When out and about giving nutrition presentations, I talk at length about how to improve performance, how to fuel, and, often, how to lose weight. When I finish my spiel, it’s not uncommon for a voice to peep up from the back of the room and profess that their performance struggles have nothing to do with losing weight.

Instead, they struggle to gain weight. If you, your teammate, or your running buddy struggles to put on weight in a healthy manner, I have some tips to put into practice.

Nutrition - Weight Loss gaining weight is straightforward for most runners. The pounds accumulate thanks to a few more bites, larger servings, and more calorically dense choices over time. Regardless of whether you want to lose or gain weight, the act is based on two simple equations: when calories consumed are greater than calories expended, weight is gain. Conversely, when calories consumed are less than calories expended, then weight is lost.

Anyone who struggles to achieve weight gain or loss will tell you that there are many intricacies to this equation. Metabolism, genetics, exercise intensity, activities of daily living, environment, and macronutrient choices play a role in pinning down exactly how many calories need to be consumed. But like many math equations, in order to simplify things, let’s start by taking a look at what’s constant.

I recommend starting with calories consumed. Day in and day out, most of us fall into the pattern of eating similar items, with similar portions, and at similar times. Start by writing down what you eat throughout the day and do this for three days. Then, take a look at your log. If you need to gain weight, you’ll need to identify where you can make some additions to your intake.

RELATED: Drop pounds, get fit, and eat better with the Make Sure It’s Sufficient!

Perhaps you need to add in an additional snack. Perhaps you can eat a full sandwich instead of a half. In general, a pound consists of 3,500 calories. To gain weight, you’ll need to increase your typical intake by this amount. To lose weight, you’ll need to cut back by this amount. But 3,500 calories is a lot—whether it’s coming from more or less food or coming from an addition or reduction of exercise. So it’s best to develop a plan to reach your weight goal over a few weeks rather than a crash course in diet and exercise that’s bound to leave you feeling either overly stuffed or overly depleted (depending on your goals). 

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If weight loss is your goal and if your upcoming workout is neither intense nor extremely long in duration, you might find that “training low” or in a fasted state helps you burn off some of your fat stores and therefore lose weight. A simple way to do this is to exercise first thing in the morning, before breakfast (it’s a good idea to hydrate before the workout and adding in a coffee pick-me-up is never a bad idea).

If weight gain is your goal, you’ll want to be certain to fuel up—within reason—before workouts. By adding in carbohydrate before and during your workout, you’ll prevent your body from becoming catabolic (breaking down) during exercise. You want to have enough fuel on board so that you don’t have to rely on your body’s reserves—like muscle and organ tissue.

The goal is to have enough energy on board so that you run off of glycogen (carb stores) or even free fatty acids (fat stores) rather than protein because protein is not the most efficient or most optimal fuel for running, and protein plays a role in countless functions in the body—you want to reserve protein for functions like muscle building and protection from viruses, rather than provision of energy. 

Make Sure It’s Sufficient

Whether your goal is weight gain or weight loss, you want to be certain that your intake of protein is adequate. A recent review paper Taking Ozempic? Keep Running Despite Side Effects Ask For Help reported that higher-protein diets have been shown to promote gains in muscle mass, especially when paired with resistance training; spare muscle mass loss during caloric restriction; and attenuate the natural loss of muscle mass that accompanies aging.

So whether you’re trying to gain weight (and want to prevent muscle loss while your calorie intake is too low) or you want to lose weight (and want the weight loss to stem from fat stores rather than lean body mass), protein will be your ally. Protein quality is important to the gain and maintenance of muscle mass and you can boost your protein intake any number of ways. While whey protein is one of the highest-quality proteins given its amino acid content (high essential, branched-chain, and leucine amino acid content) and rapid digestibility, you can also consume protein from a variety of sources such as egg, lean poultry, fish, vegetable proteins (soy, quinoa, hemp), and dairy (which contains whey and casein). 

Make It Colorful, Make It Count

When it comes to achieving optimal health and a higher number on the scale, the sky is not exactly the limit. Certainly, there are those out there who consume whatever isn’t nailed down that tastes good and has calories. But most runners who need to gain weight—either for health, to graduate from underweight status to normal weight, or, for female runners, as one of the pillars in the return of menstruation—want to gain lean body mass rather than copious amounts of fat mass.

In this case, the weight gain can be gradual (aim for an increased intake of 350 calories/day x 10 days to equal one pound) and if the nutrient sources are practical, not only will weight gain occur but better health can be achieved. In other words, these daily additional calories should come from whole grains, lean meats, dairy, and legumes, dark colored fruits and vegetables, and high-calorie choices like nuts and vegetable oils.

An extra 350 calories a day can be as simple as adding in a smoothie at breakfast (8 ounce of 2 percent milk + two scoops whey + one cup spinach + one medium banana is about 375 calories and 35 grams protein) or a snack of half a cup trail mix comprised of chocolate chips, nuts, and seeds (about 353 calories and 10 grams of protein).

Then again, if snacking isn’t for you, you could add a few more bites or larger servings to your next meal, such as one cup of pasta and a half cup of marinara sauce topped with quarter cup shredded cheese, which provides 350 calories and 15 grams of protein. When on the run, you might also consider adding in some energizing fuel (sports drink, gels, bars, blocks, or chews) to get you through your next workout without hitting the wall or burning through your protein stores. 

Summer Running Gear

It can be a real struggle to lose or gain weight without a good support system. It’s hard enough to say yes (or no) to food given the voices in your mind that may be suggesting you say otherwise. In my experience with patients, athletes, and clients, you need to remove all possible roadblocks when it comes time to change the number on the scale. Maybe that means talking to family members and explaining that while they are working to curb their calorie intake, you need to increase yours, which means you might be eating foods that they avoid or eating more frequently or in greater portions.

The last thing you need to hear as you work to increase your intake or eating occasions is an unsupportive or condescending voice making you second-guess your next forkful. If you’re working to lose weight, it may be helpful to have a meeting of the minds in which you explain that in order to move toward a healthy or goal weight, you need help making better choices. This may mean that you need “trigger” or “binge” or “junk” foods to be removed from sight. It may mean that you need these foods to be removed from your house entirely. 

At the end of the day, I’d be willing to bet that there are few people out there that couldn’t use a serving of improvement or two. If you feel that you need to gain weight but need some advice on how to “make weight” or how to meet, but not surpass, your goal, check out this article on Ask For Help.

Finally, if you feel that your struggle is more serious and not one you can tackle alone or even with the help of a friend or family member, know that you’re not alone. Find a health care professional who specializes in all types of disordered eating and resources on the Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutrition website.