Ask HN: How do you gain weight?

[0x54MUR41]

Context: a skinny guy, 24 years old.

Currently, I am working at a startup. I am used to walk to the office. I don't do regular exercises, except walking and doing chores. I usually eat three times each day. No snack.

[saucisse]

Eat More. Eat more calories than your body burns. How much depends on your metabolism and activity levels. But if you’re not gaining weight, you’re not eating enough. Eat caloric dense foods like pasta and nuts. Eat more frequent meals. Drink milk and make shakes.

Lift Heavy. Stop wasting time with curls and flies. Do free weight, compounds like Squats and Deadlifts instead. These exercises work more muscles with heavier weight. They trigger more strength and muscle gains, and will make you go from skinny to muscular.

Be Consistent. The total calories you eat on a weekly and monthly basis must be higher than the calories your body burns. If you eat a lot today but then little the rest of the week, you won’t gain weight. You have to consistently eat more than you burn to increase your weight.

Read more https://stronglifts.com/gain-weight/

[panorama]

Adding on to say that the advice provided in the parent is 100% spot on and OP shouldn't disregard it. More calories in + weightlifting = massive weight increases, especially for beginners. This has been proven time after time, for millions, including myself: 5'11, went from 133 pounds to 165 in 4 months eating ~3000 calories a day and lifting 4x a week.

5 years later, I'm still in the best shape of my life and deciding to gain weight & exercise regularly continues to be one of the best, most profitable decisions I've made next to learning how to program.

[geophile]

I am a tall, skinny 60-year old, who recently started crossfit, which emphasizes squats, deadlifts, and other barbell exercises. (Previously I did HIIT for several years.)

Crossfit just isn't working for me. At all. I can't squat deep enough, and my shoulders aren't flexible enough to keep the weights as far back as they should be. So I'm stuck doing remedial stuff to get to the point that I can actually lift anything. I've been trying this for four months now, and I'm really stuck on square one. Any thoughts on this?

[ThrustVectoring]

GOMAD is probably the most straightforward diet for gaining weight (preferably along with compound free weight lifts, eg, squats. Otherwise all the weight gain is fat instead of muscle).

What it is - take your normal diet, and on top of that, drink a gallon of whole milk every day. A gallon of whole milk is 2400 kcal (200g carbs, 120g fat, 120g protein). Along with your normal food intake, this will make you gain weight.

[gumby]

In addition to the other advice:

- avoid appetite suppressors (e.g. caffeine) and modulators (e.g. artificial sweeteners). "avoid" != "eliminate": sure, have a coffee or two in the AM, but don't drink it all day.

- exercise will make you hungrier (it is an appetite suppressor for those whose body asks them to eat out of boredom, which is very common).

- choose a healthy diet. You won't have the 24-y-o metabolism forever, so don't make habits you'll later regret (e.g. two croissants in the morning). This also means you'll be building weight through your body and not just adding fat.

At 24 none of these "rules" need be strict, so have a milkshake, etc; you have a great opportunity to experiment with what works and is enjoyable to you.

[biocomputation]

Just wait until you turn 40. It's very difficult for some people to gain weight, even if you eat enough, and even if you lift hard.

How tall are you? How much do you weigh? How much do you want to gain? Who/what do you want to look like?

While you certainly can add muscle, you should be cautioned against trying any program to significantly change your basic build. If you're naturally thin, then you can be muscular, but you'll still be generally thin, and you probably can't ever be a tank. Being a tank is really more about your genetics ( bone structure, shape of your chest, overall length of your muscles ) than working out.

Not saying it's your goal to be a tank, just trying to provide some realistic counsel.

[0x54MUR41]

I am 5' 6''. I want to gain 20 kg at minimum because I am too skinny. I have no reference or people to be a model.

[siegel]

Lots of great advice to you has already been given. But one thing to add - the walking may be good for your heart, but it's burning calories. You need an energy surplus (more calories coming in than going out). If you are walking a substantial distance to work, more calories are going out. Again, I'm not here to discourage cardio activity completely, but that's not the exercise you need to focus on.

