Healthy Weight Gain

Healthy Weight Gain

Believe it or not, some people actually want to gain weight and have trouble doing it.  It is actually a real problem for some women.    So I want to talk about some ways to increase your calories enough to put you into a surplus to gain weight.  Ideally you would want to put that weight on with muscle, but as with any surplus, you will put on some body fat as well.  If you follow these guidelines, you can keep that body fat to a minimum.  You need to know up front that this is a long process.  It takes months, sometimes years to gain any significant lean weight.  You don’t want to gain more than .5-1 pound a month to keep the body fat gain to a minimum.  So let’s dive into what you need to focus on with your nutrition and your exercise to reach your goals.

NUTRITION

In order to gain body weight, you must be in a calorie surplus.  That means you are taking in more calories than your body burns.  We talked about how to estimate your TDEE in a previous blog.  That is your first step.  Determine your TDEE which is your maintenance calories.  Meaning you are in an energy balance.   You are taking in just as many calories as your body is burning.  You will want to add a modest amount to that to put your body into a surplus.  Usually when I am bulking (in a muscle building phase), I add 200-250 calories to my TDEE which is plenty for me.  That is maybe an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  So we are not talking about eating crazy.  Just add an extra high calorie snack. 

Protein is another very important piece to the nutrition strategy for gaining weight.  It is very important to get .8-1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight.   So for instance, a 150 pound woman would want to get 120-150 grams of COMPLETE Protein per day.  What do I mean by “Complete Protein”?  That just means it has all of the essential amino acids to be considered a complete protein.  Most animal proteins such as meat, dairy, seafood and eggs have complete amino acid profiles and are excellent sources of protein.  However, if you are Vegan or Vegetarian, it is going to be difficult to find sources of complete protein.  There are lists of complete plant based proteins, and a good plant based protein powder will be your friend!   You can mix it into anything.  I mix protein powder in my coffee instead of creamer.  I put it in my oatmeal.  I also add it to smoothies.  There are even some plant based ready to drink protein shakes out there.  I have seen them in the stores.  It will take a bit more work and research for the plant based folks, but it can be done. 

EXERCISE

In order to build muscle, you have to be following a resistance training program designed to build muscle.  This is called Hypertrophy Training.  It is a special periodized and progressed program that utilizes exercises with rep ranges and tempos that will contribute to muscle growth.  For this I really recommend a trainer.  You are not going to build significant muscle with cardio, group classes, pilates, cross fit, etc.   While those are great forms of exercise, they are not designed to build the kind of muscle that is going to give you rounded shoulders, bicep bumps, and visible quads.  I have so many come to me wanting to “look like they workout”, but are stuck in the group class rut.  They are just not going to get you there Sis.  Cardio, which is really what group classes boil down to, is important.  It is important for heart health.  But it is not going to put a lot of muscle on you.  Not to mention, if you are trying to gain weight, too much cardio will derail your progress for sure!

I hope this has been helpful.