How Can You Gain Weight With a High Metabolism?

If you have a high metabolism and want to gain weight, you will have to follow a strict regimen of eating specific foods and employing certain exercises. Gaining weight will mean adopting the same kind of discipline that you would expect from someone trying to lose weight. Keep up with a healthy but caloric-rich diet and the right exercises, and you will experience weight gain.

What to Eat

• You have to devour approximately 3,500 extra calories to gain 1 lb. Each day you should concentrate on eating more, but continue to eat healthy and balanced meals with lean proteins like chicken, fish and beans. Also include a good amount of whole grains into your diet in addition to fruits and vegetables. While you want to maintain balance, you also can allow yourself to eat more pasta and potatoes, since these types of carbohydrates will build up your caloric daily intake faster than a diet of fruits and veggies. In addition to your regular three meals per day, you should add a few snack periods to increase the amount of calories you're consuming. If you're eating the right meals, you shouldn't have to supplement your diet with pills or protein shakes. For people who are allergic to some foods, and so may be lacking in certain areas such as protein or calcium, then a multivitamin might be a solution. In these situations, it's best to consult with your local nutritionist to be sure that you need the extra vitamins in the first place and that the supplement will work with your new diet.

Exercising

• A lot of the work and effort put into gaining weight is making sure that the extra calories you're putting into your body are converting into muscle rather than fat. Since muscle weighs more than fat, your body will be able to gain weight and remain healthy through strength training. It's crucial that you perform exercises correctly, especially if the exercises involve lifting weights. If you haven't trained with weights before, or if you're uncertain of your form, don't risk it; make sure that you have someone working with you, such as a personal trainer or a friend, who knows what they're doing.

  You should create a workout routine for strength training that you can carry out at least three times every week with a break of a day or two to give your body time to recuperate. Cardiovascular activities, such as running, can easily burn all the calories that you've worked so hard to obtain. You don't need to completely cut out your cardio workout, but you should use it as a break from your weight training, and make sure that it isn't the focus of your week, maybe walking once or twice week instead of running.