Women who are underweight or simply seeking to gain weight out of preference, may seek how to gain weight naturally without the use of supplements. How to gain weight naturally for women can be done healthily without the use of supplements and still produce desirable results. Much like with losing weight, gaining weight should be approached in a healthy and balanced manner that is in alignment with your lifestyle.
Here is how to gain weight naturally for women in more detail:
Disclaimer: We are not medical professionals or experts. What is written throughout the content of our website is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical or professional advice. What you choose to do with the information provided is at your own risk and discretion. Before making any significant changes to your diet and / or lifestyle, be sure to contact your health practitioner.
Maintain a consistent caloric surplus in your diet
How to gain weight naturally for women – begin with your diet. To gain weight, you need to be consuming more calories than you burn off. In other words, you should be maintaining a consistent caloric surplus. First, find out how many calories are recommended for you to consume on a daily basis to maintain your current weight. This number is usually determined by your age, height, activity level, etc. and can be found using various calorie calculators available online. From this number, adding an extra 300-500 calories will help to reach a caloric surplus once you factor in your level of daily physical activity.
To make it easier to reach and maintain a surplus of calories in your diet to gain weight, it is essential that you are eating at least three fulfilling meals per day. If it helps, you can try eating five smaller sized meals per day – whatever works best for your appetite. At the foundation, consuming a consistent caloric surplus in your diet is key to how to gain weight naturally for women. The types of foods you are eating play an important part as well.
Aim for primarily nutrient-dense whole foods
A caloric surplus is needed to gain weight naturally. However, consuming primarily nutrient-dense whole foods will help to promote healthy, natural weight gain. While it may be tempting to eat the nearest junk foods to gain weight quickly, it is best to avoid gaining weight this way. By doing so can lead to adverse health affects both short-term and long-term.
There are plenty of foods that are healthy yet, with the right preparation, can still help to encourage weight gain. Some of these foods include potatoes, quinoa, nuts, and more. You can add extra toppings to your foods and prepare unique dishes to receive a decent number of calories for weight gain.
Click here to see the top 10 weight gain foods:
Exercise to further increase your overall body mass
Although you are trying to gain weight, exercise is still necessary and can highly benefit the process. There are a variety of targeted exercises that help to strengthen and tone different areas of muscle and thus can contribute to further increasing your overall body weight/mass. Exercising can additionally allow you to tone and shape where your gained weight goes. For instance, if you want a curvier figure – wider hips, thicker thighs, etc. Then squats, lunges, and leg lifts, are a few good strengthening exercises that can help you to gain mass, but also allow you to tone and shape for your desired look.
Strength training involves compound and resistance-based exercises that help to efficiently build muscle mass. This type of exercise can be more beneficial when trying to gain weight in comparison with cardio. Certain high-intensity cardio exercises may cause you to burn off an excess of calories, thus interfering with your weight gain progress. However, you don’t have to eliminate cardio out of your workouts. Just try to find a nice and moderate balance.
Another tip for how to gain weight naturally for women, is to gradually increase your weight load and number of repetitions when you exercise for further growth in muscle. Gaining weight through diet and exercise alone is certainly achievable. However, if you want to maximize your results and further advance your overall body mass, increasing your weight load (comfortably) at the gym and completing more reps. as you progress will further engage your muscles, increasing mass.
Make your own weight gain smoothies and shakes
A lot of women who are seeking how to gain weight naturally may not want to use retail weight gain supplements for various reasons. However, you can always create your own weight gain shakes and smoothies using ingredients found right at home. Try adding fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious edibles to your blender and mix for a tasty boost of extra calories.
Click here to see a list of good ingredients to add to your D.I.Y weight gain smoothies:
References:
1 “How To Gain Weight Fast And Safely”. Healthline, 2019, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-gain-weight#section5.