People with fast metabolism often struggle with bulking up and gaining muscle mass. It often seem that the answer to ‘how to bulk up and gain weight’ naturally is not as easy as ‘just eat more’. Indeed, if you want to gain mass quick, you will need to have a […]
People with fast metabolism often struggle with bulking up and gaining muscle mass. It often seem that the answer to ‘how to bulk up and gain weight’ naturally is not as easy as ‘just eat more’. Indeed, if you want to gain mass quick, you will need to have a look at these mass gaining tips now.
Many people struggle with putting on weight and muscle, mostly young men, who think that by only eating twice as much as they usually do will do the trick. Eating more than usual will certainly help the process, but there are other key factors you have to take into account if you want to gain weight and muscle.
Admittedly, ‘how to gain weight’ is not as popular of a topic as ‘how to lose belly fat‘, yet there are still quite a few people who struggles to increase muscle mass, regardless how much they eat. Not being able to put on weight can be just as frustrating as trying to lose weight, but following our handy weight gain tips, you can nudge your metabolism in the right direction.
The basic concept is fairly straightforward: in order to gain weight, you need to maintain a positive energy balance by supplying your body with more calories than you expend through simply existing and exercising/moving around. The actual process can be a bit more difficult than this and might involve close monitoring of food intake and tracking workouts too. This is not necessary, though.
Here, we’ll share some tips that might help you get out of the weight gain rut and put you on the fast track of gaining muscle mass. Some of them will be related to nutrition – of course – but if you would like to gain weight the right way and also build muscle in the process, you will have to pay attention to your workout regime as well.
IMPORTANT: If you are underweight, have any underlying medical conditions or eating disorders, please consult your doctor first before you apply any changes to your diet. The below tips are more suited for people with fast metabolism who are otherwise healthy and by no means to be taken as medical advice.
Table of Contents
Why am I not gaining weight?
The main reason why many people fail to gain weight is the lack of perseverance. Mark Twain once said: “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.” Most people who struggle with gaining weight have started the process numerous times but never sticked with any diet and/or workout plan for long enough for it to show results.
Another reason might be not knowing just how many calories certain food items contain and not eating enough despite ‘eating loads’ of food. It is worth tracking your food intake, especially at the beginning, using free apps like MyFitnessPal until you learn roughly how many calories and what macronutrient are in certain food items.
Thirdly, you must keep in mind that a calorie is not always equal to a calorie. One calorie from a broccoli will fuel your body differently than one calorie from fries. Carbohydrates in general take less effort for the body to break down and even the temperature of the food you eat can determine how easily your body can digest it (cold, fibrous food takes more energy to digest).
How to gain weight and muscle naturally
1. Consume more calories than you burn (positive calorie balance)
Gallery: How to burn belly fat and get in shape (T3)
HOW TO BURN BELLY FAR AND GET IN SHAPE
If you’re trying to lose weight fast, it can be easy to get caught up with fad diet or other “quick fixes” that promise a flat stomach in days. Don’t worry about it though, as there are ways to lose weight that are tried and trusted. Not easy and quick weight loss maybe, but doable.
If you’re serious about losing weight, you’ve come to the right place. We won’t promise a six pack in as many hours, but we can guarantee expert advice and key tips for losing weight quickly, but in a healthy and sustainable way. We’ve also got the lowdown on the best exercise for losing weight fast, and all the gear you’ll need to get started.
IS THERE A “BEST” WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST?
The best way for you to lose weight fast will depend on your starting point, your end goal, and your lifestyle. In this article we lay out ten strategies that are applicable to everyone, whether you’re a fitness novice looking to shed several stone, or you simply require motivation to keep going.
Generally speaking the best way to lose weight quickly, and maintain that weight loss, is to follow a steady, manageable plan. Don’t try to take on more than you can reasonably fit into one day, unless you’re willing to make the sacrifice. Most likely sleep or your social life.
The NHS recommends that you aim to lose no more than 2 lbs (1kg) per week; anymore than that and you risk burning out and giving up. With that in mind, here are ten strategies to get you losing weight quickly.
1. ACHIEVE A CONSISTENT CALORIE DEFICIT
The short answer to the question of how to lose weight fast is to achieve a consistent calorie deficit. That is, burn more calories than you consume.
If you eat 2,500 calories a day – the recommended daily amount for a man, although of course this can vary wildly depending on your height, weight and frame – and burn 3,000, you are in a calorie deficit.
If, however, you burn 3,000 but have consumed 3,500, you’re not in a calorie deficit, even though you’ve almost certainly been working out a lot have burned that much energy.
