Gaining weight the healthy way

To gain weight, you need to eat more calories than your body uses each day. You need to do this consistently over time to make a difference to your weight.

Healthy eating means having regular balanced meals that are low in fat and sugar, with at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day. To gain weight healthily this can be changed a little:

• Choose foods low in saturated fat but increase the amount of unsaturated fat you use.
• Have carbohydrates with each meal and try to increase your portion sizes. Sugars and sweet foods can be included as long as you clean your teeth regularly. Ask your Dentist if you should make any changes to your dental hygiene routine.
• Eat protein-rich foods 2-3 times each day e.g. lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, beans and pulses, cheese, Quorn® and tofu.
• Still have at least 5 portions of fruit, vegetables and salad a day but increase the energy content of them. See suggestions below.
• Aim for three meals a day with extra snacks in between and in the evening.
• Use high energy drinks.

Increase Energy from Healthy Fats

Fat is the most concentrated source of calories. Have more mono- and poly-unsaturated fats rather than saturated fats. This will be better for your cholesterol level and reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Unsaturated fats provide the same amount of energy as saturated fat.

• Saturated fats: These include animal fats e.g. fat on meat, full fat dairy products (butter, cheese, milk), and vegetable fats e.g. coconut and palm oil, some blended vegetable oils and oils that are repeatedly heated.
• Monounsaturated fats: These include olive, rapeseed and walnut oils, and associated spreads. It is the main type of oil within nuts, seeds and avocados and is the healthiest type of fat.
• Polyunsaturated fats: These include sunflower, corn, soya and safflower oil and associated spreads. Oily fish also contains polyunsaturated fats and is good for your heart e.g. mackerel, kippers, salmon, pilchards or sardines.

Being generous with healthy oils increases your energy intake without increasing the volume of food you need to eat. Choose full fat spreads avoiding light, low or reduced fat versions. Aim for ones containing 59g fat or more per 100g.

Top Tips!

Use spreads and oils generously with:

• Bread, toast & crumpets
• Mashed, jacket or new potatoes
• Vegetables with a meal
• Dressings on salads
• In cooking (frying, sautéing, basting)

Eat regularly:

• Avocados – in salads, sandwiches and dips
• Nuts and seeds – sprinkle on cereals, salads and stir fries.

Increase Energy from Carbohydrates

Starchy Carbohydrates

These include potatoes, rice, bread, wraps, pasta, couscous, noodles, breakfast cereals and oats. They are an excellent, healthy source of energy. Where you can, have larger portions of these. They can also be the basis of healthy snacks.

Sugar and Sweet foods

Sugar is associated with an increase in obesity and tooth decay. However, as sugar provides energy, it can be beneficial for you to include more in your diet whilst you are trying to gain weight.

Increase energy from sugars by:

Avoiding artificial sweeteners and products that have been sweetened artificially e.g. diet drinks, no added sugar squashes, diet yogurts. These are lower in energy.

Being generous with portion sizes if you are using sugary foods, for example when you are having jam, marmalade, honey, maple or golden syrup and sugar.

Increase Energy with Fruit and Vegetables

Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is important to ensure we are getting enough vitamins, minerals and fibre in our diet.

Aim to have at least 5 portions a day, but try to increase the energy content of these. This could be done by:

• Adding vegetables sautéed or stir-fried in oil to meals
• Drizzling olive oil over vegetables or add a knob of olive spread
• Including plenty of nuts, seeds and oil-based dressings on salads
• Have avocado in sandwiches
• Choose smoothies over plain fruit juices as these are higher in calories
• Have Greek yoghurt and honey with banana
• Add dried fruit to cereals and in yoghurts.

Higher Energy Drinks

Try these different drinks with a snack between your meals, or in the evening. Avoid having them just before a meal as they may fill you up.

