Weight Gain

CatDaddy

Hey guys so I’ve struggled to be a healthy weight for a few years now. I’m 27, 6” and 150. I have like zero fat so I look pretty skinny.

Ive been doing some reading recently, and want some other opinions. I was reading about eating more smaller meals throughout the day, but my main question is what should I eat?

I am am going to start eating peanut butter/banana smoothies, pasta with hearty sauces, avacados, eggs, oily fish, nuts, and use more olive oil. It sounds simple but I know when I go shopping, I get a little overwhelmed and don’t know what to get. Any help on simple dishes I could make, or opinions at all would really help me be happy/ healthy. Thanks guys.

Susan_RD_101

@CatDaddy

First, great user name.

Second, I always tell my clients that it's important to consider your genetic potential when trying to change your weight. For some, gaining weight (even in a healthy way) can increase cholesterol and blood sugar, since these values tend to increase with weight.

That said, if you are interested in gaining weight, you need to eat +500-1000 calories per day above your maintenance level. Foods I would recommend are:

• Nuts and seeds (and trailmix)
• Avocado
• Nut and seed butter
• Olive oil, flax seed oil, walnut oil, etc.
• Hemp, flax, chia
• Dried fruit

At meals, ask yourself if there is a way to increase calories in your meal, without necessarily having to eat more.

Smoothies can also be very helpful since you can add a lot of stuff into them to increase calories, but keep food volume in check.

It's also important to incorporate resistance and strength training which can help you to grow your muscles and increase mass.

And yes, I do think that eating 6 times per day would be beneficial for someone trying to gain weight... A few of those meals can be smoothies.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,