Need food ideas to help me gain weight

So Im a pretty small guy to begin with, then you throw on top of that all manual labor that I've been doing here recently, I've started to loose weight. I was able to feel bones that Ive never felt before lol, thats how I know its bad. They guys I work with say to go get that protein stuff from GNC but I dont want to pump my body full of that junk! What could I start eating that will be healthy for me, taste good, and help me gain weight?

I appreciate your help!

Ice cream! Ice cream with melted peanut butter on top. Delicious, nutritious and pretty likely to help you put on weight. Honestly, I think you could eat whatever you enjoy. Fat is very calorie dense, but also very filling. Carbohydrates seem to put weight on most people. Protein comes in many delicious forms, including meat, dairy, eggs and legumes. I recommend cooking the eggs, or at least the egg whites (I like my yolks runny) but of course Rocky ate raw eggs when he was bulking up in the original movie. (Don't eat raw eggs from factory farms!!)

Don't buy processed protein products. Spend your money on the best food you can find, and enjoy!

Sounds like what happens when you start working on a farm, I didn't loose much weight because I was always pretty lightweight but I've gained muscle greatly. the farm is like It's own gym, but better than any gym out there. Funny thing Is I eat a lot of food, maybe twice as much as the average person. Most of it food I grew or someone I know grew it.

What rich foods do you eat now?

Peanut butter, almonds, eggs, beans, and meat. Take your pick, just pack it on! Anything you can cook in or with oil will also increase your caloric intake.

A word of caution, however: beware of cholesterol. With your increased diet, many things you will tend to eat will have plenty of cholesterol. Balance this out with something higher in fiber like oatmeal.

Oh! I almost forgot! Lots of carbs! Preferably complex, but if you're in a hurry anything will do. Pasta, bread, take your pick. If you're feeling fancy, naan and hummus can really pack a punch! Best of luck! (and drink lots of water!)

Adam Poddepie wrote:
Oh! I almost forgot! Lots of carbs! Preferably complex, but if you're in a hurry anything will do. Pasta, bread, take your pick. If you're feeling fancy, naan and hummus can really pack a punch! Best of luck! (and drink lots of water!)

I agree with Julia and Adam that adding carbohydrates is the way to go. Starchy carbs are how I gained too much weight. I have a weakness for them - especially potato chips (I know). When I reduce my starchy carbs I lose weight, even without increasing my exercise.

Some people continue to lose weight, and lower their cholesterol, on high fat diets (I have, though I have more weight to lose still), so the high fat or rich foods recommended may or may not work for you.

Just wanna point out one more thing: there are carbs, carbs and carbs.

Complex carbs can be green or most any garden veggies, whole grains, legumes or root veggies - it's a broad definition. The opposite are simple carbs: sugars, white/refined flours or alcohol. Then there are grains that are fermented or not. (Sheesh, we get complicated about food!)

When I recommend adding starchy carbs, I'm implying whole foods and what I consider to be healthy ones - root vegetables (potatoes! though probably not deep fried ) or winter squashes, whole (fermented?) grains, soaked legumes.

Good luck!

If you are eating enough good food , I would not worry about it. Everyone has a natural weight we are genetically inclined to. I remember spending much of my youth trying to gain weight by eating alot. Could not gain no matter what. ( I assume you are younger than me ). Then when I hit my 30's all hell broke loose around my waist line. I can certainly gain , hard to lose , and I still have those old bad eating habits. I yearn for the days when freinds called me "Skeletor" and not "Bubba".

You are gaining muscle mass as you lose weight...

You need all calories for sure but protein should be high on your need to eats. I know there are many people out there more qualified to help in this than I am, i would suggest perhaps looking for another websight focused more on this issue. I do know that when I was losing weight when pregnant with my last one, adding nuts to my diet fixed it all up and they were delicious so

when they say peanut butter...i say yes

my suggestion really would be to make or buy some sort of granola or trail mix which you can carry with you. I would look for (or make) one with plenty of nuts and some dried fruits. Keep some with you even as you work. Nibble a bit whenever you can or feel like it. If you have problems with dirty hands, make it into a bar and cut small squares so you can just slip one out of the container straight into your mouth.

would also buy a small bottle of "Elete" at a runner or hiking shop.

you are getting calories, but not converting them to muscle fast enough, it could be a calcium/magnesium problem.
soaking your feet in epsom salts not only soothes the bones, but will leach out bad stuff and stink, and your body will uptake what magnesium it needs without running it thru your stomach, which can be smoothie inducing.


