I noticed there seem to be a few people here who know about losing weight, so I thought I’d ask about gaining weight. According to the BMI, I’m slightly underweight, and I’d like to gain (and keep) 5-10 kgs. I’ve asked several doctors, who all told me increase calories etc. Any suggestions?
Eat more.
And lift weights. You want to gain muscle, not fat.
The OP didn’t specify muscle. One tactic might be to follow a fat person around all day, and do and eat what they do.
Less sarcastically, I work with a guy who’s trying to bulk out, and he drinks a vast amount of protein shake every day, plus complex carbohydrates (yogurt and fruit smoothies), and hits the gym 5 times a week, doing strength training.
Muscle would be great, but I didn’t mention that because whenever I do, a lot of people assume I want biceps bigger than my head or whatever - I just want to ‘fill out’ a bit.
And yes, “eat more”. I keep hearing this. There’s only so much I can eat (and I eat pretty well). I’ve tried protein shakes, but yogurt sounds good (and delicious).
Don’t worry about what others think, do what you want. Unless you’re genetically gifted and work incredibly hard(and take steroids), you won’t get biceps bigger than your head.
Eat enough. The extra calories will be used to produce muscle if you work out.
You won’t need excessive amounts of protein. Between 1 gram per kg of bodyweight is enough. If you want to go extreme, no more than 1 gram per pound of bodyweight.
There are no magic pills, supplements, lotions, powders, etc.
This thread should be closed immediately and the OP referred to a nutritionist/doctor.
Since the OP is looking for opinions, moving this from GQ to IMHO.
samclem Moderator
You gotta build your appetite
The rest is my opinion
Are you constantly stressed? Wanting to gain weight is a sign of stress, while it sounds like it is important, I bet the main cause for being underweight is from stress, unless of course you have a disease or condition which I would know nothing about. Anyway, I’ll try to explain what I mean
Weed probably isn’t your answer but it does build your appetite, why exactly I don’t know but I’m sure it could be replicated without using marijuana. (that is sarcasm)
Overweight people may have low metabolism (or is it high?) but that’s not the only reason they put on the weight. I have gotten used to eating three meals and more a day when time and money allowed but self discipline has taught me to go through times with only one meal a day, some days not a full meal and others nothing at all.
Watch a dog eat sometime, I haven’t seen a dog yet stop eating from being full (with meat of course)…
I think relaxing will build your appetite more, you may care too much. It probably builds up nerves or something and affects your appetite… You know how easy it is to lose your appetite, well I bet it is just as easy to gain one. Just don’t go overboard and let it take over your life, balanced self-discipline is key. Don’t eat more then you can afford and while food is one of our true needs, keeping your job should be taken into consideration as well as other time consuming things…
Buy some dumbbells,
if you are female, 10 lb dumbbells is all you need
male = 15lb - 30lb
A bit extreme, isn’t it? I didn’t say I weigh 20 kgs, just that I’m slight underweight, and would like to put on and keep 5-10 kgs.
Stress may well be part of it. I have dumbbells, and should use them more often. I’m male, btw (a woman called boomerwang?!) 
If you already eat normal amounts, and are still underweight, you have to eat large amounts. Start by tracking what you already eat and seeing if it is in fact an average caloric intake (minimally you should be getting 2000). Then add 500 calories per day to that and stick to it. If that doesn’t do the trick, add 500 more daily. I only eat real, fresh food - I’ve tried weight gaining powder, etc, in the past - none of that shit is good for you. I want to be healthy and feel it more than I want to bulk up. Besides, shakes etc taste nasty. If you don’t cook, learn to cook delicious food, then eat more of it.
I’ve finally (after 10 years of whining about being so skinny) gained and maintained some weight in the past 2 years, but I am still just under having an ‘ideal’ BMI. I don’t worry much about it as I’m blessedly healthy and I just want more meat on my bones for vanity and athletic performance. I am generally active (walking, biking - I don’t drive, have two dogs that like to walk, and I work on my feet a fair amount) and I also work out (I do a lot of yoga, and I lift weights). This burns more calories of course, but I feel my best and I’ve gotten a lot stronger since starting an exercise regimen, and load-bearing exercise is pretty key for me to gain/maintain pounds (the pounds I have gained are mostly muscle in my legs, butt and back - I’ve always had lowish body fat). Load-bearing exercise is also pretty key for your bone mass and strength, and general health, when you tend to be too thin.
10 lb dumbbells are bullshit for anyone. I work out mostly with a 40 lb dumbbell, and if I wasn’t so broke I would already have a barbell and be doing my big lifts with much heavier weights. As it is I just do a lot of reps, and I’ve still seen progression.
Cool, I have put on a few kgs in recent years, from doing the things you suggested, so I guess I have to be patient. 
Eating often is key to gaining weight. It’s a whole lot easier to up the calories by eating two small extra meals per day than to down mega-huge portions, although eating without feeling the least bit hungry will be tough at first, anyway. Fortunately, humans adapt to most anything. I’ve turned from a meal-missing, occasionally-gluttonous pencil-neck into a six-small-meals-per-day 200 lbs. athlete after age 25. It doesn’t take long to start feeling hungry every three hours after forcing it for a while. A real breakfast is mandatory. I say this as a person who rarely had much appetite and never ate breakfast before.
