NUTRITION
Whether you're trying to gain muscle mass or struggling to maintain your body weight, the most important factor in gaining weight is increasing your calorie consumption.
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However, getting enough calories from food alone can be difficult at times, especially if you don't have a big appetite.
Supplement powders are an easy way to increase your calorie intake and support weight gain.
This article looks at the different types of supplements that can help you gain weight, as well as our recommendations for the best ones to buy.
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- Best vegan: IronVegan Athlete’s Gainer
- Best carbohydrate-only powder: NOW Sports Carbo Gain Powder
- Best without artificial ingredients: True Athlete Natural Gainer
- Best high calorie: Muscle Milk Pro Series Gainer Protein Powder
- Best pre-workout: Gnarly Pre-Workout
- Best creatine: Klean Athlete Klean Creatine
Several types of supplements — protein powders, mass gainers, creatine, and pre-workouts — can help you gain weight if you use them in combination with a balanced diet.
In general, protein powders and mass gainers are your best bets if you’re simply looking to boost your calorie intake.
On the other hand, if you’re hoping to gain muscle mass through strength training, creatine powders and pre-workouts are worth considering.
Here is a closer look at each type.
Protein powders
- Who they’re best for: those unable to meet daily protein needs via food and those looking for a convenient way to increase protein intake
- Potential side effects: Side effects vary based on the ingredients. Those with lactose intolerance or a milk allergy should avoid protein supplements that contain those ingredients. Some protein supplements also include additives that may cause digestive distress in some people.
Protein plays an essential role in building and maintaining muscle mass. However, protein intake without a calorie surplus and an appropriate resistance training program will not result in building lean muscle mass.
In fact, research suggests that high protein diets may aid in weight loss because protein helps people feel full (For this reason, if you use a protein supplement in a weight gain diet plan, it’s important to make sure you also maintain a calorie surplus.
One way to find out whether you’re eating enough calories is to track your diet on a few typical days to determine whether you need to adjust your total calorie intake. From there, you can also adjust your macronutrient intake as needed.
Keep in mind that protein supplements are not necessary if you can meet your daily protein needs through whole food sources. However, supplements may be a convenient way to fit more protein into a busy schedule.
Weight and mass gainer supplements
Who they’re best for: those who cannot maintain a calorie surplus through food alone
Potential side effects: Active ingredients can vary widely among products, and these ingredient differences can affect the potential side effects. Some products may also have additives, such as artificial sweeteners, that could cause digestive distress.
Sometimes called mass gainers, these supplements are often marketed as a way to gain muscle mass. Their ingredients and nutrition content can vary widely.
In general, mass gainers are higher in calories, fat, and carbs than traditional protein powders, though some may contain only carbohydrates.
According to Asbury, these products generally contain 300 or more calories per serving.
Adding weight gainers to your diet can certainly increase the number of calories you’re eating. However, some people find the taste and consistency of these products unpleasant.
Additionally, although these supplements can be convenient when you’re on the go, another option is simply to eat more food, such as trail mix or smoothies, which would also provide other beneficial nutrients.
Creatine
- Who it’s best for: people looking to build muscle and enhance athletic performance
- Potential side effects: It may lead to water retention in some people, and larger doses may result in gastrointestinal distress (
3 ).
Creatine may have an indirect effect on lean muscle mass gains because of its potential to boost exercise performance.
When you take creatine as a supplement, the creatine concentration in your muscles increases. This can lead to performance benefits and muscle gain over time. However, most creatine supplements are low in calories and need to be combined with other ingredients to provide enough calories to support weight gain (
Creatine monohydrate is recognized as the most effective form of creatine and is the most common type used in creatine supplements (
The typical recommendation for creatine supplementation is to begin by taking a loading dose of approximately 20 g per day, split into 4 servings, for 5–7 days (
After this initial period, a dose of approximately 3–5 g per day is recommended for maintaining creatine levels.
Some people may experience short-term weight gain when starting creatine supplements, which can be attributed to changes in fluid balance.
“Total body water is increased with creatine supplementation, which could increase body weight. However, once creatine supplementation is stopped, phosphocreatine stores are diminished after 4–8 weeks, which may decrease body weight,” explained Asbury.
Pre-workouts
- Who they’re best for: people looking to enhance athletic performance while gaining weight
- Potential side effects: Side effects vary based on the ingredients. For example, beta-alanine can cause harmless tingling sensations. Caffeine can cause a jittery feeling and may negatively affect blood pressure, sleep, and stress levels in some people (
5 ,6 ).
Exercise, especially resistance training, is a necessary component of most weight gain plans. Pre-workout supplements may enable you to work out longer and at a higher intensity, which may indirectly lead to weight gain by contributing to muscle mass gain.
However, don’t depend on most pre-workout supplements to boost your daily calorie intake.
“At the end of the day, for someone to gain weight, they must be in a caloric surplus (eating more calories than they are metabolically burning), and pre-workout supplements are typically little to no calories,” explained Asbury.
The most common ingredients in pre-workout supplements are caffeine, beta-alanine, nitrates, creatine, and citrulline malate, all of which may help boost exercise performance.
Below, we recommend specific supplements that can be helpful for gaining weight.
We selected these products using the following criteria:
- Quality: All supplements listed have been third-party tested for potency and purity. Most are also certified safe for sport, meaning that they are free of substances banned by most competitive sports organizations.
- Active ingredients: We chose supplements that have research-backed benefits for weight gain or exercise performance, which may influence your ability to gain weight. However, the ingredients vary widely depending on the type of supplement. Understanding your individual goals will help you choose the best option.
- Allergens: We checked supplements for major allergens, and any allergens present are indicated below.
- Price: Weight gain supplements and other supplements meant to enhance exercise performance range in price. We included a guide below to help you make the best decision for your budget.
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