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Want to gain weight healthfully?  It takes a combination of healthy, calorie-dense foods and resistance training to build lean body mass.

When it comes to your overall health, you often hear that you should work to “achieve and maintain a healthy body weight”.  And when you hear that, it’s natural to think that it applies only to people who have extra weight to lose.  But there are those who have the opposite weight problem – they struggle with trying to gain healthy body weight.   And while plenty of overweight folks might be happy to trade places with those who struggle to gain, they should know that underweight people often find it just as hard to achieve their weight goals as those who are trying to lose.  And, just as many overweight people do, those who feel skinny or scrawny may have issues with body image, or feel as if all they do is think about food.

Healthy weight gain takes time

Whenever weight change is the goal – whether it’s to lose or to gain- most people want quick results.  But in either case, the process is usually fairly slow and gradual.  In order for an underweight person to gain a pound in a week’s time, they need to eat an extra 500 calories above what they burn every single day – which is often easier said than done.  And sometimes (in an attempt to speed the process along) people turn to unhealthy, high calorie foods – like donuts and French fries – that are loaded with fat and sugar.  Aside from the fact that these foods don’t provide proper nutrition for an active body, they’re also not likely to lead to healthy weight gain.

Healthy foods for healthy weight gain

Gaining weight in a healthy way, then, requires more than simply eating more calories – you want to emphasize healthy foods that are also calorie-dense to ensure that you will ‘bulk up’ rather than simply ‘fatten up’.  But, boosting calories alone – even from very healthy foods – could simply add more fat to your frame if you don’t couple it with resistance exercise.  So gaining healthy lean body mass requires a one-two punch of healthy eating along with strength training.

It also helps to eat on a schedule – and to set aside some extra time to eat more often – in order to work in those extra calories.   It does take some forward planning and a lot of patience, but with practice, you can achieve healthy weight gain.  Here are some tips to help you.

How to gain weight in a healthy way

• Drink extra calories from fruit juices, low fat milk or soymilk.  If fluids fill you up too much, have them in between meals, rather than with your food.
• Gradually increase portions.  Whenever you’re able to serve yourself, add an extra spoonful or two of food to your plate to gradually increase the amount you eat.  Most people eat whatever they are served, and this often works better than trying to eat a entire second helping.
• Add healthy fats to your vegetables.  Use olive-oil vinaigrette on your salad, and add nuts, seeds, avocado or olives to salads and cooked vegetables.
• Choose calorie-dense whole grains.  Cereal topped with milk or soy milk makes a good snack that isn’t too filling.  The highest calorie cereals are dense and heavy – the box of cereal should feel heavy for its size when you pick it up.  Look for cereals that get their extra calories from nuts, seeds and dried fruits rather than extra fat or sugar.  You can boost the calories in hot cereals by cooking them in milk or soy milk – then stir in nuts or nut butter, dried fruit, seeds or mashed banana. Look for heavy, dense whole grain breads – they tend to have more calories per slice than ‘regular’ bread – and load up on foods like whole grain pasta, brown rice and quinoa.
• Adequate protein is important, but stick with lean proteins – fish and seafood, poultry, lean cuts of meat and vegetarian proteins such as beans and tofu – and increase calories by boosting your portion size, rather than relying on higher-calorie, fatty meats.
• Dried fruits have more calories than fresh fruit on a per-serving basis, and are good added to cold or hot cereal, trail mix, salads and smoothies – or just by the handful as a snack.
• Healthy snacking can help healthy weight gain.  Trying to work in an extra 500 calories or more per day is easier if you include regular snacks.  Aim for three meals and three snacks (mid-morning, mid-afternoon, after dinner) and try to space meals and snacks evenly.  That way, there’s less of a risk that your snack will ruin your appetite for your next meal.  A protein shake, a bowl of cereal with milk and fruit, a sandwich on whole grain bread, or a cup of bean soup are just some examples of healthy snack options.

 Susan Bowerman is Director of Nutrition Training at Herbalife. She is a Registered Dietitian and a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics.

3 meals a day or 5 meals a day – does it matter? 

There are those who ‘just say no’ to snacking and restrict themselves to three meals a day, period. In their view, snacking is simply a bad habit that can pile on the pounds. In the opposite corner are those who say that small, frequent meals will help control hunger, so it’s better to eat five times a day. 

Is one strategy better than the other? Research has yet to give us a definitive answer, suggesting that whether you eat three times a day or five, the question of whether there is a health benefit … will ultimately depend on how much energy is consumed. In other words, if it’s weight loss you’re after, the bottom line is keeping your calorie intake in check. Snacking itself isn’t bad, unless it’s pushing your calorie intake past the tipping point.

