How to gain weight easily: the healthy way

There are many different reasons, but none of them are relevant. If someone has an ambition to gain weight, it is our job as a coach or trainer to help that person achieve this goal without negatively affecting their physical activities, lifestyle, or overall health. I don't like to throw around terms like "a lot" or "too little" because there is almost nothing as subjective or individual as food and nutrition. Instead, I prefer to use terms like "enough" as in "eat enough to gain." Because that is what it is.

We all know that person who says they can actually stuff their face with food but they don't seem to gain weight. That's possible. Because this is their perception and therefore how they personally experience it. But obviously they don't eat enough, because if they did they would gain weight. Someone's personal experience is not necessarily the same as reality. With this in mind, it's not surprising that we often get questions about how to gain weight.

How to gain weight without having to drink gallons of frying oil every day?

I've listed my personal top five ways, starting with my least favorite:

5. Increase the fats you eat

The easiest way to increase your fat intake is to add butter or oil (for example, coconut oil) to your daily meals.

Proteins and carbohydrates contain 4 kcal of energy per gram, while fat contains 9 kcal per gram. So, by eating fats, instead of the macronutrients mentioned above, you get more than double the amount of energy.

Adding a tablespoon of oil to your meals will easily add an extra 100 kcal without greatly affecting the taste or integrity of your meals. So, for example, add an extra tablespoon or two of olive oil to your salad, or basically any other meal. Adding coconut oil to meat dishes can also be a very nice addition to your meal if you enjoy this flavor, of course.

Too many people still suffer from an unfounded phobia of fat, so perhaps eating less fat is not the best option for everyone. However, it is important to structurally avoid eating too little fat. If you believe that your (hormonal) health is important at all.

4. Eat more nuts, seeds and grains.

I almost always have a bag of pistachios stashed in my car. And I can hear you thinking, “Yeah, but unlike you, I don’t need a fat-worth of brick of butter every day,” and I hear you. Even though that bag of pistachios is actively contributing to my bulging chesticles*, I expect your moderation. A handful of nuts, seeds, or grains every now and then is not only healthy, it’s also a great source of energy, and it’s a delicious addition to a wide variety of dishes.

And as a bonus, you'll find that eating nuts, seeds, and grains is a great and rich conversation topic, often coming up organically in everyday chat. It will give you the chance to slay it with your knowledge on the topic, such as, for example, peanuts are legumes and not nuts. You'll make a lot of friends in no time, and it will secure you a long-term relationship with a tall, beautiful water drink, no doubt.

Bottom line: Eat nuts. Walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, and almonds. Not necessarily in that order.

* a synonym for man boobs.

3. Find a balance between frequency and quantity

Most of us have a tendency toward black-and-white thinking, unwilling to take the time to explore the infinite vastness of the gray area. When the world embraced the idea of ​​not necessarily needing eight meals per day to “keep the fire burning,” many people switched to three meals per day. Both meal frequencies are fine, but a higher frequency will generally result in smaller meals. If eating large portions is not your forte, getting enough calories throughout the day can be difficult with a smaller number of daily meals. The drawback with a higher meal frequency is that you may be inclined to hold back too much and only allow yourself too-small meals. In those cases, you know you plan to have another meal in, say, thirteen minutes. This can result in your body not getting enough calories throughout the day. Consider deviating from your usual routine by adding a meal to your meal plan or choosing larger meals.

2. Losing the term "trap"

In the literal sense of the word, cheating means to deceive; to act dishonestly and unfairly. By this, she is implying that there are written or unwritten laws that tell you what you should and should not eat. If you deviate from these rules, you are in fact “cheating.” You are deviating from your “clean, healthy nutrition plan,” so you are a cheater. But what are cheat meals really? These are always the meals that you actually enjoy. Getting enough calories can be quite challenging if all you are eating are green asparagus tips, fried in a drizzle of PAM spray, accompanied by three grains of brown rice and a small cube of white fish. Not impossible, but definitely challenging. Especially if you are a little attached to your mental health.

The following advice may seem a bit obvious, but it is often ignored due to today's popular reasoning that seems to criminalize the enjoyment of delicious foods: Eat more of the things you love to eat. Don't just eat for practical reasons, because you tolerate the need to do so. If your goal is to gain weight, enjoying delicious foods, which are usually higher in calories, is a great option.

1. Try liquid meals

I can honestly say that liquid meals have improved my life considerably. I have always had trouble eating regularly and enough, which is why I often found myself upset or stressed because I hadn't eaten enough. Like when, at 2pm, you realize you haven't eaten anything except a cookie and an unfortunate fruit fly. Your afternoon schedule is so full that you have to eat 4200 calories, including 180 grams of protein, right before you go to bed that night. This is the worst. That's why three years ago, I started eating Jimmy Joy shakes. It's so easy: every morning I just make a shake with whole milk and it gives me plenty of calories to start the day. One downside to most "weight gainers" is that they are usually packed with maltodextrin, dextrose, or some other type of sugar. The sugars themselves aren't necessarily the problem. Most readers of this blog will know that it's important to look at the bigger picture and that there's really no point in looking at, or making a judgement, based on individual ingredients (or macronutrients). Unless you're eating like thirty sugar cubes for lunch.

Also, both "good" and "bad" sugars end up as glucose. The body doesn't think in terms of products like the brain does. The advantage of eating a banana instead of a Snickers is that a banana contains more vitamins and minerals. A banana isn't "better" because it contains a different type of sugar, but because of its inherent micronutrients.

In short, a shake containing added sugars is not necessarily a bad thing. But if you are looking for a good meal replacement, a balanced shake is favorable. Therefore, a good liquid meal replacement should, just like any other meal, consist of a good balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. If there is fiber in there as well, consider it an added bonus. And that is exactly what Jimmy Joy is, and that is why I believe it has some very clear benefits:

1. Only €0.94 for 400 calories. You won't find a cheaper alternative for that kind of macros.
2. Vitamins, minerals, omega 3s, the whole shebang. So you may as well cut back on supplements (or stop taking them altogether).
3. Fiber. Lots of fiber. I'm the worst at eating fiber. But one bag of Jimmy Joy contains 30 grams of fiber. In other words: sensational bowel movements and a higher monthly water bill.
4. Per serving, Plenny Shake contains 45 (!) grams of protein, 17 grams of fat, 88 grams of carbohydrates and 10 grams of fiber. I like it.

The wide variety of flavors has kept the product interesting over the years. My favorites are chocolate and mango.

If you would like to try Plenny Shake yourself, you can order it here.

Do you have any tips that could be helpful to someone else? Or is there something that really helped you that you would like to share?

Then please leave a comment below. I'm sure many readers will find it useful.

 

Guy Droog (yes, that’s a real name) is an entrepreneur, personal trainer, online coach and was one of the first Dutch fitness bloggers to hit the scene. We’ve been supporters of Guy for a long time and love him not only for his gorgeous brown eyes, but for his refreshing take on current trends.

His trademark is his straightforward, no-nonsense approach, cutting through trends, myths and lies by providing pragmatic, down-to-earth information on health, fitness, nutrition and lifestyle topics. He has written for popular magazines such as Men's Health and Playboy, but spends most of his precious time spreading his wisdom via guydroog.com and fitzonderfabels.nl (literally translated as "fit without the myths"), a fitness platform he co-founded. In addition to being a tall, dark and handsome online presence, he is a personal trainer in the Rotterdam area (Netherlands), helping a wide variety of fitness enthusiasts achieve their personal goals.