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It’s really true, there are people who struggle endlessly with the goal of gaining weight. Their only dream is to pack on some extra weight to their skinny bodies.

Many people wish they had that problem, but in reality people who want to gain weight have the same anxiety, and suffer the same self-esteem problems as people who want to lose weight.

Being extremely thin has it’s own health problems, so you can’t even take comfort in the fact that you will be living a healthy lifestyle. Skinny people suffer heart attacks, strokes, diabetes and all the other diseases heavy people suffer. Plus because of their weight they may have a weaker immune system and heal slower after an operation.

While you may want to gain weight if you are underweight, your goal should be a healthy weight gain. Adding muscle mass to your body is the way to go. You don’t want to add a whole lot of loose, jiggly, fat to your frame.

While looking for high calorie foods to gain weight, you want to add nutritious foods, ones that are good for you.

The simple truth is that if you eat more calories then you burn, you will gain weight. So you need calorie dense foods to accomplish your goal. You could eat broccoli all day long and you won’t gain an ounce. You’ll probably get even skinnier than you already are.

Here is a list of high calorie foods to help you gain weight:

Pure fruit juice — much more calorie dense then eating fruit in its natural form Peanut butter — it’s delicious and high in calories Bananas — I find it easy to eat two Salmon — A calorie dense food that’s healthy and delicious Bacon — while bacon may make you think of all the fat contained in a strip, it’s so satisfying to have a few strips and it will pack on the pounds Nuts — always a healthy choice Cheese — I love breaking off a few chunks of provolone and those few chunks are very heavy in calories Butter or margarine — one tablespoon is 100 calories Olive oil — it’s good for you and high in calories Dressings — taste great and will pack on the pounds Guacamole Yogurt Lard Dried fruit

What you want to do is snack in between meals to add more calories to your daily consumption. A few chunks of cheese between lunch and dinner. Spread some peanut butter on a slice of bread. Munch on some nuts, or make a trail mix as a snack. Eat a handful of dried fruit.

Now that you are eating high calorie foods to gain weight, there is one more thing you should be doing. You should begin a workout routine that will help you turn these extra calories into muscle mass. The way to do that is to workout with heavy weights — while doing low reps. The heavy weight low rep workout is what is needed to build muscle mass. When I say heavy weights I mean heavy relative to what you are able to do. You won’t be attempting record-breaking lifts. Just weight that you will only be able to lift a few times.

Be consistent and workout about 3 times a week. And with this plan you will gain weight.

By: John Ringer

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You are overweight and desperate to lose some stubborn pounds. You have heard about the 1000 calories a day meal plan and want to pursue it, for the simple reason, that you are not starving, only reducing the calories!

It is easy to understand your desperation. Being overweight is causing you endless health problems and perhaps you can not sleep a wink as you are a victim of sleep apnea – a direct fall out of being overweight.

Frankly, there is nothing really wrong with the 1000 calories a day meal plan, except that this is considered to be a rather drastic measure to lose weight. Calorie is the energy the body needs and gets it from the foods that we eat.

So when you reduce the calorie intake so drastically, it naturally means that you are depriving the body of essential energy. Moreover, it is recommended not to opt for 1000 calories a day plan, unless you have the doctor’s tacit sanction in this regard and the weight loss is closely monitored.

We often make crucial errors in judgment when in a hurry to lose weight. Because of lack of sleep, you are already low on energy levels. Can you imagine what your condition would be when you further reduce the energy inputs by opting for this kind of meal plan?

Here are some other factors regarding 1000 calories a day meal plan for your consideration, before you decide to follow this:

Weight loss is usually slow with this type of meal plan. No matter how strong your will power is or how much patience you have, the biggest problem of a 1000 calories a day meal plan is that you would immediately gain the lost weight, once you stop the meal plan.

Because of the extremely low calorie content, 1000 calories a day plan is recommended for short term use only – for about a fortnight. Weight watchers usually take up this plan either to restart weight loss or as a kind of system cleanser. According to experts such drastic cut in calories may not be good for health if carried on for more than a week or 10 days at the most.

To ensure adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, you must always include a multivitamin/multi-nutrient supplement concurrently with this meal plan.

Such meal plans are taken up by people who are in a hurry to lose weight. In your case, when your primary aim is to lose weight to take care of your sleep apnea problem, this may not be the right choice, unless specifically recommended by your doctor.

Before you opt for 1000 calories a day plan you need to remember that weight loss becomes doubly difficult for an unhealthy body.

An important reasons why such a plan is not very effective for weight loss is that over time, such a diet is bound to slow down the body’s metabolism. It is natural for the body to cling on to every calorie that you provide, seeking the essential nutrients.

