Weight gain is simple in theory, the more calories you consume the more weight you will gain, but the amount of calories you need to consume depends on a number of factors. Your calorie needs for weight gain depend on your gender, muscle mass, activity level and age. By choosing higher-calorie foods and rapidly digested foods you can considerably increase your calorie consumption to the point that you will experience weight gain and the more you eat the faster your weight gain will occur.
Healthy Fats
Increase the amount of foods in your diet that contain healthy fats. Fats contain high amounts of calories in each gram. By increasing the healthy fats in your diet you can experience weight gain without increasing your intake of unhealthy saturated fats and sugars.
Choose avocados, olive oil, olives, nuts and peanut butter. All these foods contain rich amounts of healthy unsaturated fats. By constantly snacking on these foods throughout the day you can quickly increase your weight.
Refined Carbohydrates
Although refined carbohydrates are generally not recommended for a healthy diet they can help you achieve rapid weight gain. Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread, white pasta and white rice, contain considerable amounts of calories and can be rapidly digested. Unlike whole grain rich carbohydrates, which leave you feeling full, refined carbohydrates are quickly broken down by your body leaving you feeling hungry again shortly after being consumed. Thus, you are able to eat again, increasing your calories. Also, refined carbohydrates can generally be consumed in large qualities.
Proteins
By increasing your protein intake to healthy levels you can increase your ability to make muscle and experience weight gain. According to University of California, Los Angeles, you need to consume 0.8 g of protein for every pound you weigh to help increase your muscle mass. Consuming excessive amounts of protein will not increase your muscle mass any further, because excess protein cannot be stored by your body or used at a later time to build muscles.
Healthy sources of protein include foods such as beans, peanut butter, nuts, soy products, egg whites and lean meats such as fatty fish. Eating protein-rich foods will help you gain weight, but not without also engaging in strength training. Strength training uses the protein to help increase your muscle mass.
Considerations
If you continue to increase the amount of calories you consume and you do not experience an equal amount of weight gain an underlying medical condition may be to blame. Talk with your doctor if this is the case. Your doctor will be able to assess your calorie intake and test you for possible medical conditions such as undiagnosed diabetes and thyroid problems.
Also, when increasing your weight it is important to avoid too much weight gain. Gaining too much weight can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
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