If your physician has judged you to be underweight, you can gradually gain weight by eating a well-rounded diet of whole foods, as described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its nutritional “My Food Pyramid.” This matrix provides sensible, realistic dietary guidelines.
Avoid binging on foods high in refined sugar, saturated fats, or refined flour; such foods can increase risk for heart disease and high blood pressure.
Eat Breakfast Daily
Eat breakfast every day. Many very slender women might not feel hungry in the morning, but eating this meal will provide important calories and nutrients. Eating at regular times throughout the day also keeps your blood sugar level, and will stave off a sudden drop in energy — which might tempt you to eat empty calories such as sugary donuts or coffee drinks.
Instead, think whole grains, high protein and low fat: hot instant oatmeal cups with a sliced banana, high-protein Greek yogurt, or roasted almonds with multi-grain toast. Fruit and yogurt cups are easy to tote to work.
Determine Your Daily Calorie Needs
Working with your physician, nutritionist or other medical professional, determine how many pounds you would like to gain. It takes an additional 3,500 calories to gain one pound. That means consuming 500 more calories per day for seven days to gain one pound. To gain 10 pounds, it would take at least about 10 weeks.
If you have a very physically demanding day or exercise a lot, you might have to consume more than 500 extra calories a day.
Make all your calories count: Select nutrient-dense foods over junk food. For example, make whole-wheat spaghetti and turkey meatballs for whole-grain fiber and lower-fat protein.
The USDA recommends you build your diet around whole vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, low- or non-fat dairy foods, and heart-healthy, non-saturated fats such as olive, flax, hemp, and canola oil.
Eat Several Smaller Meals Daily
Eat several smaller meals and snacks throughout the day to get the extra calories into your diet. Divide the number of calories you have decided to eat daily into five or six smaller meals. For example, if you are consuming 2,500 calories a day, consider eating five meals of 500 calories each. You could eat “mini-meals” at 7 am, 10 am, noon, 4 pm, and 6 pm.
A mini-meal might be half a peanut- or almond-butter sandwich on whole-wheat bread, half a cup of Greek nonfat yogurt, a small banana, and a quarter-cup of unsalted almonds.
Eating this way will allow you to increase your total daily calories and not feel overwhelmed by eating large meals.
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