Perhaps a far better option is to find a meal plan which takes into consideration your body’s specific calorie needs, in terms of your height, weight, age and overall health condition. Not only does a healthy meal plan help you lose weight in a risk-free way, but leaves you with a lot of peace of mind too.

By: Marcus MacDonald

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There are various kinds of factors that lead to obesity. These include genetic problems, heredity and other ailments. Most of these causes are due to hormones and not eating habits. But one of the most influential factors of obesity is calories. The calories consumed by the body depend on the metabolic rate of the body and related internal factors. But the calories which are consumed through food into the body are totally dependent on the diet of a person.

There are many people who continue to remain slim and trim in spite of eating twice as compared to someone else who is overweight or obese, even though there food consumption may be less. This factor is one of the main reasons for which the calories consumed by the body should be regulated. If the metabolism rate of an individual is slow then the chances of burning high calorie food will be restricted. Hence the person should eat foods which have lower calorie counts but include all the other ingredients which are required by the body.

Being slim or overweight depends on the pattern in which the body receives and uses carbohydrates, protein and fat calories. It should be noted that not all people react to the same food in the same manner. There had been a series of tests conducted involving this matter and the reaction of the body, to the number of calories consumed, depends on the quantity of each type of calorie which is consumed by the body each day. This is also one of the main reasons that childhood obesity is not different from adult obesity.

For example, those who consumed too many carbohydrate calories than what the body would be able to use, then all the sugar in these carbohydrate calories would get converted to fat tissue and would be stored. This would happen because the body would be getting more sugar or carbohydrates than required. This pattern of calorie consumption is also related to other calorie types too. Those who consume too many wrong calories will certainly become obese or overweight.

Hence calories have a direct impact on obesity. Again it should be remembered that starving or not having food is not the solution to the problem of obesity. It will only aggravate the problem further because the body starts to deposit more fat as a defense mechanism to the starvation period. Hence it is essential that the body gets a diet which includes all the required food nutrients at frequent intervals.

Eating frequently, but consuming foods which are lower in calories helps to improve the metabolism of the body. The body stops to deposit fat in its store and uses up the lower calorie foods and converts the same into energy. Combining low calorie foods along with exercises is the best way of loosing weight and combating obesity.

Low calorie food excludes all forms of fried foods like chips, wafers, French fries, white flour and related foods. But inclusion of high fiber foods like oats, whole wheat, fruits and raw veggies helps to improve metabolism and burn more calories.

By: Johan Knutsson

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The goal of everyone that wants to lose weight should be to lose fat in the healthiest way possible while at the same time retaining as much lean muscle as possible. It is important to work with your body to promote healthy weight loss and to do this we need to determine the recommended calorie intake for your particular body.

Calorie intake is usually recommended as a static number by many resources and generally it is a reduction of 500 to 1000 calories a day from the calories needed to maintain your current weight. In general, this is a good place to start; however, the problem with using a static number is not everyone requires the same amount of calories to maintain their weight.

For example a person who requires 1800 calories a day to maintain their weight would be reducing their calorie intake by 27%, while a person that requires 2500 calories a day to maintain their weight would only be reducing by 20%. So it only seems logical that to find your recommended calorie intake, you should use a percentage of the calories required to maintain your weight.

Ideally you want to reduce the amount of calories required to maintain your current weight by 15%-20%. Now that you know the percentage, I know what you are thinking “OK…OK…but 15%-20% of WHAT!” Now we have to determine how many calories your body needs to maintain your current weight.

While many resources will tell you to just multiply your body weight by a set number to determine a caloric maintenance figure. As a rule, it is not the optimal way to determine the number for YOUR body. Personally I have found the Harris Benedict Formula to be very reliable when determining the number of calories needed to maintain your weight.

Below are the steps required to determine the recommended calorie intake for your body using the Harris Benedict Formula:

First, determine your Basal metabolic Rate (BMR). Next, find your caloric maintenance level by multiplying your BMR by the activity level multiplier. Third, reduce that number by 15%-20% to find your recommended calorie intake.
This may sound complicated, but it really is just a matter of plugging your numbers into a formula.

Find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

1 pound = 0.454 kilograms and 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters

Using the formula from above…

For Men:

66 + (13.7 x body-weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in years) = BMR

For Women:

655 + (9.6 x body-weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in years) = BMR

Now take your BMR and multiplier by the appropriate Activity Multiplier

Sedentary = BMR x 1.2 (little to no exercise) Lightly Active = BMR x 1.375 (light exercise: 1-3 days a week) Moderately Active = BMR x 1.55 (moderate exercise: 3-5 days a week) Very Active = BMR x 1.725 (intense exercise: 6-7 days a week) Extremely Active = BMR x 1.9 (intense daily exercise and a strenuous physical job)
Now, reduce this number by 15%-20% and you will have the recommended calorie intake for your body.

