In today’s world, the underweight problem is equally severe as the obesity problem. Although the problems regarding obesity are more visible than those related to being underweight, both sets of problems pose a severe risk to our health conditions. Many of us maybe not aware of the risk of being underweight. I have experienced the problem of being too skinny for many years. My immune system was so weak that I had to visit my doctor frequently for various reasons. And the social problems for my skinny structure were beyond description.
So, I had to do something about this. After an extended period of research on various weight gaining supplements available on market and reading other people’s weight gain stories, I came up with a plan and started taking measures to enhance my body mass throughout my weight gain journey. Now I have transformed myself from a skinny little guy to a handsome masculine male (that’s what my friends and family say).
In this article, I am going to share all the experience of my weight gain journey and point out what I have learned throughout the journey to give you guys a heads up for amazing weight transformation. Contrary to common belief, gaining weight requires thorough planning and self-discipline just like weight loss program. You may think that binge eating and drinking a lot of soda can help you gain some extra weight, but these foods will only give you unhealthy fat and will have a negative impact on your health. When I am saying weight gain, I mean increasing your overall muscle mass instead of gaining a few pounds of belly fat. So let’s get started with my weight gain tips to make you a baby hulk! (Pun Intended)
1. Be Conscious About Your Food Intake (Avoid Sugar & Junk Foods)
You are either trying to gain weight or lose weight. Whatever your intention is, the first thing you have to achieve is food consciousness. You have to be aware of the nutritional facts of the food you are intaking. Binge eating disorder and unhealthy foods like soda, artificial sugar will have an adverse effect on your body. You have to prepare yourself mentally to be aware of your food consumption. It may seem easy, but trust me, it’s not. It’s a matter of practice and self-control. You have to eliminate junk foods and sugars from your diet and have to add more protein, fat in your diet plan. Carbohydrate also works well for gaining some extra weight. But carbs are not that useful to muscle building process like protein and fats are.
2. Understand Your Body Metabolism
Metabolism is the process in which our body complete the biochemical functions in our body to sustain life. It is the process of allocating and absorbing nutrition and energy for tissue repair, digestion process, and other basic body functions. It is key to understand your body metabolism and make diet plans according to it. Everyone’s body metabolism speed is not equal. People with fast body metabolism rate usually require more calories than people with a low metabolic rate.
3. Track Your Calorie Intake
Your body weight has to do a lot with your daily calorie intake. Every calorie counts. The basic rule is if you want to gain weight you have to eat more calories than you burn out per day. However, not every calorie is the same. Calories from sugar or junk foods obviously don’t bring the same benefits as calories from natural healthy food. The fiber and other essential nutrients that come with these foods are very beneficial to your health. It’s not just the calories that matter, the source you are taking calories are equally important.
4. Do Muscle Building Exercises
Exercise is a healthy habit you should incorporate in your routine regardless of you want to gain or lose weight. However, there are some guidelines for exercising to fit with your weight goal. You should focus more on weight lifting exercise rather than cardio exercises if you are trying to gain weight. Doing more reps will help to tone up your muscles. On the other hand, adding more weights in exercise helps to enhance the muscle building process where weight gain supplements can also be of great help.
5. Rest Well
Sleep is important to ensure a healthy and sound body. It helps the recovery and repair system of our bodies. A good amount of sleep is essential for both groups of people who want to gain weight as well as people who want to lose weight. It may seem somewhat confusing, but getting a good amount of sleep helps every biochemical function of your body.
In my experience, I have seen many people try to adjust new activities or exercises in their daily life by compromising their sleep time. You shouldn’t do that. Sleep should be the priority for the wellbeing of your health. When you are trying to gain some weight you don’t have to hit the gym every day. 3 or 4 days a week is sufficient.
6. Intermittent Fasting & Keto
Intermittent fasting and Keto diet are becoming more and more popular in today’s world. Intermittent fasting is a process in which a person fast for a minimum of 16 to 20 hours a day. And Keto diet is a type of diet in which a person limits their carb intake and increases fat and protein intake. Both intermittent fasting and keto diet are mainly used for weight loss programs. These two processes help the body to release ketone hormones in order to burn the stored fat instead of glucose. Surprisingly, you can try these methods to gain some extra weight too. You just have to take more calories from weight gain foods than what you burn every day.
While intermittent fasting, your body releases the growth hormone. And exercising in that fasting state can have an exponential effect on your muscle building process. Professional bodybuilders often follow these strategies to boost their muscle building process. It is not compulsory to follow these diet plans and fasting methods to gain extra weight, but these strategies can deliver you some extra pounds in a very short span of time along with numerous health benefits without any side effects.
7. Add Some Weight Gaining Fatty Foods in Your Regular Diet
Other than regular healthy meals you should incorporate certain weight gaining fatty foods in your regular weight gain diet plan. You can choose any healthy options according to your likes. I can share with you a magical weight gainer recipe of my own. It is super healthy and yummy.
Ingredients:
- a) Clarified Butter or Ghee – 3 teaspoons
- b) Brown Sugar – 1 teaspoon (Optional, to help your taste buds)
Just mix these two ingredients and have it every morning or evening if your stomach can take it.
8. Take Apetamin if Necessary
Sometimes it is really hard to accelerate your food intake, especially if you generally do not eat much. I experienced this problem first-hand. It was really hard for me to increase my food intake instantly. Taking Apetamin helped me a lot in this regard. It is an appetite booster often prescribed by doctors. Apetamin does not really help you increase your weight directly, it just increases your appetite.
9. Add Healthy Carbs
Carbohydrate intake is positively related to weight gain. However, eating a lot of carbs is not good for your health; although this will provide you with some extra belly fat. If you are following the keto diet you have to limit down your carb intake. However, you can take healthy low-carb foods such as vegetables and spinach instead of high carb foods like rice and wheat.
10. Take Natural Probiotics
This sudden endeavor of eating more than before will surely put some extra pressure on your gut. And your gut’s health is important for your overall health. Eating certain natural probiotics will help you in this case. Yogurt without any sweetener is my favorite probiotic choice. Other than my gut’s health, yogurt has many other health benefits to offer.
If you are wondering how to gain weight with no side effects, these are the weight gaining tips that gave me dramatic results. If you are mentally prepared for this challenge, follow these easy and simple techniques to transform yourself from a skinny guy to a muscleman. There is not much objective difference between weight gain journey male and weight gain journey female. It works in the same way regardless of your gender.
