Regular exercise is important to help build muscles so that weight gain is not just fat. To gain 1kg of weight in a month requires 1000 extra kilojoules a day. A plan to increase weight should focus on:
Regular exercise is important to help build muscles so that weight gain is not just fat. To gain 1kg of weight in a month requires 1000 extra kilojoules a day. A plan to increase weight should focus on:
- Increasing your food intake – try eating larger portions.
- Relaxing the rules on how much fat you eat. Fat contains more than twice the kilojoules as protein and carbohydrates so increasing your fat intake can rapidly make a difference to weight gain. Add some healthy oils, eg, olive oil, canola oil, to your meals.
- Including energy dense foods throughout your daily meals, eg, peanut butter or cheese on toast instead of marmite, milkshake instead of low fat milk, ice cream on fruit, avocado instead of cucumber, juice and milk instead of tea and coffee, Complan or Sustagen drink.
- Avoiding too many bulky low energy foods. Raw vegetables and fruit are nutritious but you fill up quickly well before you have eaten enough kilojoules.
- Trying to eat 5-6 smaller meals as this may be easier, if bigger portions are difficult to eat.
