How to Use Supplements For Weight Gain

People strive to gain weight for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they are underweight and trying to achieve a healthy weight range. Or maybe they are simply trying to build more muscle mass for strength and appearance. Whatever the reason, weight gain can be a challenging venture. It is not as simple as increasing calorie consumption. Other considerations are quality of food sources, types of physical activity and supplement choices. When attempting to gain weight, you have to ensure adequate calories per day from healthy whole foods. In addition, specific weight training programs can boost muscle gains rather than muscle and fat loss. These two components should be included with any supplement regimen when trying to gain weight.

Instructions

• 1

  Decide on your weight gain preference. If you are trying to gain lean muscle mass, then your supplements will differ from a person simply trying to gain weight.

• 2

  Choose a simple supplement regime for basic weight gain. For instance, adding a daily multi-vitamin to ensure adequate vitamin intake, in addition to quality protein sources, can suffice to increase weight gain. To increase protein, consider whey or casein protein powders to add to meal shakes or try high-calorie protein bars.

• 3

  Take a multi-vitamin. People attempting to gain muscle mass should take a multi-vitamin daily.

• 4

  Increase protein consumption for muscle gain. When attempting to gain more muscle, protein consumption should be significantly increased. As mentioned previously whey and casein proteins are good options for protein sources. These can be found in powder form and RTDs (ready to drinks). Casein protein breaks down more slowly in the body providing a prolonged energy source. Whey protein is absorbed quickly and supplies a fast shot of amino acids to the muscles.

• 5

  Consider creatine. Creatine is a combination of three amino acids and has been linked to increased weight and strength gain when consumed. Not only does your body use creatine as an energy source, but it also draws water into your muscle cells.

• 6

  Get some glutamine. Glutamine is an amino acid found naturally in the body. Increasing this amino acid can decrease muscle fatigue that occurs during workouts. Glutamine has also been found to levels of the growth hormone.