Adding electrolytes will really help you to burn the fuel more efficiently, and use water more efficiently too.
They say you drink 40% less water, yet stay 60% better hydrated. Part marketing hype, but the firefighters are using it, and having great success for stamina and energy.
May be in part cuz you are peeing less , but you will feel it or not within a few days.

A good generic rule: never eat protein without fat and never eat carbs without protein

For calorie dense foods that give lasting energy and fortify the body, eat roots and tubers: such as carrots, beets, potatoes, and all the other wonders found within the earth.

Also consider the psuedo-grains, such as buckwheat; as well as tree nuts.


And don't forget: egg yolks are nature's multi-vitamin!

If all that you are losing is fat and not muscle, be glad about that even if it makes you look "uglier" you will live with less health problems and most likely longer.
Now if you are in fact losing muscle, then that means that you need to increase you calorie intake.
For that I would recommend a high protein diet so that you can replace the lost muscle.
I would also include more complex carbs, such as beans and maybe some root/tubers.
Drink lost of water to keep you hydrated even in the winter and at least a 1/2lbs of vegetables a day, mineral/vitamins to build new cells.
Dont forget to give yourself a day, preferable on the weekend, where you go all out eating as much junk food as your gut can hold.
It will let you pack on the pound while still being healthy.

If your belly is getting bigger then you most likely have worms/etc

Lots of good advice on this forum already. The body can only produce one digestive enzyme at a time, so starchy foods such as carbs should never be mixed with concentrated proteins like meat, milk, eggs. Mix them with beans, which are protein and carbs, they digest differently. Never eat meat until one hour after dairy, or dairy four hours after meat and it will digest better. I know, I know, we all fudge on this, with meat sandwiches with bread and such, but we pay for it with arthritis, impaired liver function, indigestion, etc.

Make sure you don't have parasites. I always do a parasite cleanse twice a year whether I have symptoms or not, after all, I'm shoveling manure out of barns, and handling dirt and breathing the dust off compost, etc. I use a green hull tincture of black walnut, artemesia absinthe and artemesia annua and garlic. Usually 3 times a day for two weeks gets rid of most things in the gut, but not tapeworm. Tapeworm requires something like squash seed or pumpkin seed daily for about two months, although the black walnut does help.

There is a lot of difference in fats/oils. Generally the oils that are liquid at above 75 degrees will help dissolve the saturated fat in the body. Too much saturated fat is not good for the arteries, but the body can deal with some if you get the good oils too. Even some of the greens have omega 3.

Put more emphasize on nuts, grains, puddings and make sure you eat a rich, wholesome snack before bedtime and then again as soon as you get up and feel hungry. Someone suggested keeping snacks with you while working and that is an excellent idea. You are burning a lot of calories, try to provide for the extra by eating more.
Get quality rest when you can, and get enough of it. Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, it conserves calories. Try to learn to work with less movement, in the way you stand or walk while working, or toss compost or whatever you are doing. Find ways to do it with less effort.

".....There is a lot of difference in fats/oils. Generally the oils that are liquid at above 75 degrees will help dissolve the saturated fat in the body. Too much saturated fat is not good for the arteries, but the body can deal with some if you get the good oils too....."


Don't mean to start an argument; but I have not found any science to back this statement... In fact; closer to the opposite.

When our oxen or horses are working hard, we add feed (think grain) to their food. Normally they do just fine on our grasses. But you have to have a calories when you are really active.

I used to commute with a bike, I had to eat peanut butter sandwiches to maintain weight, when I am only doing office work, the mere sight of one I think would make me gain weight.

Hi,

You want gain some weight yes. take daily morning banana's with milk these are very good for health and you will get weight with fit body, don't put your stomach empty, take anytime any item.

Ice creams, fat foods, chocolates and eggs also better.

David Hartley wrote:".....There is a lot of difference in fats/oils. Generally the oils that are liquid at above 75 degrees will help dissolve the saturated fat in the body. Too much saturated fat is not good for the arteries, but the body can deal with some if you get the good oils too....."


Don't mean to start an argument; but I have not found any science to back this statement... In fact; closer to the opposite.

If I'm not mistaken what Melba was trying to say is that a lot of "good" oils are liquid at or above room temperature, which I wouldn't argue on the basis of the variety that meet that criteria... But some "good oils" are solid at room temperature but again so are hydrogenated oils, and plenty of "good" oils maintain a certain viscosity down to freezing.

So I wouldn't say it's necessarily one way or the other.

