The high-calorie diet: ideal for gaining weight and mass in a healthy way!
There are those who argue with the scales and those (yes, yes, it is less rare than you think) would like to gain weight. In fact, being underweight presents health risks, just as much as being obese.
But gaining weight is not easy and it has to be done the right way. The solution is certainly not to eat more and badly: by throwing yourself on drinks, sweets and packaged dishes you will probably gain weight, but your health will also suffer!
Instead, the goal is to gain weight by eating more and well.
Here are our allies for staying healthy:
See also
The 1200 calorie diet: to lose weight in a healthy way
What is a high calorie diet?
The high calorie diet (or fattening diet) is a highly nutritious and high calorie but balanced diet. It provides the body with more energy and nutrients than a weight maintenance diet;
However, it is a balanced diet that excludes junk food and involves lots of fruit and vegetables, meat and carbohydrates, all in the right measures. Healthy foods with an excellent percentage of protein will be very important to help develop lean mass.
An adult woman who follows a "normal" diet consumes an average of 1800 calories per day. The high-calorie diet consists of considerably increasing the intake of daily calories (possibly reaching up to 3000), in order to increase fat mass but also muscle mass.
How does it work?
The body stores the energy supplies which it draws from in case of need. The high-calorie diet simply allows you to increase the body's stock of calories. In other words, following this diet will provide your body with more calories than it needs to function on a daily basis. The body will use what it needs and keep the rest.
The high calorie diet, for whom?
There are many reasons that can lead to a high-calorie diet.
There are people who have a rapid metabolism, that is, their body burns the calories ingested so quickly that it does not store them and therefore cannot stock up. This type of people will be very slim, or even thin (ie with a body mass index below 18.5), especially if they practice regular sporting activity.
The high-calorie diet will allow you to harmonize the silhouette making it more shapely in the right places.
But the fattening diet will help regain the pounds lost following intestinal infections, thyroid problems, hormonal imbalances or after a period of intense stress and fatigue.
How to eat more?
During the high-calorie diet, the diet must remain balanced. So, as we have said, the solution is not to enrich your diet with foods that are bad for your health! Instead, you need to gain weight by eating healthy and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
It will be necessary to increase the consumption of proteins, carbohydrates and fats while maintaining a good balance between these 3 large food families, eating more globally to increase calorie intake.
It will also be necessary:
- drink a lot
- eat bread with every meal
- choose raw fats (such as extra virgin olive oil)
- give preference to complete cereals
To eat more effortlessly you will need to gradually increase the doses. In fact, the stomach will have to get used to digesting larger quantities of food and psychologically it is also important to take it slow, so as not to have the impression of gorging oneself.
The basic rule is the splitting: 3 meals a day + 2-3 additional snacks.
In addition to nutrition, it will be necessary to combine physical activity that not only tones the silhouette but also allows you to stimulate the appetite and avoid the accumulation of fat in the wrong places.
The menu for a typical day
An example of a typical day for a balanced weight gain diet could be the following:
BREAKFAST:
200 g whole milk, coffee to taste, a teaspoon of sugar, 4 rusks with two teaspoons of jam or 40 g of biscuits or cereals.
Or
a cappuccino with a teaspoon of sugar and a croissant also stuffed.
MID MORNING:
An orange juice or a fruit juice or a cappuccino with a snack of your choice or a stuffed brioche.
Or
40 g of bread with bread to taste.
LUNCH:
First course: 80 g pasta or rice dressed with tomato to taste, two teaspoons of oil, three teaspoons of grated cheese;
Second course: tuna in oil a 120 g package or two eggs or a hamburger or 80 g raw or cooked ham or 80 g speck or bresaola or 5 fish sticks or a portion of meat or fish (minimum weight 120 g) ;
Side dish: vegetables to taste;
Bread: 40 g (half rosette) or a 25 g packet of crackers.
Fruit: a pear or two kiwis or an orange or an apple or a banana or a bowl of strawberries or a portion of pineapple or melon
AFTERNOON:
A slice of tart or a sweet, an ice cream to taste or a pudding or a milk and fruit smoothie or a 40 g sandwich with two slices of cooked or raw ham.
DINNER:
Second course: meat or fish (minimum weight 150 g) or a mozzarella or stracchino minimum 70 g;
Side dish: vegetables to taste.
At least twice a week as a side dish, eat a portion of fresh potatoes or legumes.
80g of bread (one rosette);
Fruit: a pear or two kiwis or a banana or a portion of pineapple or melon or an apple or a bowl of strawberries or an orange or a fruit sorbet.
And then?
Give yourself time! Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to lose weight than to take it on.
After the start of the high-calorie diet, energy increases and the body gets used to the new quantities ingested, then slowly the weight begins to increase.
In a little while, the weight will stabilize on a weight higher than the initial one. At that point you can choose to continue following the fattening diet (to maintain the new weight) or to return to a normal diet.
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- The benefits of kefir, the new wellness elixir
- The 10 rules for proper nutrition
- 8 things you don't know about carbohydrates
