Do you need to put on a few pounds to make into a sports team or to better your health?
Although there are many posts about the 2001 ways to look slimmer & lose weight, there are people who are extremely thin & want to put on weight. These people are always puzzled on what they need to do in order to gain weight.
Although many people think that being skinny is a blessing, there are many problems that come attached to it. They can be even more harmful when compared with the problems that are caused by being overweight. Stylecraze gives you perfect tips for weight gain to look healthy.
Firstly, it is important to find out the root cause of your problem. Are you underweight because your metabolism is super-fast? Is it genetic? Is it due to a poor appetite? Or, do you have some kind of undiagnosed eating or digestive disorder?
Whatever the reason maybe, there are a lot of things that you can do to gain weight.
How To Gain Weight:
You can get started by identifying how much weight you need to put on. Find out the ideal weight in the healthy BMI range for your height and age (always take your age into account while calculating your ideal weight)
After identifying how much weight you need to gain, start working out gradually. Just like a person who has to lose weight would aim to eat 500 calories less every day, the one who has to gain weight needs to do exactly the opposite. Try to eat 500 calories of nutrient dense good food.
Remember: Do not ever to try to gain weight by going for the quick fix and eating in excess quantity till you puke. Just try to eat protein enriched healthy food that will fill your stomach, but will not make you unhealthy in the process, or even make you go from underweight to overweight. Here are the tips to gain weight.
A. Foot Intake:
When trying to gain weight, you need to know which type of food is protein enriched & healthy & which will not have adverse effects on your health. The good foods contain healthy proteins like salmon, tuna, chicken, legumes and beans, whole eggs and healthy fats like peanut butter, butter, cheese, healthy oils and fats and energy rich carbohydrates such as fruit juices, pasta, whole wheat breads, dried fruits, oats, brown rice, banana, nuts and starchy vegetables like potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and yams.
There are certain fatty foods that need to be avoided. This type of junk foods makes you gain weight easily, but in turn leaves behind an unhealthy eating habit which can lead to several health-related problems. Such food items include burgers, cheesecakes, fries, onion rings, candy bars, hot fudge sundaes, donuts, potato chips like Pringles and Lays; French toasts and anything that requires huge amount of cream. Sometimes, it may become hard for a person who eats very less to eat a lot more than his/her normal appetite. In that case, you will have to find ways to sneak in more food into your diet. Some of the ways to increase your weight are:
1. Instead of consuming 3 big meals, try eating medium sized meals thrice in a day and then eating snacks 2-3 times in between.
2. Try including smoothies made of mangoes & bananas which are delicious & enriched with proteins along with milk, yoghurt or honey. It’s a tasty & healthy option.
3. When making sandwiches, add an extra slice of cheese to make it more nutrient dense. Or, just add extra cheese to the omelette.
4. If you are used to eating small portion sizes, try increasing it a little to increase the intake. For example, try and serve an extra spoon of potato mash, rice or pasta during dinner.
5. While snacking, instead of going for the low calorie alternatives, try eating granola bars, nuts and yoghurt. It will help you gain weight.
6. Find alternatives for the drinks that you usually have. Instead of drinking zero calorie drinks like coffee or tea; try adding milk to it so that it becomes more nutrient-rich. You could also try drinking all natural fruit juices that brim with natural sugar.
7. When eating vegetables, try adding butter, cheese, spreads and sauces to make it even richer. When making salads, don’t be fussy with the olive oil or salad dressings, instead savour it.
A. Sample Menu to Gain Weight Includes:
Breakfast:
Morning Snack:
Lunch:
Afternoon Snack:
Dinner:
If you want to try supplements for weight gain, try using Creatine that will give you enough energy to gain weight. But since this is something that is not usually done, make sure you consult your physician before using this.
Just because you are trying to gain weight, it doesn’t mean you should not be physically active every day. If overtraining made you underweight, then by all means, reduce your workout frequency, but do not give it up entirely as exercise is a necessity. Along with weight gain, it is very important to be healthy. So try and include strength training in your fitness regime.