What you need to do is ensure you’re eating the right food and doing the right exercise so that you’re sufficiently full and satisfied even when consuming fewer calories than you burn. Here’s how…
2. DECREASE CALORIE INPUT THROUGH DIET CHANGES
As we alluded to above, a common pitfall that many people experience when trying to lose weight is that as they start exercising more, they feel like they need to eat more to keep their energy levels up and consequently fail to see results. Instead, we recommend adapting your diet to get the most out of your calories.
All foods have different energy densities. Foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains have low energy density, which means you will get fuller faster when eating these than you would high energy density foods.
Nutritionist Jenna Hope explains: “Proteins and healthy fats promote more stable blood glucose levels, keeping you fuller across a time period and less likely to crave sugar or over eat,” and so these are the kinds of foods you should get the majority of your calories from.
Consuming the same amount of calories as you are now (or fewer if possible), but getting more nutritional value from them will help you feel fuller for longer and lose weight more quickly as a result.
3. DON’T CUT OUT ALL OF ANY SINGLE FOOD GROUP
We all know that some foods – and some food groups – are healthier than others, and that we need every type of food in our diet. The problem is that many of us aren’t getting the right balance.
Spoon Guru nutritionist Isabel Butler (MSc, ANutr) recommends that “the best way to reduce weight and maintain the weight loss is by simply eating a balanced and healthy diet, without refusing yourself particular foods… If you do cut out foods, you need to make sure your diet is still balanced and you are getting the nutrients your body needs from other sources.”
For example, unless you’re training to become a weightlifter, there’s nothing wrong with carbs per se, but the biggest food culprit when it comes to hindering weight loss is the simple carbohydrate.
Compared to complex carbs like beans, whole grains and vegetables, which break down and release energy slowly, thereby keeping you full and energised, simple carbs such as sugar and starchy foods which break down into sugars – such as pasta and spuds – give you a shorter boost of energy, then leave you wanting more.
The likelihood is that the more simple carbs you eat, the more you’ll end up eating overall, harming the balance of your calorie deficit.
One easy trick if you’re a carb fan is to swap out white pasta or rice for courgetti, or noodles made from other vegetables like butternut squash. This can make an arrabiata, curry or stir fry much lower in calories. You’ll hardly notice the difference when you’re eating it, but you’ll be fuller for longer despite consuming fewer calories.
4. TRY A FOOD SUBSTITUTE
Sometimes it’s a real struggle to reduce the calories you take in, or even just to track them. If you’re constantly on the move and don’t have the time to count calories, or you have the best intentions and are cooking fresh with ingredients that aren’t all labelled with their nutrition info broken down, then accurately tracking calories can be a nightmare.
To ensure you’re getting a good mix of nutrients, as well as all-important protein, you could try a food substitute such as Huel.
This is not marketed as a dietary aid, but it is highly nutritious, and makes calorie counting a lot easier. A word of caution though: Huel may replace meals from a nutritional standpoint, but slurping a cool, slightly slimy milkshake instead of getting your teeth into a warm, healthy paella isn’t for everyone.
5. TRY INTERMITTENT FASTING
Some people thrive on intermittent fasting, which means significantly cutting calories – or completely fasting – for a portion of the day or week, and then eating normally for the rest.
The most popular form of intermittent fasting is the 5:2 diet, where you eat normally for five days a week but then eating no more than 600 calories two days a week.
There’s also the 16:8 diet, which is a bit different. With this diet you can eat anything for 8 hours a day, but can only drink water during a 16 hour fast. The recommended time to eat is between 10am and 6pm, although this can be flexible depending on what time you’d prefer to start or end eating (as long as you stay within an eight hour window).
The benefits of intermittent fasting is that during the fast period the body will run out of carbohydrates to run on, and so start to take energy from the body’s fat stores, thus starting to burn that belly fat once and for all.
6. DRINK MORE WATER AND LESS ALCOHOL
Drinking more water – especially before a meal – can help us to feel fuller, thereby helping us to stop eating sooner and consume fewer calories than we otherwise would have.
What’s more, few of us consider what we drink when we total up our daily calorie count and so potentially hundreds of extra calories can sneak into our bodies. Replacing fruit juices, fizzy drinks and even tea and coffee with water means we can save up our calorie allowance for the good stuff: the food that fills us up.
Top tip: keep a reusable water bottle with you at all times and restrict what else you drink. This can feel like a hard habit to break at first, but is surprisingly easy to maintain once you have a zero calorie drink to hand 24/7.
