Gaining Weight

Here are answers and opinions from contributors:

• The best way to gain weight easily and safely is to work out and eat food anytime after 8:00 pm. The reason why is your body is relaxed at this point so your body does not burn off the calories which cause weight gain.

• If you really want to gain weight, do what has worked for the majority of Americans: Go on a diet! While you will experience a loss in weight intitally, your metabolism will slow down, and your body will shift into weight storage mode. When you do begin eating normally again, you will gain weight quickly and effortlessly. If you want to gain a lot of weight, diet for a long time. If a little weight will help you, even two weeks can reset your body's weight thermostat.

• Go to Dietitian website and click on 'underweight' on the left. Try the 'healthy body calculator' which personalizes a diet to suit your lifestyle and height. I have to eat around 15000kJ a day to gain 1kg per week. It has helped me so far, but I had to keep a diary at first to make sure I was eating enough. Generally if you are full all the time, you are probably eating enough to gain some weight.

• Just increase portion size, I gained a stone which I very much needed to in 3 weeks, but slightly decreasing my activity and increasing portion sizes. also drinking calorie drinks which I didn't before easily adds up calories. that's not to say have loads of soda because it's not good for you, but juices or squash, tea, coffee etc. do it in a healthy way, don't go binging on bad foods.

• Don't eat breakfast Exercise to make yourself tired, then eat a large lunch, then exercise some more and eat a large dinner, then go to sleep. Eating large amounts of food and then going to sleep is an easy way to gain weight because you don't work any of the food off.