I aslo need to gain weight, but dont know how

If its muscle you are trying to add, the ground rules for us skinny guys is to eat 1 gram of protein for every kilo of our goal weight. Also make sure you are getting the calories required at that goal weight. Other than that, focus on all around nutrition so your body can efficiently use that protein. Also you need to start lifting heavy. Short reps and slow lifts. The Exomorph body type (naturally thin) needs brief,  intense exercise to put on muscle. I'm 5'9" and if I do nothing but normal daily activities,  I shrink down to 140lb or less. Working out 3 days a week lifting as heavy as I can, lifting 3 sets of 5 reps to failure (if you can do 7 reps, increase the weight. If you can only do three, reduce the weight) and focusing on a few complex motions like squats and clean&press rather than bicep curls, etc. This got me over 160lb and chiseled like a Greek statue. I wasn't going for excessive bulk, just functional strength and aesthetics. I've lost a lot of it because of life changes, but I know what I can do. If you just want to add some mass to fill you out and don't mind most of it being fat, any combination of carbs and fat together is ideal (not exactly healthy) though extreme exomorphs like me will just sweat it off in our sleep. Good luck.

If gaining weight is hard for you and you have a healthy diet already, no food is going to help you put on lean mass. You need to work for it. Lift heavy. You can do
cardio too, but not within a couple hours of your lifting. There are certain foods like beets that can help enhance your athletic performance, I'll let you do your own research, but there is no food that will solve your problem.  And no, saying "I do lots of lifting at work" doesn't cut it. It might for a different body type, but for an exomorph, if you are lifting enough at work for it to count, your workplace is seriously dangerous and you need to stop.

As for the "pack it in" protein advice, please dont listen. The body can only process a certain amount of protein and it is usually far less than people think. Excess protein will screw up the kidneys. I assume people would rather not die of renal failure,  heart disease, or cancer (all linked to excess protein) while making beautiful muscle gains. There is a tradeoff between longevity and optimum athletic performance. Look at the lifespans of most pro athletes and consider where on that scale looks ideal.

Milkshakes can help you gain weight. Nuts are a good source of dietary fat and some protein.

I don't know if you would love to try it. But it is from my personal experience to share with you. If you add one boiled potato two tiimes in your diet , you would definitely gain weight. It is easily available in your kitchen also.
I had a friend in my college days and he used to eat one boiled potato every day  with his lunch. And within 4 months he gain weight quickly.

Nowadays I used to provide  boil potato to my 6 years old boys diet. And he is also showing positive response.

We in India make many popular dishes with potato and one of the most popular one is Aloo paratha(spiced potato stuffed flat bread). It is made by stuffing in a whole wheat flour dough and roasted on a pan till crisp golden.

You can make it and try in your breakfast.

From what I know about sugar glucose (instead of fructose) is better for gaining muscular weight.

I had major issues with weight when I was young.  I would take huge amounts of weight gain mix with milk and raw eggs several times each day and eat like a horse taking in 5K to 6K calories a day.  I could just manage to keep from losing weight with this diet, I had to take in even more calories than that for months on end to actually gain any weight.  It was a herculean effort to get beyond 150 pounds or more than 1% body fat.  I joined the Navy at age 19 weighing in at 136 pounds, years later when I came out of the Navy I was a whopping 144 pounds and less than 1% body fat...

Age 22 when I married my wife, I was 156 pounds, I had been working on my weight for months to get up to that, my wife was 9 pounds heavier than I was at the time....



I had issues with this all the way up into my late twenties when I read an article that talked about people dieting and putting their bodies into starvation mode which actually worked to make them gain more weight...  I began to think that maybe cutting back on food might have the effect of putting my body into starvation mode...  It worked...  It took a year of keeping my diet at about 1,200 calories a day to finally start seeing real gains, but I finally managed it.  

Age 30 finally managed to get to 190...



I kept my reduced calorie diet and by age 40 I broke 205....



And now at age 50 I am running 220...  I am having to increase my intake to 1,800 a day now to drop my weight a bit, 220 is a bit much at 5 ft 9...



Everyone is different and no matter what you do it is going to take some patience...  It is counter intuitive that "less" food can make you gain weight but, that is sure what did it for me...  Even now as soon as I raise my calories I start losing weight again...  Keep in mind that I am an unusually active person, when I was in the military I ran 70 miles a week and worked out daily, that burns a whole heck of a lot of calories.  Who knows whether you would get the same kind of results that I did or not. One other thing I would note is that while "everyone" in my family is diabetic, I at age 50 am not even pre diabetic as yet...  Something to be said about calorie restriction...