Saucisse is right - you need to eat more and more frequently. And to ensure that doesn't all become fat, you need to lift heavy - focus on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press. Stronglifts is a great place to start. Good luck!

[27182818284]

Drink beer you'll put on weight in no time. There is a reason it was called "liquid bread" in the early part of the twentieth century. Why you would want this, over, say, muscle mass I"m not sure.

[amorphid]

Eating peanut butter works great, too!

[pascalxus]

Be Me for a month. My metabolism is so lazy, i can gain weight, even eating less than 2000 cals per day. I can gain weight just looking at food, consuming less than 2000 cals per day, with moderate exercise.

[beagle3]

SemiOnTopic: Some people in the comments equate "fast metabolism" and being skinny. How is that supposed to work?

Metabolism is the conversion of energy from incoming food into stored energy (fat) or used energy (heat, chemical processes). The speed of metabolism does not appear in any equilibrium (of which body weight is a statistic). If you've eaten food and it is not stored, the energy has to be expressed some other way - in what way do "fast metabolism" people express it?

[JakiesKonto]

If you're like me (skinny caused by fast metabolism) then you need to eat more often as a first thing. Like have a proper breakfast ( i know u coffie/cig junkies ; ) and then be sure to eat something (doesnt need to be a lot) every 2-3 hours. For me this works a BIT (i.e. slooww growth, but growth), in order to really gain weight I need to train 3x a week and eat gainer (carbohydrates) and then I grow.

[AnimalMuppet]

Why do you want to gain weight?

What kind of weight do you want to gain? I presume you want muscle rather than fat...

I'm a skinny guy, always have been. I gained a bit of weight when I got married, due to eating better. I gained more when we had our first child, due to lifting the kid, the carseat, and the diaper bag over and over. That's weightlifting, even though I wasn't in the gym.

[0x54MUR41]

I want to gain weight because I am too skinny. I want to fix my body shape. Sure, I would rather gain muscle than fat.

[Neliquat]

Eat more, or more caloricly dense, foods. I find I feel best using mostly fats, rather than carbs, on a high calorie diet. Seems to help joints and workout recovery too. Most hormones are synthisized from fats, so it may be related.

Also, paradoxically, working out will regulate your appitite and might help you eat a bit more, and store it in a way your body prefers.

[eip]

Kings oatmeal: Make oatmeal. Add flax oil, coconut oil, hemp oil, butter, whole milk, and honey.

Eat an avocado every day.

Eat 3000+ calories per day.

Hit the gym.

[cholantesh]

GOMAD + Starting Strength. Unless you're vegan and/or lactose intolerant, you are the ideal candidate for this nutritional plan. Don't stay on it for more than a few months.

[0x54MUR41]

Thank you for all of you who have given advices. I will make an experiment and want to see the result. I hope I get the good result.

[davidddavidson]

There are mass/weight gainer supplements that you could try (maybe start with 2-3 servings/week) but I wouldn't use it without some sort of anaerobic training program to build muscle.

[hatsunearu]

Check your blood sugar and diabetes markers at a hospital. Unknown weight loss is a rather common symptom of Type 1 diabetes.

[Sevii]

Eat more, use a calorie counting app. Excercise regularly with weight lifting as the focus.

Eating is 90% of it.

[EpicEng]

You already know the answer; eat good food, eat more of it, add resistance training to build muscle. You need to eat at a caloric surplus, at least ~250 calories / day. It's a simple concept, but doing it takes hard work and dedication.

[anpk]

Eat chipotle burritos (source: NFL draftee Adam Shaheen)

[skdotdan]

Can I ask how much do you weight and how tall are you?

[0x54MUR41]

20 kg at minimum. I am 5' 6''.

[cagataygurturk]

Get a girlfriend.

[0x54MUR41]

Why?