Reducing the amount of alcohol we drink also comes with benefits. Most obviously, alcoholic drinks are often very calorific, so drinking less alcohol means consuming fewer calories. Simple.
Secondly, drinking alcohol increases our appetite, so we’re more likely to eat more than usual – and more of the bad stuff – when we’ve been drinking. Cheesy chips, I’m looking at you.
Lastly, we all know how we feel after a night of heavy drinking. Ready for a session and the gym and a day eating fruit, veg and simple carbohydrates? We didn’t think so. Drinking alcohol not only means we take in more calories at the time, but can affect our ability to function well and make healthy choices the next day.
7. INCREASE CALORIE OUTPUT THROUGH EXERCISE
Now we’ve tackled diet and nutrition (calories in), it’s time to look at exercise (calories out).
Even if you’re eating healthily and are reasonably active in your daily life, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to lose weight quickly without additional exercise, whether that’s running, gym, crossfit, team sports, cycling or any of the other myriad activities available.
What’s more, working out will make you look and feel better and in our view, once you start looking and feeling better, it gets a lot easier to find the will power needed to improve your diet.
When it comes to choosing what type of exercise you do, the most important thing is that it’s something you enjoy and will stick to. Don’t force yourself to run if chances are you’ll be walking ten minutes in.
8. FOCUS ON WEIGHT TRAINING IN ADDITION TO CARDIO
There are two main types of exercise: cardio training and weight – or resistance –training.
Both burn calories, the difference is that whilst cardio burns a lot of calories upfront, weight training continues to to burn calories post workout.
This is because weight training builds muscle, and muscle burns more than fat as you carry out day-to-day tasks. In short, the greater your muscle:fat ratio, the more calories you burn even when you are standing still.
Weight training may seem daunting, but you don’t have to join a gym and face up to the squat rack right away. There are so many weight exercises you can do at home with simple bits of equipment from dumbbells to kettlebells, and balls to ropes.
All of this aside, don’t neglect cardio, as cardio workouts are important for fitness and stamina, and will still burn calories.
9. VARY THE INTENSITY OF YOUR WORKOUTS
As well doing both cardio and weight training, if you want to lose weight it’s also important to vary the intensity with which you exercise.
In any given week, and within any given workout, you should exercise both aerobically (a little out of breath but not gasping) and anaerobically (going flat out, like when running for a bus).
Aerobic exercise needs oxygen to give muscles energy and generally requires moderate exertion. Examples include gentler running, cycling and swimming.
It’s a crucial part of losing weight quickly because it uses both sugar and fat as its energy source, but to burn fat you need to do it for long enough that you’ve burned through your sugar stores first.
Anaerobic exercise, on the other hand, primarily uses sugar as its fuel. This doesn’t mean that it’s not good for weight loss, though. Anaerobic exercise helps build muscle, and as we explained above, this will help you burn calories even when you’re resting. Anaerobic exercises are generally high intensity, for example sprinting and weight lifting.
A running watch or fitness tracker will help you to know what intensity exercise you’re doing. As they either have built-in heart-rate trackers or pair with ones you strap to your chest, they can show you how hard you’re working out and let you know when you need to push it harder.
10. TRACK YOUR INPUT VS. OUTPUT (THAT ALL IMPORTANT CALORIE DEFICIT)
It’s important to decide how you want to measure your success and keep track consistently, understanding that you will see daily fluctuations due to things like digestive contents and water retention.
Running watches are the easiest way to track your progress, remain motivated and keep weight off. Depending how fancy you go, you can track pretty much any metric that works for you, certainly way beyond whether you’ve achieved your 10,000 steps. Whether it’s weight, BMI, resting heart rate, calories burned or activity level, the best running watch will track it all.
Many wearables branded as fitness trackers also have a stab at these more advanced metrics nowadays, but we’d always recommend a watch over a band.
Another way to keep track of your progress is the old fashioned method of weighing yourself. The great thing about modern bathroom scales is they don’t just tell you your weight; they also let you know your body fat percentage.
This is a much, much better metric to track than weight alone. If you’re working out while dieting you can easily put on weight, even when running a calorie deficit, just because muscle is heavier than fat.
Now, although the calculations of body fat percentage scales produce are based on sound science, accuracy can vary. The key thing to note is that if the overall trend is going down, you’re doing well.
We can’t stress enough the importance of giving your body time to lose weight. You can lose weight faster by using the right gear and having the right knowledge and attitude, but you’ll likely need to redefine what ‘fast’ means to you.