Hennessy has a point about stress. I think us fretful ectomorphs really are hormonally predisposed to stay thin. Cortisol, a stress hormone, inhibits muscle growth quite effectively, so stress management equals muscle gains. The good thing is, weight training itself is a great stress reliever (I’m never as calm and collected as after 45 minutes of hitting the iron), and any strength and muscle gains help dispel stressful issues with body image and confidence.
I disagree about the 10-30-lb. dumbbell suggestion, though. I got nowhere before I switched to using much bigger weights, and I trained with a pair of adjustable 15 kg (33 lbs.) dumbbells for a couple of years. How do you squat or deadlift with <60 lbs. of weight? After a brief break-in period, that doesn’t cut it even for dumbbell upright press, let alone for dumbbell bench press or rows. There’s a whole lot of truth in the old adage that to get a bigger upper body, you need to train the lower body, as with squatting and deadlifting (which work a whole lot more than just the legs). Also, progressive resistance is needed: what was plenty last week is not enough this week.* 90 lb. adjustable dumbbells are actually useful, long-term. I’m not talking about becoming a bodybuilder. Genetically non-optimal people with lives outside the gym need this just to ‘fill out’ noticeably.
- an overly simplistic model
ETA: didn’t see the last several responses when writing this.
My husband tells me that when they want patients to put on weight in the hospital, they give them ice cream.
Do you like ice cream?
Lifting weights and running actually will help you gain weight. I’ve dealt with a lot of thin people, and part of the reason they are so thin, is they do not eat. They will think they eat but they constantly compensate for it. So if you eat extra, they stop elsewhere.
Here’s a trick to make it easy. Grind up your food.
For instance, don’t eat crackers. Eat crackers and dip. Take one of those Encore Salisbury Steak dinners. Then cook it. The take the meat out and grind it up with a blender. Then dip your crackers in the meat. It makes like a meat dip. For more calories add, cheese, sour cream etc
By blending up your food you are able to eat more and you don’t feel full so fast.
Calorie rich food helps too. Whole milk, cream, mayo and Slim Fast type shakes. They are an excellent way to add calories on. Just make sure you are not compensating for the extra food you eat, by eating less at other times
There are lots of foods out there that are calorie-dense, and can be snuck in to other foods. Think heavy cream in your coffee instead of milk, a handful of nuts as a snack, dried fruit in your cereal, sunflower seeds on your salad, butter in hot cereal or cooked veggies, and so on.
Well, I recently read Mindless Eating, which talks about changing your intake by about 200 calories a day. He says that your body and mind don’t really notice that difference. So you won’t feel put upon in making that much change. And you can achieve that much difference by passive means.
Turning on its head what I’m trying to do to lose weight, I’d think the following approaches would be painless ways to increase your calorie intake:
Use bigger plates and bowls, and serve out of large, very full serving vessels. People pretty much universally serve more and eat more under these conditions.
Put more starch, protein, and fat on your plate, compared to vegetables and fruits. Whole grains, low fat protein, and healthy oils will add calories without adding junk to your diet.
Keep really tempting, favorite foods around.
Snack between meals, and when watching TV at night or whatever.
Try to build habits that cue you to eat. This author was the guy who gave week-old popcorn to movie-goers, and found that they ate it even though it was pretty gross, just because they had an expectation that you eat popcorn when you’re at the movies. If you can pair a certain food with a common activity, you’ll wind up eating more.
Not to be too simplistic about it, but how old are you? Men continue to bulk up and fill out into their early 20’s. I’d hate for you to add weight then have it be too much in a year or two.
I admit I’m not a big fan of the BMI as it doesn’t indicate health, per se. Are you too thin to be well, does it put you at risk of something your doctor’s concerned about?
If you want to add muscle, but just a bit, work on your core; your organs could always use a little more armor. Your arms and legs - not so much.
Good luck and health to you!
I didn’t read your name beforehand, I figured you were a dude but you never know… It was in general questions so I just wrote it for whoever. If you wanted to get personal, you could have written your weight, height and age down and what you eat during the day.
To the ones who say 15-30 lb dumbbell is weak. I had to cut it short, I wanted to add that he should grab the heaviest one he has full control over and up it 10 - 15 lbs. Also I imagined him as weak and puny (no offense) based on context, that could be my mistake though as he may just want to be healthy. How do you know he can even pick up a 60lb dumbbell ?
Lots of replies say to stuff your face but you can’t stuff your face if your not hungry.
You wake up and eat, eat for lunch, eat a snack before 5, eat a snack after 5, eat a meal before sleep. If you can, grab a snack before bed. Or in other words…
breakfast, lunch, snack, snack , dinner, snack
You can even try waking up to piss and grabbing something before you go back to sleep.
Work your way to fill in that eating schedule if your really determined.
You should very well be the correct weight if not more or else you have a problem.
If health isn’t the issue, then just eat anything your appetite allows you to, it will speed up the process.
I would think 2 meals a day would keep you at your healthy weight at least.
If your image affects your confidence, your going down the wrong path. Accept yourself and you will become ----you fill in the rest----
You don’t ask, you do… Because, you know how to gain weight…
Is it wisdom you seek?
You will mostly attract people who have been in your position with your question, they all probably ended up weight lifting.
This does belong in general questions because it has a factual answer, it is just a little more personal.
Eat more - build your appetite to eat more, if it doesn’t work, go see a doctor…
Well good luck to you