To gain weight should try to eat foods with high calorie content and larger portions of food. Mild exercise can help to increase your appetite and help you add muscle rather than fat. The following recommendations can be used by anyone wanting to gain or regain weight. It may be necessary, however, to change them to meet your specific needs. Check with your health care provider or dietitian about this. To start, eat about 500 calories more a day than you have been eating. Some people will need to add up to a 1,000 extra calories. Eat snacks throughout the day. Choose higher calorie foods often. Try to always eat larger-than-normal portions at meals. If you have a poor appetite, it may work better to eat smaller, very high calorie meals and to eat more often. Fat contains more calories than any other food group: 45 calories in just 1 teaspoon. Adding healthy fats, such as plant oils (canola, olive, or peanut oil), soft margarines (look for those with no trans fats), old-fashioned peanut butter (the kind that needs stirring before you eat it), and avocado, is an easy way to add a lot of calories without having to eat a lot more food. Avoid saturated fats. Foods high in saturated fat include: whole-milk dairy products, chicken skin, bacon, sausage, sour cream, butter, high-fat cuts of meat, and many processed snack foods. Even though you are eating a high-calorie diet, you should try to keep it healthy by including a lot of unprocessed (unrefined) carbohydrates, such as whole grains and fruits, as well as vegetables and lean protein foods such as skim milk products, skinless poultry, fish, egg whites, beans, and low-fat cuts of pork and beef.