How To Gain Weight

Increase your calories

In order for us to gain healthy weight we need to increase our calorie intake by eating high calorie meals throughout the day everyday. Don't make the mistake of eating bad calories, ice cream, candy, cakes and most fast foods. While trying to gain weight you need to make sure that you are taking in all of the necessary vitamins and minerals along with good lean protein and complex carbohydrates. It's important to know eating foods high in fat will eventually make you fat and could also lead to health problems.

Decrease Your Activities

The more active you are the more calories you burn, period. If you are serious about gaining weight you must avoid burning calories whenever possible. This means less cardio "if any" as well as going through your workouts slower and lifting heavy weights between 5 to 8 reps. Take your time in the gym and relax through your workouts.

Get Plenty Of Sleep

This is probably the most under rated component of muscle growth. While your muscles rest protein synthesis takes place, and it is able to concentrate more effectively on the muscles that were used to perform that days workout, therefore allowing more growth and better recovery. If your muscles are not supplied with enough protein, during sleep they will start to consume themselves and much of your hard work at the gym will have gone to waste. To stop this happening you need a protein called "casein" protein. Casein will slowly release amino acids into the blood stream as it is being digested. This slow release of amino acids will prevent muscle tissue from breaking down during sleep.

Proper Hydration

Proper hydration is often overlooked, but important in keeping your body in a muscle building state and to transport fluids throughout the body. Not to mention it's a great way to keep your muslces feeling full, pumped and well hydrated. The ideal amount is somewhere around 6 12oz glasses a day, many bodybuilders drink more.

Avoid Bad Fats

Believe it or not, fats are essential for building muscle mass and help your body function properly. Fats are also the body's source of stored energy, protect inner organs, and act as a insulator for the body to keep warm. At the same time you need to watch the kind of fats you eat and avoid eating too much saturated fats have been linked to high levels of bad cholesterol more than cholesterol increases cholesterol itself. Monounsaturated fatty acids found in vegetables, nuts, olive oil, peanuts, and canaola oil are effective in reducing bad cholesterol without affecting good cholesterol.

There are two types of fats

Saturated fats, stay away from these fats as much as possible, they are usually found in animal fats and most fast foods. Keep saturated fat intake to a minumum. Unsaturated fats, these fats are stored for energy and can actually help muscle building. Almost all food contains some unsaturated fat. Common unsaturated fats are derived from oily fish such as herring, tuna, sardines, and salmon; as well as from vegetable oils and nuts. All of these can help to provide certain fatty acids specifically, omega-3 and omega-6. These acids can reduce the risk of certain cardiovascular disease and enhance memory and other mental functions-hence, the popular perception of fish as “brain food."

Lift For Size

If you want to get big you must lift heavy. What does that mean, it means lift a weight that you can get a max 6 to 8 repititions per set and no more. Don't forget, a diet high in calories and the use of heavy weights go hand in hand when it comes to gaining good quality weight.