If you have a fast metabolism and want to build muscle mass, changing the way you eat and exercise can help you gain weight faster. While you can gain weight by eating junk food and exercising little, the healthiest way to do it is by eating a lot of nutrient-dense foods and training with weights to build muscle mass. This is not achieved overnight, but if you start now, you will see results in a few weeks.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Eating to Gain Weight
Step 1. Eat more than 3 meals a day
If you naturally have a very fast metabolism, eat 3 meals a day. No matter what is in them, it will help you increase your muscle mass. Your body burns calories quickly, so you need to feed it more than it can use right away. This doesn't just mean eating when you're hungry, but throughout the day. Set a goal of eating 5 meals a day to gain weight.
- Don't wait for your stomach to start roaring with hunger. Plan 5 meals a day so there is no time when you are hungry.
- Eating this way may take a lot of effort, as you need to stock up on enough food to feed yourself more often. Take high-calorie snacks with you that you can eat on the go, like bananas, peanut butter, or granola bars.
Step 2. Eat a lot of calories at every meal
Eating 5 small low calorie meals will not be enough: they have to be large and high in calories. Bring a meal with you like those served in restaurants with large portions of meat, vegetables, and carbohydrates. Eating so much is likely to make you uncomfortable, but it is the best way to gain weight quickly.
- A big enough breakfast consists of 1 3-egg omelette, 2 slices of bacon or sausage, 1 plate of baked potatoes, and 1 glass of orange juice.
- For lunch, you can have a nice turkey steak on whole wheat bread, 2 bananas, and a salad.
- Dinner can be a grilled steak, baked potatoes, and a nice plate of grilled vegetables.
Step 3. Limit yourself to eating nutrient-dense foods
To gain healthy weight, eat nutrient-dense foods. While you can easily gain weight by drinking sugary sodas and eating large pizzas every day, this can wreck your metabolism and cause an increase in fat rather than muscle mass. When choosing what to eat, try the following:
- Look for relatively unprocessed foods. For example, choose traditional oatmeal over instant oatmeal and buy fresh chicken over processed meat.
- Cook from scratch as much as you can. Avoid frozen meals, fast food, and snacks, as they contain a lot of salt, sugar, and other non-nutritious ingredients.
Step 4. Focus on protein, fat, and carbohydrates
These are the three basic foods that will help you gain weight. You will need a large amount of each of them to stay healthy. Focus on incorporating protein, fat, and carbohydrate into each meal so that your diet stays balanced. The following are some examples of good options for each category:
- proteins: egg, salmon, tuna (and other fish), roast pork, pork chop, ham, chicken breast and leg, lean hamburger and steak
- fats: olive oil, safflower oil, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, avocados, walnuts, almonds and flax seeds
- carbohydrates: fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta (and other whole grain products), honey, and fruit juices
Step 5. Make sure you drink lots of water
The water will help your body process the extra proteins and calories you eat. Drink several glasses with each meal to avoid dehydration. Since you will probably exercise more to gain muscle mass, try to drink 10 glasses of water every day.
- You can also drink unsweetened tea, fruit juices, and other healthy beverages.
- Avoid drinking rehydration drinks or other sports drinks in excessive amounts, as they contain a lot of sugar.
Part 2 of 3: Gain Muscle Mass
Step 1. Focus on weight training
Bodybuilders know that to increase muscle mass you have to train with weights. This form of exercise is designed to make your muscles bigger and stronger. You can practice weight training at a gym or get the equipment you need to do it at home. Since this workout is vital to gaining weight, plan on doing it several times a week.
- If you don't want to pay to join a gym, try getting a barbell and a set of weights so you can work out at home.
- You can also try resistance exercises, which work your muscles without the need for weights. For starters, you can do push-ups as they are easy. You can also install a chin-up bar on a door so you can exercise your arms and chest.
Step 2. Exercise the different muscle groups
There is probably a particular part of your body that you want to work out, but you will benefit more from exercising all of your muscle groups rather than just one area. Instead of exercising all of your muscle groups on the same day, rotate between them so that each group has a chance to rest between your sessions.
- Plan your week so that you can exercise each muscle group evenly. For example, you can exercise your arms and chest one day; exercise your legs and abs the next day; and the third day, your back and chest.
- We recommend that you seek the advice of a personal trainer to create a schedule and exercise plan that suit your needs.
Step 3. Exercise to increase your muscle mass without causing any injury
Muscle mass is developed by putting pressure on the fibers in the muscle tissue, stretching them beyond their daily limit. You can do this by lifting enough weight and doing the necessary repetitions until your muscles feel tired and sore, but not to the point of injury. Find the right weight for any exercise by figuring out how much you can lift for 8-10 reps before stopping. If you can easily do more than 10 reps, add more weight; if you have to stop after 5 reps, take some of the weight off it.
- Compound exercises are your friends. Focus on complex compound exercises that include the most muscle mass, for example: bench presses, dumbbell presses, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, bars, and reverse grip bars.
- It doesn't matter if you can only bench press 10 pounds at the moment. Wherever you start, focus on getting stronger each time you exercise. Push yourself, get stronger, lift more weight, and before you know it, you'll have bigger muscles.
- When exercising, rest 1 minute or less between sets and do no more than 12 reps in one exercise.
Step 4. Have a protein shake immediately after each workout
According to a study conducted at the University of Birmingham, energy shakes help improve endurance during exercise. Have a banana, a handful of nuts, or a power shake immediately after exercising.
Step 5. Rest
Let your muscles rest between exercise sessions. This is important for the muscles to be bigger and stronger. Muscles rebuild during rest days, so never exercise the same muscle before it's ready, and never exercise the same muscle groups 2 days in a row. Wait at least 48 hours before exercising the same muscle again.
Also, it is important to get 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night for best results. If you only sleep 6 hours or less, you will not get the full benefits of your exercise and diet
Part 3 of 3: Know what to avoid
Step 1. Don't get stuck in a rut
The body has the ability to adapt quickly, so if you don't alter your exercise routine from time to time, you'll be stuck. Once a week, change your routine. You can increase or decrease the number of repetitions or sets, or simply change the order in which you normally do your routines.
Step 2. Limit your cardio sessions
If you run, bike, swim, and do other cardio exercises, you will use the energy that you could channel into your muscle growth. Limit your cardio to once a week or cut it out when trying to gain weight. If you like doing cardio and don't want to quit, choose the ones that use less energy, such as walking, hiking, or short bike rides in flat areas.
Step 3. Be active and not sedentary
There is another method to gain weight quickly: eat what you want and move as little as possible. However, gaining weight this way will likely not give you the look you want and will make your body weaker rather than stronger. Striving to gain weight by exercising your muscles will result in a healthy and developed appearance.
Keep in mind that when you eat 5 meals a day, you will consume a little fat that will go to your muscles. This is fine! Find out what your ideal weight is, and then add 5 to 10 pounds (2.5 to 5 kg) to it. Once you reach that weight, you can reduce the amount of carbohydrates in your diet, do more runs, and continue exercising. You will eliminate fat quickly and you will stay with a well marked figure
Step 4. Don't ignore the signs of gaining muscle too fast or training too hard
In your quest to gain weight as quickly as possible, you may put too much strain on your body. You shouldn't feel exhausted and in pain all the time. In fact, your improved diet and workout routine should help you feel more manly than ever. If your body seems to say something is wrong, pay attention to it.
- Consider hiring a personal trainer. With a couple of sessions, you will have a great idea of the program, the form, the intensity, the duration of exercises and an excellent insight into how to adjust your diet.
- Ask your doctor before taking any supplements and see a doctor immediately if you sustain an injury during your training.