you’re eating.

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Weight Gain Tip #6

On the note of not making it harder than it needs to be - make your eating as easy as possible.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll look for the slightest excuse to not eat something. Don’t give yourself that excuse! Keep snacks next to your computer, or on your bedside table, or in your bag, so that when you feel peckish, or it’s time to eat something, the food is right there. 

Make it as easy as possible for you to eat. 

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Weight Gain Tip #5

Eat what you like! Don’t force yourself to eat something you dislike because it’s good for you, or it has a higher calorie content. If you’re struggling to gain weight, chances are you have difficulties with eating. Don’t make it worse by trying to eat something you won’t like. 

A good rule of thumb - if it makes you feel sort of queasy to think about eating it, you probably should stick to something that doesn’t do that. I spent a long time trying to persuade myself to eat yogurts, but just the thought makes me feel ill. I’m finally letting myself off the hook. 

Don’t make eating harder than it needs to be.

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Weight Gain Tip #4

Protein is your friend, followed by carbohydrates. You want to be prioritising these. Which doesn’t mean neglecting your fruits and vegetables! But you may need to cut down on them.

I’m a huge fan of vegetables, and used to pile them high on my plate. They don’t take up much room, I said. And I still believe that - but they do take up some room. A stomach full of carrots has less room for meat and carbs. 

Try not to eat more than a portion of whatever fruit or vegetable you’re having, so that you have the room for other things. A good rule of thumb is that a portion is about a fist full - though that doesn’t work for everything! 

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Weight Gain Tip #3

Try to eat every 3-4 hours. But, that’s basically impossible for me! Especially when you’re first starting out. So, here’s how I made it easier - anything counts as eating.

Eat one nut. Eat a raisin. Eat a crisp. It doesn’t matter how small it is, it counts!

Here’s why it works - a lot of the time, once you eat one thing, you’ll eat a few more just because they’re there and you’ve started now. And it’s easy to build up from eating one nut to eating a portion. And even if you don’t eat any more - you’ve eaten something!

One raisin is better than no raisins. 

Eating something is better than eating nothing. 

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Weight Gain Tip #2

A lot of advice is about eating the healthiest foods possible. If you can manage that, great! But if you have specific food preferences, or issues around eating, it can be all but impossible to eat regularly  and healthily. So eat AS healthy as you can while still eating.

Eating something unhealthy is better than eating nothing at all. 

Can’t eat yogurt but can eat chocolate mousse? Eat the mousse! Can only eat salted nuts and not plain ones? Eat them! Can only eat mash potatoes when drenched in butter? Put as much butter in as you need!

Be as healthy as you possibly can. Healthy is good. But prioritise your eating first. 

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Weight Gain Tip #1

Don’t try to be perfect straight away. Don’t try to do it all at once. Yes, it would be great if you could jump into eating three meals and snacks regularly, but it’s a lot to take on at once, and if you fail it’ll make you less likely to keep going. Start out small. An extra snack a day, either in the morning or the afternoon. Try doing that every other day. And then build up from there.