How to gain calories: high-calorie foods, sample menu for the week and an effective diet for weight gain

The Best Foods for Gaining Muscle

In the meantime, let's figure out which products promote muscle growth and at the same time are cheap so that anyone can afford them.

Rice: a cheap food to quickly gain muscle mass

Rice is one of the most popular grains in the world, and it is filled with incredibly high amounts of energy. 100 g of rice contains about 130 calories. Plus it's a very inexpensive meal.

Simply adding a generous portion of rice to your meal can add hundreds of extra calories. Moreover, it is a very easily digestible grain product.

Rice contains many important vitamins such as thiamine and niacin. It is easy and quick to prepare.

Nutrition Tip: For example, the bean and rice burrito is packed with energy and is rich in protein. As an option for a tasty and healthy way to eat rice.

Buckwheat: tasty, healthy, one of the best foods for weight gain

Buckwheat porridge is an excellent source of complex carbohydrates. Not only is it a delicious breakfast, it also fills you with energy, fiber and amino acids for muscle growth. The calorie content of buckwheat kernels is 313 kcal per 100 grams of product, and this is without adding milk! Buckwheat contains beta-carotene, vitamins B, A, B1, B2, B5, B6, B9, E, T, H and PP, as well as almost all the minerals necessary for the human body: potassium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper and manganese, iron, chlorine and sulfur, iodine, chromium, fluorine, molybdenum, boron and vanadium, tin and titanium, silicon, cobalt, nickel.

Another key advantage of buckwheat for gaining muscle mass is that it contains about 20 grams of protein (per 100 grams of dry product), the biological value of which exceeds 90%.

You can eat buckwheat porridge 2 times a day, preferably in the morning and at lunch, but no later than 2 hours before training.

Peanut butter: high in calories and protein

You'll find peanut butter on almost every weight gain food list, and it's there for good reason.

One tablespoon contains 90 calories, 4 grams of protein and 3 grams of carbohydrates, and the taste is hard not to love.

Peanut butter contains some saturated fat, so don't get too carried away with it, but it's generally a healthy mass-gaining food that's recommended to add to your regular meals.

Peanut butter also pairs very well with the next item on this list.

Bananas: a hearty snack on the go

Bananas have many benefits: affordable, convenient, and delicious! A medium banana is a great food for weight gain because it contains about 100 calories.

Bananas also contain fiber and a good dose of potassium, an essential vitamin in your diet.

But bananas contain a lot of sugar. For this reason, they are recommended for consumption after training, when your body needs energy. And it is also recommended not to eat six pieces at a time, even if they are very tasty.

Tuna: Protein-rich food with healthy fats

Since it is a fish, tuna is extremely rich in healthy protein and contains many essential oils that will keep your body working efficiently.

Tuna is very easy to cook (if you eat it canned) and is used in many different dishes, so it's easy to add to your diet.

Have you ever tried grilled tuna steak? It's amazingly delicious!

Tuna is a healthy and inexpensive food to gain weight quickly, it is a very good source of protein, so it is recommended to add more of it to your diet.

Whole milk/soy milk: fast, cheap and convenient

A large glass of milk is one of the most convenient sources of quick energy.

A glass of whole milk contains about 150 calories, as well as 8 grams of protein! Clearly, this is the easiest thing to add to your diet.

If you are lactose intolerant, soy or almond milk are excellent alternatives. Soy is just as energy-rich, at 130 calories per cup, and has about the same amount of protein.

Like regular milk, soy milk contains a little fat, but it's not that bad. You won't drink liters of it a day, will you? No, but a couple of glasses will certainly make a big difference.

Chicken: cheap source of protein, ideal for bulking

Chicken meat is the most affordable source of quality protein for muscle growth.

As you can see from the table, chicken is rich in proteins, no matter how you cook it, which is quite simple to do.

Chicken breast is considered a dietary product because it contains virtually no fat and carbohydrates. The calorie content of chicken breast is 113 kcal per 100 grams of product. It also contains minerals: potassium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper and manganese, iron, chlorine and sulfur, cobalt, phosphorus and sodium. Chicken meat is a champion among other types of meat in terms of the percentage of protein and fat; 24% of easily digestible protein accounts for less than 2% of fat, which makes skinless breast an ideal food product for bodybuilders who are interested in increasing muscle mass (due to protein consumption ), without adding fat.

Eggs: High-calorie food for fast weight gain

Eggs are a super nutritious food, and for this reason the most popular breakfast: they provide your body with essential nutrients and energy that will last you throughout the day.

Eggs are a great and healthy weight-gaining food because they are inexpensive, easily available, and come in many variations so you don't get bored.

One egg has about 75 calories along with 5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein, as well as essential vitamins B-12.

