This article was co-authored by Claudia Carberry, RD, MS. Claudia Carberry is a Registered Dietitian specializing in kidney transplants and counseling patients for weight loss at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She is a member of the Arkansas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Claudia received her MS in Nutrition from the University of Tennessee Knoxville in 2010. This article has been viewed 11,013,239 times.

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If you want to gain weight, you’ll need to eat more calories than your body burns every day. The number of calories you’ll need to eat will depend on your age, sex, height, and activity level, but generally, you should aim to eat about 500 calories more per day than your daily recommended caloric intake. Make sure you’re choosing healthy, nutrient-dense foods with each meal. Avoid eating a lot of unhealthy processed foods to gain weight since it can lead to health problems. Some healthy, high-calorie foods you can incorporate into your diet include avocados, rice, nuts, whole-grain bread, yogurt, and olive oil. You can also drink shakes with protein powder to easily get in more calories on the go. If you're trying to gain weight to put on muscle, eat more foods that are high in protein, like eggs, fish, chicken, tuna, beans, and cottage cheese. For more tips from our Dietitian co-author, like what kind of vegetables and proteins you should eat to gain weight, keep reading!