Here is an example:

Jennifer weighs 155 pounds, she is 38 years old, she is 5’3″ tall, and she is Moderately Active. to find her BMR we will plug her numbers into the formula. First we convert from pounds to kilograms and from inches to centimeters.

155 pounds x 0.454 = 70.4 kg and 5’3″ = 63 inches = 63 x 2.54 = 160.02 cm

655 + (675.84) + (288.04) – (178.6) = 1,440

BMR x Activity Level = 1440 x 1.55 = 2,232 So Jennifer’s caloric maintenance number is 2,232 calories a day.

For healthy weight loss, Jenifer’s recommended calorie intake would be 1,786 calories a day (2,232 – 20% = 1,786)

Know that you know how to determine the recommended calorie intake for safe and optimal weight loss, you have one more tool at your disposal to improve your chances of success at losing weight.

By: Amy L Swanson

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This article shares tips on losing weight fast by using a method of cycling your calorie intake. This helps keep your metabolism high because it does not give your body time to adapt to a low calorie intake which is a problem that many dieters experience.

Tips for losing weight fast

When you go on a diet you reduce the number of calories you are eating. This works for a while and your body loses weight but if you continue this restriction your body starts to worry that there is not enough food available and that you are headed for starvation. Your body then moves into protective mode by slowing your metabolism in an attempt to save your calorie-rich fat stores.

So what happens is you get into the downward spiral of having to reduce your calories more which slows your metabolism even more.

There is a better way, a way that allows you to keep your metabolism high even as you diet to lose weight. The solution is to cycle your calorie intake. There are many variations to calorie cycling but I prefer to keep it simple and sane by restricting calories for 6 days of the week and then cycling to one high calorie day.

This is an easy to remember method and very convenient because it allows you one day “off” your diet a week. This one day you can have your favorite foods, pasta, pizza, cookies…and what happens is your metabolism that was slowing because of your diet now springs back up to take care of the extra calories and you reset at a high fat burning level.

This concept is well researched and tested in thousands of real life cases and if you would like to learn more about how to make it work for you then I encourage you to follow the links below.

By: Dr. Becky Gillaspy

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What does our body do when it is fed excess calories? This means that the body had a safety valve to relieve the pressure to store excess calories as fat. The fact is, our bodies have more than one such safety valve. The one used most often is the blood sugar level. This rises to accommodate moderate, temporary oversupplies. However, when the oversupply of calories is neither moderate nor temporary, this safety valve cannot handle the problem. Another safety valve is often brought in. It is the stepping-up of the metabolic rate. In effect, the furnace burns faster in an effort to consume the excess.

There are other safety valves, perspiration, elimination, etc., but science is not very familiar with how and when they operate, largely due to wide individual differences. Eventually, the safety valves are no longer adequate to the increased pressure and the body yields to that pressure and creates fat.This can happen in a year, a week, or overnight. For some people it happens with the slightest pressure of excess calories. Their safety valves just don’t seem to be able to handle it. For others, a weekend of wining and dining will barely budge the scale and, as long as it gives way to five days of calm, the threat is over. Their safety valves can handle thousands of excess calories for days without an ounce of fat stored.

And then of course there are those envied people who never seem to gain no matter what they eat. They go through life forever slim. Their safety valves seem so efficient that their body has thrown away the key to the fat making machinery. Their excess calories are used or eliminated-never stored.
Whatever your tolerance is for excess calories, you approach that limit less frequently when you eat more frequently.

Remember the greater shaded area under the three-meal-a-day excess calorie graph as compared to the six-meal-a-day graph? How do you think it would look with one meal a day? One meal a day builds up an even greater pressure on the system to create fat storage. The blood sugar will rise, the body temperature may go up, the pulse rate may increase, perspiration may flow, and the bowels and kidneys may work overtime. However, the fat making machinery may still have to begin to hum.

The Hottentos, who lives in South Africa and depend largely on wild game for their survival, may go several days without a meal. Then when they made a kill they eat like it was going out of style. It may be their one meal in three days. What do you think their curve of excess calories looks like? And what do you think the body does about it? His body gives into the pressure to build fat, and builds it. They have humps of fat around their buttocks that act pretty much like the camel’s hump to store in times of plenty for use in the days ahead.

By: Priscilla Yao

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