Kelsey is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who has worked with 500+ clients to help them achieve their health and nutrition goals.
There are several reasons why you may want to add more calories to your diet than you usually do. You may be looking to gain weight, increase your calories from a diet that is too low in calories, or want to gain muscle.
You can eat more calories by eating smaller portions of your meals more frequently, eating food choices that are high in calories, incorporating high-calorie drinks, taking large portion sizes, and blending more calories in your smoothies among other ways.
Apart from eating more calories, you should always make sure that your choices of food for more calories are healthy, balanced, and beneficial to your overall health and well-being. Therefore, while the food options that we will discuss here have the highest number of calories, it is important to understand how to eat them, and their negative effects if any.
There are several ways you can eat more calories than you currently do. You can achieve that by:
If you currently eat only three times a day, then you can increase that to five or six times. That way, you will increase the number of calories that you eat per day. When it comes to eating more frequently, you should also consider the quality of the food that you eat. In addition to that, if your choice is to eat more frequently, then you need to consider small quantities but more times.
After your meals, you can try high calorie smoothies, juices, or shakes.. Of course, soft drinks are known to be empty-calorie drinks since they offer little nutritional value other than calories (12). To be sure you are doing it right, it is important to choose drinks that have some nutritional value other than calories, for instance those rich in vitamins and other micronutrients.
Some of the healthy drinks rich in calories that you can consider include grapefruit, papaya juice, passion fruit juice, cranberry juice, and smoothies. You can check their calories in the table below:
| Drinks/Juice Type | Calories Per 200ml |
|---|---|
| Grape juice | 540 |
| Papaya juice | 668 |
| Passion fruit juice | 448 |
| Cranberry juice | 358 |
| Smoothie | 266 |
Of course, you can increase the portion size of your food from what you currently eat. One way to do that is to limit the beverages or fluids that you take before your meals, but you can take them after your meals. If possible, you can eat double the portion you currently do. Of course, it is possible to do that by adding different food types to your plate.
Another approach to eating a greater portion size is in the choice of foods that you eat. The easiest way is to choose foods that you cannot easily get full. Consider foods that are dense, low in water and fiber, and ones that you can chew easily. These include nuts, nut butters, full fat dairy options, or oils.
Choosing to eat foods that are higher in calories than the low-calorie ones is another way to eat more calories. It is, however, important to consider making healthy and balanced choices as well.
Foods like braised pork chops with fat, roasted chicken leg, cooked lamb shoulder roast, roasted ham, and braised beef short ribs among others.
Of course, these are mainly meat options. You can incorporate other healthy and nutritious foods rich in carbohydrates, vitamins, and other valuable micronutrients.
| Food Type | Calories |
|---|---|
| Braised pork chops with fat | 525 per 1 chop |
| Roasted chicken leg | 475 per leg |
| Cooked lamb shoulder roast | 474 per 6 oz |
| Roasted ham | 369 per cup |
| Braised beef short ribs | 400 per 3 oz |
Source: My Food Data Central.
While adding more calories is your goal, it is also important to eat healthy calorie foods. Some of the healthy calorie-dense foods to consider include avocados, eggs, honey, cheese, nuts and seeds, and fatty fish among others.
You can also blend in your smoothies, food choices that are high in calories like fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and sweeteners like honey. You can also include healthy fats such as cold-pressed coconut oil, avocado oil, walnuts, and almonds among others.
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You can increase your calories by eating more frequently, increasing your meal portion sizes, using oils high in calories, drinking more smoothies, and introducing high-calorie juices/drinks after your meals. In addition to that, choose foods that are healthier, balanced, and high in calories.
To add 1000 more calories a day, you need to eat foods that are high in calories, increase your portions, and eat more frequently. For instance, if you are currently eating 1000 calories, then you need to double the portions of what you currently eat. Of course, you can track the number of calories that you eat, based on your food choices.
There is a good number of foods that you can eat for more calories. Foods such as avocados, nuts and seeds, fatty fish, honey, braised pork chops, roasted chicken leg, coconut oil, and dark chocolate are just some of the few examples. Let’s get into these foods and look at their calorie content and other nutritious value:
A whole medium-sized avocado has about 240 calories (2). Apart from calories, they also contain vitamins C, E, K, and B6. Avocados are also rich in healthy fats and minerals such as magnesium and potassium (8). If you want to eat more calories from avocados, there are several ways you can do that including:
Read more: Pickleball Calories Burned and How to Increase Your Calorie Burn
Some of the nuts and seeds you should consider for calories include almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and cashews, as they have a considerably high number of calories (13). USDA also shows that macadamia nuts contain 718 calories per 100g (14). You can check their approximate number of calories in the table below.
| Nuts and Seeds | Calories per 100g |
|---|---|
| Almonds | 600 |
| Walnuts | 733 |
| Sunflower Seeds | 592 |
| Chia Seeds | 460 |
| Cashews | 603 |
| Macadamia Nuts | 718 |
Fatty fish types like herring, mackerel, and salmon have about 200 calories in less than 3 ounces of cooked serving (17). You can eat them grilled, baked, pan-fried, or roasted among other ways.
