What should I eat to gain weight?

is there a list of foods that I can eat that are healthy and will help me gain weight or a meal plan I can follow? I am a female 23 103lbs 5'3"
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Replies

  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    eat food.

    ice cream, bagels, pizza, steak, chicken, rice, pasta, bread, full fat cottage cheese, greek yogurt, donuts, cookies, etc...
  • kshadows
    kshadows Posts: 1,315 Member
    Food.
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  • bethanimal4
    bethanimal4 Posts: 41 Member
    all the things!
  • jasonmh630
    jasonmh630 Posts: 2,850 Member
    Anything you want... As long as you're eating more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight. Doesn't matter where those calories come from.
  • jasonp_ritzert
    jasonp_ritzert Posts: 357 Member
    Full-fat everything (cheese, yogurt, etc.), nut butters, avocado, nuts.
  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
    kyri12may wrote: »
    is there a list of foods that I can eat that are healthy and will help me gain weight or a meal plan I can follow? I am a female 23 103lbs 5'3"

    If the main goal is to gain weight, then actually eating calorie dense foods will help you gain weight a lot faster than eating "healthy" but non-calorie dense foods. Unless you are willing to eat a lot of nuts, avocados, etc etc etc.

    I don't see why you want to make it harder to gain weight. Gain the weight first then adjust your food choices later
  • DymonNdaRgh40
    DymonNdaRgh40 Posts: 661 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    eat food.

    ice cream, bagels, pizza, steak, chicken, rice, pasta, bread, full fat cottage cheese, greek yogurt, donuts, cookies, etc...

    All of this.
    jasonmh630 wrote: »
    Anything you want... As long as you're eating more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight. Doesn't matter where those calories come from.

    And this too.
  • It depends. Are you trying to gain muscle or a more voluptuous figure? If you're wanting to gain muscle, you'll need to work out with weights and eat lots of protein and high, but healthy carbs. If you want to gain voluptuousness then eat anything your heart desires :)
  • rand486
    rand486 Posts: 270 Member
    kyri12may wrote: »
    is there a list of foods that I can eat that are healthy and will help me gain weight or a meal plan I can follow? I am a female 23 103lbs 5'3"

    To be mildly more helpful, the point of the above responses is that there is no such thing as "healthy" or "unhealthy" foods.

    All you care about is eating enough calories to get the energy your body needs, and hit the weight you want. Beyond that, as long as you get the daily vitamins & minerals you need, you can eat anything you want.

    Consider yourself lucky - bulking (ie: gaining weight) is way more fun than cutting (ie: losing weight). Enjoy your ice cream! ;)
  • dieselbyte
    dieselbyte Posts: 733 Member
    Connie68 wrote: »
    It depends. Are you trying to gain muscle or a more voluptuous figure? If you're wanting to gain muscle, you'll need to work out with weights and eat lots of protein and high, but healthy carbs. If you want to gain voluptuousness then eat anything your heart desires :)

    Um, no...
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Connie68 wrote: »
    It depends. Are you trying to gain muscle or a more voluptuous figure? If you're wanting to gain muscle, you'll need to work out with weights and eat lots of protein and high, but healthy carbs. If you want to gain voluptuousness then eat anything your heart desires :)

    why can't I eat everything my heart desires- gain muscle AND have a voluptuous figure??
  • blktngldhrt
    blktngldhrt Posts: 1,053 Member
    Connie68 wrote: »
    It depends. Are you trying to gain muscle or a more voluptuous figure? If you're wanting to gain muscle, you'll need to work out with weights and eat lots of protein and high, but healthy carbs. If you want to gain voluptuousness then eat anything your heart desires :)

    What? This is not how it works..
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Eat whatever will put you in a calorie surplus.
  • Don't just binge on Twinkies and HoHo's, because that's not healthy for you. My doctor recommended for me to stop snacking and to have 4 large meals a day. They all need to have GOOD food in the meals. You need meats, dairy, vegetables, etc. It will make you gain weight that will help your body, not make it worse.
  • Unknown
    edited January 2015
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  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Connie68 wrote: »
    It depends. Are you trying to gain muscle or a more voluptuous figure? If you're wanting to gain muscle, you'll need to work out with weights and eat lots of protein and high, but healthy carbs. If you want to gain voluptuousness then eat anything your heart desires :)

    Not true. I eat everything, I lift weights and I am gaining all kinds of wonderful curves. You can have it all :)
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
    Eat whatever you want above your maintenance calories. Eating stuff like brownies, cookies, ice cream, pizza, burgers, twinkies, etc. make it easy to get your calories in without making you feel super full with just a little bit of food.
  • Syd3Strong
    Syd3Strong Posts: 5 Member
    Peanut butter, whole milk/yogurt, Ezekiel bread, protein powder, avocados,etc
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    edited January 2015
    Don't just binge on Twinkies and HoHo's, because that's not healthy for you. My doctor recommended for me to stop snacking and to have 4 large meals a day. They all need to have GOOD food in the meals. You need meats, dairy, vegetables, etc. It will make you gain weight that will help your body, not make it worse.

