Recipe: Healthy Weight Gain Smoothie

There are so many athletes out there young and old who have a tough time putting on weight. Helping athletes gain size is a common occurrence here at Champion. If you’re trying to build muscle, get stronger, move faster, and put weight on your body, there are multiple variables we need to consider. These include training intensity, volume, recovery, and nutrition.

We are going to focus on a quick nutrition tip today and discuss a recipe for a healthy weight gain smoothie.

 

How to Add Healthy Weight

In some cases, the equation for packing on the pounds is simple – eat more! I hear many athletes say, “I already eat a ton, nothing works.” But the reality is that even though they are thinking they eat a lot, they probably need to eat more to put on weight.

Now that’s not the whole puzzle, but if you eat enough, you will grow. If you aren’t growing, you probably aren’t eating enough. It can be a lot of work for active kids and adults alike that may have similar goals.

One way of helping to push the numbers up on the bar and the scale is by drinking your calories. And in this sense, we are talking about a healthy weight gain smoothie. I want to share a smoothie recipe that I use all time for both my clients and myself!

 

Healthy Weight Gain Smoothie

The smoothie contains a bunch of healthy sources of protein, carbs, and fat.  Here is our ingredient list:

• 10oz of Whole Milk
• 1.5 Scoops of Whey Protein
• 1 Cup of Spinach
• 1 Cup of Strawberries
• 1 Large Banana
• 3/4-1 Cup of Oatmeal
• 1/2-3/4 Cups of Blueberries
• 2 Tablespoons of Sunflower Butter

To make this awesome tasting smoothie, begin by combining all of those ingredients into a blender and BOOM! We have our smoothie that tastes great and packs a punch at 1023 calories.  When blended, it’s about 24 ounces. So it should fill a shaker cup to the brim. It is a lot of liquid to drink at first but you will adapt to it and it will be easier to finish, the more you stick with it.

 

Check out the whole nutrient profile for the smoothie:

Ingredient	Carbohydrate	Fat	Protein	Sugar	Calories
10oz of Whole Milk	15g	10g	10g	10g	190
1.5 Scoops of Whey Protein	4.5g	1.5g	36g	1.5g	157.5
1 Cup of Spinach	1.5g	0g	1g	0g	10
1 Cup of Strawberries	13g	0g	1g	8g	56
1 Large Banana	31g	0g	1g	17g	128
3/4-1 Cup of Oatmeal	39g	3.75g	7.5g	0g	219.75
1/2-3/4 Cups of Blueberries	10.5g	0g	0.5g	7.5g	44
2 Tablespoons of Sunflower Butter	7g	16g	7g	7g	200
TOTAL	121.5g	31.25g	64g	51g	1023

To be fair, there is a high amount of sugar in this smoothie. If there is a time for sugar, it is after a high intensity training session when your body’s glycogen levels have been depleted. Also, note that we see an almost 2:1 ratio of carbs and protein in this smoothie. Studies show that post workout consumption that includes carbohydrates and protein, promote a greater intracellular stimulus for protein synthesis than just protein or carbs alone.

 

[Take note that if you add the calories straight down the list, it equates to 1005. I’ve added the amount of calories per gram of each macronutrient, which gives you 1023. There is usually is a discrepancy like that with many nutrition labels.]

 

Adding this smoothie after your training session is a great time to implement, when your muscles are craving nutrients. Start by drinking after your training sessions. For example, if you train 3 times per week, that’s over 3000 calories that week from the smoothie alone. When combined with a normal healthy meal routine, this can make a big difference in your gains.

 

Give this healthy weight gain smoothie a try as an addition to your diet and let us know what you think!