A reader recently asked me, “When are you going to write an article on how to gain weight?”  Yes, you know who you are, so here’s your article.

While I have written about eating disorders, I realized I really haven’t written an article on how to gain weight. I hear many readers saying, “Give me a break! I should be so lucky!”

Think about this for a minute, people who are underweight also have self-image issues. It’s hard to find clothes that fit properly. When you have to buy your clothes in the junior department, it’s difficult to look stylish. Being underweight, in some cases, makes one look sickly. Yes, I used the word sickly.

 

Causes of being underweight

1. Genetics is a factor: One or both parents are very thin. More likely than not you will be as well.
2. Psychological issues: Stress can certainly kill an appetite just as easily overeating. Other psychological issues are related to eating disorders.
3. Medications: Medications affect your appetite by causing nausea or killing the desire to eat.
4. Long term illnesses: Illness affects the body’s ability to absorb and store nutrients and calories.

Health risk of being thin

1. Immune system: If your body isn’t able to absorb and store nutrients and calories, you immune system is compromised.
2. Heart disease: Yep, people who are thin may find that their body fat is displaced to deep tissues. These tissues are liver and heart to start with. Heart failure happens because there’s not enough blood being pumped into the heart. Also, being underweight can lead to a condition called arrhythmia. This is an irregular heart beat.
3. A big concern for women is hair loss. Lack of nutrients causes hair loss.
4. Amenorrhea: Amenorrhea is the absence of menstruation. This is because being underweight could disrupt the menstrual cycle among women. Being underweight can lead to sexual problems.

The list is long and frankly a downer. I’m not dwelling on the side effects of being skinny. Therefore, this article is about how to gain weight.

Healthy ways to gain weight

The most common response to weight gain is, just eat more calories. However, that’s easier said than done. And, it’s not helpful. I will now talk about what you can do to gain weight.

The first thing that you do not do is add empty calories. You know, the junk food. Instead, add healthy oils such as olive oil or coconut oil to your diet. Do you know that one tablespoon of olive oil contains, 119 calories? Dip you dinner roll in flavored olive oil.

Then coconut oil, avocado oil along with the nut oils have 120 to 124 calories per tablespoon. These are healthy oils. By adding them to your salad, you have added a lot of flavor too. Then with the salad dressing, you can have a salad worth about 500-600 big bonus points!

By adding a tablespoon of these healthy oils to your diet daily, you have added 360 calories. Drizzle these oils over your grilled chicken or pasta. They add flavor as well as calories. You can add these oils to any of your foods, just use your imagination.  Think about drizzling them over your baked fish. Yum!

Then there’s healthy grains. Read labels. Buy multigrain bread that’s high in calories. For instance, with some of these multigrain breads one slice can be as much as 210 calories. So, your sandwich starts out with 420 calories before you start building it.

Remember, by adding 500 calories per day, you will be able to gain one pound per week. One pound of body weight is equal to 3,500 calories per week. Along with increasing your calories to gain weight, you should also increase your level of exercise in order to increase lean muscle mass. Lifting weights is a good start to bulk up.

How to calculate body weight

Take your body weight in pounds and multiply it by 10. This gives you the minimum calories needed to sustain your weight. For example, a 150-pound person needs approximately 1,500 calories to maintain metabolic activity and weight. You consume 10 calories per pound a day. So, to add weight to your body, you need another 500 calories per day. If one is 6′ and over, 150 pounds is on the slender side. When you add 500 calories per day, you have added 3,500 for the week. Gain the weight slower and you will be better able to maintain it.

Ok let’s talk food

What do you like to eat? Pasta? Cook your pasta and add the sauce you like to it. Then, add a tablespoon or two of your favorite healthy oil to it. You just increases that dish’s calorie count by 120 to 240. No extra volume of food to eat, yet you have the extra calories.

When you chose high calorie bread to make a sandwich that helps, but what about adding avocado slices to that sandwich. One avocado contains 234 calories. Not only have you added more flavor to an otherwise boring sandwich, but more calories.

Let’s not forget the desserts! Try slicing up a banana (130 calories) in a bowl. Add blueberries about 1 cup and you have about 100 more calories. Try adding some dates (100 per date) to bulk up the calories.  You see, the calories add up in a hurry. But, the best part is, you have a power house of vitamins and minerals to support your health.

You like milkshakes you say? Try mixing your ice cream with a nutritional supplement drink. Many of those little drinks have as much as 250 calories. It’s ok to have a chocolate chip cookie every now and then to go with that milkshake.

Most of all, don’t stress over your slender size. Concentrate on being healthy. Self-esteem doesn’t come from how you look. Self-esteem comes from what you think of your self. If you have low self-esteem, you may want to consider seeking professional help.