How To Stimulate Hunger For Muscle Growth

In order to gain a pound of muscle each week, you need to create a caloric excess of 500 calories per day. To do this, the American Council on Exercise suggests increasing the size of your three main meals while adding to snacks, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. If you struggle to eat enough calories to add muscle mass to your frame, you may need to find ways to stimulate your appetite before meal times.

Step 1

Learn to cook your favorite foods and prepare them often. It will be much easier to eat more at meal times if you're eating something you love, but remember to limit saturated fats found in beef, cheese or butter.

Step 2

Drink a glass of wine before your meal. According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, there is a direct correlation between drinking and increased calorie consumption. In healthy subjects, drinking a glass of wine may increase the length of your meal, rate of eating and total caloric intake of the following 24 hours.

Step 3

Exercise regularly and make strength training your main form of exercise to help convert the extra calories into muscle instead of fat. In addition to promoting muscle growth, exercise can help increase appetite and muscle-to fat-ratio, reports the "Cancer and HIV Clinical Nutrition Pocket Guide" by Gail M. Wilkes.

Step 4

Talk to your doctor about any prescription medications you're taking. Antibiotics, cold medicines, pain relievers containing morphine or codeine and chemotherapy drugs can all cause a loss of appetite, warns the University of Maryland Medical Center.

Step 5

Add cinnamon to your breakfast or drink tea made from cinnamon bark throughout the day. According to The Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines, edited by M. Blumenthal and published in 1998, both regular and Chinese cinnamon bark may help treat loss of appetite.