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Eating for Weight Gain

 

Increasing calories may be recommended for persons who are underweight, athletes who want to gain weight to enhance performance or those whose calorie needs are increased due to a poor health condition.  Underweight can be caused by heredity, a serious illness, not eating enough, or a combination of intense ongoing exercise and insufficient calories in the diet.  Commonly it is caused by an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.  Severe depression can also affect the appetite, resulting in weight loss.

 

To gain body weight the number of calories consumed in the diet must exceed the number of calories the body needs to maintain its current weight.  Medical problems such as depression, bulimia, or anorexia must be addressed and treatments underway before weight gain will occur.

 

Nutrition Facts

 

The nutrition considerations of a healthful diet still apply when gaining weight is desired.  The goal is to increase the number of calories in the diet while making healthful choices from a variety of foods.  Choose dairy products, meats, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes, nuts, fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, breads, rice, and pasta.

 

Where serious underweight is a problem, weight gain can be best achieved by concentrating on foods with either a higher calorie or fat content.  Ounce for ounce, fat has more than twice the calories of either carbohydrate or protein.  After weight gain goals are achieved, a healthy, but low-fat diet is recommended.

 

An increase of at least 500 to 1000 calories each day should be adequate for a one to two pound weight gain per week.  It takes an extra 3500 calories to gain one pound of body weight. 

  

Eating for Weight Gain 

 

Special Considerations

  • A basic vitamin and mineral supplement, providing 100% of the needed nutrients may be necessary depending on current nutritional status.  Ask your physician or dietitian about the need for supplements. 

  •  Plan for regular eating times, including three meals and several snacks throughout the day.  The need to eat even when experiencing a lack of hunger can be overcome with encouragement from others. 

  • Stimulate a poor appetite by socializing and eating with friends; or by enjoying favorite foods, enticing aromas like freshly baked breads, soft dinner music, flowers on the table and relaxed, pleasant mealtime conversation. 

  • Eating larger amounts of foods at mealtimes will increase the calories content of the meal.  If larger meals are not tolerated, try increasing the serving sizes gradually or eating small amounts more often throughout the day. 

  • For those who drink alcoholic beverages, a drink before meals or wine with meals can increase the appetite.  Remember that alcohol does carry “empty” calories; calories with no nutritional value.  However, it is not wise to start drinking alcohol simply for this benefit.   

  • To increase calories, select higher calorie foods and beverages.  Beware of filling up on low-calorie or no-calorie foods and beverages.  Instead of diet sodas, water, coffee or tea; drink fruit juices, milk and milkshakes.  Dries fruits and canned fruits packed in heavy syrup will supply more calories than fresh fruit and are no more filling.  Dry milk powder can be added to soups, casseroles and mashed potatoes to increase the calories and nutrients. 

  • A canned liquid supplement such as Ensure taken with meals or between meals is effective when there is a lack of interest in food and eating.  Many stores carry their own effective brands at a lower cost.  Liquid supplements are a convenient way to consume extra calories.  Ice cream can be added and blended for a high-calorie milkshake.

Eating for Weight Gain 

 

Weight Gain Tips 

  • Eat smaller meals more often.

  • Fill up on food, no low-calorie beverages.  Use milk or half & half instead of water when making soup, cereals, instant cocoa, puddings or canned soups.

  • Make mealtime pleasant—set an attractive table, play soothing music.

  • Get regular exercise—check with your physician first.

  • Get together with friends or neighbors to share cooking duties and delights.

  • Take advantage of community programs to provide ready-made meals. 

  • Have nutritious snacks convenient for nibbling such as yogurt, cheese, muffins, or deviled eggs.  Peanut butter would be acceptable if used in recipes or in a milkshake.

