A lot of people feel stuck at the same body weight, no matter how much they think they eat or what they try. Understanding how to gain weight & put on muscle mass starts with a structured plan, not random meals, guesswork, or expensive supplements.



If you struggle with weight gain or regard yourself as a hard gainer, the goal is not simply to eat more junk and hope for the best.

You need a slight calorie surplus, smart resistance training, and enough recovery to turn extra energy into lean tissue and muscle growth.

Start by setting a goal

Before changing your diet, define what success means for you. The majority of people don't want general weight gain, they want lean muscle gain. You don't want to put on fat, you want lean mass & size.

The majority of my clients want a body recomposition.

That distinction matters because your nutrition goals, training style, and rate of progress will differ. A person who is underweight may first aim for a healthy weight, while someone focused on body composition may care more about muscle mass and strength gains than scale weight.

A hard gainer usually needs more planning than motivation. Low appetite, busy workdays, missed meals, and high daily movement can make energy intake too low even when it feels like you "eat a lot".

Realistic progress is usually modest. A gain of around 0.25kg per week is enough, and monthly muscle gain is slower than most people expect.

What healthy weight gain actually looks like



Healthy ways to gain weight focus on gradual progress. That helps limit excess fat while supporting muscle gain and better training performance.

Daily + weekly weigh-ins are essential.

That's all you need to do. You don't need to obsess and measure waist, arms and chest.

Consistency is the aim of the game.

Why do some people struggle with weight gain?

Everyone is different..

Common reasons for lack of weight gain include:

• Low appetite
• High activity levels
• Inconsistent eating
• Underestimating maintenance calories (This is a big one)

Some people also rely on foods that are healthy but not very calorie-dense, which makes eating enough harder.

Low body weight, poor appetite, fatigue, or digestive issues are common in today's day and age.

How to create a calorie surplus that supports muscle growth

Weight gain happens when energy intake stays above energy balance needs over time.

In simple terms, you need to eat more than your body burns.

The biggest mistake that people make is that they think they can eat junk food to put on weight. This is a common fallacy, you want to be as strict with your weight gain as you are with your weight loss.

A moderate calorie surplus is better for muscle growth, digestion, and body composition than force-feeding thousands of extra calories.

Start with a conservative approach and adjust based on the scale. If body weight tracking shows no change after two to three weeks, increase calories slightly.

How much more should you eat? It's a lot less than you think

A practical starting point is about 150 - 250 extra calories per day above maintenance calories.

Review weekly trends, not day-to-day fluctuations. If your average body weight is flat after a 2 weeks, add another 150 to 250 calories daily.

Use energy-dense foods strategically

Choose calorie-dense foods that still offer nutrition. Good options for balanced meals include rice, oats, potatoes, dairy, eggs, olive oil, nuts, fatty cuts of meat, and full-fat yogurt.

Prioritise whole foods

Muscle gain depends on total calories and good food quality, but macronutrients still matter. Protein intake supports repair, carbohydrate fuels training, and dietary fat helps support hormones.

This is where many hard gainers go wrong. They focus only on protein "mass gainer" shakes and ignore total food intake. Another common mistake is that they eat low-carb and then wonder why their weight training goes nowhere for years.

Avoid these 3 common pitfalls if you want to successfully gain weight and put on muscle:

• Protein powders & mass gainers
• High-calorie takeaway food
• Pouring olive oil onto your meals

Remember, food is medicine. You want to aim to get 90% of your nutrition from whole foods. This means you will get a good amount of micronutrients. We want to look and feel good inside and out.

Set a protein target & stick to it

Aim for roughly 1.6 to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. If you are newer to strength training, staying within that range is usually enough.

Spread protein across three to five meals. Lean protein sources like chicken, beef, fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, whole milk make it easy. If you struggle with your protein target add whey in.

The biggest mistake keeping you "skinny"

99.9% of my clients who struggle with muscle & weight gain are completely under-eating carbohydrates.

Carbohydrate intake matters for training volume, recovery, and strength gains. If you train hard and eat too few carbs, muscle growth is impossible.

Use easy staples such as rice, pasta, fruit, sourdough bread and potatoes.

If you struggle with carb intake, you can add things like raw cold-pressed honey and organic maple syrup.

For a hard gainer, these calorie-dense foods allow you to hit a modest calorie surplus without your appetite feeling overwhelmed by high-volume meals.

