When trying to gain weight, it's important to not only eat high calorie foods, but ones that are nutrient-rich too. Don't just concentrate on foods high in fat, sugar and often empty calories. Gaining weight should be done in the same way as losing it - sensibly and gradually.

Eating extra calories can seem daunting if you are used to small portions or your appetite isn't great. So here are some tips

• Begin by adding in some extra snacks, and then gradually increase the total amount of food you eat over the course of the day.
• Start with a healthy and nutritious base, and then wherever you can, enrich the foods with additional ingredients such as yogurt, fruit, nuts and healthy fats.
• Continue eating a wide range of foods from all the food groups, increasing portion sizes realistically wherever possible.
• Increase the frequency of meal occasions - it's a good way to increase calorie and nutrient intake.
• Try to eat 6 times per day (3-4 small meals and at least 2 snacks throughout the day).
• Make sure that at least 3 meal occasions during the day include protein, complex carbohydrates, vegetables or salad and a source of fat.
• If you're looking to gain muscle mass rather than just gain weight, calorie and protein levels will need to be increased in the diet, but muscle mass will only grow with strength training. High protein foods such as protein bars, protein shakes or low fat milk should be included as a post-training snack to ensure maximum recovery .
• Good food choices when you're looking to gain weight: Lean meat, poultry, eggs, nuts, pulses, oily fish, olive oil, avocado, nuts, full fat dairy foods e.g. milk, yogurt, cheese.

Work / Day Activity Level

Light - Have a job that involves long periods of sitting (office-based / driving) or are home-based and sitting for much of the day. Typical jobs: office worker, sales rep, bus/taxi/lorry driver.

Moderate - On your feet for much of the day, either standing or occasional slow paced walking. Typical jobs: shop assistant, teacher, chef/cook, bar worker, engineer.

Heavy - Active for much of the day, walking non-stop and carrying objects. Typical jobs: hospital/ward nurse, waitressing in a busy restaurant, cleaner, porter, labourer/construction worker, gardener, farm worker.

Leisure Activity Level

Inactive - Do very little exercise, going for the occasional walk (moderate pace, low intensity). Spend majority of leisure time doing activities such as watching TV, playing computer games, on the internet, reading, cooking, driving, general household chores.

Moderately active - Do light to moderate intensity exercise 3-4 times a week. E.g. going to the gym / swimming / cycling / horse riding / dance classes / playing golf. Daily dog walking (brisk pace, twice a day).

Very active - You exercise almost every day of the week doing high intensity training such as running, spinning, team or competitive sports. Or regularly undertake activities such as heavy gardening, heavy DIY work.

• Keep weighing in once a week and recording your weight in your online Weight Tracker.
• It is quite normal for your weight to fluctuate. However it helps to set an upper weight limit in your mind that you will never allow yourself to exceed - usually 3 to 5lbs above your goal weight.
• If you hit your upper weight limit, immediately switch to 'lose weight' until you get back within your comfortable weight range for maintaining.