• Milk drinks – cold milk, all milk coffee/ drinking chocolate/ Horlicks® / Ovaltine®
• Milkshakes – bought or homemade, add ice-cream
• Fruit juices
• Smoothies – blended drinks containing fruits. To add extra energy include ingredients such as milk, yoghurt, ice-cream, peanut butter
• Sports energy drinks and Lucozade®

Ideas for meals

Breakfast

Many people are tempted to miss breakfast, but you need it for weight gain. If time is limited consider quick, easy alternatives such as a cereal bar with a smoothie.

Top cereal with:

• Yoghurt, honey and banana
• Fruit, seeds and roasted nuts

Toast, bagels, muffins or hot cross buns with:

• A thick layer of olive oil based spread
• Plenty of jam, honey or marmalade
• Peanut butter (or other nut butters)

Try having a larger breakfast e.g. toast and cereal

Hot or cooked breakfast (maybe at weekends when there is more time):

• Mushrooms and lean bacon fried in olive oil
• Fried potato (in olive oil) with tomatoes and a fried egg
• Scrambled eggs on toast
• Kippers with bread and olive oil based spread
• All milk porridge with added skimmed milk powder, honey and fruit
• American pancakes with lean bacon & maple syrup.

Light & Main Meals

• Continue to have your usual main meals but use the ideas in this leaflet to increase the calorie content of them.
• Try to increase the carbohydrate portion of your meal e.g. a small naan bread as well as rice, more potato, pasta, couscous, noodles or a bread roll with a hot meal.
• Include protein foods with meals e.g. lean meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, nuts, beans and pulses, cheese, Quorn™, tofu and soya.
• Salad should include protein and carbohydrate and also try adding mixed beans, sunflower seeds, nuts, dried fruit, croutons and a dressing.
• Include a dessert with each meal.

Don’t miss meals...

If you regularly skip meals it is very difficult to consume enough energy to maintain weight. To gain weight you will need three meals a day plus extra snacks.

Snack Suggestions

•    Cereal muesli or sports bars
•    Hot cross buns or tea cakes with spread and jam
•    Cakes or flapjacks made from oil
•    Malt loaf with healthy spread and jam 
•    Scones or crumpets with jam or honey
•    Bagels and pitta breads with dips, e.g. houmous, taramasalata, guacamole, or mayonnaise based dips
•    Toast with peanut butter or other nut butters
•    Dried fruit, e.g. apricots, raisins and sultanas
•    Nuts, seeds and trail mixes
•    Unsaturated fat cooked crisps
•    Pretzels, crackers or oatcakes
•    Pancakes with golden syrup or  maple syrup 
•    Breakfast cereals
•    Yoghurts
•    Plain biscuits, e.g. ginger nuts, rich tea
•    Marzipan

Not Gaining Weight Quickly Enough?

It is not always easy to gain weight and it is important to persevere with changes that you make. Often when you first increase your food and calorie intake you may feel more energetic but increases in actual weight can be slow. It may be that you were losing weight gradually before, so even keeping your weight stable is an achievement.

Discuss this with your Dietitian – remember gaining ½kg or 1 pound a month is 6kg or almost 1 stone in a year.

Can I Only Eat These Healthy Foods?

You can include some less healthy foods (often higher in saturated fat) in your diet.

This is especially important if you have lost a lot of weight through illness, have a large amount of weight to put on or are still struggling to gain weight with the advice in this leaflet.

Include more foods in your diet which are higher in saturated fat, such as:

•    Full fat milk 
•    Sauces made with full fat milk, for example cheese sauce or sweet custard
•    Cheese
•    Full fat yoghurts
•    Butter

•    Cream
•    Chocolate
•    Cakes
•    Biscuits
•    Bought puddings, for example sticky toffee pudding or chocolate puddings
•    Crisps

Your Dietitian is:

They can be contacted at:

First Dietitians 
3rd Floor, Crawley Hospital
West Green Drive
Crawley, RH11 7DR
Tel: 01293 600314

First Community provides front-line NHS community healthcare services in east Surrey and parts of West Sussex.

We provide first-rate care, through our first-rate people, offering first-rate value. For more information visit: www.firstcommunityhealthcare.co.uk

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For office use only: Version 3 PFD_TS062 Publication date: February 2024