Ice cream contains about 207 calories per 100g serving (1). Ice cream is one of the options you may think of during hot weather, due to its sweetness and cooling effect. Being rich in calories, they are a good source of energy and you can eat them daily but in moderation.
Honey contains about 304 calories per 100g (9). With high sugar content, there is a limit to the amount of honey that you can eat per day. The American Heart Association recommends not more than 36g per day for men, and not more than 24g per day for women and children (19).
Cheese is among the calorie-dense foods and contains about 404 calories per 100g (4). Therefore, incorporating cheese into your diet is one of the ways to increase the number of calories in your food. Of course, you can eat it with your food whether melted, grated, grilled, sliced, or baked.
Bacon is high in calories and contains about 161 calories per 35g serving (3). To eat more bacon, you can incorporate them in your recipes for dinner or breakfast as a side or main dish. If you are looking for high-protein foods for muscle building, bacon is also an option as it is rich in proteins.
Another way to eat more calories for weight gain or other benefits is by considering eating more peanut butter. It is one of the best options for breakfast and contains about 597 calories per 100g (16). You can eat peanut butter with other dishes like pancakes, crepes, toast, or with fruits among other ways.
You can eat more calories by eating dark chocolate. It contains about 620 calories per 112g (7). Dark chocolate is easy to eat as you only need to break it down into small pieces that you can chew. Of course, you can also pair it with coffee, fruits, and nuts among other foods or drinks.
You also need to consider chickpeas in your diet to add more calories. They contain about 378 calories per 100g (5). You can eat chickpeas as a main dish, snack, or as a side dish. Of course, you can incorporate them in any of your meals whether breakfast or dinner.
Coconut oil is among the foods that contain a high number of calories. It has about 892 calories per 100g (15). There are different ways of eating coconut oil, you can use it for cooking your food, bake with it, or add it to your drinks like smoothies, coffee, or tea.
While coconut oil is high in calories and one of the options to eat more calories faster, you need to eat them in moderation. This is because it contains saturated fat that can easily increase your cholesterol level (6).
Last on our list of foods that are high in calories is granola. It is a type of food that includes some rolled oats, honey, nuts and seeds, and other sweeteners. It contains about 471 calories per 100g (18). You can eat granola as a topping, as a snack, or with milk among other ways. It is also important to note that you can eat granola while raw.
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Coconut oil is the food that has the highest calories based on what we have discussed. Generally, oils and fats are high in calories and most also contain saturated fat as is the case with coconut oil. Therefore, when it comes to eating them, you need to be moderate to avoid the negative effects that would otherwise result.
From the information we have provided above, it is easy to identify other foods that are highest in calories for instance nuts and seeds.
It can be hard to get calories because you need to be deliberate and consistent, and at the same time, you may need a lot of energy if engaged in physical activities. That means the number of calories that you consume may only suffice the energy requirements. In addition to that, while you may want to stick to eating high calories, you also need to do it in a healthy way and all those factors may make it difficult to get the calories that you want.
Weight gain is not a matter of calories alone. If you are eating more calories and not gaining weight, it is important to note that it also depends on your lifestyle, health condition, and genetics among other factors.
In most cases, increasing or eating more calories than the amount that your body requires for its processes and energy requirements leads to gaining weight. If this is not the case with you, then you need to consider other factors that could be limiting you from realizing your weight goals.
To gain 5 kg weight in a month, you need to consume more calories than you burn daily. For instance, you can add about 500 calories per day more than the ones that your body burns for energy.
Of course, we have mentioned several ways of eating more calories and you can follow that if you want to gain more weight. It is also important to keep healthy while adding more calories that you eat on a daily basis.
Read more: Does Getting a Massage Burn Calories?
One of the main ways a slim girl can gain weight is to eat more calories. Choosing foods rich in calories, eating more often, and increasing food portion sizes are among the ways. While increasing calories is a way to gain weight, it is important to always stick to a healthy diet by eating healthy and nutrient-rich foods.
800 calories a day is not enough because it falls below the daily recommended number. On average, an adult man would need between 2000 – 3000 calories a day while an adult woman would need between 1600 – 2400 calories (10). Therefore, unless you are guided by a healthcare professional, 800 calories would not be enough.
It is also important to note that the number of calories that you should eat or need on a daily basis depends on several factors. Such include age, body size (weight and height), activity level, sex, health, and environmental temperature.
A snack with dried fruits, nuts and seeds, cereals, and full-fat dairy gives more calories. Therefore, if you want to eat a snack with high calories, consider things like dark chocolate, avocado toast, and peanut butter among others.
Rice is not high in calories. A one-cup serving of white rice contains about 205 calories (11). Therefore, it is not considered a high-calorie food since about 200 calories in a full cup is not significant. In that case, it is not one of the high calorie foods.
Calories are important for energy and weight gain. Therefore, if you are usually engaged in physical activities that need a lot of energy, then you need to consume more calories. In addition to that, if you want to gain or add some more weight, then you need extra calories that will be stored as fat in your body.
Of course, there are other reasons why you may need to consume more calories than you usually do, including health conditions and other benefits. With this guide, you have everything, including the food options to consider for more calories.
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