How To Gain Weight With A Fast Metabolism

Several characteristics, such as thin bones, narrow frames, tiny stomachs, meager appetites, and quick metabolisms, are often present in skinny frames. How to gain weight with a fast metabolism is the last piece of the jigsaw that will be the subject of this article. We all too well are aware of this.

But it’s not exactly as straightforward as people often believe. Your inability to acquire weight with a fast metabolism¹ is likely due less to a “quick” metabolism and more to an “adaptive” metabolism. When you consume more food, your metabolism increases, and you burn more calories. This is what is meant when someone is a “hard-gainer.“

So how can someone with a quick metabolism add muscle growth, strength, and weight? Let’s start now.

1. Which Foods Are Best To Gain Weight

It’s crucial to gain weight properly if you’re underweight and want to do so.

Although consuming soda, doughnuts, and other junk food may initially help you gain weight, it may also raise your chances of developing diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Instead of accumulating a lot of undesirable belly fat, a better way to gain weight is to grow a balanced quantity of muscle growth and subcutaneous fat².

According to new animal research, belly fat may be linked to an increased risk of cancer. Even if you are not overweight, having a high proportion of body weight raises your risk of type 2 diabetes³ and other health issues.

Focus on eating more nutrient-dense meals and leading an overall healthy lifestyle that includes exercising, getting adequate sleep, and lowering stress if you want to gain weight in a healthy way.

2. Significance Of Weight Gain

Although over 74% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, a large number of individuals struggle with the opposite issue of being underweight.

Some people may have a rapid metabolism or a hereditary predisposition to being underweight. A lack of weight may also indicate inadequate nutrition or underlying medical issues.

In addition, many individuals who are not clinically underweight may nonetheless want to put on weight and muscle for various reasons.

The fundamentals are the same whether you’re trying to increase muscle weight or are clinically underweight.

3. An Underweight Status

Not eating enough to satisfy your nutritional needs can lead to malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, osteoporosis⁴, lowered immune function, problems with fertility, issues with growth and development, and digestive problems, regardless of whether you are underweight due to undereating or you simply have a fast metabolism.

These are just a few examples. In these conditions, increasing weight and eating more may thus serve to promote general health better.

5. Health Concerns With Underweight

Your health might be harmed if you are underweight.

According to one research, those who are clinically underweight had a nearly twofold higher chance of dying than those who are fat, suggesting that being underweight may be worse for your health than being obese.

Another research discovered that beyond the age of 38, self-reported health outcomes dramatically decreased in underweight people, suggesting that having a low BMI later in life may be associated with higher health risks.

Being underweight may affect your fertility, harm your immune system, increase your risk of infection, cause osteoporosis and fractures, and lower your resistance to disease.

In addition, underweight people have a higher chance of developing sarcopenia⁵ (age-related muscular loss) and dementia.

It may also result in issues with the growth and development of youngsters.

6. Recovery From an Eating Disorder

People recovering from eating disorders often need to regain lost weight and improve their nutritional condition.

After years of food restriction, their hunger cues may get muted as a result. So, they may need to rely on methods other than their hunger signals to boost their calorie intake.

7. Small Appetite

Drugs like SSRIs, ADHD stimulants, or medical illnesses, including digestive problems, anxiety, and depression, may affect one’s appetite.

Whatever the cause of the weight increase, some people may need professional assistance that promotes long-term health and doesn’t only include consuming more caloric meals like drinks, fries, and calorie-dense foods like pastries.

These meals can undoubtedly be included in the plan. Still, we also want to make sure that we are feeling our best during the process, so we should give priority to foods that support our digestion, energy demands, and cognitive function.

8. Not Gaining Weight

The answer to this question is not simple since it depends heavily on your actions on a small number of factors.

To gain weight and muscle mass during a bulk, you must ultimately be in a calorie surplus, which simply means that you must be ingesting more calories than you are burning off.

Finding a solution that works may be stressful and time-consuming since the number of additional calories differs greatly on the person.

Review and master the advice listed below for the greatest outcomes.

There’s a good chance that you’re wrong on a few of them, and the sooner you correct that, the simpler it will be to put on weight and muscle.

It’s also important to remember that weight growth will be challenging for someone who is a hard gainer. It is simple to get dejected but keep in mind that it is possible.

9. Strategies For Weight Gain

Here are eight suggestions for how to gain weight with a fast metabolism.

It’s critical to realize that you need to be in a calorie excess to gain weight.

However, for most hard gainers, the excess amount will mostly rely on the weekly gain rate you are tracking, and it will typically alter every week.

Therefore, carefully study each piece of advice provided below since it’s important to develop a long-term bulking plan that will enable you to add mass and muscle.

9.1. Amplify the Calories From Liquid

A wonderful strategy to increase caloric intake and prevent meals from sitting too long in the GI system is to increase calories from liquids.

