How to Gain Weight Fast: 7 Secrets for Skinny Guys

The Reason Why You’re Underweight or Not Gaining Weight

So you’re strength training, eating massive amounts of protein and not seeing progress, what gives? The bottom line is: you’re not eating enough food. 

At the most basic level, weight gain and weight loss are a calories game. If you aren’t eating enough calories to gain weight, it does not matter what you eat or how many times you hit the weights, it’s just not going to happen for you.

What Eating 300 Calories of Healthy Food Looks Like:

Using Trifecta A La Carte options, the following options will grab you an extra 300 calories of nutrient dense foods and help you gain weight the healthy way:

• 8 oz oatmeal with raisins
• 2 bison burgers
• 4 eggs
• 4 oz sweet potatoes + 4 oz salmon
• 4 oz basa, 4 oz brown rice and veggies (classic meal)

7 Eating Strategies for Skinny Guys to Gain Healthy Weight 

Here are the top nutrition strategies for putting on healthy weight quickly. 

1. Eat More Often to Gain Weight

One of the easiest ways to increase your calorie intake is to eat more at each meal and to eat more often. Whether this means more than three meals a day or multiple snacks, every eating occasion is an opportunity to support your weight gain goals. And when you do sit down for food, eat until you're full or even to the point of feeling stuffed. 

2. Choose Low Volume Foods to Gain Weight

Low volume foods are options that pack a lot of calories in a smaller portion, meaning you can consume a lot more energy without having to eat large amounts. Getting more energy in a smaller package is going to be much easier than trying to live off salads, but this also doesn't mean you have to live off junk foods. There are plenty of healthy foods that can support your increased needs. 

Extracting different components from foods, like oils, proteins, and sugars from whole foods, is an easy way to get concentrated macros that can provide a significant source of calories without taking up too much space. It also allows you to fine-tune your nutrition by choosing the type of bulking macros that work best for your health and your needs.

3. Get Protein At Every Meal to Gain Weight

Eating more food is key in order to gain weight, but the amount of protein you eat is also important. Considering protein is the building block for most of your entire body - especially your lean mass, upping your intake of this macro is usually necessary to put on muscle mass. 

In addition, high protein intakes may also support less fat gain during a calorie surplus - making it a lean bulk essential. 

A month-long study looking at 1,000 calorie overfeeding with 20% of calories coming from protein, compared to 10 to 14% calories from protein, resulted in roughly half the amount of fat gain with higher protein intakes - the the high protein group gained 2.5 pounds of fat compared to the lower protein group who gained 4.5 pounds .

Pro Tips

• Add protein powder to your foods like oatmeal, mashed potatoes, baked goods, pancakes, or glass of milk.
• Swap your sour cream for greek yogurt
• Switch to whole grain or protein pasta.               

  4. Cook With Healthy Fats to Gain Weight

  One of the simplest ways to add extra calories to your meals is to cook with fat. Fat is the most calorie dense macro (providing nine calorie per gram) and most foods will absorb the oil in the cooking process. Plus, certain oils, like olive, avocado, and flaxseed oil are associated with positive heart health benefits .

  Find a plant based cooking oil you enjoy and use it to coat cooking pots and pans, and season your ingredients. You can even add a drizzle of oil after plating for a bit more flavor and fat. 

  5. Use Toppings, Sauces, and Add Ons to Gain Weight

  Similar to oil and butter, a lot of toppings and add on ingredients can help you hit your goals. This is where many of the low volume foods mentioned above can help. The more add ons, the more opportunities to add extra calories. 

  Pro Tips

  • Top your food with cheese, seeds, nuts, and avocado 
  • Use mayo on sandwiches and in dips
  • Use cream based sauces
  • Drizzle maple syrup or honey on your toast or pancakes
            

  6. Track Your Intake to Gain Weight

  It's basically impossible to know if you are eating enough food if you aren't measuring your progress. You can easily do this by logging everything you eat and drink using a food tracking app.

  Be as precise as possible by avoiding estimating whenever possible. Here are some easy tips you can use to get the most out of your calorie counting app: 

  • Measuring the amount you are actually consuming using measuring cups and spoons
  • Consider weighing your food for even more accuracy 
  • Include ALL ingredients used, including oils, seasonings, sauces, dressings and toppings
  • Track every food and beverage you eat or drink, even small bites and sips count
  • Be specific about brands when searching in the app or use bar-code scanning

  7. Be Consistent to Gain Weight

  Lastly, there is no such thing as progress, growth, or change without consistency. Results don't just happen overnight and gaining healthy weight isn't something you can just put a few weeks of worth into and expect lasting results from. 

  Staying consistent is probably the most important and yet the hardest part of sticking to any nutrition plan. No surprise that research continues to suggest that consistency is one of the most important factors for success . That's why it is key to choose a diet that you know you can stick to! 

  Build your foundation, keep training regularly, focus on getting your diet right most of the time. Then try to be patient, your results will come!