It is not recommended to eat more than two of them a day due to cholesterol, but eating eggs several times a week can be a good habit and will certainly help you with your weight gain goals.

Nuts: a very good, high-calorie food source

Nuts contain the highest amount of energy for their weight of any food, and are by far some of the healthiest calories.

A 100 gram of macadamia nuts, for example, has over 700 calories! This is a healthy snack rich in calcium and fiber.

They are an excellent choice for those who want to gain weight quickly because they are tasty and easy to digest.

What are the disadvantages? Nuts are usually very expensive and contain high levels of fat.

It's definitely worth looking into nuts and seeds as great, easy sources of energy on the go. Try to eat them dry, fried and unsalted.

Dark chocolate: antioxidant-rich food for weight gain and good mood

Yes, this is not a joke! In moderation, dark chocolate is an excellent choice as a bulking food. A 100-gram chocolate bar has over 500 calories and also contains antioxidants and enzymes that improve your mood.

It also contains sugar and a lot of saturated fat (which is why chocolate tastes so good), so it's not an everyday weight gain supplement. However, a few bars of chocolate every day certainly won't hurt you, and excess calories will help you gain weight.

Dark chocolate is much better and healthier than various types of candies and other unhealthy sweets.

Cheese: what would life be like without it?

Cheese is an amazing food addition to keep those extra pounds on the scale. These calories are full of good things like calcium. Cheese is a vital source of protein for vegetarians. It can be easily added to most dishes by chopping or grating.

Like any other food, cheese should be enjoyed in moderation.

100 grams of cheddar cheese, for example, contains 400 calories, which includes 100% of the daily recommended intake of saturated fat.

However, it is a very tasty and nutritious product that can be easily added to any recipe. And it's relatively inexpensive. So you should definitely add this weight gain product to your diet.

Soybeans: Source of Protein and Calories, Cheap Weight Gainer

Soybeans are a staple because they are healthy, inexpensive and nutritious. There's a lot in that humble little green pod.

A 100-gram serving of soybeans has 400 calories. This includes a very small percentage of fat and an astounding 36 grams of protein! For your weight, this is the best source of protein, better than red meat. It is also an important source of magnesium, iron and calcium.

Soybeans are very quick to cook. For example, boiled whole soybeans take about 4 minutes to cook. This amazing dish can be served as an appetizer or as an addition to the main course.

Sports nutrition

Organic food is always the best choice for gaining muscle mass. However, sports supplements do have some benefits.

Firstly, they allow you to eat a hearty meal on the go. If you don't have time for a full breakfast, you can simply mix the powder and give it a quick shake.

Gainers are usually high in calories, contain a lot of protein, and even vitamins and minerals. They mix very easily and some of them actually taste pretty good.

But it is still not recommended to use a gainer as a meal replacement. They are needed only to increase calorie intake and fill gaps between meals.

Breakfast

Here's what your breakfast should be like:

• Pumpkin porridge with raisins and honey in milk is perfect in combination with sandwiches with butter and cheese, tea with sugar and dates.
• The second option could be an omelet with bacon and herbs, as well as a vegetable salad, a couple of sandwiches with sausage, dried apricots and coffee, preferably with sugar.
• As a third option, you should consider cottage cheese with cherry jam and noodles, sweet croutons, cocoa, and a couple of dried figs.
• For second breakfast you should eat fruit, vegetable salad, mashed potatoes with sour cream or porridge with butter.

Other nutrition tips for gaining weight:

• Make yourself a meal schedule. The problem with many thin people is that they don't eat enough. A meal schedule is a huge help in gaining a certain weight, you can watch and add additional nutrition there as needed.
• Your body needs time to adjust to a more consistent eating schedule. You will snack more often, this is normal. Try to do this even if you are not very hungry.
• It is very important to drink a lot of water when you start eating more. Water helps distribute nutrients throughout the body, and weight will definitely be gained in the form of water.

Dinner

For an afternoon snack, you should take a protein shake. Now let's look at what dinner should be like if a person needs to gain calories. In this case, we also present three options.

• Baked meat, vegetable stew, bread and tomato juice.
• The second option could be boiled sausages in combination with mashed potatoes, green peas, a sandwich with butter, and, in addition, tea with honey.
• Another alternative to dinner would be meatballs in sauce combined with a salad made from vegetables with feta cheese and butter; you should also additionally eat a sandwich with sausage and drink tea with honey.

Right before bed, your choice of cottage cheese mixed with sour cream and tea with crackers are suitable. Additionally, you can eat a bun and drink cocoa. Also, at your last meal, you can eat a sandwich with sausage and tea with sugar.

How to increase your appetite to gain weight faster?

If a person suffers from lack of appetite, then he can be advised to drink red wine before meals, but not more than fifty grams. If you salt food and add spices, the body will react better to food, and, accordingly, your appetite will increase. Sometimes vitamin deficiency makes people indifferent to food. In this case, you need to take a vitamin complex.

