Diet to Increase Weight

Just as people diet to lose weight, thin people and bodybuilders often eat to gain weight. Gaining weight requires taking in extra calories. But these calories need to come from healthy foods. You also want to gain muscle weight, not weight from fat. Lifting weights and eating right can better ensure that you gain muscle weight.

The Importance Of Weight Training

• Anyone who wants to gain weight should make sure that they are gaining muscle weight, not fat.
  According to a College Student Journal article written by R.A. Sutton and Carolyn Miller, "...(M)uscle mass contains larger portions of body water than do most other body organs." Gaining muscle will also make you feel better and enhance your overall health as well.

  Diet and exercise are interrelated. Lifting weights will ensure that your body weight is properly distributed. You can make lean, muscular gains by eating foods that are high in protein and low in fat. It is also important to eat complex carbohydrates for energy. The muscles require energy for growth. The main reason it is easier to gain weight from lifting weights is that it increases the appetite. People who work out require more calories and protein.

Gaining Weight

• In order to gain a pound, you have to eat 3,500 calories above your recommended daily requirements for weight maintenance. Requirements vary according to a person's size. Thinner people require fewer calories to maintain their weight than larger people. If you consume an additional 7,000 calories over your required intake, you will gain two pounds. This is a reasonable weekly target.

  While most people eat three meals per day, you will need to eat more often to increase your calories. Shoot for five or six meals per day. You should eat foods that are high in lean protein and low in fat. The bulk of your calories should come from complex carbohydrates. It is best to eat one lean protein and a complex carbohydrate for each meal. You will need to eat about every 2-3 hours to consume your meals.

  Some lean proteins are chicken, turkey, lean beef, tuna, fish, nuts and egg whites. Complex carbohydrates include bread, brown rice, oatmeal, potatoes, yams, pasta, corn, peas, barley, all grains, maize, rice cereal, buckwheat, cornmeal, amaranth and quinoa. They are essentially your starchy foods.

  Following is an example of a daily meal containing a lean protein and complex carbohydrate:

  First Meal - Cream of Wheat and egg whites
  Second Meal - Tuna fish, brown rice
  Third Meal - Chicken, pasta
  Fourth Meal - Chicken, yam or potato
  Fifth Meal - Chicken, peas
  Sixth Meal - Walnuts, small helping of grain or corn

  You can cook your meals for the entire day in advance. Since you need to increase your protein intake, you will be eating more meat. If you choose chicken one day, eat lean beef or turkey the next day. You can choose from many combinations of lean proteins and complex carbohydrates. Spreading your meals out helps with your digestion. Eating too many foods at one meal can tax the digestive track.

  A snack here and there will not hurt you. Plenty of snacks that are low in fat. You just need to eat more lean proteins and complex carbohydrates.

  .

Vegetables And Fruits

• In addition to proteins and complex carbohydrates, you should eat at least five to six helpings of vegetables and two fruits per day. Be sure that you include fresh vegetables and fruits in the mix. Vegetables and fruits contain a lot of essential vitamins and minerals.