  • Use substitutes to increase calories, try adding dry milk to fluid milk, soups, or mashed potatoes.  Make milkshakes out of 2% or whole milk with ice cream; add pureed fruit, graham crackers or peanut butter to add variety.  Try a supplemental drink such as Boost or Ensure.  You can add ice cream to the shake for more flavor.  It is best to sip on these items throughout the day, in order not to fill your stomach at meal time.

  • Plan mealtimes around energy levels—eat a larger breakfast if you feel better in the morning.

  • Skim milk powder adds protein—try adding two tablespoons of dry skim milk powder to the regular amount of milk in the recipes.  Add skim milk powder to sauces, meatloaf, and casseroles.

  • Powdered coffee creamers add calories without volume—add them to gravy, soup, milkshakes, and hot cereals.

  • Add brown sugar, ripe bananas, raisins, chopped dates, or finely chopped nuts to hot or cold cereals for a snack.

  • Add cheese to cooked vegetables for additional calories and protein.

  • Canned or cooked fruit without seeds or tough skins and ripe bananas could be added to gelatin, milkshakes, frozen desserts, pudding, bread, cakes, and sauces.

  • Add milk and eggs in place of water to commercial pancake mixes.

  • Rely on food you really love during your not-hungry periods.

 Eating for Weight Gain - Increasing Calories

 

Butter and Margarine

·         Add to soups, mashed and baked potatoes, hot cereals, grits, rice, noodles, and cooked vegetables

·         Stir into cream soups, sauces, and gravies

·         Combine with herbs and seasonings, and spread on cooked meats, hamburgers, and fish and egg dishes

·         Use melted butter or margarine as a dip for raw vegetables and seafood, such as shrimp, scallops, crab, and lobster

Whipped Cream

·         Use sweetened on hot chocolate, desserts, gelatin, puddings, fruit, pancakes, and waffles.

·         Fold unsweetened into mashed potatoes or vegetable purees

Table Cream

·         Use in cream soups, sauces, egg dishes, batters, puddings, and custards

·         Put on hot or cold cereal

·         Mix with noodles, pasta, rice, and mashed potatoes

·         Pour on chicken and fish while baking

·         Use as a binder in hamburgers, meatloaf, and croquettes

·         Add to milk in recipes

·         Make hot chocolate with cream and add marshmallows

Cream Cheese

·         Spread on breads, muffins, fruit and vegetable slices, and crackers

·         Add to vegetables

·         Roll into balls and coat with chopped nuts, wheat germ, or granola

Sour Cream

·         Add to cream soups, baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, vegetables, sauces, salad dressings, stews, baked meat, and fish

·         Use as a topping for cakes, fruit, gelatin desserts, breads, and muffins

·         Use as a dip for fresh fruit and vegetables

·         For a good dessert, scoop it on fresh fruit, add brown sugar, and let it sit in the refrigerator for a while

Salad Dressings and Mayonnaise

·         Spread on sandwiches and crackers

·         Combine with meat, fish, and egg or vegetable salads

·         Use as a binder in croquettes

·         Use in sauces and gelatin dishes

Honey, Jam, and Sugar

·         Add to bread, cereal, milk drinks, and fruit and yogurt desserts

·         Use as a glaze for meats, such as chicken

Granola

·         Use in cookie, muffin, and bread batters

·         Sprinkle on vegetables, yogurt, ice cream, pudding, custard, and fruit

·         Layer with fruit and bake

·         Mix with dry fruits and nuts for a snack

·         Substitute for brad or rice in pudding recipes

Dried Fruits

·         Cook and serve for breakfast or as a dessert or snack

·         Add to muffins, cookies, breads, cakes, rice and grain dishes, cereals, puddings, and stuffing

·         Bake in pies and turnovers

·         Combine with cooked vegetables, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, and acorn and butternut squash

·         Combine with nuts or granola for snacks

Eggs

·         Add chopped, hard-cooked eggs to salads and dressings, vegetables, casseroles, and creamed meats

·         Make a rich custard with eggs, milk, and sugar

·         Add extra, hard-cooked yolks to deviled-egg filling and sandwich spread

·         Beat eggs into mashed potatoes, vegetable purees, and sauces

·         Add extra eggs or egg whites to custards, puddings, quiches, scrambled eggs, omelets, and to pancake and French toast batter before cooking

·         Eat only well cooked or baked eggs.  Do not eat “runny” eggs.