12/12 SLIDES
Let’s say your basal metabolic rate is 1,900 calories: that’s the amount of calories your body burns in order to sustain itself. If you move a single muscle a day you will burn more than this amount. Walking to work can burn plenty of calories, not to mention all the other small activities you might do throughout the day.
Let’s say you need 3,000 calories a day to put on weight. sounds like a lot, right? One way to tackle this increased calorie intake is to increase food intake frequency and eat 5-6 smaller meals a day as opposed to having three 1,000-calorie meals.
If you are planning on eating five meals a day, meal prep can also come in handy. Ideally, you want to eat food that you cooked/prepared yourself but we admit that might be a bit too much effort for some. Regardless, you should still plan ahead and at least roughly assemble the food you are planning on eating throughout the day tomorrow.
In case you are concerned about putting on loads of fat in the process, a 2017 study found that ” an increase in the eating frequency can also be correlated with an increased prevalence of normal BMI individuals provided adequate physical exercise”, meaning that eating more frequently could help maintain a normal BMI level.
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2. Add more protein and (good) fat to your diet
Carbohydrates are important for muscle building but the other two macronutrients, namely protein and fat, are equally as important when it comes to gaining weight. Fatty food will make you feel sated for longer and food with higher fat content tend to taste better too.
Fatty foods you should include in your diet are oily fish, such as salmon and mackerel, nuts (e.g. Brazil nuts), avocado, butter, heavy/double cream, dark chocolate, olive oil and eggs. Most of these are also high in protein so by eating them, you will be killing two birds with one stone.
Talking about protein: protein is essential for muscle building and recovery and you will need to eat more than you’d think to aid weight gain. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, “for building muscle mass and for maintaining muscle mass through a positive muscle protein balance, an overall daily protein intake in the range of 1.4-2.0 g protein/kg body weight/day (g/kg/d) is sufficient for most exercising individuals”.
The paper goes on saying that “higher protein intakes (2.3-3.1 g/kg/d) may be needed to maximize the retention of lean body mass in resistance-trained subjects during hypocaloric periods”, meaning you will have to up your protein intake once you started increasing muscle mass.
It is advised to have at least 20-30 grams of protein with each meal if the plan is to eat five times a day. Protein should be supplied from a variety of sources including green leafy vegetables, fish, lean meat, eggs etc.
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3. Do resistance training more often
One of the main reasons why you might not be gaining weight and particularly muscle mass is the lack of resistance training. If you are after muscle growth, you need to stimulate that muscle growth by training the muscles often. How often?
A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis concludes that “the findings indicate a graded dose-response relationship whereby increases in resistance training volume produce greater gains in muscle hypertrophy”, meaning, quite simply, that the more you work out, the muscular you will get.
This might sound self-explanatory to some but also contradictory to basic bodybuilding principles, namely that resting is almost as important tas the training itself. Just to reiterate, resting is important but resting muscles doesn’t necessarily mean not training at all.
Finding a balance between training as often as possible without injuring yourself is paramount. The type of resistance training is up to you but don’t fall into the trap of only tracking calories. Even the best running watches and best heart rate monitors can’t track muscle activation and by tracking workouts with them, you can easily end up focusing only on burning calories.
What you want to do is the complete opposite: maxing out of workouts that increase strength but don’t burn calories. Sure, you should still do some cardio: it’s great for heart health and to maintain/improve the cardiovascular system, but try limiting the duration of cardio and let the bulk of your workout be anaerobic movements.
As well as having the occasional protein shake, if your plan is to bulk up a bit and build functional muscle mass, there are other two supplements you might want to consider taking: mass gainer and creatine.
The best mass gainers have loads of calories in them, yet they come in an easy-to-consume powder form so it’s easier to stomach one or two servings a day. Better still, weight gainers are most usually low on fat and sugars, compared to the amount of calories they contain.
Creatine, on the other hand, is the bodybuilding industry’s best kept secret. According to Healthline, “studies show that [creatine] can increase muscle mass, strength and exercise performance.” In another 12-week study quoted by Healthline in the same article, “in weightlifters, creatine increased muscle fiber growth 2–3 times more than training alone. The increase in total body mass also doubled alongside one-rep max for bench press, a common strength exercise.”
Creatine is also cheap and you won’t need to take industrial amounts either for it to be effective. 3-5 grams creatine monohydrate a day is enough for most adults.
Staying on a carb-free or ketogenic diet regime is now in trend to keep suit and lose fat properly. It both eliminates carb’s use totally or restrictions the intake. It is simply because carb is frequently regarded to be unhealthy and the purpose for excess weight gain. But exploration suggests […]
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