Some of us spend the year trying food supplements, detoxes and various diets trying to lose that extra pound. However there are people below the healthy weight limit who struggle to pile on a pound or two.

Gaining weight is not easy. Gaining weight is as hard to do as losing weight is ,for those who are underweight. It is a gruelling and gradual progress up the scale for those who wish to gain weight.

The Body Mass Index or BMI gives us an idea of when it is ideal to gain weight. BMI is the measurement of your body weight in relation to your height. Multiplying your weight in pounds into 703 dividing it by the square of your height in inches gives you your BMI. A BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight.

If your weight falls in the first category, a balanced diet and regular diet with appropriate exercises will help keep you fit and healthy. If you fall in any of the other categories, you need to work on acheiving a healthy and normal weight range by implementing the following.

Managing portion Control is an important aspect of gaining weight. Eat a slightly larger portion at meals. Eating upto 6 small meals a day aids better absorption and keeps the metabolic rate high.Snacking on junk food does not help much in weight gain.Consume high calorie health food like cheese cubes, dairy products like yoghurt, fruits and nuts in small portions.

Exercise burns calories.However,even if a person wishes to gain weight, exercising is essential to strengthen the bones and muscles. For gaining weight, try weight training with dumbells for example.

Carbohydrates and fat are key to gaining weight. However protein is important to help build new muscle and build strength, therfore it is important to  eat healthy food with high protein content. Choose fish, peas, nuts, dairy products, eggs and meat. Eating highly fatty sugary food may do more harm than good. Eat foods with a high starch content but avoid too much chocolate and greasy food.

The key to weight gain is a positive energy balance. This means the amount of calories consumed should be more than the expenditure. This would lead to increase in number of leptin cells (fat cells) and increase in leptin cell size helping you therefore, to gain weight.

Any drastic change in weight is not recommended as the body needs time to slowly adapt to the changes. It is recommended to consult a nutritionist and a fitness specialist before you embark on any strict regimen.