    @savannaleejohnson‌ Twinkies and HoHo's are acceptable in moderation. Plenty of MFP members use foods like cookies, poptarts, cake, cheesecake, chips, etc. to hit their macros/calorie goal.
  • Thanks for the comments but I want to make a lifestyle change to eat healthier. I started working out to gain muscle and I already eat three meals a day. The things I ate today were in the morning I ate peanut butter banana sandwich, then I Workouted, after my workout I drank a mass&weight gainer shake. For lunch I ate salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. For dinner not sure what I am going to eat. What other foods would you recommend besides junk food.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    1.) it's not junk food
    2.) you can eat all the "health" food you want- no surplus- no sweet ganz brah.

    so eat up- if that means eating junk food- suck it up butter cup and eat it.
    IF you can eat your surplus in boiled chicken breasts bucket of quiona and broccoli- have at it my friend- but at some point you're going to want to die eating so much high volume low calorie food.

    Bulking- the exact OPPOSITE of cutting- meaning- making the most of high calorie- low volume foods- verses weight loss- making the most of the lowest calorie- most filling foods.
  • dieselbyte
    dieselbyte Posts: 733 Member
    kyri12may wrote: »
    Thanks for the comments but I want to make a lifestyle change to eat healthier. I started working out to gain muscle and I already eat three meals a day. The things I ate today were in the morning I ate peanut butter banana sandwich, then I Workouted, after my workout I drank a mass&weight gainer shake. For lunch I ate salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. For dinner not sure what I am going to eat. What other foods would you recommend besides junk food.

    good luck labeling foods, eating three meals a day and not listening to reason...
  • NextPage
    NextPage Posts: 609 Member
    JoRocka wrote: »
    Connie68 wrote: »
    It depends. Are you trying to gain muscle or a more voluptuous figure? If you're wanting to gain muscle, you'll need to work out with weights and eat lots of protein and high, but healthy carbs. If you want to gain voluptuousness then eat anything your heart desires :)

    why can't I eat everything my heart desires- gain muscle AND have a voluptuous figure??

    My plan exactly.
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  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    kyri12may wrote: »
    Thanks for the comments but I want to make a lifestyle change to eat healthier. I started working out to gain muscle and I already eat three meals a day. The things I ate today were in the morning I ate peanut butter banana sandwich, then I Workouted, after my workout I drank a mass&weight gainer shake. For lunch I ate salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. For dinner not sure what I am going to eat. What other foods would you recommend besides junk food.

    I don't think you understand how difficult it will be to eat strictly whole/non-processed/clean/raw foods… whatever you call it... and end up in a calorie surplus. I don't know anyone who could eat 500 calories of broccoli or asparagus.

    By the way, it's not junk food. It's just food. It's energy. It's food that will help you meet your goals. That's what you want, right?

  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member

    I don't think you understand how difficult it will be to eat strictly whole/non-processed/clean/raw foods… whatever you call it... and end up in a calorie surplus. I don't know anyone who could eat 500 calories of broccoli or asparagus.
    Especially not day in/day out. Gaining weight purposefully takes so much longer than I thought it would, and there's no way I could keep making myself eat pounds of veg every day for months on end.

  • jeanette526
    jeanette526 Posts: 21 Member
    a 23 yr old woman who weighs 103lbs doesn't sound like a weight lifter to me. right? You already know that eating more food is the real answer to your question so rather than offend you by stating the obvious may i suggest you see a doctor and find out why you cannot keep or gain weight. You might have a thyroid problem. My father had that problem.
  • Metazoick
    Metazoick Posts: 96 Member
    edited January 2015
    I don't understand why all you guys are acting like the only high calorie foods out there are things like pizza/chocolate/etc. You can 'eat healthy' and still gain weight, as long as your calorie goal isnt super high. Obviously everything is fine in moderation, but advising her to switch from fruits/veg and fish etc to just pizza and brownies to stack on the pounds is probably going to feel crappy, especially as she's specifically asking for foods similar to the style she normally eats, and if she's found something that works then great - she should stick with it and just adjust slightly.
    -
    Easy ways to add calories includes the above food in moderation as easy calories, but they shouldnt be the be all and end all (dont stop eating fruit & veg etc, they might not be high in calories but you still want those nutrients). You can also start cooking with oil (olive oil ~120c per tablespoon), nuts are great for calories and fats with pecan, pine and brazil being some of the highest, nut butters lead on from that pretty obviously with almond butter being delicious and just beating out peanut, dried fruit can have a loooot of calories (eg cherries are 226 per half cup) but if sugar is something that concerns you I'd double check the labels, avocados tend to have over 300 calories each, then you get into grains, dairy, eggs, fish, bananas, butter etc.
  • scrittrice
    scrittrice Posts: 345 Member
    kyri12may wrote: »
    Thanks for the comments but I want to make a lifestyle change to eat healthier. I started working out to gain muscle and I already eat three meals a day. The things I ate today were in the morning I ate peanut butter banana sandwich, then I Workouted, after my workout I drank a mass&weight gainer shake. For lunch I ate salmon, mashed potatoes, and asparagus. For dinner not sure what I am going to eat. What other foods would you recommend besides junk food.

    I don't think you understand how difficult it will be to eat strictly whole/non-processed/clean/raw foods… whatever you call it... and end up in a calorie surplus. I don't know anyone who could eat 500 calories of broccoli or asparagus.

    By the way, it's not junk food. It's just food. It's energy. It's food that will help you meet your goals. That's what you want, right?
    Even if you could eat 500 calories of broccoli or asparagus, I imagine you would have some really atrocious gas as a result.
This discussion has been closed.