B. Exercise:
The best exercise while trying to gain weight is to do strength training. Doing strength training will increase your appetite. Strength training increases the muscle content in the body and more muscles mean a better metabolism. For this, one needs to eat more in order to maintain weight. When you begin, try doing muscle core exercises rather than machine exercises. Do exercises using dumbbells which pressurize the muscle fibres, thus making it stronger & more flexible.
Try doing exercises like squats, dead lifts, bench presses, barbell rows, and bar dips to achieve more strength and endurance. When you get committed to lifting & sticking to your schedule, you will see a massive change in your body mass. To see a radical change, you need to lift as heavy as you can. Always remember, ‘Try & Try until You Succeed’. Lift weights at least 12-15 times till you feel that your arms will fall off from your shoulder & your muscles start trembling. Every time you feel that you are getting used to a particular weight, try & start lifting more weights so that it will keep on increasing your capacity.
Losing or gaining weight has always been a stressful event for the concerned person. Stress often becomes a major hurdle in your way when you try to gain or lose weight. Therefore, it is important to be stress-free while performing exercises to lose or gain weight. Try having a relaxing bath to reduce the stress. Or, put on some good music and dance till you drop. You can even try meditation, yoga, pranayam or breathing exercises to reduce stress. Try it out. It surely works!
The next big step is to make sure you get enough sleep. Experts say that sleep is very essential for a person’s health & well-being. Sleep, like nutrition & physical activity, is determinant of health & well-being. A person needs minimum 8 hours of sleep every day in order to stay fit & fine. Your body needs proper rest to function properly. If you do strength training, your body repairs itself during sleep and builds better muscles during sleep.
Above all, you need to have realistic expectations. Do not expect to gain weight and develop a zero size figure to look exactly like Kareena Kapoor when she had reduced her weight for Tashan. Always remember one thing- everyone’s body is different & unique in its own way. Once you are successful in achieving a healthy BMI, switch your focus from how you look to how you feel. If you do not feel weak anymore, then you are successful.
Last but not the least, stick to what you are doing. No matter how much you fall off the wagon, do not get disheartened. All great things take time to happen. Consistency is what pays off in the end. If you do not see any change even after trying hard for months, don’t lose heart. Just relax & get back on the horse and hold on till you achieve your goal. Always remember, positive attitude always helps & boosts your morale. There are many exercises that will help you to gain weight. In most cases, there are people who eat healthy food all the time and still do not gain weight. These exercises are meant for them. With these exercises, you will definitely gain proper weight.
Usually, aerobic exercises such as running, dancing, kickboxing are done by people in order to lose weight. So in order to gain weight, a person needs to do anaerobic exercises that uses muscles at high intensity in short intervals. Anaerobic exercises are mostly used by athletes in non-endurance sports to promote strength, speed & power. Often body builders use this exercise for building muscle mass. Weight training is the best type of anaerobic exercise to gain weight since they are very challenging for larger muscle groups. Some effective strength training exercises include dead lifts, squats, crunches, push-ups, lunges, pull ups and bench presses.
Complex exercise focuses on larger muscles and thus helps in gaining more weight & makes a person look healthier. Do not focus on area concentrated exercises such triceps extensions. Try to do full body exercises and attempt to lift more amount of weight. But make sure that you take adequate rest in between reps, do not overdo it and don’t be mellow on yourself. Do take small breaks between your reps to compose yourself. Also make sure that your body gets adequate time to heal & rebuild muscles.
C. Yoga for Weight Gain:
Another best way to gain weight is through yoga since it often addresses the roots of your condition such as stress, poor metabolism and lack of stamina. It helps you to find a solution to those issues and thereby helps you to gain weight. It often increases the practitioner’s appetite.
And the most important thing is that your mind should be ready & strong enough to accept changes. The reason why many people are underweight is mainly because they have habits that keep them away from achieving their target. It may be as simple as stopping your nervousness and fidgeting.
It does not matter whether you are overweight or underweight, the process of change begins with the mind and the change in mind begins with learning to make or break habits, new or old.
Hope you now know how to gain weight following these simple yet effective tips.
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