Empirical Claim Critique
52 PALAESTRA | 2013 | Vol. 27, No. 2
Sport Nutrition S
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For “Skinny Athletes” How to Gain Weight Healthfully
“My son is 5’6” and weighs 108 lbs. He thinks
drinking Muscle Milk will provide bulging muscles.”
“No matter what I feed my teen, he cannot seem to gain weight. Any tips?”
“How many extra calories do I need to gain weight…?”
If you or your child is considered “skinny” or underweight and has a hard time bulking up, you may be feeling frustrated you cannot do something as simple as gain a few pounds. For underweight athletes, the struggle to bulk up is equal to that of overweight people who yearn to trim down. Genetics plays a powerful role in why some people have so much trouble gaining weight (and keeping it on), as does anxiety.
Some people are genetically fidgety; they do not like to sit still. Not only are they active with sports, but they are also active when sitting. For example, when I am counseling underweight clients, I observe them constantly tapping their fingers and shifting around in the chair—activities that burn calories.
The technical term for these spontaneous movements is Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis or NEAT. NEAT includes fidgeting, pacing while you wait for the bus, standing (not sitting) while talking with a teammate, being animated when talking to friends, or tapping your fingers when watching TV. If you overeat, NEAT helps you dissipate excess energy by nudging you to shoot some hoops or (yikes!) feel motivated to rake the lawn or clean the house. NEAT can predict how resistant you will be to gaining weight (Levine, Ebernath, & Jensen, 1999).
Historically, we have been told that consuming an extra 500 to 1,000 calories per day will lead to gain of 1 to 2 pounds per week. Nature easily confounds this mathematical approach. For example, in a weight gain study where the subjects were overfed by 1,000 calories per day for 100 days, some people gained only 9 pounds, whereas others gained 29 pounds (Bouchard, 1990). NEAT likely explains the difference.
Researchers don’t understand the source of this increased activity, but they do know that people with higher VO2 max (a measure of athletic potential) are genetically predisposed to spend more time being active throughout the day. Hence the natural ability to be active
for long periods (think marathon runners) might be connected to both NEAT and leanness. In contrast, unfit people (with a lower VO2 max; think couch potato) tend to do less spontaneous movement, and that can lead to weight gain (Novak et al., 2010).
Six Tips for Boosting Calories
Although you cannot change genetics or the tendency to fidget, here are five tips to help you or your child bulk up healthfully.
1. Eat consistently. Do NOT skip meals; doing so means missing out on important calories needed to reach your goal! Every day, enjoy a breakfast, an early lunch, a later lunch, dinner, and a bedtime meal.
2. Eat larger than normal portions. Instead of having one sandwich for lunch, have two. Enjoy a taller glass of milk, bigger bowl of cereal, and larger piece of fruit.
3. Select higher calorie foods. By reading food labels, you will discover that cranapple juice has more calories than orange juice (170 vs. 110 calories per 8 oz); granola more calories than Cheerios (500 vs. 100 calories per cup); and corn more calories than green beans (140 vs. 40 calories per cup).
4. Drink lots of juice and low-fat milk. Instead of quenching thirst with water, choose calorie-containing fluids. One high school soccer player gained 13 pounds over the summer by simply adding six glasses of cranapple juice (1,000 calories) to his standard daily diet.
Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels both casual and competitive athletes at her office in Newton, MA (617-795-1875). Her bestselling Sports Nutrition Guidebook offers additional information on how to gain weight. It is available at www.nancyclarkrd.com. See also www. sportsnutritionworkshop.com.
Vol. 27, No. 2 | 2013 | PALAESTRA 53
Sport Nutrition Sport N
utrition
The Cost of Calories
Gaining weight can be expensive if you choose lots of commercial protein shakes or sports supplements. You can get the same results with standard foods (see Table 1).
5. Enjoy peanut butter, nuts, avocado, and olive oil. These foods are high in (healthy) fats and can be a positive addition to your sports diet by helping knock down inflammation. Their high fat content means they are calorie-dense. Add slivered almonds to cereal and salads, make that PB&J with extra peanut butter, and dive into the guacamole with baked chips (without the “bad” trans and saturated fats).
6. Do strengthening exercise as well as some cardio. Weight lifting and push-ups stimulate muscle growth so that you bulk up instead of fatten up. Sooner or later,
exercise will stimu- late the appetite and the desire to eat more. Exercise also increases thirst and the desire to drink extra juices and ca- loric fluids.
What About Weight Gain Supplements?
Should you buy weight gain drinks? Save your money! As you can see from Table 1, they are expensive and offer nothing you cannot get via food. A hefty PB&J with a tall glass of milk adds about 1,000 calories for about $1.50. You would spend about $5.50 getting those calories from Muscle Milk that you mix yourself from powder, or $14 if you pick up ready-to-drink bottles of Muscle Milk at the convenience store.
Homemade Supplement Blend the following for an easy, homemade weight-gain shake!
• One quart of low-fat milk with four packets of Carnation Instant Breakfast
• 1/2 cup powdered milk (1,000 calories total)
• Toss in a banana or other fruit for more calories
• Drink half at breakfast and take the rest with you in a travel mug. Easy!
Weight gain drinks are expensive and offer nothing you cannot get via food.
Table 1 Calorie Cost
Foods at home Serving size Calories Price Cost/100 cals
1 cup granola + 1 bowl 500 $1.00 $0.20 1 cup 2% milk
Peanut butter 3 tbsp PB; 650 $0.95 $0.15 & jelly sandwich 2 tbsp jelly; 2 sl oatmeal bread
Chocolate milk 16 oz 300 $0.60* $0.20 1% fat (tall glass) 300
Carnation Instant 1 packet in 250 $0.80 $0.32 Breakfast 8 oz 2% milk Welch’s 100% 16 oz 280 $1.00* $0.36 grape juice (tall glass)
Muscle Milk 2 scoops 310 $1.78/ $0.57 powder serving** Drinks bought on the run
Nesquick 16 oz 300 $1.79 (at $0.60 bottle supermarket)
Carnation 11 oz bottle 260 $1.75 $0.67 Essentials Ready to Drink (based on 4 pack)
Ensure 8 oz bottle 250 $1.50 $0.60 (based on 6 pack)
Muscle Milk 14 oz. bottle 230 $3.59 Ready to Drink (at CVS) $1.56
* based on ½ gal price **based on 5 lb tub of powder ($57)
Conclusion By following these rules, you should see progress. But honor
genetics: If dad was slim until age 40, then you or your child might follow the same footsteps. Most people do gain weight with age as they become less active and more mellow and have more time to eat. Granted, this information does not help today, but it offers optimism for the future.
Selected References Levine, J. A., Ebernath, N. L., & Jensen, M. D. (1999). Role of nonexercise activity
thermogenesis in resistance to fat gain in humans. Science, 283(5399), 212-214. Bouchard, C. (1990). Heredity and the path to overweight and obesity. Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise, 23(3), 285-291. Novak, C. M., Escande, C., Burghardt, P. R., Zhang, M., Barbosa, M. T., Chini, E.
N., . . . Levine, J. A. (2010). Spontaneous activity, economy of activity, and resistance to diet-induced obesity in rats bred for high intrinsic aerobic capacity. Hormones and Behavior, 58(3), 355-367.
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