Gain Weight Fast Guide

If you’ve been looking around online for fast ways to gain weight, you’ve probably already come across a few dubious techniques. With so many companies pushing their patented weight gain program and supplements, it’s hard to tell what actually works and what’s just hype. Here’s a little information to help clear up the confusion.

The Good: healthy calories and weight training

When it comes right down to it there are basically two things you need to do to gain weight fast: 1) create a calorie surplus and 2) stress your muscles.

You need to pay close attention to how many calories you’re burning through everyday activities and workouts and to how many calories you’re eating. You need to be putting in more calories than you’re burning off—that’s simple physics. Another thing is you don’t need a huge amount of protein to build muscle. In a healthy diet, you should be getting 20-25%, but no more than 30%, of your total daily calories from protein. More than that and you risk overtaxing your kidneys. What that means is you can do this without the expensive protein bars and shakes.

Weight training is another one of the most effective ways to gain weight fast. Aerobics and, in fact, a lot of the fancy gym equipment out there, are not going to help you build serious muscle. Short but intensive workouts with free weights are you best bet for that.

The Bad: excessive sugars and fats

Yes, eating a lot of fats and sugars is one of the best fast ways to gain weight, but it’s also the least healthy. Stuffing yourself with cake won’t help you build muscle. Even for women, who need a little fat in the right places, this of diet won’t lead to an attractive figure. You don’t get to decide where the fat goes, genetics does.

That doesn’t mean you need to cut fat and sugar out of your diet completely. With fat, try to stick with healthy fats like olive and peanut oil and plant sources like avocados and nuts, as opposed to the saturated fats in red meat. As for sugar, some of the world’s most successful body builders are knows to down a few Snickers bars a day. Just make sure you’re not eating sugar at the expense of more nutritious high-calorie foods.

The Ugly: dangerous weight gain pills

Just like in the weight loss industry, there are companies in the weight gain and body building industry that want to take advantage of desperation of people’s frustration and desperation by selling big promises. We’re not talking about supplements like whey protein and creatine which have credible research, but weight gain pills that are supposed to somehow magically bulk you up. There are no magical fast ways to gain weight. Most of these pills are a waste of money at best. In any case, don’t buy weight gain pills without reading independent reviews and don’t start taking them without checking with your doctor first.

Ultimately, the most effective fast ways to gain weight are to make sure you’re taking in more calories than you’re burning off (even if that means eating a candy bar now and then) and to have short, intense weight training workouts several times a week, with breaks in between.