Five Weight Gain Tips For Women

1. Eat More Than What You Need

This is the super big secret to successful weight gain for women. It's essential that you eat more calories then what you burn to gain weight! It doesn’t matter if you struggle to gain weight or have a "fast metabolism" if you consume more energy (calories) then what you expend then you will gain weight.

Even though it can be difficult to eat enough calories to gain weight, there is no way around it. What you will find is as soon as you start weight training as part of a weight gain program, the more you exercise, the more you can eat because your appetite will be increased.

If you struggle to eat more than maintenance to build muscle than liquid calories can certainly help in the form of weight gainers. These supplements tend to be high in calories and protein especially when mixed with milk to make a shake, which is helpful in trying to meet your caloric intake each day. Just make sure you go with a quality gainer that isn't filled with simple sugars and bad fats that will only help you to gain flabby fat.

2. Weight Training

Listen up! Women should not be scared of lifting weights. Weight training is your tool to gaining muscle and building a better physique. If you want those curves in the right places you need to incorporate weight training into your workout routine. But you need to be smart about how you lift weights. Forget the stuff you have read about doing "high reps for toning". Garbage! Not any exercise will do if you are weight lifting to gain mass. You have to keep the training intense, it won't be a brisk walk in the park but the effort you put in will mean you will achieve results, instead of training the wrong way and a few months down the track wondering why you haven't gained weight.

A weight training program for women is not much different to men. Girls you need to be training like the guys. What I mean is you want to train with intensity, lift heavier weights and do fewer reps. You won't gain as much muscle as the guys because women's hormonal system is different to men, so they will never gain the same amount of muscle as males. But this doesn't mean you can't gain muscle and tone your body. It just means you won't get the "bulky" appearance. If you have a gym membership, use the bench and don't neglect leg training, this will gain weight fast! If you don’t have a gym membership or weights then you can use your own body weight to do exercises like push ups, sit ups, and dips, but using free weights will see quicker results.

3. Clean Up Your Diet

Don't eat processed foods. They may fulfill your calorie requirements when trying to gain weight, but they are a major reason why there is an obesity problem in America. You want to gain muscle not fat, right? Processed foods offer very little in the way of nutrition. When you are grocery shopping don’t buy things like canned soup or microwave dinners. Those also contain hardly any nutritional benefit. Stick to eating fresh foods like fruits & vegetables, lean meats like skinless chicken and turkey, fish, brown rice, pasta, oatmeal, wholegrain bread, nuts and seeds.

If you suck in the kitchen buy yourself a cookbook! It is best to cook your own meals, and just because you are eating healthy doesn't mean food can't be tasty. Put a twist on an old recipe. If you really have no time then try to include healthy high calorie snacks in your high calorie diet plan to gain weight. Make a quick sandwich or have a low-fat yogurt to curb your hunger. It's okay to eat fast food occasionally, but make it the exception rather then the rule!

4. Learn To Read Food Labels

This is very important if you are trying to gain weight. Food labels will list the number of calories from protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Figuring out the number of calories from this data is fairly straight forward. Simply take the number of grams listed per serving and then multiply this number by 4 to get the calories from protein and carbs. Calculating the number of calories from fat per serving is a bit different. You need to take the number of grams listed for fat and multiply it by 9 instead.

When in the supermarket try to find products with the highest amount of protein, moderate carbs, and fiber. If the food item does have carbs, then try to make it whole grain/wheat. If the product is high in fiber then the carbs are generally higher quality and better for you. Stay away from products with sugars, saturated fats, and sodium. All of these will be listed on the food label.

5. Set Achievable Goals

One of the most important things that a women can do to gain weight is set goals. A lot of woman will just start off without planning or setting goals and that is only setting them up to fail. People feel better when they accomplish goals, so why not set one and accomplish it? The extra boost of confidence that you get from reaching the goal will only push you harder in the right direction.

It's important that you set yourself realistic goals so you don't aim too high and get demotivated because you set had unrealistic expectations. Set a goal like gaining five pounds of muscle weight in 8 weeks. It may seem impossible to gain 20 pounds of healthy weight, but by setting smaller more manageable goals, when you reach the goal achieving the long term goal doesn't seem so impossible any longer.