We often feel bloated and lose our appetite for hours after consuming huge quantities of food and meals high in fat. As a hard gainer, you’ll probably need to eat more often, which implies a lot of moderate-sized meals.

Protein shakes, juices, smoothies, and any other beverage with carbohydrates, protein, or both are excellent methods to consume plenty of calories without feeling stuffed at your next meal.

These liquid calories must meet your macro requirements, so be sure to create an ideal meal schedule unique to you.

9.2. Upgrade Meal Regularity

You will likely need to consume much more than you are now if you are a hard gainer. Every time you eat, you get full, making it difficult to eat again for many hours.

Instead of sticking to the conventional 2-3 meals a day, you need to eat more often and spread your calories out throughout the day to address this.

The unpleasant truth is that you may need to consume 500–1000 or even 1500 calories more per day than you now do to see noticeable benefits.

For instance, your daily maintenance caloric intake should be about 3,500. However, during your bulk stage, you should consume over 5,000 caloric daily, and weight gain will take about 3 weeks until it will start to show up on the scale.

You cannot sustain a 5,000-calorie diet while only eating twice or three times a day. You would need to consume a lot of food, get bloated, and probably receive those calories from extremely subpar bulking sources, which would almost certainly result in significant body fat growth.

Also, keep in mind that drinks may be included in meals.

9.3. Reduce Caloric Spending

Cardio is not a negative thing while bulking, but it might cause you to burn more calories, making you need to eat more to maintain a calorie surplus.

Another alternative for those with high metabolic rates who struggle to consume more calories is to reduce their calorie expenditure by avoiding cardio and other types of exercise that don’t directly contribute to improved muscle building via weight training.

Aside from burning a ton of calories, performing a lot of cardio, particularly high-intensity cardio, may also prevent you from gaining muscle and weight sustainably.

Therefore, you might attempt to reduce calorie consumption and keep in mind how many calories you consume if you are really active and don’t appear to be able to consume any more food.

Just keep in mind that gaining weight while being active can help you boost your resting metabolic rate, which will pay off greatly when you go on a diet since you will be able to consume more calories and yet lose fat than someone with a lower metabolic rate.

9.4. Eat More Food Every Week

Because they are eager to put on weight, most hard gainers make it a point to eat a large number of calories when they first begin a bulk. People often find that they cannot stick to the same eating pattern for days, weeks, or even months when they make the mistake of attempting to consume too much food in too short of a period of time.

This happens when they try to eat too much food too rapidly. Rather than making a sudden and significant increase in calorie consumption, you should begin by making an effort to eat 200–300 more calories per day than your baseline for the first week.

You’ll unlikely put on any new weight in the first week. During the next week, you should consider adding an additional 200–300 calories to your daily consumption.

It is generally feasible to train your appetite over time by gradually increasing the amount you consume every week.

This will enable your appetite to adjust over time. You should also keep a watch on your gain pace, ensuring that it is moderate and consistent to facilitate muscle development and avoid accumulated fat that is unnecessary. Keep in mind that you will most likely gain some healthy fats, which is normal.

You are free to continue gradually increasing the calories you consume every week until you consistently gain between 0.5 and 1.0 pounds each week.

Take your time and play the average weight loss game, which may entail gaining three pounds in the first week (food weight), losing nothing in the second week, and one pound in the third and fourth weeks.

Take your time and play the game. Anything above can indicate that you are gaining weight at an unhealthy rate (so you gained 3.5 total pounds in a month).

9.5. Bulk For Longer Time

Because you have trouble gaining weight, bulking won’t be an easy task for you. The unfortunate reality is that you have been blessed with a fast metabolism, which is great for maintaining a healthy weight but may be difficult to combat while attempting to gain weight.

This is the case regardless of how many strategies and pieces of advice I provide you with regarding this matter.

You will see larger advantages if you can commit to longer bulking periods (at least 12 weeks of steadily increasing your weight and the number of calories you consume). You should do a series of two bulks during your most recent bulking cycle, with a pause of four weeks between each one.

This will allow you to lower the amount of body fat that accumulated and desensitize your body to the process of muscle building. Your whole bulking cycle should consist of a 12-week phase of bulking, a 4-week period of maintenance, and a further 8-week phase of bulking.

To prevent developing an unhealthy amount of body fat once again, you should decide to keep the length of my maximal bulking phase between 12 and 14 weeks.

During the bulking phase, the number of good fats in your body will rise by a few percentage points, but it will immediately start to fall again during the cutting phase.

9.6. At Times, You May Have to Eat Less Cleanly

Because better meals contribute to improved digestion and overall internal health, the quality of the food is an essential component of any diet. In light of this, it is imperative that you make an effort to include a wide range of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fiber in your diet.

The trouble, though, emerges when you ingest certain foods and then discover that you cannot consume any more of them. If you’ve ever tried to start your day with three servings of oats, numerous eggs, and a cup of coffee, you probably have some idea of how challenging it can be to consume only clean food sources during a significant bulk.