Use fats to increase calories but don't overdo it

Dietary fat is useful when appetite is low because it adds calories without too much volume. Olive oil, avocados, whole milk yogurt, cheese, fatty fish like salmon are great and rib eye steaks are a good fatty cut of meat.

Keep the diet mostly built around nutrient-rich foods. That gives you calories without sacrificing digestion, performance, or recovery.

Eat smaller meals more often

Many people who struggle with weight gain simply do better with higher meal frequency. Eating more often can feel far easier than trying to cram everything into two huge meals.

Consistency beats occasional overeating. One massive weekend meal does not fix five low-calorie weekdays.

Simple meal timing framework

A solid baseline is three main meals plus two or three snacks. That structure works well for busy professionals who need routine more than complexity.

Anchor calories around breakfast, a post-workout meal, and dinner. Those windows often make it easier to hit your target without feeling stuffed all day.

Liquid calories can help if you struggle

Liquid calories are useful if your appetite is really poor.

I've completely replaced my protein shake with raw milk & maple syrup - Highly anabolic

Smoothies, raw milk-based shakes with maple syrup & honey, and yogurt drinks can add energy without the fullness of another large plate of food.

Train for progressive overload

Eating more without resistance training mainly leads to body weight gain, not much new muscle mass. To build lean tissue, you need a periodised strength training plan that focuses on progressive overload.

That means asking your muscles to do a little more over time.

• More reps
• More load
• Better control

Progressive overload = hypertrophy (muscle gain)

Training priorities for hard gainers



Base your program around compound lifts that train a lot of muscle at once. Good staples include the squat, bench press, row, deadlift variations, pull-up variations, overhead press, and lunges.

Train each major muscle group at least twice per week. That usually gives better practice, better training volume, and more chances to stimulate muscle growth.

Recovery is more important than your training

Training is only the stimulus. Recovery is where your body actually builds muscle mass, restores performance, and adapts to hard sessions.

Poor sleep, high stress, and not enough rest days can blunt appetite and training quality. Even in a calorie surplus, bad recovery can stall progress.

Sleep hygiene

Aim for 7 to 8.5 hours of sleep each night. This will help support hormones, muscle repair, and energy. Everyone could do better with a regular bedtime, no caffeine after 11 am, and a wind-down routine.

Here are my 4 top tips for better sleep and stress management:

1. Avoid doom scrolling on social media as much as possible
2. Dim lights at night, think rock salt lamps and red globes
3. Read 30-60 minutes before bed
4. My golden rule: Only use your bed for sleep, sex & reading

Hydration & performance

Hydration supports digestion, gym performance, and recovery. It also matters more when protein intake and fiber go up.

Drink fluids with meals and around training. Milk, water, and electrolyte-rich drinks can all help depending on sweat loss and session length.

Avoid these common mistakes & misconceptions

A lot of people say they eat all the time, but calorie tracking often shows they still fall short. Others eat enough but train poorly, skip protein, or lack consistency for long enough to see meaningful change.

Supplements can support a good plan, but they cannot replace food, training, and recovery. If your fundamentals are weak, no powder will fix that.

Common mistakes include skipping breakfast, doing too much cardio, changing plans too often, and failing to track your weight daily. Another big one is assuming hunger is a reliable guide when appetite is naturally low.

Relying only on junk food can also backfire. It may raise calories, but it can hurt digestion, recovery, and body composition.

For people also trying to improve body fat levels later, understanding the difference between a muscle-gain phase and weight loss is important.

The methods are not interchangeable.

Key takeaways

Building muscle mass & putting weight on is a slow process.

Focus on:

• 0.25kg - 0.5kg added weight a week is a good sweet spot
• A modest calorie surplus of 150 to 200 calories
• Hitting your protein intake of 2g/kg
• Daily body weight tracking
• Single ingredient wholefoods, organic when possible
• Periodized weight training program that focuses on compound lifts
• For "hardgainers", honey, maple syrup & milk are your secret weapons
  

Final thoughts



Your body is a machine that simply adapts to the environment and the stimulus you provide it. If you want it to put muscle on, you have to give it a compelling reason through progressive resistance training while providing the raw materials through nutrient-dense whole foods.

Build a lifestyle that supports strength gains rather than chasing a quick, hectic 12 week result that won't last. Nothing of worth and merit was built overnight.

Focus on the big compound lifts, eat as many whole foods as possible, and let consistency do the heavy lifting.

If you focus on the fundamentals, the scale and your strength gains will follow.

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