How to Gain Weight the Healthy Way

5 min readUpdated 28 October 2026

Most health advice in Nigeria is about losing weight. If you are naturally slim and want to gain weight, or you have dropped weight and want it back, people keep telling you to “just eat”, as if you have not tried.

This guide is for adults who want to put on weight steadily and keep it. It covers eating a little more, protein, everyday Nigerian meals, training, sleep and tracking your progress. It will not be fast, and that is the point.

See a doctor first if the weight loss has no clear reason

Being naturally slim is different from losing weight without trying, which can be a sign of a health problem such as a thyroid condition, diabetes, an infection or a digestive problem. That needs checking before you try to eat your way out of it.

See a doctor if your weight has dropped for no obvious reason, your appetite has been poor for weeks, or food has become a way to cope with stress or emotions. A doctor can also confirm if you are actually underweight. For adults, a body mass index (BMI) below 18.5 is classed as underweight, though BMI is only a rough guide.

Eat a little more than your body uses to gain weight

You gain weight when you take in more energy than you burn. For healthy weight gain, the NHS suggests adding around 300 to 500 extra calories a day. For scale, a small handful of groundnuts (about 30 g), a banana and a glass of full-cream milk together come to roughly that.

Eating far more than that mostly means more of the extra ends up as fat. If you get full quickly, eat smaller meals more often, and do not fill up on water or soft drinks just before you eat.

Get enough protein

Protein helps your body build and repair muscle, so it affects how much of your new weight is muscle rather than fat. A commonly cited range for people doing regular resistance training is 1.6 to 2.2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day. For someone who weighs 60 kg, that is about 96 to 132 g.

The easiest way to get there is to include some protein at every meal and snack:

• Beans, as porridge, moi moi or akara.
• Eggs, boiled, fried or in a sauce. One large egg has about 6 g of protein.
• Fish and meat, including mackerel (often called titus), sardines, chicken and goat meat.
• Milk and yoghurt, which also make easy snacks.
• Groundnuts and soya beans, roasted, as groundnut paste or as soya milk.

If you have kidney disease or another health condition, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian first.

Build regular meals and snacks from Nigerian food

The simplest way to eat more is to stop skipping meals. Aim for three meals and two or three snacks a day, at roughly the same times. Pair a filling carbohydrate with protein and a little healthy fat each time.

• Breakfast. Boiled yam or plantain with egg sauce, or pap made with milk and served with akara or moi moi.
• Lunch. Rice and beans with fish stew, or party jollof rice with chicken and fried plantain.
• Dinner. Swallow with a hearty soup such as egusi, with fish or meat.
• Snacks. Roasted groundnuts, boiled eggs, yoghurt, a banana with groundnut paste, or bread and egg.

If your appetite is small, drink some of your calories. A smoothie of banana, oats, groundnut paste and full-cream milk is easy to finish. Avocado (pear) adds healthy fat. Go easy on sugary drinks, pastries and fried snacks: they add weight, but not the kind you want.

Eating more costs more, so use our guide to budgeting on a Nigerian salary to plan for it.

Lift weights so the gain is muscle

Without training, much of the extra food becomes fat. Resistance training turns more of it into muscle, and bodyweight exercises at home are enough to start.

• Train two to four times a week. Three full-body sessions is a good start for beginners.
• Focus on big movements. Squats, push-ups, rows, lunges and deadlifts work several muscles at once.
• Add a little over time. One more repetition, or slightly more weight.
• Rest between hard sessions. Give each muscle group a day or two to recover.

You do not have to give up walking, football or other cardio. Just eat a little more on active days. If you are new to exercise or have a health condition, check with a doctor before you start.

Sleep and recover properly

Your body does much of its repair work while you sleep. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours a night. Keep a regular bedtime, put your phone away early, and keep your room dark and cool. Poor sleep and stress can also dull your appetite.

Skip the syrups and shortcuts

You do not need supplements to gain weight. A protein shake can help if you struggle to eat enough, but it is no better than real food.

Be careful with appetite syrups and weight gain pills sold in markets and online. Some, such as Apetamin, contain cyproheptadine, a medicine that needs a prescription in countries such as the United States, and the US Food and Drug Administration has warned people not to use them. If your appetite needs help, speak to a doctor, not a seller.

Weigh in weekly and adjust as you go

Weigh yourself once a week on the same scale, ideally in the morning before you eat. Single readings jump around, so look at the trend over a month. Measuring your arms and waist, and noting what you lift, helps too.

A simple food diary for a week or two will show if you are eating as much as you think. If your weight has not moved after two or three weeks, add one more snack or a slightly bigger portion and check again. Judge yourself by months, not days.