Because of this, you could find that the only way to fulfill your body’s requirements for the various macronutrients is to consume meals high in sugar and fat.

If you find that you are eating a lot of processed foods⁶ and sweets, you should have your blood checked both before and after you start bulking up to ensure that you are not putting your health at risk.

For the majority of healthy individuals who are also highly active, doing this momentarily may not represent a problem for them over the long run. This is one of the reasons why they may need to turn to these types of meals.

After putting on muscle, you should immediately begin cutting down on calories by immediately removing the food sources that are least beneficial to your health.

9.7. Be Tender And Consistent

If you have trouble putting on weight, the process of bulking up can take a while. The terrible reality is that you will put on weight more slowly than most individuals, but if you are determined and patient enough to finish longer bulking cycles, this might work to your advantage (10-14 weeks).

You see, gradually increasing weight over a longer length of time will allow you to avoid accumulating too much weight too quickly, which will boost the rate of healthy weight accumulation during the bulking phase.

This is because steady weight gain occurs over the course of a longer length of time. To be clear, you will acquire fat, but the rate you do so will be slower than if you were to mass eat too much, too fast, mindlessly.

Be patient and remember that the average weight you may acquire in a week is between 0.5 and 0.75 pounds. This means that some weeks you might not even gain any weight, or you can even lose some, depending on how much water and food you consume.

When you give yourself more time to bulk up, you give yourself more opportunities to create improvements that will last over the long run.

9.8. Add Protein Shakes and Carb Powders

Supplements can only help you if you already have a healthy diet and consistently push yourself in the gym.

Most people are under the impression that taking dietary supplements would magically assist them in accomplishing their goals; nevertheless, supplements are the only tools you might use to meet your targets if you even want their assistance.

Utilizing protein and carbohydrate powders may help you increase your calorie intake and ensure that you satisfy your needs for the various macronutrients.

These are also good ways for surreptitiously taking carbohydrates while exercising, with the goals of enhancing performance, nourishing the muscles both during and after exercise, accelerating recuperation, and promoting muscular tissue growth.

10. Conclusion

As a hard gainer, you will struggle to consume enough calories to support rigorous exercise AND weight gain. However, using the advice above, you may start to change your habits and make a long-term strategy to boost weight growth.

Remember that your development will be significantly slower than that of those who can acquire bulk and weight more quickly, but try not to let that discourage you.

After a successful bulk, in which most people should seek to obtain 2%-4% of their body mass per month for at least a few months in a row, you should spend a couple of days re-establishing your body weight at that proper weight by reducing calories mildly to remain stable your new weight, but not so much that you lose weight.

It’s crucial to do this by consuming meals that are high in nutrients and gaining lean muscle mass. The process of losing weight is ultimately a marathon, not a sprint. If you want to be successful in the long term, it might require a lot of work and consistency.

It’s crucial to see a doctor or nutritionist if you’re having trouble gaining weight despite following the aforementioned measures. You may use eating techniques that might help you achieve your goal with the assistance of a dietician.

FAQ

1. Why is it important to gain weight?

Gaining weight is essential for individuals who are underweight or have a low body mass index (BMI). It helps improve overall health, increases energy levels, supports proper organ function, and enhances immunity.

2. How do I know if I’m underweight?

You can determine if you’re underweight by calculating your BMI (Body Mass Index). A BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight. However, it’s important to consult with a healthcare professional to assess your weight status accurately.

3. Can I gain weight in a healthy way?

Yes, you can gain weight in a healthy manner by focusing on a balanced diet, regular exercise, and adopting good lifestyle habits. Consuming nutrient-rich foods and avoiding excessive junk food is essential for healthy weight gain.

Read more

1. Lovegrove, B. G. “The influence of climate on the basal metabolic rate of small mammals: a slow-fast metabolic continuum.” Journal of Comparative Physiology B 173 (2003): 87-112. ↩︎
2. Illouz, Y. G. “Study of subcutaneous fat.” Aesthetic plastic surgery 14 (1990): 165-177. ↩︎
3. Chatterjee, Sudesna, Kamlesh Khunti, and Melanie J. Davies. “Type 2 diabetes.” The lancet 389.10085 (2017): 2239-2251. ↩︎
4. Rachner, Tilman D., Sundeep Khosla, and Lorenz C. Hofbauer. “Osteoporosis: now and the future.” The Lancet 377.9773 (2011): 1276-1287. ↩︎
5. Cruz-Jentoft, Alfonso J., and Avan A. Sayer. “Sarcopenia.” The Lancet 393.10191 (2019): 2636-2646. ↩︎
6. Monteiro, Carlos A., et al. “Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them.” Public health nutrition 22.5 (2019): 936-941. ↩︎

Last Updated on July 22, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology