How To Gain Weight Without Belly Fat
It is easy to gain weight – just eat anything you feel like! But you have to be deliberate about what you eat if you want to gain weight healthily.
For a healthy life, you need to avoid being underweight.
If you are already underweight, you need to consciously work on how to gain weight without belly fat.
This article is for anyone certain that their being underweight is not a result of any medical condition. You will learn how to regain weight healthily with the tips shared here.
Let’s get started.
Dangers of Being Underweight
While being overweight is not good for your health, being underweight is also never a good thing. Being underweight comes with some serious dangers.
To know whether or not your weight is adequate, you need to check your weight using the BMI formula (Body Mass Index).
You need to the tips on how to gain weight without belly fat if your BMI is less than 18.5.
Let’s see some of the dangers of being underweight below:
Weakened Immune System
A weak immune system is vulnerable to infections or any kind of flu. It is easy to fall ill and visit the hospital quite often if your immune system is weak.
Also, your wounds will heal slowly compared to someone with a stronger immune system.
Fatigue can also be caused by a weakened immune system.
You will feel weak and tired very often, even when you have not engaged in an activity that should get you all stressed up.
Lack of Self-Confidence
Body-shaming is not just for overweight people; you can also be body-shamed if you are underweight.
This can lead to poor self-image and a lack of self-confidence. If this goes on unchecked, it doesn’t take too long to become self-conscious and suffer anxiety. That’s because you will become more sensitive to rejection.
Depression can also sneak in if your self-confidence is totally lost.
Fragile Bones (Osteoporosis)
This is a health condition where your bones become too fragile. Underweight and thin people are at a higher risk of having osteoporosis.
When your bones are fragile, they can easily break. It often leads to wrist or ankle fractures.
Nutritional Deficiency
Being underweight is an indication that you are not eating a balanced diet. It signifies deficiencies in vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, zinc, iron, and iodine.
In addition to weight loss, nutritional deficiencies can also lead to loss of muscle mass and fat, sunken eyes, hollow cheeks, and dry skin and hair.
Gynecological Complications
A woman’s fertility can be reduced due to hormonal imbalance if she is underweight. This often directly affects the ovulation process, which reduces the probability of the woman getting pregnant.
Women can also experience irregularities in their menstrual cycle when the ovulation process is affected.
Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases
You are at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases when you are underweight.
A lack of vital minerals like potassium, calcium, and sodium, which are all responsible for maintaining a stable heartbeat can make you more vulnerable to heart diseases.
Muscle Weight Vs Fat Weight
Muscle weight differs from fat weight in various ways. Let’s take a look at some of the differences:
- Volume and density: When you compare a quantity of fat and muscle of the same weight, you will discover that the fat will have more volume than the muscle. A muscle fiber of the same weight as the fat will occupy less space and look smaller than the fat. This is because the density of the muscle is much more than the fat. This explains why two different people can have the same weight but look different. One of them has more muscle weight while the other has more fat weight.
- Health: A person with muscle weight burns more calories than someone with fat weight. This makes the person with muscle weight healthier than the person with fat weight because the person with fat weight is more likely to be obese.
- Bone mass: Your bone mass is likely to increase in size when you have muscle weight, but there is little to no effect on your bone mass with fat weight.
- Health risk: People with fat weight have a higher risk of diseases like obesity, high blood pressure, heart diseases, kidney diseases, and more.
On the other hand, muscle weight will help you live healthier and it can also lead to a longer lifespan.
Gaining Weight: Healthy Vs Unhealthy Way
In order to implement the best tips on how to gain weight without belly fat, you need to know the differences between gaining weight the healthy way and the unhealthy way. This knowledge will help you to gain weight the right and healthy way.
Here are a few different ways to gain a healthy weight and avoid unhealthy weight.
Exercise
Regular exercise (resistance training in particular) will help you to gain weight in a healthy way.
On the other hand, lack of exercise can lead to unhealthy weight gain since you may only be eating high-fat foods without burning enough fat to prevent belly fat.
Eating without adequate exercise may lead to obesity.
In other words, eating all day and living a sedentary lifestyle is an unhealthy way of gaining weight.
Avoid Too Much Alcohol
Men who often consume alcohol will likely develop more fat weight around their belly, which is an unhealthy way of gaining weight.
Alcohol intake in adequate quantity at calculated intervals may not be completely unhealthy. However, consuming alcohol excessively is what makes it unhealthy.
Sugar and other Artificial Sweeteners
Sugary foods like candies, cakes, soda drinks, and the likes can lead to gaining weight that will leave you with unwanted belly fat. That’s because the composition of these foods can slow down your metabolism.
It is not necessary to completely avoid eating junk foods if you are underweight.
You can always eat them once in a while. It only becomes a problem when you make it a habit to eat them every day.
You can take water and fruits in place of soda and also eat foods rich in complex carbohydrates and lean protein. This can help you to gain a healthy weight.
High-Quality Calories Meals
Consuming foods rich in high calories like whole-grain bread will help you gain weight the right way.
For a healthy weight gain, be sure to take other protein-rich foods like eggs, cheese, and meat, so you can eat a more balanced diet.
Protein Supplement
Another healthy way to add weight is by taking protein supplements.
Sometimes, you may not be able to get enough quality protein from your foods. Adding protein supplements to your meal will make up for any inadequacies in the protein content of your food.
You can take your protein supplement together with some high-calorie foods. It will make your diet balanced.
Food For Healthy Weight Gain
Your diet should include proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates if you must gain weight in a healthy way while avoiding unnecessary belly fat.
Here is a list of foods you can eat and gain weight without belly fat:
- Salmon and oily fish: These are excellent sources of protein and healthy fats that help to build your muscle. Most importantly, salmon and other types of oily fishes are the best sources of Omega-3 fatty acids.
- Fruits and vegetables: Regular intake of fruits like bananas, avocados, coconuts, and mangoes can help you gain a healthy weight since they contain nutrients that help with muscle building.
- Milk: Consumption of milk will help you add more healthy weight and will also build your muscles. It is a good source of calcium for stronger and healthy bones. Milk contains casein and whey proteins. This means you can easily add protein to your diet when you take milk.
- Nuts and seeds: Nuts like almonds and peanuts, and also seeds like sunflower seeds, are good for healthy weight gain. They may appear small, but these nuts and seeds contain a high quantity of calories.
- Eggs: Never say no to eating whole eggs (yoke inclusive) if you are working on building weight the healthy way. Eggs contribute greatly to muscle building. They provide a combination of healthy fats and proteins. You can eat eggs just as they are. You can also combine them with other foods like sandwiches and salads.
- Red meat: Eating red meat is another great way to build muscle for those who are underweight. That’s primarily because red meat contains protein. It also has leucine, which is a vital amino acid that stimulates protein synthesis in the muscle. You stand the chance of consuming more calories when you eat fattier red meat.
- Protein supplement: The intake of protein supplements is another faster and cost-effective way of gaining weight without belly fat. Protein supplements are also necessary if you are doing any form of resistance training. This is because your daily protein requirement increases each day as you engage in rigorous exercises.
Importance of Resistance Training
Resistance training is also known as weight training or strength training. This type of training is critical if you are looking for how to gain weight without belly fat.
Exercise plays a vital role when you want to add weight healthily, just as it does when you want to lose weight.
Regularly performing resistance exercises will help you to build body mass and strength naturally.
And yes, you don’t have to worry about belly fat if you take your resistance training seriously.
Some of the resistance training for weight gain includes:
- Pushups: This exercise will build up the muscle in your arms and shoulders. It is simple to perform and does not need any tool. This also means you can do it anywhere and anytime.
- Pull-ups: Another simple resistance training that can build up your arms and shoulder muscles is pull-ups. Unlike the pushup, where you need no equipment, you will need a pull-up bar (preferably at the gym) or a cylindrical object (at home) to perform pull-up exercises.
- Squats: Do this exercise to build your legs and butt muscle, most importantly your quadriceps femoris (quads) muscle. You can also perform this exercise without any equipment.
- Lunges: This exercise will tone and build your butt and legs muscles. It is easy to perform and you can also do it anywhere.
- Bench press: Performing bench presses will surely build muscle in your shoulder, triceps, and chest. For this exercise, you will need a bar of adequate weight and a bench.
- Overhead press: An overhead press is your best option if you want to bulk up the muscles in your back, abs, legs, arms, and shoulders. All you will need for this exercise is a weighted bar.
Eating healthy and nutritious meals will start you on the journey of gaining weight without belly fat. Adding resistance training to it will take you closer to your weight-gaining goal twice as fast!
Be sure to stick to a regular exercise routine and perform your resistance training with the right form for excellent results.
Pro tip: Eat more foods that contain high-quality calories and be dedicated to your resistance training routines. For a faster weight gain without belly fat, add protein supplements to your meals in adequate quantity.
Conclusion
No doubt, being underweight means that you have fewer nutrients in your body.
Without eating a balanced diet and performing regular exercise, you will not be able to maintain good health with a strong immune system, stronger bones, and healthy skin.
You shouldn’t go about eating just anything haphazardly to gain weight, as you may end up with so much belly fat.
Instead, it is beneficial to implement these tips on how to gain weight without belly fat.
This means, you will eat the right meal at the right time and will also do the right exercise meant for you.
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