How to Gain Weight in a Healthy Way

How to Gain Weight

Want to pack on mass without getting out of shape? Here’s your step-by-step strategy for gaining weight the right way.

 

What is healthy weight gain?

 

Fat loss is a popular fitness goal, but gaining weight can be healthy and necessary. Being on a diet means you’re less likely to add muscle, gain strength, or train with intensity.

 

There are good and not-so-good ways to gain weight. Putting on too much weight (especially from body fat) could put you at risk of health issues and injury.

 

4 reasons to gain weight

 

Why would someone who’s passionate about fitness want to actually put on weight? Turns out there are lots of reasons, ranging from health to hormones to training performance.

 

You’ve been in a deficit too long

 

Fat loss requires a calorie deficit, and the results can be kind of addictive. Ask yourself: have I been in this calorie deficit for too long? If you’ve hit your goal, there’s no need to stay in a deficit. And even if you still have fat to lose, you might benefit from easing out of that deficit for a week or two.

 

Being in a calorie deficit is hard on your body and your mind. It’s effective at melting fat off your body, but it has a negative impact on mood, quality of life, sleep, and libido. (1)

 

Your gym performance is going down

 

You know the saying “mass moves mass”? Being light or lean can impact your training performance. If you want to be more powerful on the pitch or see your training weights come up, weight gain could help.

 

Gaining weight requires more calories and usually more carbohydrates, which will give you more energy for training. Bonus points: you’ll recover better too!

 

On medical advice

 

Some health problems might lead to your Doctor advising weight gain (2) For women, menstrual cycle and fertility can be adversely affected by weight loss. If your Doctor suggests you put on weight, listen to them.

 

 You want to add muscle mass

 

Do you want a big, powerful, balanced physique that’s capable of moving impressive weights? Gaining weight will help with that. Healthy weight gain means more muscle mass, better training sessions, and an impressive rig!

Big Benefits of a gaining phase

 

Most people associate gaining weight with over-eating and getting fat. Nobody wants a body mass index BMI that’s obese. People like us know there’s another way to gain weight. Healthy weight gain combines extra calories with smart training to help you add lean tissue with minimal extra body fat.

 

The results of a strategic gaining phase include more muscle, strength, and power. You’ll see rapid improvements in training results (get ready for a string of PRs!) And you’ll feel better, with improved mood and sleep. What’s not to love?

 

 How to gain weight the healthy way

 

Here’s exactly how to gain weight the right way so you add muscle and strength.

 

Gain weight eat more

 

The most important part of your healthy weight gain plan is your diet. Do you know how many calories you’re currently eating? If not, track for a week so you know your maintenance numbers. Or use an online TDEE calculator like this one https://tdeecalculator.net/ to get an estimate of your maintenance calories.

 

Calories and macros for weight gain

 

You’ll need to slightly overeat to gain weight (those extra calories are where the new muscle comes from). Add 10%-15% to your maintenance calories and track your progress for 4 weeks. If you are gaining weight too quickly or too slowly, adjust your calories accordingly.

 

But what about macros? Keep protein relatively high, at around 2g-2.5g protein per 1kg current body weight. Carbohydrates should make up the bulk of your food, at 4g+ of carbohydrates per 1kg of bodyweight. The rest comes from dietary fats.

 

Confused by all the numbers? Don’t worry too much about the details. The main focus is increasing your calorie intake with a reasonable balance of macronutrients. Here’s an example.

 

Sam weighs 80kgs and his current maintenance calories are 2,200 cals/day.

 

Sam’s weight gain numbers look like this:

 

2,420 calories

Protein 180g (720 cals)

Carbs 335g (1340 cals)

Fats 40g (360 cals)

 

Healthy foods to gain weight

 

It can be difficult to eat enough on a healthy weight gain diet, especially if you’ve been in a diet phase or you have a small appetite.

 

Choose nutrient dense foods that deliver a lot of calories without filling you up. This means avoiding traditional high-volume foods that help you lose weight (unless you’ve got a huge appetite!)

 

Fattier choices of meat and fish (higher-fat beef mince, chicken thighs, salmon and trout)

Dairy options high in fat (5% Greek yoghurt, full fat versions of milk, cheese spread, and cottage cheese)

Grated cheese

Peanut butter and other nut butters

Dried fruits

Fruits and vegetables (for vitamins and minerals)

Rice, wholegrains and other low-volume carbohydrates

Root vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash

Whole eggs (keep the yolks)

A quality weight-gain protein supplement like PhD Advanced Mass

 

How to gain weight from muscle

 

Healthy weight gain means adding weight from lean muscle, and not gaining too much body fat. The best way to do this is to train hard and heavy during your weight gain phase.

 

 Cardio and training on a lean bulk

 

Avoid excess cardio (do just enough for heart health and mental wellness). Now is not the time to beast yourself on the treadmill or do HIIT sessions. Regular walks will keep you healthy. If you want to sweat it out, try doing strongman-style cardio to target muscle during your cardio.

 

Most of your training time should be in the weights room. Focus on the big compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, rows, overhead presses, and pulling movements.

 

Your weights sessions should be low rep with heavy weights. Build volume by adding load, not by taking your reps above 12. The sweet spot for building muscle is low reps (5-8 or 8-12). Building muscle will improve your shape and boost your metabolic rate so you actually learn to burn more calories even ads you get heavier.

The best supplements for healthy weight gain

 

Give your body a helping hand during your gaining phase with few good-quality supplements. PhD Creatine will support muscle gain and help you get more from training. PhD Advanced Mass is our best-ever mass gainer protein shake, with quality protein, carbohydrates and additional ingredients for healthy weight gain. The tastiest way to get 1,145 calories and 188g carbs in a shake!

 

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4905696/

2 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/nine-medical-reasons-for-putting-on-weight/