Fuel Your Gains: Easy Tips to Increase Daily Calories
Gaining weight, particularly lean muscle mass, can be a significant challenge for athletes, especially those with high training volumes. Meeting the caloric demands of intense training while ensuring optimal muscle growth and recovery requires a strategic approach.
For many, consuming over 3,000 calories a day can feel daunting. While indulging in calorie-dense foods like ice cream and doughnuts might easily tip the scale, the goal isn’t just to gain weight. As an athlete, you need to focus on building muscle, enhancing recovery, and doing so with nutrient-dense foods that support your overall health.
Below, I outline evidence-based strategies to help you increase your caloric intake in a way that promotes muscle growth and sustains a high level of training performance.
Common Challenges in Meeting Caloric Needs
Understanding the barriers to consuming enough calories is crucial in developing a plan to overcome them. Some of the most common issues include:
High Fiber Intake: While fiber is essential, too much can lead to early satiety, making it difficult to consume enough calories.
High-Satiety Foods: Foods that are filling may hinder your ability to reach your caloric goals.
Infrequent Meals: Not eating frequently enough can result in insufficient calorie intake over the course of the day.
Small Meal Portions: Smaller meals can lead to a shortfall in daily caloric needs.
Lack of Liquid Nutrition: Not utilizing calorie-dense liquids can make it harder to meet caloric goals.
Recognizing these challenges allows you to strategically adjust your diet to meet your energy needs.
The Power of Energy-Dense Foods
To increase your caloric intake effectively, focus on energy-dense foods that are:
Easy on Appetite: Choose foods that won’t fill you up too quickly.
Nutrient-Rich: Prioritize foods that offer essential vitamins and minerals.
Muscle-Building: Opt for foods that support muscle protein synthesis.
A valuable tool in this process is the Satiety Index of Common Foods, which ranks foods based on how filling they are. Foods that rank high on this index may be beneficial for managing hunger, but not if your goal is to consume 800+ calories in one meal.
Nut butter is a nutrient and energy dense food, with plenty of unsaturated fats and a decent amount of protein.
Modifying Meals to Reduce Satiety
Protein Sources
Opt for Liquid Proteins: Incorporate protein shakes, yogurt, or milk to increase protein intake without feeling overly full.
Choose Ground Meat: Ground meats like mince are easier to consume in larger quantities compared to whole cuts. For example, a chili made with ground beef is less filling than a steak.
High-Calorie Proteins: Salmon or chicken thighs offer both high protein and healthy fats, increasing overall calorie content.
Tenderised Meats: Slow-cooking methods, such as stewing, make meat easier to eat. Think shredded chicken in a burrito rather than a whole chicken breast.
Vegan Options: Tofu, seitan, and meat replacements provide high protein with lower fiber content compared to beans and pulses.
Managing Fibre Intake
Swap High-Fibre Veggies: Replace broccoli and cauliflower with lower-fiber options like tomatoes, peppers, spinach, and beetroot.
Blended Foods: Make mashed potatoes or blended veggies to reduce fiber content and increase ease of digestion.
Choose White Foods: White rice and bread have lower fiber compared to whole grains, making them less filling.
Fresh Carbs: Freshly cooked carbs are preferable as reheating can increase resistant starch, leading to quicker satiety.
Managing Water Content
Limit Fluids with Meals: Avoid drinking large amounts of water with meals. Instead, opt for calorie-dense beverages like milk or juice.
Dried Fruits: Dried fruits like raisins, dates, and dried mangoes pack the same nutrients and calories as their fresh counterparts but in a smaller, less filling volume.
Tips for Making Meals More Calorie-Dense
Now that you've learned how to modify meals to be less filling, here are some strategies to increase calorie density without significantly increasing meal volume:
Cook rice in coconut milk.
Add seeds to any meal for extra calories.
Use wraps to increase calorie content—everything tastes better in a wrap!
Choose fattier cuts of meat and fish.
Incorporate higher-carb vegetables like beetroot, tomatoes, and parsnips.
Blend vegetables and use them as a sauce, such as a broccoli pesto or spinach sauce for pasta.
Use full-fat products, including yogurt and milk.
Mix protein shakes with fruit juice or full-fat milk.
Drizzle olive oil on meals.
Cook with coconut oil.
Top meals with an egg for added protein and fats.
Conclusion
Boosting your caloric intake to support muscle growth and recovery doesn’t have to be a struggle. By increasing meal frequency and utilizing these tips to make your meals less filling and more calorie-dense, you can meet your nutritional goals more effectively.
Remember, the key to success is consistent effort and strategic planning tailored to your unique needs. With these strategies, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your performance and physique goals.
Need Help Eating More?
I’ve helped hundreds of athletes optimise their nutrition to meet their targets. See how I can help you here.
