Okay, so a bunch of you asked how I managed to pack on some pounds after being pretty lean for a long time. It wasn’t some crazy expensive plan or anything, just simple stuff I stuck to. Let me walk you through what I did.
Starting Point Blues
Honestly, I was tired of looking kinda lanky. Clothes didn’t fit right, and people always commented, “You should eat more!” Easier said than done, right? I always felt like I ate a decent amount, but nothing seemed to stick. My metabolism just burned through everything, or so I thought. I tried just eating bigger meals sometimes, but it was random and didn’t work.
My Simple Game Plan
I figured I needed consistency and more calories, plain and simple. No fancy diets, just more food, more often. Here’s the breakdown:
- Eat More Often: Instead of three main meals, I started aiming for five or six smaller ones. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, maybe a small snack before bed.
- Calorie-Dense Foods: This was key. I focused on foods that pack a lot of calories without being huge in volume. Think stuff like:
- Peanut butter (on toast, with apples, straight off the spoon sometimes, ha!)
- Nuts and seeds (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds – great for snacks)
- Whole milk instead of skim
- Adding olive oil to cooking or salads
- Avocados
- Pasta and rice became staples
- Shakes for the Win: Sometimes eating solid food felt like a chore. So, I started making simple shakes. Nothing fancy, just like whole milk, a banana, a scoop of peanut butter, maybe some oats or whey protein if I had it. Easy way to chug down 500+ calories.
- Don’t Skip Meals: This sounds obvious, but life gets busy. I made a real effort not to skip any planned meal or snack. Even if I wasn’t super hungry, I’d eat something small.
How It Actually Went Down
Okay, so the first week or two? Felt kinda bloated sometimes. My body wasn’t used to the constant intake. I wasn’t meticulously counting every calorie, but I was definitely conscious of eating more at each sitting and adding those snacks in. The shakes really helped on days I just couldn’t face another plate of food.
I didn’t go crazy with junk food, though. Sure, I had treats, but the bulk of it was relatively wholesome stuff, just more of it. I also did some basic workouts, like push-ups and squats at home, maybe lifted some dumbbells I had lying around. Nothing intense, just enough to signal my body to build some muscle with the extra fuel, not just store fat. Didn’t want to just get soft.
Tracking progress was simple: just weighed myself once a week, same time, same day. Seeing the number slowly creep up was motivating.
The Results
It wasn’t overnight magic, let’s be real. But after about two months of sticking to this consistently? I’d put on about 8-10 pounds. For me, that was huge! I looked fuller, my shirts fit better, and I just felt more solid. It wasn’t lightning fast like some crazy headline might promise, but it was steady and, most importantly, it felt sustainable because the methods were pretty straightforward.
Final Thoughts
So yeah, that was my journey. No secret powders or weird tricks. Just consciously deciding to eat more calories, more often, focusing on calorie-dense foods, and being consistent. If you’re struggling to gain weight, maybe try simplifying your approach like I did. Make it easy on yourself. Add a snack here, use whole milk there, throw some peanut butter in a shake. Small changes add up if you stick with them. Good luck!