How to Gain Weight

From LoveToKnow Diet

Despite the fact that a good percentage of the American population is fighting the battle of the bulge, there are a significant number of people diligently trying to learn how to gain weight. Just as weight gain is a problem, being underweight causes a definitive problem for those who just can't seem to put any weight on.

Too Thin

By checking out the Ideal Weight Calculator, you'll learn whether or not you are underweight. Several factors are involved when gaging your ideal weight range. Age, frame size, height and gender are all factors to be considered when estimating your ideal weight.

Reasons for Being Underweight

There are many possible reasons for being underweight. A person may have an active metabolism which enables them to consume a large amount of calories without weight gain. Theories about people having "lean cells" versus "fat cells" circulate the information network, but these theories are based mainly on genetics research and indicate that if you are from a thin family, you are more apt to be thin due to heredity.

Other health-related issues for being underweight exist, as well. If other health issues exist, such as illness or disease, your body is using extra calories to fight off whatever is attacking your body. This will increase calorie usage, decreasing the amount of weight gained due to caloric intake. If a person has thyroid issues, weight gain or loss may be experienced. There are a number of health-related causes for being underweight. A visit to your local physician should help identify whether or not your underweight condition is related to any other health issues.

How to Gain Weight

Many theories exist about how to gain weight. Some only promote weight gain by consuming more calories, regardless of the source. Some diets include only specific food groups from which to bulk up on calories. Other diets encourage exercise to build muscle mass. A shred of truth can be found with all of these concepts, and when combined, these concepts each have a place in a proper diet designed to gain weight in a healthy way.

Firstly, you need to find out, through calculations, how many calories your body actually needs to maintain the weight you are currently carrying. In order to gain weight, this calorie amount must be increased.

To increase your daily caloric intake, you'll need to eat foods with higher calories or a larger quantity of foods. This does not mean choosing foods full of fat or carbohydrates. However, you might want to consider drinking whole milk instead of skim. Instead of eating reduced calorie or fat-free cheese, you should eat regular cheese.

Instead of trying to eat a lot of food during two or three sittings, attempt to eat more meals. For instance, instead of doubling your portions during lunch and dinner, eat five or six small meals throughout the day. This should cause an increase in your calorie intake, helping to increase your weight.

Nutritional supplements are also a big help. They contain a lot of calories from healthy sources but don't contain much fat or useless carbohydrates that let your body's energy spike and crash. They provide protein and other necessary minerals and vitamins your body needs and can help increase body weight.

Exercising can help build up muscle mass, which will help your body gain weight in pounds. Muscle weighs more than fat, thus increasing your weight.

Harder to Lose

Experts all agree that it is more difficult to gain weight than it is to lose it. Typically, the people who are underweight and need to gain weight are prone to lifestyles that keep them at low weight levels. True lifestyle changes need to occur to put on weight and live a healthy life.

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