Kelsey HigginsonSports Nutrition Coach and Founder at Clutch Day Coaching

How to gain weight as an athlete

31 Oct 2025 · 1 min

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1:12

The video provides a step‑by‑step protocol for athletes who want to increase body mass. First, the coach instructs the viewer to weigh themselves each morning, keep their usual diet unchanged for a full week, and then re‑weigh to see if any weight change occurred. If weight does not increase, the implication is that daily caloric intake is insufficient. The next intervention is to add a dedicated "muscle meal" of roughly 500 calories at the end of the day. Two variants are described: (1) a 500‑calorie low‑protein meal of fats and carbs (e.g., oatmeal with peanut butter and banana) for athletes who have already met their daily protein goal, and (2) a 500‑calorie protein‑rich shake (milk, banana, peanut butter, oats, protein powder) for those who have not yet reached their protein target (e.g., 120 g total, currently at 90 g). Both options are meant to supply the extra calories needed for weight gain while aligning with the athlete’s protein needs.

Chapters

Tomorrow morning I need you to get on the scale and write down your weight. Don't change the way you're eating for one week. Eat the same things that you've been eating, the same amounts of the same things. And then 7 days later, get back on the scale in the morning and see if your weight had changed. If it does not change and you are trying to put on weight, that just means you are not eating enough. So if that's you, the next step would be to add in a muscle meal. With the athletes in my program, their personalized meal plans will often include a muscle meal. So typically we have a muscle meal at the end of the day to allow us to get the extra food that we need to put on the weight that we want to put on. There's typically two types of meals that I would prescribe to an athlete in my program. The first muscle meal is when they've already hit their protein for the day. This meal needs to be 500 calories, and you want it to consist of fats and carbs and be low protein because you've already hit your protein for the day. An example of this could be oatmeal with a little bit of peanut butter and some banana on top. The second muscle meal would be if you have not hit your protein allotment for the day. If you need to hit 120 grams of protein but you've only hit 90 for the day, this would be a perfect solution. This is going to be a 500-calorie protein shake. 1 cup of milk, a banana, a tablespoon of peanut butter, a fourth of a cup of oats, and then some protein powder. This will also be 500 calories. Both muscle meals are 500 calories. It just depends, do I have enough protein or do I need more protein for the day?