Recently, I volunteered with a local Health Club to help them out at a Wellness Fair that was being put on. It was my responsibility to answer nutrition-related questions for individuals looking to join the Health Club. The afternoon was going great until one potential client came up to me, interested in joining the Health Club, and asked me, "I really need to gain some weight, can you give me some good nutrition-related advice to healthfully gain weight?" I was taken a bit off guard. All we ever hear about lately is how obese and unhealthy the United States is, but in reality, there is a population that is underweight and struggling to gain a few pounds and keep it on. Sounds pretty rough, doesn't it? But actually, there can be some serious medical issues related to being too underweight as well. So what are some good nutritional tips to gaining weight? Let's take a look!
Just with weight loss, a healthy rate for weight gain would be about 1 pound per week. But how much more should you eat to gain weight at that rate? Well, there's 3500 kilocalories per pound, so if you do a little division, you come up with about 500 kcals/day. This means you should shoot for eating about 500 more kcals/day to gain about a pound a week.
Most people are probably thinking at this point that adding 500 kcals/day wouldn't be too difficult in our fatty-food driven environment in the United States. One Burger King cheeseburger packs about 560 kcals in just the sandwich (you don't want to know how many grams of fat or saturated fat are contained in that burger...). But is that really a good choice of food when your trying to gain weight healthfully? No!!
Again, just like losing weight in a healthy way, there are much better foods to consume when trying to gain weight in a healthy way. Let's break it down a little.
As we know from MyPyramid and now from MyPlate, at least half our meal should contain fruits and vegetables. But for an individual trying to gain weight, having plain fruits and vegetables may not be the best option. Yes, they are incredibly nutritious and healthy, but they are also very filling and contain low amounts of calories per portion size. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of the diet and should still be on the menu when attempting to gain weight, but add cream cheese, fruit dips, or a nut butter on top to pack on some added protein and calories.
When choosing proteins, keep sticking with the lean choices such as chicken, fish, eggs, beans, nuts, even pork. Although there are other sources of protein that are higher in caloric content per serving, those added calories are coming from saturated fat and not lean protein. It would be a better option to increase the portion size from the lean protein, to ensure a higher caloric content and to sustain muscle mass, than to choose a protein with a higher saturated fat content just for the added calories.
Its important to still stick with whole grains as well, when deciding what sort of carbohydrate to choose. Whole grains are packed with more nutrients than the refined alternative, and sometimes add more calories. Stick with packaging that states "100% whole wheat" or "100% whole grain".
Now, what about those fats? True, fat contains about twice as many calories per serving than protein or carbohydrates, but that being said, no need to overindulge, even if you are trying to gain weight. Keeping in mind that not all fat is bad fat, choosing healthier fats will provide extra calories for weight gain while still providing many healthful benefits. Increase monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats by including nuts, seeds, fish and avocados in your diet. You can also add canola, flaxseed or olive oil to salads and vegetable side dishes. Including more of these good fats in your diet will easily increase caloric intake, and doing so in a healthful way.
Now, lets talk about fluid intake. That's not usually something discussed quite as much as the amount or type of food to eat. Fluids tend to fill you up, so for an individual looking to gain weight, omitting fluids during mealtime will make more room in your stomach to fill with food. Consume your fluids in between meals, and try adding protein packed smoothies or even an Ensure or Boost Shake. These will add extra calories and still provide healthy helpings of important vitamins and minerals at the same time.
As I blinked a couple of times and thought about how to answer the potential client's question at the Health Fair, I realized that there is a population in the United States that needs this information, and usually get overlooked. Although it may not seem like gaining weight healthfully would be that difficult, it can be, and is, just as difficult as shedding pounds healthfully. Happy munching!!
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