Smoothies for Weight Gain

If you struggle to keep weight on or are just trying to gain weight in a healthy way then today’s post is for you. Though we more commonly hear about people wanting to lose weight, there are plenty of people that struggle to keep weight on. Smoothies are a great way to pack in the calories (and a perfect way to cool down this summer!), so today I’ll share my favorite high-calorie smoothie additions, plus some simple recipes.

Calories

One pound of body weight is approximately 3,500 calories. Therefore, to gain 1 pound, you’ll need to consume this many extra calories. This may seem like a lot, but if you break it down, it amounts to an extra 500 calories per day. Following your current diet and adding in a 500-calorie smoothie each day would help you gain around 1 pound over the course of a week.

This may be doable for some people, but you could also break it down further and just consume an additional 250 calories per day and gain 1/2 a pound per week.

Benefits of smoothies

Weight gain doesn’t have to be done with only smoothies, but often drinking calories makes you feel less full than if you were to eat the same amount of calories, so it can be an easy addition to your day. For some, it can also be easier to sip on a smoothie as you go about your normal day rather than having to spend the time sitting down to eat a meal.

High-calorie additions

It can be easy to drive up the calories if you add something like ice cream to your smoothie, but if you’re wanting to keep things a little healthier, there are plenty of ways to do this. Some things you can add to your smoothies include:

• Whole milk

• Whole milk yogurt

• Any nut, seed, or nut butter (almond, peanut, cashew, sunflower seed, flax, hemp hearts, etc)

• Oats

• Protein powder

• Tofu

• Avocado

• Bananas

• Dates

• Maple syrup or honey

Recipes

Here are some simple smoothie recipes that amount to 500-600 calories each . For each recipe listed, just blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Chocolate peanut butter smoothie

• 1 frozen banana

• 2 tbsp peanut butter

• 1-2 tbsp hemp hearts

• 1/2-3/4 cup whole milk

• 1/2 cup whole milk Greek yogurt

• 2-3 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Mango cashew smoothie

• 1 cup frozen chopped mango

• 1/2 frozen banana

• 1/4 cup unsalted cashews

• 1/2-3/4 cup whole milk

• 1/4 cup whole milk Greek yogurt

Blueberry avocado smoothie

• 1 cup frozen blueberries

• 1/2 frozen banana

• 1/2 large avocado

• 2 tbsp almond butter

• 1/2-3/4 cup whole milk

You can add even more to the above smoothies if you’d like to increase the calories further. If you aren’t worried about your sugar intake, adding 1-2 dates or 1-2 tbsp of maple syrup or honey is an easy way to bump up the calories.

You can also add leafy greens, like spinach or kale to any of the smoothies above. Leafy greens won’t add much in the way of calories, but they are packed with important vitamins and minerals.

As you can see, there are plenty of high-calorie additions that can be added to smoothies. If you are trying to gain weight, or if you’ve already gained weight and are trying to maintain it, give one of these high-calorie smoothies a try. For other smoothie recipes (not high-calorie), be sure to check out these blog posts.