So, we know how many calories we need to gain per day. You can quickly gain weight if you follow a special home diet. It helps people get better by completely giving up bad habits. Especially from smoking. Having been deprived of this pleasure, the body will begin to look for it in food, thereby prompting the person to consume more and more new dishes.

Walking in the open air along with swimming in the sea also causes appetite and contributes to rapid weight gain. In the old days, people who were weakened after a long illness were given a spoonful of calamus decoction three times a day. Thanks to this, an appetite appeared, and the person himself recovered very quickly.

It is important to find out in advance how many calories to gain per day.

Weight gain, or how to achieve balance

There are many different reasons why excessive thinness occurs. This is a genetic predisposition, and an overly active lifestyle, along with a lack of diet, stress, depression, chronic diseases, and so on. Some diets lead to weight loss, while others, on the contrary, can be used to gain weight. But what should be the diet for weight gain in men and women?

When it comes to this kind of figure improvement, the most obvious decision seems to be to eat everything that standard diets prohibit, that is, fatty, sweet and salty. True, this will definitely not lead to anything good, except for diseases of the digestive system.

The maximum that a person can achieve is, most likely, edema with a slight increase in fat mass. And this is not the purpose of a weight gain diet, regardless of whether it is a man or a woman. The main goal is to develop muscle mass and strengthen bones. Therefore, when choosing the right diet, they rely on protein products. This effect can be enhanced by working out in the gym.

So, what should be included in the diet? How many calories does it take to gain muscle mass? The daily calorie content of the diet menu should reach 3000 calories. Gaining weight will not be difficult. But the final figure depends on gender, and, in addition, on age and individual characteristics of the figure. To cover the need for fat, nutritionists recommend consuming approximately three tablespoons of vegetable oil per day.

In addition, to achieve the desired proportion, it would not be amiss to introduce pasta into your diet along with sugar, honey, beans, flour products and sweet fruit juices, which should be drunk in the amount of one glass immediately before each meal. How many times a day should a person eat? Nutritionists recommend the classic five-a-day regimen with a gradual increase in calories.

How many calories do women need to gain weight? What to eat?

Sample menu for the week

When creating a menu for weight gain for women and men who want to gain weight, you need to remember that food must not only be high in calories, but also combine all the beneficial microelements and substances. The ratio should be as follows: carbohydrates - 45%, proteins - 25%, and fats - 30%.

So how do you gain calories?

Here is a sample menu for the week.

• On the first day, for breakfast you should eat a three-egg omelette combined with a sandwich with cucumber, bacon or ham, as well as a walnut. Then they drink tea or compote. For lunch, you should eat noodle soup along with baked chicken, two slices of bread and tea. After an hour you can eat the pear. Dried fruits with a glass of yogurt are suitable as a snack. For dinner you should prepare mashed potatoes with a cutlet.
• On the second day, for breakfast they eat millet porridge with milk, yogurt and a few hazelnuts. For lunch they eat chicken soup and some vegetable, then drink tea or jelly is also suitable. As a snack, eat yogurt and drink a glass of fruit juice. For dinner you should prepare an omelet with cheese, tomatoes and ham, snack on all this with cookies and drink milk with honey.
• On the third day, eat three boiled eggs for breakfast, then vegetable salad, raisins and drink tea. For lunch they eat noodle soup, beef, beans and tea. After half an hour, eat an orange. Have a snack with a glass of kefir and a handful of raisins. For dinner, make a sandwich with tomato, cheese, chicken, cucumber and ketchup. Snack on chocolate and drink a glass of juice.
• On the fourth day, pearl barley porridge is prepared for breakfast, which is pre-soaked overnight in milk. Honey, nuts and apple are added to it. Next they drink tea and a sandwich. For lunch, cabbage soup is cooked in meat broth, and in addition, they eat macaroni and cheese and salad. A boiled egg along with a sandwich, a handful of pine nuts and a glass of fruit juice will serve as a snack. For dinner they eat sea fish and mashed potatoes combined with Greek salad, and drink tea with milk.
• On the fifth day, ravioli with vegetable salad, plum and compote is eaten for breakfast. For lunch they cook pea soup with ribs, cook pork, make a tomato salad and drink jelly. They snack on cheesecake with cottage cheese, and also eat banana, cookies and drink yogurt. For dinner they eat tuna fillet with cauliflower, and, in addition, a sandwich with butter and drink tomato juice.
• In the next two days, you can repeat the menu from the previous five at your discretion, the main thing is that the diet is rich in high-calorie foods.

Many people wonder how many calories it takes to gain weight. However, it should be remembered that regardless of the numbers that the scale shows, a person should treat himself and his body with respect and love.