Food Preparation

·         Breads, meat, and vegetables

·         Sauté and fry foods when possible, because these cooking methods add more calories than baking or broiling

·         Add sauces or gravies

Eating for Weight Gain - Increasing Protein

Hard or Semi soft Cheese

·         Melt on sandwiches, bread, muffins, tortillas, hamburgers, hot dogs, other meats or fish, vegetables, eggs, or desserts, such as stewed fruit or pies.

·         Grate and add to soups, sauces, casseroles, vegetable dishes, mashed potatoes, rice, noodles, or meatloaf

Cottage Cheese/Ricotta Cheese

·         Mix with or use to stuff fruits and vegetables

·         Add to casseroles, spaghetti, noodles, and egg dishes, such as omelets, scrambled eggs, and soufflés

·         Use in gelatin, pudding-type desserts, cheesecakes, and pancake batter

·         Use to stuff crepes and pasta shells or manicotti

Milk

·         Use milk in beverages and in cooking when possible

·         Use in preparing how cereal, soups, cocoa, and pudding

·         Add cream sauces to vegetable and other dishes

Powdered Milk

·         Add to regular milk and milk drinks, such as pasteurized eggnog and milkshakes

·         Use in casseroles, meatloaf, breads, muffins, sauces, cream soups, mashed potatoes, puddings and custards, and milk-based products

Commercial Products

·         Use instant breakfast powder in milk drinks and desserts

·         Mix with ice cream, milk, and fruit or flavorings for a high-protein milkshake

Ice Cream, Yogurt, and Frozen Yogurt

·         Add to carbonated beverages, such as ginger ale; add to milk drinks, such as milkshakes

·         Add to cereals, fruits, gelatin desserts, and pies; blend or whip with soft or cooked fruits

·         Sandwich ice cream or frozen yogurt between enriched cake slices, cookies, or graham crackers

Eggs

·         Add chopped, hard-cooked eggs to salads and dressings, vegetables, casseroles, and creamed meats

·         Add extra eggs or egg whites to quiches and to pancake and French toast batter.  Add extra egg whites to scrambled eggs and omelets

·         Make a rich custard with eggs, high-protein milk, and sugar

·         Add extra hard-cooked yolks to deviled-egg filling and sandwich spreads.

·         Make sure all eggs you eat are well cooked or baked; avoid eggs that are “runny.”

Nuts, Seeds, and Wheat Germ

·         Add to casseroles, breads, muffins, pancakes, cookies, and waffles

·         Sprinkle on fruit, cereal, ice cream, yogurt, vegetables, salads, and toast as a crunchy topping; use in place of bread crumbs

·         Blend with parsley or spinach, herbs, and cream for a noodle, pasta, or vegetable sauce

·         Roll banana in chopped nuts

Peanut Butter

·         Spread on sandwiches, toast, muffins, crackers, waffles, pancakes, and fruit and vegetable slices

·         Use as a dip for raw vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, and celery

·         Blend with milk drinks and beverages

·         Swirl through soft ice cream and yogurt

Meat and Fish

·         Add chopped, cooked meat or fish to vegetables, salads, casseroles, soups, sauces, and biscuit dough

·         Use in omelets, soufflés, quiches, sandwich fillings, and chicken and turkey stuffing

·         Wrap in piecrust or biscuit dough as turnovers

·         Add to stuffed baked potatoes

Beans/Legumes

·         Cook and use dried peas, legumes, beans, and bean curd (tofu) in soups or add to casseroles, pastas, and grain dishes that also contain cheese or meat.  Mash with cheese and milk