Weight gainers are a broad category of supplements that help people gain weight. These supplements often come in the form of shakes or bars. If you have trouble gaining weight due to your genetics or a medical condition, weight gainer supplements can help you.
It’s important to be careful when taking weight gainer supplements, as many people believe they need these supplements to put on extra weight and muscle when, in fact, these supplements can make it harder for you to achieve your calorie goals.
4 Potential Benefits of Weight Gainers
- Increases Muscle Mass
- Easy to Put on Weight
- Easy Source of Calories
- Convenient to Consume
Since everyone’s metabolism is different, some people need more calories to gain weight than others. To gain weight, you need to eat more calories than your body burns each day.
Weight gain can be challenging to accomplish with regular meals, and weight gainer supplements can make it easy to maintain a high-calorie diet. Because weight gainer supplements are high in calories, carbohydrates, and protein, weight gainer supplements often taste artificial, and many people don’t enjoy the taste.
As a result, it’s better to increase the calories in your diet through food, which will provide you with more vitamins and minerals than a weight gainer supplement.
How do Weight Gainers Work?
There are many different types of weight gainer supplements on the market, and their composition can vary significantly. Carbohydrates in weight gainers mainly consist of maltodextrin sourced from rice, wheat, corn, or tapioca.
Maltodextrin is used because it’s low in sugar, unlike other types of carbohydrates. Rice and tapioca don’t contain gluten, so many weight gainers are also suitable for people with gluten allergies.
The most common protein source for weight gainer supplements is whey protein. Although weight gainers sometimes use other protein sources such as egg white, casein, and milk protein isolate.
Vitamins, minerals, and fiber are common additives to weight gainer supplements. However, it’s not a good idea to rely on weight gainer supplements for your nutrient needs.
Safety and Side Effects
A common myth is that weight gainer supplements will help you gain muscle. A high protein diet is a better option if you want to gain muscle without putting on excess amounts of fat.
It’s best to use weight gainers if you’re looking to gain weight as a result of an illness or genetic imbalance instead of trying to beef up your muscles. In 99% of cases, most people will overestimate the number of calories they need, which can make it easy to overdose on weight gainers and put on fat.
Recommended Dosage
Because everyone’s metabolism is different, there’s no ideal dosage for weight gainer supplements. Most people who perform resistance training can gain 0.2–0.5 pounds of muscle per week. It’s difficult to gain muscle without gaining fat as well, and it may take some trial and error to determine how many calories you need.
Effectiveness of Weight Gainer Supplements
If you’re looking to gain muscle, you should focus on eating a healthy, well-balanced diet with enough calories and protein to gain weight at a slow pace. Weight gainer supplements are useful when dramatic weight gain is needed.
Even when taking weight gainers, you shouldn’t neglect your diet. Make sure you eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein to get all the nutrients your body needs.