What To Eat If You Want To Gain Weight

Many of us are focused on getting our bodies ready for summer, which is fast approaching. Then, there’s that sexy bikini you’ve just bought that you’re trying to slim into and eager to look super hot in. Sound familiar?

But, what if you want to do the opposite? Most women want to lose weight, but what about the women who want to gain weight? If you’re one of them, then you are not alone.

For some of us, it’s really hard to gain weight. People are always trying to give advice about how to gain weight, which usually amounts to: Eat more greasy or fast foods!

I don’t want you to go crazy eating unhealthy foods to gain weight, though, as your metabolism is probably fast and will simply process the food. You need to start by looking at the reason for not gaining weight easily.

There are several possible reasons for not gaining weight: you are not consuming enough calories, you suffer from hyperthyroidism, gastrointestinal issues or diabetes or you are taking medications that increase your metabolism.

To be sure, you can always see to a doctor to check if you have a medical condition that is preventing you from gaining weight. You can also go to a nutritionist and get a designed diet specially for you.

Eat high calorie dense foods

As I’ve already said, we need to eat foods that are high in calories but also provide health benefits. We want to gain weight, but we don’t want to become unhealthy.

For this, nutritionists recommend eating good high calorie dense foods. This means eating many calories but in small amounts or serving sizes, which is what bodybuilders and people who exercise do to gain weight.

For example, you can eat granola with almonds, which has more than 500 calories per cup, or a one-ounce serving of goat cheese, which has nearly 130 calories.

One very popular food to help with weight gain is peanut butter or any other nut butter. It contains manganese and magnesium and has around 204 calories in two tablespoons.

You can also eat peanuts or macadamia nuts. Peanuts are a legume, not a nut, and they grow underground like beans and peas. The nuts provide about 470 calories per ½ cup and the peanuts provide around 425 calories per ½ cup. Both are rich in nutrients, iron and unsaturated fats.

If you love muffins, you can eat bran muffins, which have vitamins and dietary fiber. A bran muffin from a bakery offers more than 300 calories and 10 grams of fat.

Other high calorie foods include: bagels, dried fruits, fruit smoothies and banana chips. All of them have 250 calories or more.

For people who want something that is not sweet, eat avocados. One avocado has 325 calories and 30g of fat as well as vitamins C, E, K, B5 and B6 and dietary fiber.

Avoid high volume foods

High volume foods are good when you’re trying to lose or maintain your weight, so if you’re trying to gain weight, you should avoid these foods.

They will make you fight hunger because they have high volume and are lower in calories, so they fill you up more quickly.

Foods that are high volume tend to be most vegetables, fruits, cooked oatmeal, whole grains like popcorn, stews and low calorie soups.

You can still eat vegetables but blend them into sauces, or drink V8 juice for nutrition as it offers a lot of energy. Be careful, though, as it also has a lot of sugar.

Remember that you also need to avoid foods that are high in water, air, lean protein or fiber. Besides fruits and vegetables, this includes lean meat, fish, poultry, soybeans and eggs. This is why eggs are recommended to people who want to maintain or lose weight—they make you feel more satisfied.

The truth is, however, that every metabolism or body is different. This is only a guide to give you an idea of what you can eat to gain more weight.

To be honest, I eat some high volume foods and I don’t feel full. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: I feel hungrier. This is why I recommend that you experiment with various foods and what works for you.

Or, as I mentioned previously, make an appointment with a nutritionist for professional guidance.

Have you been trying to gain weight? Do you know of any foods that work well to achieve this goal? Share them below with your fellow readers!