Why can’t I gain weight?

Do you keep asking yourself, “Am I eating enough?” when it should be apparent, from the fact that your scale isn’t giving you higher readings, that the answer is “No.” If you were eating enough, you would at least be gaining some fat. And the question is almost irrelevant, for the more muscle mass you have, the more food you’ll need. If you think gaining 10 pounds from your current weight takes a lot of eating, wait until you try to gain 10 pounds after you’ve put on 30 pounds of muscle. You have to eat progressively.

How do you know if you’re taking in enough calories to gain weight? The scale will give you progressively higher readings. How do you know if you’re taking in enough calories to gain fast? Not only will the scale give you progressively higher readings, your bodyfat will increase (use a skinfold caliper, don’t try to estimate by eye). This is not sophisticated.

What should you eat? Basically more of everything. But healthy food, people. Read labels and don’t buy grain products that contain flours that aren’t whole grain, don’t buy food with corn syrup added. Eat more vegetables, more lean meat and dairy, more fruit, more legumes, more healthy fats. If you don’t know if an item is healthy, find out. Information is too readily available today for you to justify remaining ignorant.

And you should learn how to cook. Take a cooking class of any kind, learn to cook some new foods. You’ll be much happier if you learn to make a few different dishes. You’ll find it much easier to stick with your weight gain diet plan, you’ll save money, you’ll save time, you’ll stay healthier. If you haven’t yet learned to cook, you can’t imagine how much easier it is to eat a lot, or a little, with a variety of well prepared meals. You’re going to be eating a lot of meals, a lot of food, in your lifetime. Invest some time and effort up front to make it more enjoyable.

Don’t have time to cook? Don’t have time to eat right, or to go to the grocery store? Then you don’t have time to be reading this website. Health first, entertainment second. Get going!