With a high rate of obesity and weight problems prevailing in today’s world, there is a lot more emphasis on weight loss than gain. Gaining weight isn’t as easy to do as some people think, like it is in losing weight. A bit of planning and attention to proper nutrition can do the trick. The basic things required is patience and discipline to diet and training. The most important thing is determination. Most people fail midway due to lack of determination. They don’t hang see the whole regime through and give up half way. To top it all there has to be faith. The first and foremost thing you need to gain weight is to eat. The below given plan will take care of your diet that’s required to gain weight.
Lay the ground
The first step towards gaining weight is to find out how many calories you would need every day to gain some quality weight. You basically have to eat above and beyond what you eat at present, for you don’t want to weigh the same as you do now. This by any chance does not mean you eat anything and everything available. It means you have to take care that you include food items that would help you gain some lean mass and not bad fats.
First, get a book on nutrition where in you could find a total list of calories found in various food items. You could get one over the internet as well. Start to calculate the total amount of calorie intake by listing down the food items you consume and the amount of calories present in each one of them over a 7 day period. Divide the total number by seven to get your daily calorie intake. Five meals a day is good to start with. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and two after meal snacks at regular intervals throughout the day.
A lot of protein-rich food such as chicken, fruit, steak, milk, vegetables, cheese and different types of nuts are the food items to feast on. Eat four to six pieces of fresh fruit a day, and at least four tall glasses of milk. Low fat milk is a great, cheap protein source for taking advantage of it. A sample snack meal would be a glass of milk, an apple, and a hand full of peanuts.
Day 1
The goal : You need to increase the amount of calories you consume currently by 300 calories of healthy nutrition. Chalk out the quantities of the below foods. Make it a goal to eat every 3 hours at least.
The strategy : You should be getting 40% of your calories from protein, 40% from carbohydrates and 20% from fats. Your meals have to be planned accordingly and make sure you stick to the plan. What you consume is the most important device in a successful weight gain regime. Drink not less than a half gallon of water and even more if you could. It is water that you would need for the energy you need to gain weight. Deficiency of water could lead to a lot of health problems.
Breakfast : Orange juice ; a bowl of Cheerios with skimmed milk and granola ; slices of wheat toast or bagel with peanut butter on each of the pieces.
Lunch : Submarine sandwich with one of these protein rich food items : chicken / tuna / steak / ham ; cheese ; baked chips ; lemonade or juice.
Afternoon snack : Low fat milk ; banana with two tablespoons of peanut butter.
Dinner : Chicken / fish / pork / turkey / steak ; pasta ; salad ; low fat milk.
Late night snack : Bowl of ice cream.
Day 2
The goal : Try to increase the total amount of calories by 50. Make it 50 more than the first day. Your calories should always be increased in small amounts so as to make it easy to monitor the effect these increases would have on your weight.
The strategy : Five servings spaced 3 hours apart would help the body in balancing the nitrogen content positively and will help in gaining weight. Drink lot of water, it shouldn’t be less than half a gallon.
Breakfast : Two pieces of fruits ; A glass of juice ; A breakfast sandwich ; Two Scrambled eggs ; two pieces of ham ; two slices of cheese
Lunch : Sandwich with bagel and cheese ; fruits and turkey ; Pasta with sauce and two pieces of chicken ; Salad
Afternoon snack : Cheese and crackers ; Lemonade
Dinner : Steak / Chicken / Fish / Pork / Turkey ; Pasta ; Fruits ; Juice
Late night snack : Protein shake with ice added
Day 3
The Goal : The total count of calories has to increase by 50 from Day 2. The metabolism of your body increases when you eat several times a day. Feeding yourselves frequently is very important since after every three to four hours of no food, your body would switch to a catabolic state, a state in which you would lose muscle and start to gain fats.
The Strategy : For energy, cellular function, protection of the organs and production of hormones fats are needed. You need healthy fats in your diet to operate in an optimal way. It gets tougher to gain if you do not consume healthy fats in proper amount on your regular diet. So cut down on the bad fats and increase the good fats so as to gain proper amount of weight. This had to accompanied by lots of water.
Breakfast : One tablespoon of peanut butter spread on Bagel ; Smoothie made up of Protein powder ; milk solids or skimmed milk ; yogurt and frozen fruits
Lunch : Cheese Omelet made of three eggs ; lots of cheese and vegetables ; Two slices of toasts ; Hash browns
Afternoon snack : One cup full or two handfuls of Trail mix with cereals, nuts, and dry fruits ; Juice
Dinner : Steak / Chicken / Fish / Pork / Turkey ; Corn ; Fruit ; Low-fat milk
Late night snack : Bowl of frozen yogurt
Day 4
The Goal : The total amount of calories to be consumed have to be 50 more than the total amount of calories consumed on Day 3.