If you look at what many people consider ‘snack foods’ – greasy, salty, sugary packaged snacks like crisps, biscuits and sweets– it’s easy to see why they’d adopt the ‘no snacking’ approach to weight management. 

Of course, there are plenty of healthy foods to snack on, too – which is just one reason to support the small, frequent meal approach. It’s a practical issue – the more often you eat, the more opportunities you have to meet your nutritional needs. Snacks can be used as an opportunity to work in more healthy fruits and vegetables, or maybe some calcium-rich yogurt, or an additional portion of protein. 

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife

What I often run into with my clients is that it’s one thing to know what to eat – and why (okay, that’s two things…) – but they often get hung up figuring out how to incorporate more healthy foods into their diet. So let’s take a good look at the “whys” and – more importantly – the “how tos” of a heart healthy diet. 

Eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables

Why it’s heart healthy:
Fruits and vegetables are low in calories, high in fibre and chock full of vitamins and minerals! 

How to:

Eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal or snack. Add fruit to your breakfast protein shake, yogurt or cereal; have a salad and/or steamed veg at lunch and dinner, and snack on fresh whole fruits and vegetables. When you make a point to have a fruit or vegetable every time you eat, it’s easy to get all your servings in for the day. 

Choose heart-healthy proteins 

Why it’s heart healthy:

Your protein sources should be low in fat since saturated fats can raise cholesterol levels in the blood. Meats naturally contain more saturated fat and cholesterol than poultry, and poultry has more fat than seafood. If you eat dairy products, it’s best to choose fat-free or low fat. Plant proteins – like soy proteins, beans and lentils – are naturally cholesterol-free, and low in saturated fat. And fish is a good source of heart-healthy omega-3 fats DHA and EPA. 

How to: 

Aim for a few fish meals per week. For convenience, you can’t beat canned tuna, salmon and beans – any of which can be tossed into a salad for a quick, balanced meal. Use skimmed or semi-skimmed milk in cooking and in your smoothies and fat-free yogurt or cottage cheese at meals or snacks. If you eat red meat, choose the leanest cuts and trim visible fat. Replace high fat ground meats with ground poultry breast. 

Eat plenty of fibre, especially soluble fibre 

Why it’s heart healthy: 

There are two main types of fibre – known as “soluble” and “insoluble”. Both are important, but they each have different effects on the body. Insoluble fibre is found primarily in vegetables and whole grains, and it speeds the rate at which food passes through the digestive tract, so it’s helpful in promoting regularity. But the soluble fibre (found in apples, oranges, carrots, oats, barley, and beans) traps water as well as cholesterol in the digestive tract. In doing so, it promotes fullness – which helps with weight management

How to: 

Snack on apples and carrots; add beans to soups and salads, or blend smooth into a dip. Aside from oatmeal, rolled oats can be added to protein shakes, or you can whirl rolled oats in the blender into a flour, and use to partially replace wheat flour when you cook or bake at home. 

Choose heart-healthy fats 

Why it’s heart healthy: 

Foods like fish, tree nuts, avocados and olive oil are considered some of the most heart-healthy fats because they contain very little saturated fat and are good sources of polyunsaturated fats which can help keep blood cholesterol levels in a healthy range.

How to: 

Reduce the total amount of fat you use in cooking and at the table, and use heart-healthy olive oil as much as possible when you cook. Sprinkle nuts and seeds on salads, yogurt and cooked vegetables. Try using avocado to replace other fats – instead of mayonnaise in your tuna salad or to replace the spread on your whole grain toast. Aim for a few fish meals a week; if that doesn’t work for you, consider an omega-3 supplement. 

Find and stay at a healthy weight 

Why it’s heart healthy:

I listed this one last, because if you follow the other “whats” of a heart-healthy diet – and include regular exercise – chances are good that you’ll find and maintain your healthy weight. But I could have listed this one first, however, since maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the key factors in maintaining a healthy heart. 

How to:

In addition to following the heart healthy guidelines above and getting plenty of exercise, another key issue to weight management is portion control. Plenty of people eat very well – but they still eat too much and carry too much weight. By keeping your portions moderate, you’ll control your overall calorie intake as well as the total amount of fat that you eat. Make sure to eat at regular intervals, and have some protein every time you eat, too, to help keep blood sugar levels steady and to control hunger. 

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.