How to Gain Weight With Paleo Diet

In my experience, people who say they want to gain weight simply do not eat enough and do not have a clear idea of how much one must eat to get enough calories to gain. This is especially true if a person is tall and thin and eating a paleo diet composed of relatively low energy density foods. So here are my suggestions to those who want to eat paleo and also gain weight.

1. Go to the ExRx.net caloric requirement calculator and enter all the required data as accurately as possible (given that tool). Generate your estimated caloric requirement.
2. Once you have your estimated caloric requirement for maintaining your current weight, add 300 to 500 calories to that amount.
3. Next, go to FitDay.com and create a free online account.
4. Now, in your FitDay account, using Paleolithic (and analogous, e.g. butter) food groups, create a sample day menu for yourself that supplies the number of calories you need to gain weight (from step 2), and has the following nutrient profile:

Protein: about 0.8 to 1.0 grams per pound of bodyweight and not more than about 25% of calories
Carbohydrate: about 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight and about 25% (20-30%) of calories
Fats: enough to supply the difference, i.e. 50-65% of calories

For example, you may calculate that you need 3000 kcal per day. You would then aim for 150 g of protein, 125 to 225 g of carbohydrate, and 167 to 217 g of fat each day.

This would look something like this:

16 ounces of meat, poultry, or fish
4 whole eggs
3 sweet potatoes (2” x 5” raw)
3 bananas (medium)
2 apples or other medium fruits
2 cups collards or kale (measured after cooking)
1 whole avocado
½ cup of nuts
3 T coconut oil or dairy butter
3 T olive oil

You can use the fats on or in the preparation of the vegetables.

This selection of foods supplies 3111 kcal, 161 g protein (21% of energy), 184 g fat (51% of energy), and 231 g carbohydrate (28% of energy). It also supplies all required nutrients except vitamin D at acceptable levels.

You could substitute a tablespoon of oil or fat for one banana or sweet potato to make the menu lower in carbohydrate and higher in fat, but I think most people would prefer the higher carbohydrate intake when trying to gain weight, for two reasons. First, eating more fat may kill your appetite whereas more carbohydrate may enhance it, and second, carbohydrate intake drives insulin, and a slightly higher insulin level will promote greater uptake of amino acids in muscle cells.

If you've been trying to gain weight, have you eaten like this day after day for at least a couple of weeks? Does it look like a lot of food to you? Get eating!

If you have eaten like this consistently and you still haven't gained, then eat more! Failure to gain simply tells you that you haven't eaten enough for your needs. Tall, thin folks have particularly high energy needs because their high ratio of surface area to body mass results in large amounts of energy lost to the environment as heat. These people simply have higher basal metabolic rates so they will have to eat more than others to get the same gain. Try increasing each food in the list by 20%. You may have to do this gradually, but you can do it if you want the result.

5. Once you have this start, keep in mind that as you gain weight you will have to increase the caloric content of your diet to keep gaining. If you stop gaining, simply increase your caloric intake by increasing the foods in proportion, e.g. increase each item by 20%.

6. Strength training: You must strength train or else you will gain fat, not desirable lean tissue. Your training should consist of squats, deadlifts, chin ups, pull ups, bench presses or dips, and overhead presses.

Before you strength train, correct any joint issues or muscle imbalances you may have, using a program designed for that purpose.

I recommend minimal volume, either high-intensity training (one set to failure after warm-ups), or a plan of 1-3 not-to-failure work sets of 5 repetitions, as prescribed in Starting Strength.

I also recommend full-body routines, because in my experience these most effectively increase the appetite. The increase of appetite tells you that you have stimulated a growth process.

If you have experience with squats and excellent form (see Starting Strength), you might try doing squats for one set of 15-20 repetitions. These can dramatically increase appetite.

A sample routine would look like this:

Day 1:
Squats -- Several warm-ups, then 3 sets, 5 repetitions, or 1 set, 15 – 20 repetitions
Chin ups – 1 to 3 sets, 5-8 repetitions
Overhead press -- 1 to 3 sets, 5-8 repetitions

Day 2:
Deadlifts – Several warm-ups, then one set of 5 – 10 repetitions
Bench press or parallel bar dips -- 1 to 3 sets, 5-8 repetitions
Pull ups – 1 to 3 sets, 5-8 repetitions

Perform day 1 and day two 3 to 5 days apart, i.e. train only twice weekly. If progression slows, increase the rest period by a day or so.

Important note: To progress in muscular body weight you must progress substantially in strength. A fifteen pound gain in lean body weight will likely produce a doubling in initial strength levels in the major movements. This means that if you gain fifteen pounds but your squatting resistance has only increased fifteen pounds, you have put on fat, not lean tissue. A fifteen pound gain of lean tissue will likely require a progression in resistance used in squats by about 100-120 pounds; a thirty pound gain will require a progression in squat resistance of more than 200 pounds. A healthy young male can aim to squat for repetitions with more than 150% of bodyweight, and do deadlifts for repetitions with 200-300% of bodyweight.

7. If in the 24 hour period following a training session you find that your allotted caloric intake does not satisfy your appetite, eat more.

8. Rest. Get enough sleep that you don’t need an alarm clock. Don’t walk if you can stand, don’t stand if you can sit, and don’t sit if you can recline.

Addendum: Its NOT Easy!

For most people, gaining quality (functional, i.e. lean muscular) weight does NOT come easy, it won't happen quickly and it takes discipline.

To illustrate the difficulty, consider this: Over his 15 career, 9-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates, a genetically gifted and anabolically assisted individual, gained a total of 70 pounds, an average gain of less than 5 pounds per year. Of course, he gained more per year in the earlier stages and less later, but this illustrates how difficult it is to gain muscular body mass.

The genetically average individual not using pharmaceutical assistance will gain more slowly. Many people have unrealistic expectations and lack the patience and persistence required to get the result they say that they want.

BTW, if you want to see what people doing Starting Strength programs eat to gain weight, check this out the Food FAQ page at 70sBig.com. Here are some samples:



8 eggs, 1/4 lb. bacon, 1/4 lb. brisket, Pico, cheese, and salsa.



A 3/4 pound burger (with a large vanilla milkshake not shown)

Not all paleo (you can substitute bananas and sweet potatoes for the buns), but these illustrate the volume of food a tall young man may need to eat AT EVERY MEAL to gain bodyweight in conjunction with strength training but without the aid of anabolic drugs. Like I said, few people understand the degree of discipline and appetite required for a genetically average person to gain significant body mass.