As with most things we aspire to do, it is important to set goals, like a target weight, when attempting to gain weight in order to achive results. While you probably have a body shape in mind, it is hard to know exactly how much you need to weigh in order to achive it. Before you decide what kind of body you want there is some important thing you need to consider.

• Gaining weight is not a shortcut to achive selfconfidence. I know many people that have tried to sculpt their bodies into perfection only to realize their problems lied elsewhere. The only way you can improve your selfconfidence is to give you a reason to belive in yourself. I will explain how in a future article.
• If you wish to live a long life you need to consider keeping your BMI between 18.5 and 25, but the optimal BMI range is 20-23. Note that this is important even if you have athletic body, the reason being that greater weight put more strain on your heart over time.
• Ideal body fat percentage increases with age. At 25 it is about 8-15% for men and 19-24% for women. At 40 it is 13-20% for men and 23-28% for women. At 55 it is
  15-23% for men and 26-31% for women. The ideal body fat percentage for women is very individual, but a good rule of thumb should be to keep it below 35% to stay healthy.
• If you gain too much weight and stop working out for some reason (many don’t have time when they get children), you risk turning muscles to fat. Loosing weight is much harder if you have a high body fat percentage and it is easier to gain additional weight when you are overweight and inactive.

Pick a target weight that you feel comfortable with and remember that you can always change it if you realize it is not what you was looking for.

Most types of training are aerobic in nature. Aerobic means that you exercise with low intensity and extended periods of time. During aerobic training your muscles have a sufficient supply of oxygen to maintain pace during long intervals. This type of training is very good for loosing weight, especially when loosing excess fat. If you have problems gaining weight you might want to reduce your aerobic exercise if you work out a lot.

Typical  aerobic exercises are:

• Walking
• Long distance running
• Swimming
• Cycling
• Skiing

In contrast to aerobic training, anaerobic training is not about endurance but about strength, high speed and/or power. In anaerobic training you use your muscles at close to maximum performance during short intervals of time, burning oxygen faster than your body can sustain.

Typical anaerobic exercises are:

• Weight-lifting
• Sprinting

To gain weight in a healthy way, it is important that you do anaerobic exercises. Why? A healthy weight gain consists of mostly muscles. And if the body are going to build muscles, it needs motivation! Anaerobic training max out the muscles in the body making it think that you will need more muscles to handle the strain better the next time. It is essential to consume sufficient amounts of protein when doing anaerobic traing since the body will need building blocks to sustain and increase muscle mass.

It is important to note that a balanced training program is essential to being healthy, you need to do both aerobic and anaerobic training.