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Gaining weight does not mean accumulating excess amounts of unnecessary fats in the body.
If that happens, it might lead to various health disorders and diseases, like an increased probability of heart disease or obesity.
Of course you need fats, but you should be careful with the amounts and types of fats that you add to your diet.
Don’t forget that if you’re a “hard gainer” or if you just want to increase your weight or if it’s Bulk season (for athletes), you should increase the number of calories that you eat.
Calorie intake > Calorie expenditure
It will mean a higher food intake. If you’re not looking to worsen your health with the wrong foods, or if you have an accelerated metabolism or a lack of appetite, adding a supplement to your daily routine may help you to achieve your goal faster.
Don’t forget! You must gain weight by gaining muscle mass, not fat. And that’s possible with a good weight gainer, a proper diet and a proper exercise routine.
There are quite a few good weight gainers available in the market, get to know the best weight gainers that we’ve chosen for you.
Ingredients that a good weight gainer should contain
Whether you’re lean or want to gain muscle mass by doing exercises, it’s always recommended to take ‘something extra’ in addition to a good diet. You can read our articles about exercises and diet to gain weight to help you in all this process.
This “something extra” can be a weight gainer.
Energy or calories is what you’ll see on top of your gainer label. This refers to the amounts of energy that a food, or in this case, a supplement, contains.
But it’s not just about calories. You need to look at where the calories come from and check out the ingredients that the product contains. The ingredients of a weight gainer vary from product to product but most common are:
- Carbohydrates: help to give you energy for your daily bodily functions, like muscle function. They also help to transport nutrients to your muscle cells, so they will help you to use proteins and amino acids. Some examples are dextrose, maltodextrin or oatmeal.
- Proteins: help you to gain muscles and to recover from training. The most common type of protein in a gainer supplement is whey protein.
A good weight gainer should have a good protein-carbohydrate ratio.
- Vitamins and minerals: energy source, help to fight free radicals and to improve the immune system.
- Creatine: gives your body an explosive strength and improves resistance. The most common is Creatine Monohydrate. It also helps you to recover from training.
- Amino acids: like BCAA’s and L-Glutamine. They help to build muscle mass and to recover after training.
Choosing the right weight gainer
If you’re a first-time buyer, choosing the right weight gain supplement can be difficult.
You may even have to experiment with a few products to find out what works best for you. Different supplements have different variations of ingredients. You need to choose according to what your body requires, to your dieting habits, exercise routine and according to your goals.
Not all bodies are the same and the way each person reacts is different too. There’s nothing like experimenting.
There are a lot of brands and product options. You can also distinguish between heavy gainers and light gainers.
Find out what we’ve prepared for you!
Different types of weight gainers
Choosing the right weight gainer can be difficult. But we’re here to help you.
You need to know your goals to make the best decision between products.
It’s not just about brands, you can also choose between light and heavy gainers.
Heavy gainers
If you’re a hard gainer or if you are trying to increase your weight faster and in a limited period of time (to start a bulking phase, for example), perhaps it would be good for you to take a heavy gainer!
This type of gainers refers to the gainers that are loaded with calories, which have more carbohydrates and bigger portions.
Light gainers
If you’re trying to maintain or increase your weight, mostly through muscle mass, a light gainer can be enough. It can also be good for those who have a more difficult digestion.
A light gainer has fewer calories than a heavy gainer, and a better ratio of proteins to carbs, to help you gain weight mostly through muscle mass. And the portions are also considerably smaller.
The label on the left corresponds to Instant Mass Heavy by Reflex and the label on the right corresponds to Muscle Fuel Mass by USN.
We highlighted the amounts of calories, carbohydrates and proteins.
The label on the left corresponds to a heavy gainer. Each portion (300g) contains 1160 calories, 219g of carbohydrates but only 60g of protein, in a near 4:1 carbs to protein ratio. It means that for each 4 grams of carbohydrates, there is only 1 gram of protein.
The label on the right corresponds to a light gainer. Each portion (155g) contains 619 calories, 99g of carbohydrates and 46g of protein in a near to 2:1 carbs to protein ratio.
It means that by consuming the first one you will be consuming about twice the calories and carbohydrates, but only 33% more protein.
The heavy gainer is better if you want to increase weight quickly and don’t mind adding some fat. The light gainer is the best if you want to increase mass, mostly by increasing muscle mass.
What’s interesting to note is the amount of proteins. The difference between the two products isn’t too big, which is a good signal for the light gainer.
Here you have some other options. We tried to select the best products with the best price-quality ratio.
Main benefits of weight gainers
If you’re considering using supplements to gain weight, you should know that you’ll enhance the effects by combining them with exercise and a well-balanced diet.
A weight gainer will help you to:
- Gain weight
- Recover faster from training
- Give you the calories that you need in an easier and tastier way
- Build muscles
- Save time in preparing meals
- Give your body energy
Recommendations for taking a weight gainer
When you’re buying supplements, you must keep realistic expectations.
There’s no magic in supplements to gain weight. By using only supplements it won’t be easy to gain weight within a very short period of time, at least not in a healthy way.
The directions of use for gainers will vary for each product. Please always confirm the product directions.
When you consider to take a supplement to gain weight, you should keep some things in mind:
- Have a balanced diet: eating mindlessly never helps to gain the desired amounts of weight. In fact, it may lead to obesity or disease.
- They need to be easily absorbed and digested. Maybe your body will get used to them and they will be digested more easily, but this might not happen. You could start with a light gainer.
- Be careful with the flavour. It’s easier to consume a gainer with a tasty flavour than one with a terrible taste.
- Follow the dosages: Be patient, the results will come.
- Exercise: Weight gaining supplements don’t do the work alone but will accelerate the process of gaining weight if you exercise.
- You also need to check the ingredients mentioned on the label. You need to check where calories come from. Be careful with the amounts of sugars or saturated fats and choose one that has a good carbohydrate-protein ratio.
Remember, if you take the right supplements and follow a healthy lifestyle including an exercise regime, you will get closer to the body that you’ve always wanted.
