I can’t gain weight. I need to build muscle quickly.
How can i gain muscle?
What should I eat to gain weight and build muscle?
These are general questions asking by so many people.
You have two options – either gain weight by munching on unhealthy foods like fries, chips and other junk, a sure shot way to create future health problems like hypertension, heart disease and diabetes or you can gain weight in a healthy controlled manner. Gradual weight gain is always advisable by experts.
The primary activity is to eat right thing to gain weight.
Healthy weight gain foods
Red Meat – Steaks & ground round. Top round, sirloin.
Poultry – Chicken breast, ground turkey, whole chicken.
Fish – Canned tuna, mackerel, and salmon.
Dairy – Milk, cottage cheese, plain low fat yogurt, quark cheese, whey.
Eggs – Whole eggs, scrambled eggs. Don’t worry about cholesterol.
Legumes – Lentils, peas, peanuts, peanut butter
Nuts – Walnuts, almonds, pistachio, cashew
Seeds – Sesame, pumpkin, hemp, flax
Milk – Soy milk, almond milk
Soy – Soy beans, tofu, deli-style soy meats, soy cheese
Whole Grains – Brown rice, granola, oats, breads
Veggies – Broccoli, asparagus, spinach, kale, collard greens
Protein Powder – Soy protein, rice protein
Keys to Gain Weight
Make sure you choose the food items so that it meets your calorie target. Also load it equally throughout the day. How equally? Prepare a 7 times meal plan that includes breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, Post workout, Dinner, pre bed. If you tend to forget about eating, you can set a reminder to eat.
Carbohydrates are your body's preferred form of energy, and you need to give your body the energy it needs to perform your daily tasks, plus some extra calories. Increase your carbohydrate intake with whole grain bread and cereals, fruits and vegetables to increase calories.
Don't resort to eating highly processed junk foods to get your extra calories. Sure, they're energy-dense, but they're low in nutritional values and worse - they can be bad for your health if they're high in saturated fats, trans-fats, added sugar or sodium.
Exercise for Weight Gaining
It's a good idea to continue to exercise while you attempt to gain weight the healthy way. However, it's probably best to lay off the cardio (which burns those hard-earned calories) and focus on strength training instead (which builds muscle mass and helps you to gain weight).
Strength training includes working with weights and performing exercises such as squats, deadlifts, bench presses, bicep curls, crunches, chin-ups and leg curls.
If you have never done strength training before, it's a good idea to enlist the help of a personal trainer who can show you how to perform the exercises safely and correctly.
Just keep in mind that the more you exercise the more calories you will need to consume to replace those you lost while working out. This is where protein shakes and bars really come in handy. Luckily, exercising should also increase your appetite.
