Struggling to gain weight might seem like a good problem to have, but it isn’t.
Many trainees find themselves training hard and seemingly doing everything right, yet never managing to build muscle.
The good news is, making smarter food choices and using certain tactics can make it easy to get your calories in, drive your performance up, and gain serious mass in the long run.
Let’s dive into it.
Five Foods To Add To Your Diet If You Struggle With Weight Gain
1. Dried Fruits Dried fruits are a fantastic carb source you need to consume if you struggle with weight gain. First, they are loaded with fibre, antioxidants, and micronutrients, which makes them incredibly healthy.
Second, they pack some serious calories. For reference, a single ounce of raisins (less than a handful) offers nearly 90 calories.
2. Chickpeas Chickpeas are another nutritious and calorie-dense carb food you should add to your menu. Packed with all sorts of good nutrients, 100 grams of chickpeas offers nearly 370 calories, over 60 grams of carbs, and plenty of protein.
3. Nuts While not technically a high-carb food, nuts are still a fantastic option if you struggle to gain weight. They are full of antioxidants, micronutrients, fibre, and healthy fats. Plus, they taste great and make it easy to add hundreds of extra calories to your daily intake.
For example, a handful of almonds offers over 160 calories.
4. Dark Chocolate I bet you didn’t expect to see chocolate on this list, did you? Dark chocolate is a fantastic option because it offers numerous health benefits thanks to its rich cocoa content. It can lower bad cholesterol, reduce oxidative stress, and improve brain function.
Plus, it tastes great and offers plenty of calories.
5. Oats Oats are another great food you should add to your menu because you can make them into delicious oatmeal. They provide many essential nutrients and are a good source of dietary fibre.
Besides that, oats are a fantastic source of complex carbs and calories. For reference, just half a cup of oats offers a bit over 300 calories.
Two Tips to Get More Calories In And Drive Training Performance Up
1. Take Advantage of Liquid Calories Besides making better food choices, taking advantage of liquid calories is one of the best things you can do to eat more and drive your performance up. Drinks make it easier to consume lots of calories without feeling getting stuffed.
For example, you can make weight gainer shakes at home. Add some full-fat milk, protein powder, oats, banana, some nuts, and dried fruit. Blend it up, and enjoy.
2. Start Early And Finish Late A big reason why many people struggle to eat more is that they have a small eating window. They wake up, drink some coffee, get to work, and only start eating after 11 AM. Big mistake.
If you want to maximise your calorie intake, start early, be consistent, and finish late. For example:
7 AM – breakfast
11 AM – snack
1 PM – lunch
4 PM – snack
7 PM – dinner
10-11 PM – snack
Instead of eating your calories in a 6-hour window, you get 14 to 16 hours to consume your daily calories.
