Weight gain advice for women isn’t easy to find in this weight loss obsessed world. Yet, there are many women who are desperate to put weight on. They don’t have excess body fat – and they don’t want it. What they do want is to put on body weight, which means lean muscle tissue. So, how do they do it?
Putting on weight for women requires a step-by-step process involving how you eat, what you take as a supplement and how you exercise. In this article, we’ll focus on how you should eat and supplement to put on quality weight. Our companion article will focus on how a woman can exercise to gain weight.*
7 Foods to Gain Weight
Fortunately, it is possible to put together a diet to gain weight that is built around a few whole, natural foods that, collectively, provide all of the ingredients to help you gain the right kind of weight; lean muscle. The following 7 foods all fall into this category. They are the best of the best. Incorporate them into your diet to gain weight, add a healthy dose of exercise, throw in a couple of key supplements, and watch the scale increase.
Weight Gain Food No.1: Apples
Apples will not only keep the doctor away – but they will also keep the fat away while making you add lean muscle weight. Apples contain polyphenols which increase muscle strength and endurance. They also increase the amount of fat the body burns. Add them to your diet to gain weight as an in-between meal snack.
Weight Gain Food No.2: Beef
Beef is a great weight gain food because of its high protein, cholesterol and saturated fat count, all of which help increase testosterone levels. Choose organic cuts to contain more CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) that helps you lose more body fat. Add beef to your diet to gain weight as the basis of at least dinner meals per week.
Weight Gain Food No.3: Beetroot
Beetroot may not come readily to mind when you think of weight gain food. Yet it contains two compounds, betaine and nitrates, which make it a smart choice. Betaine has been shown to bolster muscular strength and endurance. Nitrates contribute to the production of nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels to help wide them and allow more blood to flow through. This allows more amino acids to get into the muscle cell. Add beetroot to your diet to gain weight by serving it on the side with the dinner meal.
Weight Gain Food No. 4: Eggs
It’s not just the protein that makes the egg one of the perfect foods for gaining weight. The cholesterol in the yolk has positive benefits as well. It maintains muscle cell membrane and keeps testosterone levels high. Research shows that eating whole eggs provides a boost in both lean mass and strength. Add eggs to your diet to gain weight by including three whole eggs at one meal every day.
Weight Gain Food No. 5: Blueberries
Free radicals will damage muscle cells and side-track your lifting progress. They need to be destroyed. No fruit or vegetable is better at doing that than blueberries. They are loaded with anthocyanadin, a potent anti-oxidant phytochemical that zaps free radicals while also boosting brain function. Add blueberries to your diet to gain weight by eating a serving 1-2 hours before you exercise.
Weight Gain Food No. 6: Quinoa
Quinoa is superior to most other whole grains because it contains lysine. This is one of the nine essential amino acids you must get from your diet. Quinoa has enough lysine in it to be considered a complete protein. Research has also shown that eating quinoa will increase levels of insulin-like growth factor-1, which is critical for weight gain.
Add quinoa to your diet to gain weight by having its a side dish with your main meat source.
Weight Gain Food No. 7: Salmon
The fact that salmon is loaded with relatively quick digesting protein makes it a great weight gain food. Salmon is also a rich source of essential omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. This will result in greater muscle strength, enhanced insulin sensitivity, which leads to greater protein uptake by the muscle cells. These fats are also readily burned for fuel. Omega-3’ also enhance muscle and joint recovery, thus leading to more growth and helping to keep you injury-free so that you can continue to exercise.
Add salmon to your diet to gain weight by eating it twice per week as a main meal.
Supplements for Weight Gain
There are certain supplements you can take to help you to gain healthy weight. There are two that you should concentrate on:
- Whey Protein – Whey protein powder is the fastest absorbing protein you can get. Taking is with water as a shake after exercise will fast track essential amino acids to your muscle cells where they can repair and rebuild muscle tissue. Look for a product that gives you at least 25 grams of protein per serving.
- Creatine – Taking 5 grams of creatine before you exercise will help you to exercise more intensely, lift more resistance and have more training energy with faster recovery. It’s best to take the monohydrate form of creatine mixed with water.
Check out our companion article on weight gain exercise for women here.
* Fitness Disclaimer
This website offers health, fitness and nutritional information and is designed for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional medical advice, diagnosis treatment. This website does not promise any specific results, as each individual responds differently to training.The author of this article is not a medical professional. We have volunteers in our organization from different aspects of health, nutrition, and fitness. Not just modern medicine doctors and physicians, but yoga teachers, spiritual teachers, martial arts teachers, and energy healers and we use all those resources to be able to provide the best and most proper advice to people around all walks of life. We do not have a defined goal, we only have a mission to help as many people as we can.