Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

How to gain weight

4 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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In this concise video segment, Kelsey Higginson explains how athletes can achieve a realistic weight gain of about one pound per week, equating to roughly 4–4.5 pounds per month. She outlines the principle of caloric surplus versus deficit, recommending a daily 500‑calorie surplus to reach the target. Higginson provides a simple dietary example—a peanut‑butter‑and‑jelly sandwich with a glass of milk—to illustrate how the surplus can be achieved. She also notes that initial weight gains may include water weight, especially when consuming carbs or creatine, which does not represent true muscle mass. The advice emphasizes a steady, compound approach to gaining weight over time.

Chapters

What's a realistic weight gain per month for athletes? I think the most realistic weight gain is going to be about 1 pound per week. Your body requires a certain amount of calories to run its body, to lift, to jump, to perform. So if you are maintaining your weight right now at the calories that you're consuming, that means you're at maintenance. Surplus means that you're going to be eating more calories than what your body needs to maintain, which is going to allow you to gain weight. A deficit means you're going to eat less. So if I wanted to gain weight, I'm going to eat a 500-calorie surplus. It can literally look like a PB&J with a glass of milk every single day. That's going to allow you to gain 1 pound a week over the full month. That's going to be about 4 pounds, maybe 4.5 a month. And then you can just compound that as you go. You might see a bigger jump in the first month just because carbs carry water weight. And so you might carry some water weight, especially if you're going to be taking creatine as well. But that's not necessarily going to be actual mass that's coming into your body.