Off late I get many queries from people who, yes you read it right, want to gain weight. No I am not talking about Martians here, but people like you and me who are slightly different because their body structure and metabolism works in a certain way. Believe me, it is still an uphill journey when you want to put on some healthy weight and not Fat.
For me, A healthy lifestyle is like a chair where the four legs are – eating healthy, good sleep pattern, regular exercise, meditation& visualization. Without wasting any more time I am going to tell you where you can begin if you belong to the minuscule percentage of people who want to gain weight. The points discussed below would also be applicable to many young kids who hit the gym and are trying to put on some serious muscle mass also.
Focus on your eating habits: I am a big advocate of eating healthy and at regular intervals of time. I personally manage to eat every 2-3 hours in a day and it’s not necessarily a 3 course meal every time. Focus on replacing some of the unhealthier things you might eat with healthy things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein (lean meats, poultry and fish or vegetarian protein like nuts, beans, tofu, soy meats, etc).The idea here is to keep your metabolism always at a higher level and not allow it to fluctuate. As a thumb rule I always try my best not to eat more than half the quantity of food as much as my own fist size. The logic here is that usually one’s stomach is as big as one’s fist and that can be used as a good indicator.
Ensure a good sleep pattern: I see this one area along with poor eating habits playing havoc with people’s weight. As with any healthy habit look at ensuring your sleeping pattern is the same through the week and do not fluctuate even during the weekend. A good seven-eight hours of sleep is what is recommended. I would highly recommend this for people who have been struggling to gain some healthy weight.Since compromising on your sleep does short circuit the system.
Regular exercise habit: A good exercise habit is always the key for a healthy mind and body. It is the same for someone who is looking for a weight gain plan. You don’t need to become a bodybuilder but there’s no way to build muscle without some kind of exercise. Weights are best for this. You don’t need to do a lot of exercises and spend hours doing them. I would suggest starting with simple exercises like pushups, crunches, lunges, squats with no weights and pull-ups that you can do at home. After a few weeks you can add some dumbbells or a barbell with weights and do some compound exercises like squats, dead lifts and the like. Work on focusing the entire big muscle groups irrespective whether you are a lady or a guy. The best strategy is to work on your overall body and not focus on any particular muscle groups which are easier but are only of cosmetic value.
Meditation & Visualization: I personally feel there are amazing results in meditation. Even by spending 10-15 minutes in a day you can then move to the next step which is visualization. Once you begin to visualize yourself being healthier and gaining healthy weight, you are bound to make the changes in the sub-conscious level which according to me is the key. The benefits of meditation & Visualization are plenty but with respect to the topic of weight gain it is like a catalyst which influences the muscle to grow more rapidly. They help develop the connection between the mind and the body.I for one while working out focus on the muscle and feel it grow in my own mind.So if you see me while i am working out I usually have a dead serious expression.
I’m not an expert but I have done a lot of reading on this topic and that’s what I can recommend. I’ve used these methods to build some muscle although my focus has been more on losing fat than on building muscle. I hope to change that once I get a flatter stomach and move into the single digit fat percentage zone. What I have mentioned might not be very specific to an individual but it does cover the most important aspect of making you move into a weight gain mode. Like so many of the people around you there will be a time when you will pick things up on your own. In case you do have a challenge or know someone who you feel might be going through this challenge, then do tell them to connect with me on my Face book Fan Page or even mail me on my ID coach@satishrao.in I will be glad to see how best i can help them.