You Need To Gain Weight In 16 Days

Healthy weight gain comes primarily through building muscle mass, but your genes influence exactly how fast you add muscle. For most people, gaining 1/2 to 1 lb. of muscle a week is a reasonable rate. That means in 16 days, or just over two weeks, you might be able to gain up to 2 lbs. To achieve this weight gain, though, you'll need to get enough calories and work out regularly.

Increasing Calorie Intake

Gaining weight requires an increase in calorie intake. To estimate the number of calories you need daily, multiply your weight in pounds by 11 if you're a man or 10 if you're a woman. Next, multiply the result of that calculation by 1.30 to 1.45 if your job involves light activity, such as classroom teaching. If, however, you have a moderately active job or work out for an hour most days of the week, multiply by 1.45 to 1.65. This calculation tells you the amount of calories you need for weight maintenance. For weight gain, add 500 to 1,000 calories daily. For example, a 140 lb. man with a lightly active job could use the formula 140 x 11 x 1.55 = 2,387 calories daily for weight maintenance. By adding 500 calories, he would need 2,887 calories daily for weight gain.

Planning Your Diet

Adequate protein is important for muscle building, but an excess isn't necessary. Aim to get approximately 0.8 to 0.9 g protein per pound of body weight per day, suggests dietitian Nancy Clark with Purdue University. Sufficient carbohydrate intake is also important because it helps prevent your body from using protein for energy instead of for muscle building. Getting 15 percent of your total daily calories from protein and 60 percent from carbohydrates helps keep your testosterone levels high, which supports muscle growth, note experts from Columbia University's Go Ask Alice web Q&A service. The rest of your calories should come from fats in foods such as lean meats, fish, olive oil, nuts and seeds.

Strength Training

Resistance training, such as weightlifting, is critical for building healthy muscle mass rather than just gaining fat. Your workout program should include one to three exercises for each major muscle group: chest, back, abdomen, arms, shoulders and legs. For each exercise, perform two to three sets of four to eight repetitions per set using a weight heavy enough to make the last repetition difficult to complete with correct form. You should allow at least 48 hours rest between total body workouts, so in 16 days, you should perform up to eight workouts.

Getting Enough Sleep

Resistance training creates tiny tears in your muscles. Your body repairs these tears, thereby building your muscles, while you're resting or sleeping. Your production of growth hormone, which helps build muscle, also peaks during sleep. Not sleeping enough, however, might raise your blood levels of the hormone cortisol, which could slow muscle growth. For these reasons, try to get seven to eight hours of sleep every night of the 16 days during which you want to gain weight.