Smart Shopping for Weight Gainers

Overview
As bodybuilders will tell you, wanting to gain weight is not a license to binge. While the thought of loading up on burgers, fries and milkshakes--or baked brie, wine and cheesecake--may be appealing at a glance, your body doesn't think so. Your body wants you to add muscle, not fat. Trust it. There are a lot of weight gainers on the market, and of course good taste matters. But it's not the only thing to consider when shopping for a pound-packer.

What to Look For
Here's the magic number: To gain one pound, you must consume 3,500 more calories than you spend. Start by trying to eat smaller, more frequent meals. Then supplement the meals with a weight gainer, or even substitute a meal with one.

Consume protein, carbohydrate and even fat. First, protein: Not all proteins are created equal. The line in the sand is measured by a protein's BV, or biological value. What this measures is how quickly the protein is absorbed by the body. The quicker the absorption, the greater the quality of the protein. Slow absorption? Unless you're consuming a slow-gainer before you go to bed, which gives it plenty of time to work, your money may better be spent on another product. One of the faster substances is whey protein; one of the slower, milk protein. If you find a number reading for the substance, a higher number means a higher rate of absorption.

Watch the amount of sugar in the gainer you choose. While it might make you feel better temporarily, it sets you up for the inevitable crash that follows a sugar high. And there goes your mood, and possibly your resolve. Another thing sugar does is drive up your body's insulin level, which makes you more likely to store and gain fat. Every body is unique, but most respond well to a gainer when the sugar level is at 30 to 60g, no higher. A little bit of sugar will help the stuff taste better.

And you do need a bit of carbohydrate to help your body absorb protein. But how much? According to bodybuilding.com, "A general rule of thumb is twice as much protein as fat, and twice as many carbs as protein."

The real surprise is that many of the shakes offered as weight-loss aids double quite well as weight gainers. SlimFast, for instance, contains healthful amounts of protein, carbohydrate and fat, packaged in a small serving. Increase the serving size to the amount suggested by a popular weight-gainer, Serious Mass, and the calories and nutrient amounts are nearly identical!

Although meal-replacement bars can work for gainers, the most popular weight gainers today are powders that when mixed with about 16 oz. of water give you about 600 to 900 calories per serving.

Common Pitfalls
It will do your body no good to tax it with a large amount of a weight-gainer once a day or even once in a while. Spread out the weight-gainer during the day, so you're consuming roughly the same number of calories at each sitting.

Some weight-gainers will boast extra this or extra that, and then charge quite a bit more for the product. Most of the time, the extra whey protein or glutamine aren't worth the price hike. Also be aware that prices for the same items in the weight-gainer category vary wildly, both in stores and online. So shop around. Who wants to pay more than they have to?