The Strategy : The energy that you need would be supplied to you by carbohydrates. If you do not get enough carbohydrates throughout the day, the lean muscle tissues would be attacked by your body so as to get the required amount of fuel needed for energy. So have a diet rich in carbohydrates. And have at least half a gallon of water.
Breakfast : Orange juice ; Bowl of Cheerios ; skimmed milk and granola ; Wheat toast or bagel with peanut butter on each of the slices
Lunch : Sandwich made with Bagel, turkey, cheese, and fruits ; Pasta with sauce and adequate amount of shredded of chicken ; Salad
Afternoon snack : One large bowl of cereals ; Juice
Dinner : Steak / Chicken / Fish / Pork / Turkey ; Pasta ; Fruits ; Juice
Late night snack : Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Day 5
The goal : Increase the intake of calories by 50 more than the previous day. To gain weight the body needs to have calories more than what the body had. Otherwise the weight would remain stable.
The Strategy : Trans fats like the plaque are to be avoided. Go for the fats that are good..Even if you want to gain weight, you would not want to gain weight that is just fat. Therefore, cut down on candies, chips, wafers and cakes. Stop visiting McDonald’s and stay away from fries! Food items with low fat and high protein are advised to eat. To accompany a lot of water intake is necessary. It should be half a gallon or more.
Breakfast : Two pieces of fruits ; A glass of juice ; A breakfast sandwich ; Two Scrambled eggs ; Two pieces of ham ; Two slices of cheese
Lunch : Wrap ; Salad ; Milkshake
Afternoon snack : One cupful or two handfuls of Trail mix with cereal, nuts, and dry fruits ;
Juice
Dinner : Steak / Chicken / Fish / Pork / Turkey ; Corn ; Fruits ; Low-fat milk
Late night snack : Smoothie
Day 6
The Goal : The tot
al amount of calories to be consumed through the day has to be 50 more than the total amount of calories consumed on the previous day.
The Strategy : To have a protein-rich diet. Muscle growth is enhanced by the protein as the main nutrient Adequate amount of protein should be supplied to the body on a regular basis to gain muscle weight. Along with that water intake is very important. Drink more than half a gallon of water, but not less than that.
Breakfast : 2 pieces of fruit ; A glass of juice ; A breakfast sandwich ; Two Scrambled eggs ; Two pieces of ham ; Two slices of cheese
Lunch : Chicken Salad : Grilled ; Potato : baked ; Juice
Afternoon snack : Low-fat milk ; Banana with two tablespoons of peanut butter
Dinner : Steak / Chicken / Fish / Pork / Turkey ; Rice ; Cooked vegetables ; Lemonade
Late night snack : Bowl of ice-cream
Day 7
The Goal : Add 50 more calories to the amount of calories consumed the day before. Have your meal plans based on a macro-nutrient distribution where in a percent distribution of your calories would be from carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
The Strategy : There needs to be each of the previously mentioned nutrients in your diet for adding on to your weight. If you miss out on any one of them, your results of gaining weight would be diminished. You should be getting your calories from quality protein, carbohydrates and fats. To add on to all the nutrients, water is a very important component for weight gain.
Breakfast : One tablespoon of peanut butter spread on Bagel ; Smoothie prepared from milk solids / skimmed milk, protein powder, frozen fruits and yogurt.
Lunch : Cheeseburger ; Chicken sandwich : Grilled ; A small portion of French fries ; One small Milkshake
Afternoon snack : A large bowl of Cereals ; Juice
Dinner : Steak / Chicken / Fish / Pork / Turkey ; Potato baked ; Cooked vegetables ; Juice
Late night snack : Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
It’s pretty obvious that everybody’s body would respond in different ways and so the amount of weight gained by the end of the seven days would vary from one another depending on the body type. Make sure the meals are planned with extra care. And sticking to the plan is even more important than just planning. Food that you eat is the most vital element for making the weight gain program work successfully.The latency period could typically vary from three days to two weeks after ingestion. Having said that, if you do eat well, balancing all the nutrients necessary for gaining weight, you could expect a gain of about 2lbs by the end of the regime. The above mentioned diet plan will help increase your appetite, protein intake and as a result your body size. It will be very helpful in increasing your level of fitness and energy, skin complexion, your skin would start glowing after a while.