Advice needed re try to GAIN weight

[Tiredemma]

Thought that the weight loss boards would be better for this advice?

DS1 is 15 and currently 52kg. He is playing Rugby now at a high level (scrum half). He really needs to try and 'gain' about 9/10kg over the few months (advised by his academy).

I dont want him to just eat crap- can anyone offer any advice on what are the best types of foods for this? Im thinking stuff with dense calories (oily fish/avacados etc)

any advice would be appreciated

Hi,

Definitely calorie dense foods, this doesn't mean cut out all of the usual good food like salads, veg, fruit as they are full of the essential vitamins and minerals too so add the denser foods to his usual foods, or remove/replace some. Pastas at this age tend to be very popular with garlic bread, you can easily get in lots of healthy food to pastas including sea food which will have the essential oils and fats. Ultimately you want calorie dense food because he would never get enough calories to gain weight just by eating apples, they take up too much space and hence are food for fat loss, not gain!

How does he feel about this though? Does he understand why and does he really want to concentrate a lot on his nutrition to become better at the sport? It sounds like he does! I reckon the coaches could offer better advice, from tried and tested methods, so ask them!

Other ideas:
eggs (lots of them!)
grainy breads
peanut or almond butter (the Meridian brand is excellent)
cheeses
homemade fruit cakes/muffins
smoothies with oats in
porridge
muesli (you could make your own if you google Paleo muesli)
nuts
dried fruit
milks
casseroles/stews
homemade pizza (or shop bought, whatever, occasionally is fine)
Full fat greek yoghurt, top with granola or fruits/honey
Shredded Gammon is also great as easy to pick at if it's just in the fridge, easy to use as a roll topper or pasta filler outer! (I like gammon slow cooked as it falls apart).

It would be good to see his current food intake so I could give tips on increasing the calories of each.

I'm a training weight management advisor so I love this sort of stuff and hope I am on the right tracks!

oh fab!! give me a few mins and ill throw together what he currently tends to eat.

Breakfast - generally something like crunchy nut cornflakes but with semi skimmed milk. Toast occasionally

LUNCH- not really sure what he has as he eats this at school - imagine it to be pizza/chips/general school stuff

Dinner- I tend to do lasagnas, spag bol, chilli con carne, sausage casserole, tuna pasta bake, chicken curry

he snacks a lot on crap

If you can experiment with him at weekends try him on different breakfasts, you need more protein there for sure. Protein is the building blocks for muscles, along with carbs and fats too of course.

Eggs on toast with bacon or mushrooms, tomatoes, sausages (good quality), think fry ups! Peanut butter on toast, mashed avocado on toast, ham bagel. Also google Paleo egg muffins. Sweet potato hash browns too. You can pre-make and freeze. Also another great one for good calories is smoked salmon and cream cheese in bagels, or omelettes with anything in that he likes.

Smoothies with oats in and protein will give longer lasting energy than cereal which just gives a huge sugar spike, followed by a dip which calls for more sugar and will usually be junk again at that age! Both of you talk about how he feels one and two hours afterwards, see if it is better than on a cereal day. Even better if you can trial proteiny foods on a training day to see if his energy stays constant or if he has dips. He can replenish after training with cereal (carby things) then if he can't cut it out completely.

It's going to be tough dealing with the school food unless he thoroughly understands the need for fresher food to help his gains be muscle, not just fat! Chicken, pasta salads, wraps even can be better than pizza/chips. Try to get him to make small changes towards more natural foods than processed wheaty fake foods that don't give him many nutrients. Obviously all the foods I'm recommending will give him good brain power too, so concentration should peak too.

Dinners sound great, you can pack out things like that with red lentils as they absorb the juices and add so much extra goodness and clean calories. Also all the beans in the world are brilliant for all sorts of goodness, so buy loads of cans of beans to chuck in everything. Even baked beans are a good quick release energy for him and will sustain him quite a while. He needs a calorie surplus to gain muscle but he also needs to be doing some resistance or weight training not just running around. He also needs total rest days.

Hope this helps!