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I need a healthy way to gain weight.
My features: I have skinny arms, an ok six-pack, muscular thighs and calves. I play soccer and I was wondering, what is a healthy way to gain weight so I can have muscular arms? I've heard that by eating a lot of meat I gain weight. Is this true?
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Maybe give some free advice about: Fitness?
In order to gain weight, you DO need to eat a lot of protein and carbs. In doing so, you need to extensively work out to turn the 'fat' and 'calories' you're in-taking into muscle and not excess fat.
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yes eating lots of protein, such as meat will help as long as you work out at the same time. Not just your arms but your whole body. If you go to a gym, you could ask someone that works there to give you some tips on which machines to use.
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Gaining weight on its own will not give you muscular arms; it will give you fat arms, or maybe just a fat belly. Even if you feel like you aren't getting results, it's important that you keep working your muscles if you want them to get bigger. Experiment with different types of workouts and different weight sizes until you find something that works. Once you've gotten into a good workout routine, then you can start increasing how much food you take in.
Eating meat to gain weight is not a good idea. Yes, you will gain weight, but eating enough of anything will cause that. Red meat is high in saturated fats and cholesterol, and has been linked to increased risk of cancer. Personally, I'd rather gain weight eating cake and ice cream than meat, but neither choice is healthy.
If you want to gain weight, you should increase the amount of calories you take in. The important thing with any diet longer than a few days is to balance the ratio of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. You need all of them, but you need some more than others. Here is a decent guide on how to balance the three:
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Protein is often used in the body for muscle building and repair, which is why sports players tend to worship it. But your body only needs so much of it, and if you really eat too much of it you could damage your kidneys (this is highly unlikely, but possible). So long as your body is getting the protein it needs, bombarding it with far more will not benefit you. How much protein you need depends on your size, sex, level of activity, and several other things. There is a paragraph on this page with some general guidelines:
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Also, remember that lean sources of protein (soybeans, nuts, turkey meat, fish, etc.) are better for you than fatty sources like red meat. Protein shakes are a convenient way to get protein, but many people get enough in their diet without added supplements.
If you are really determined and money is not an issue, you could talk to a nutritionist and see what they advise. And be careful when getting advice from coaches, because they don't always know what they're talking about when it comes to nutrition. If you can't see a nutritionist, see if your school has a health or nutrition class. Health was required at my school and we covered the basics of healthy eating. There was also a Food and Nutrition class that covered it in more detail. These classes are a great place to pick up the basics of nutrition.
In fact, those classes are where I learned most of what I know about nutrition and fitness. So obviously, a doctor or nutritionist is a better person to ask than me. :) But I hope I helped you a bit. Good luck!
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