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Best Supplements for Weight Gain – Our Top Picks

Published by Isabella on January 11, 2022

How skinny people gain weight fast

Typically, it’s healthier to gain weight as a muscle: not only are muscle cells denser than fat, building muscle involves regular exercise, which contributes to a healthy lifestyle. By adopting a bodybuilding routine (regular exercise and large, nutrient-dense meals), even seriously underweight people should be able to gain weight quickly.

Although it can be a lot of hard work, building muscle mass is one of the best and healthiest ways to gain weight and many supplements for weight gain are developed with this in mind. In addition to regular exercise and strength training, your body will need a lot more nutrients to build muscle, so here are our top tips for eating to gain muscle mass:

Eat More:

Building and maintaining muscle requires a lot of calories, so you should increase your calorie intake if you want to gain weight. However, building muscle isn’t all about big steaks or endless portions of chicken breast and brown rice, as you can easily increase your calorie counts by:

Eat More Nutrient-Dense Foods

Getting more nutrients in smaller portions means you can eat more calories before getting full, so try adding these food types to your diet:

• Fats such as oil, nuts, seeds and dairy

• Carbs like honey, maple syrup and dried fruit

• Proteins such as meat, dairy and supplements for weight gain like protein powder

Eat More Often

If you struggle to eat large meals, try breaking them into more meals and snacks to your daily routines to increase your calorie intake. Snack on protein bars or sneak in more meals (think elevenses before lunch or supper before bed), and you’ll soon have enough nutrients to gain muscle mass quickly.

Eat More Protein

This point bears repeating, as protein is the building block of most of your body – especially muscle mass – and eating plenty of lean protein will help you gain muscle mass quickly. Furthermore, you can easily increase your protein intake with supplements for weight gain, such as protein powder or by swapping to Greek yoghurt and whole-grain pasta.

Simply put, weight gain and weight loss all come down to your caloric intake and output: If you eat more calories than you burn off during exercise, you’ll gain weight and vise versa.

What is the healthiest weight gainer?

When gaining weight, it’s easy to pick up bad habits like eating lots of fatty food or snacking throughout the day, so what is the best way to gain weight and stay healthy? First and foremost, diet and exercise are key to staying at a healthy weight, so if you already exercise regularly and eat well, then you may need supplements for weight gain to reach your ideal weight.

If you struggle to eat enough calories to gain muscle mass, weight gain (or “mass gainer”) supplements offer an easy and effective way to boost your calorie and nutrient intake. However, many of these supplements make exaggerated claims or include ingredients that may not help you gain weight, so we’ve highlighted some of the best supplements for weight gain below:

Protein

Protein is an essential nutrient and building block in muscle cells that can help you gain weight and muscle mass, whether you get it from your diet or protein supplements. If you’re struggling to get enough protein in your diet, taking protein supplements is convenient for supporting muscle gain when paired with strength training.

Creatine

Creatine is a naturally-occurring molecule that helps to support exercise performance and muscle gain, with a massive amount of research supporting its benefits as a supplement. Creatine is an active ingredient in many supplements for weight gain, as it can improve exercise performance, helping you build muscle through strength training.

Weight Gainers

Weight gainers are a broad category of high-calorie supplements aimed at people who struggle to gain weight and are packed full of carbs, protein and other nutrients. The most common form of weight gainers are shakes, and while they are a convenient way to get more calories, a simpler option is to just eating more real food, which may be healthier in the long run.

Exercise-Enhancing Supplements

The only reliable way to gain muscle is through exercise, which is why we recommend exercise-enhancing supplements for weight gain, though they don’t cause weight gain on their own. The following compounds will help you work harder and maximize your gains:

Caffeine

As the single-most popular stimulant on Earth, caffeine is widely available and proven to improve motivation and power output, both of which help your exercise performance.

Citrulline

This amino acid helps increase blood flow to your body’s tissues, helping you exercise for longer when taking citrulline supplements before a workout.

Beta-Alanine

Another amino acid that can improve your performance is Beta-alanine, which helps your muscles fight fatigue, so you can exercise longer.

Are Weight Gain Supplements Safe

Most of the active ingredients in supplements for weight gains – such as protein and creatine – are naturally occurring substances and completely safe to consume. For example, creatine is one of the most well-researched supplements on the market, and long-term studies of up to four years have not found any side effects.

Instead, the main source of concern around weight gain supplements is how they can cause rapid weight gain and potentially cause users to become overweight. If you don’t exercise regularly and monitor your diet and weight, taking supplements for weight gain could result in sudden, unexpected weight gain, putting you at higher risk of illness and chronic disease.

For these reasons, we only recommend taking supplements for weight gain if you are physically active and looking to build muscle mass or underweight.

When to take weight gain supplements

Because weight gain supplements tend to fall into one of two main categories – exercise enhancers and nutritional boosts – you should use them differently. Supplements such as Beta-Alanine give the best results when taken shortly before exercise, while you can take protein powder at virtually any time of day – or even add it to your meals – without any issues.

Similarly, you can take weight gainers almost whenever you like, though you should be careful to avoid unwanted fat gain with these high-calorie, high-protein supplements for weight gain. While many bodybuilders prefer weight gainers when trying to ‘bulk up’ they aren’t necessary (or recommended) for most people, as regular exercise is required to stop those calories from turning into a potentially harmful amount of fat.

What supplement helps with weight gain

All of the supplements we’ve mentioned so far (including protein powder, creatine, weight gainers and exercise-enhancing supplements) can help you gain weight. However, the only real way to gain weight is to consume more calories than you burn off, so a big plate of bacon and eggs may be more effective than a supplement product (depending on your needs).

It’s also important to remember that performance-enhancing supplements like caffeine won’t help you gain weight on their own, as they can only improve your workouts. For the best results, we recommend pairing a high-calorie, high-protein diet with supplements for weight gain and regular exercise, as this will give your body all the fuel and stimulation it needs to build healthy muscle and fat.

Conclusion

Although gaining weight is quite a common health goal, it can be harmful to your long-term health unless you carefully monitor your diet, exercise regime, and body composition. To avoid becoming dangerously overweight or gaining weight too quickly, we recommend consulting a doctor or dietician before adding weight gain supplements to your lifestyle.

While most supplements for weight gain are safe to use and supported by numerous scientific studies, multiple health issues can arise from being overweight or suddenly gaining lots of weight. If you’re at a healthy weight and not trying to build muscle, there is little reason to use these supplements, we recommend you use them sparingly.

Isabella

My name is Isabella Archie, and I'm an experienced health consultant and author. With a Doctor of Medicine degree from Eastern Virginia Medical School and 10 years in the field, I have developed customized health plans for individuals, groups, and organizations. I've written numerous articles and books on various health topics, with a mission to empower people to take control of their health through education, motivation, and support. My ultimate goal is to help people lead healthier and happier lives.