Gaining weight while maintaining health is not a low-hanging fruit, as it can be challenging. Some ways to gain weight can cause short and long-term effects on health. And being underweight can spark health problems down the road.
Mostly, individuals are underweight because of genetics, fast metabolism, dietary choices, underlying health conditions, and lifestyle habits.
Or if you are not underweight but want to gain muscles in a healthy manner, then the same strategies follow the road. You can gain weight by consuming a balanced diet with sufficient calories. In this way, you can gain weight without being unhealthy.
However, it's essential to modify your lifestyle habits and incorporate nutritious calorie-dense foods with the right approach. So let us help you and share the secrets of gaining width without being unhealthy.
1. Understanding Weight Gain and Health:
Healthy weight gain is the process of increasing body weight gradually to foster well-being. It is fulfilled by a blend of nutritious calorie-dense meals and lifestyle preferences. Basically, the purpose of gaining a healthy weight is to put lean muscles instead of excess fat. By eating high calories, protein, and resistance exercise, lifestyle changes together build up muscle strength.
If you gain weight through unhealthy fat and processed food with fewer nutrients, then it will lead you to serious health problems like heart disease, depression, and diabetes.
2. Building a Solid Foundation:
Healthy weight gain is not all about taking an excessive-calorie diet; it also requires highly nutritious food to benefit your overall health. Consuming Macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy fats level up the game of gaining weight without compromising health.
Additionally, these nutrients boost the quality of life, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, maintain optimal body functions, and improve mental health along with gaining weight, which is a win-win situation for you to hit your desired mark.
- Eat a variety of vegetables and fruits.
- Take whole grain
- Add healthy protein from fish, seafood, unprocessed meat, dairy, legumes, and nuts.
- Also, limit your intake of processed meats, sugar, sodium, and alcohol.
3. Strategic Meal Planning:
The right strategy to plan your daily meals will help you gain weight without being unhealthy. Here are some tips to increase your daily calorie intake without sacrificing the nutrients.
- Choose Nutrient-Dense Foods: Take rich nutrient foods such as protein, carbohydrates, and fats at each meal.
- Complex carbs: Add potatoes and complex carbs like quinoa, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, winter root vegetables, corn, beans, and legumes.
- Take energy-dense foods: Along with carbs, fats, and protein, use energy-dense foods to gain weight. Energy-dense foods include the following.
- High fat dairy (whole milk, cheese, yogurt, cream),
- Protein rich dry fruits (walnut, almond, and peanuts),
- Fats and oil (virgin olive oil, avocado oil)
- Grains (oats, and brown rice),
- Dried fruits (raisins, dates, prunes)
- Meat (Chicken, beef and lamb),
- Coconut milk, dark chocolate, and granola.
- In addition, don't overindulge yourself in only fruit and vegetables as their high fiber makes you feel full and leaves less space for other healthy foods. First, take high-calorie and protein meals and then, in the end, eat high-fiber fruit and raw vegetables.
- Make sure to take frequent meals and then a significant portion of the meals at once.
- Snack every 2-3 hours and Avoid traditional snacking like chips, cookies, crackers, and drinks, as these low-nutrient foods with high calories will not help in healthy weight gain. As a snack, you can take it with crunchy vegetables and unsalted nuts and drink smoothies to satisfy your sweet cravings.
Exercise for Muscle Growth:
Beyond the diet, exercise also helps to Churn out muscle mass. Well, you know exercise burns fat and reduces weight, but on the other hand, it also leads to upgrading your muscle mass along with a healthy diet. Strength training improves your lean muscle regardless of age.
It can be done at home or in the gym. You can pick up your desired body weight, resistance tubing, free weights, and lift-weight machines for strength training. Research shows that resistance training has positive effects on muscle growth and strength.
However, it's vital to rest for full muscle tissue recovery. While exercising, microscopic tears form in your muscle tissue, and when you rest, it repairs the tears, bringing on stronger muscle. If you don't have enough time for muscle to recover, then you are at risk of injury.
Healthy Lifestyle Habits:
Next, you must look at your daily routine habits. Healthy lifestyle habits are the pillar of your body's good shape. One of the vital ways of living healthy is by getting an adequate 7-8 hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation triggers the stress hormone cortisol and leads you toward unhealthy weight gain (obesity).
Further stress interferes with your journey of gaining a healthy weight. Therefore, maintain your sleep, go to bed, and wake up at the same time every day for a quality restful night, and this will reduce the stress from your life along with a healthy diet and exercise. Hydration is another aspect often overlooked in gaining weight, but it works as a powerhouse to maintain weight. By keeping your body hydrated
Herbal Support for Weight Gain:
Adding a handful of herbs to your diet promotes weight gain, raising appetite while improving digestion. In Ayurveda, herbs like Ashwagandha, Shatavari, and Triphala are specifically used because of their nourishing properties. These herbs sport weight gain.
- Ashwagandha: Ashwagandha is one of the famous Indian herbs used to increase appetite, cope with fatigue and stress, and develop stamina while building muscle mass and body strength.
- Shatavari: Shatavari is an effective Ayurvedic medicine that reaps fruitful results in weight gain. It fights infections that may trigger weight loss; therefore, maintaining the weight gain means.
Seeking Professional Guidance:
Well, the above natural process to gain weight can help you, but it's essential to seek a dietician to get your personalized meal plan according to your current health status. They will provide you with a tailored plan with clear-cut calories, macronutrient targets,
appropriate portion sizes, and meal timing to put weight. Therefore, consult a healthcare professional before incorporating a specific diet plan and exercise.
Conclusion:
Gaining weight without compromising on health is achieved from a balanced, holistic approach. When you increase the calories-nutrient-rich food, do strength training, and maintain healthy lifestyle habits consistently. You can cut down on the side effects of gaining weight from unhealthy sources. Bear in mind that gaining healthy weight is a long-term process that you can't achieve in a few days, so you have to be patient and consistent with your routine. Moreover, for better outcomes, consult a healthcare professional to get your personalized meal plan.
