My Experience with Weight Gain - Anthony Ditillo

Melvin Wells

Anthony Ditillo

My Experience with Weight Gain
by Anthony Ditillo


Since I first began writing these articles, I have always wanted to write one up on gaining weight. To me, gaining weight is a relatively simple matter. You merely ingest more nutrients than you use. This results in a backlog of unused matter which results in an increase in bodyweight. The more good, high-quality food you eat, the more you weight you gain. It’s as simple as that. And yet somehow many of you fellows fall by the wayside somewhere along the line. There are many different reasons for this, which in the course of this small article I hope to point out for your benefit.

Many, many times I have received a request from an interested trainee who is desirous of gaining additional weight and claims that he is willing to do anything that is necessary to make such gains. Nine times out of ten, after I go through the trouble of writing up a weight gaining routine and diet, I never receive a reply from this fellow again. What happens? Where did I go wrong?

Well, fellows, I believe it is the lack of training drive, the lack of ability to change one’s daily patterns or work, recreation and rest, and also the lack of drive to work really hard and long at the task at hand that is responsible for most of these trainees giving up and calling it quits.

To gain weight you must force yourself to continually ingest more and more nutritious food. Whether you prefer liquids to solids is up to you. I myself like prefer to combine both these methods of force-feeding in order to guarantee a steady increase of nutritious material constantly coursing through my body. The good points involved in an increase of liquid nutrition are that the body can absorb this form of food more easily and quickly and it does not bloat the body to too great an extent. Since I have always had a good appetite, I mainly prefer solid foods to liquids. But if you do not have an appetite which will allow you to eat enough food to gain on, I would greatly advise you to use one of the many concoctions regularly featured in this magazine.

While it is of the utmost importance to be sure that you get enough protein in your diet, we must not do away with the importance of carbohydrates and fats, which must be used also in a gaining diet. You see, if you eat only protein foods you will not have enough energy producing nutrients in your body for everyday normal needs, let alone your workouts. This means that the proteins your body should be using for building muscles will be used for producing energy. This is not too good a situation. How then will you be sure that you are eating enough protein to grow on? The answer is: You won’t!

In my opinion, the best sources of natural carbohydrates would be the following: fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, legumes, beans, whole grain products and milk (which is a great combination of fats, carbohydrates and protein, in itself). When trying to gain weight be sure to eat frequently of these foods every day. But don’t forget, the most ingredient in your diet would be protein; you simply will NOT gain in size without it.

When discussing the factors involved in gaining useful bodyweight, we must also include the saturated and unsaturated fats. There are also energy producers and are needed by the body in order to insure a steady production of energy to last through those hard workouts you must take. Butter, margarine, vegetable oils, etc. fall into this category, along with heavy and light cream. Be sure to include some of these foods in your diet each day when trying to gain weight. This will insure a constant supply of energy for the body.

So, we have come to the conclusion that both liquid and solid nutrition are necessary in order to constantly increase the amount of food we can consume. We have also come to the conclusion that we need protein, carbohydrates and fats, all three in order to have proper body functions.


Today the physical culture world is enveloped with training systems most of which are not worth the paper they are printed on. You hear all kinds of reasons for not being able to gain weight: high metabolism, low metabolism, high energy level, low energy level. What is all the ballyhoo about? If you have low metabolism than your problem would not be one of being unable to gain weight, but of controlling this weight and keeping reasonably lean. If, on the other hand, you have a high metabolism you must perform mass muscle movements in low sets of repetitions twice a week. You also must continuously force yourself to eat more and more good wholesome food. Drink lots of milk. It can really make you grow. Eats lots of lean meat. It’s good for you. And don’t forget the fruits and vegetables. They’re ALL important.

So you see, it’s not all that involved when it comes to gaining weight. All you have to know is what category you fit into, and train and eat accordingly. Instead of taking one multi-vitamin per day, increase to three. Three to four quarts of milk per day, fortified with some protein powder and powdered milk can go a long way in increasing your weight. Six to eight meals a day (solid as well as liquid included) may be necessary to jolt your system to adaptability for gaining weight.

All Italian foods are high in calories and loaded with carbohydrates for energy along with quite a bit of protein in the form of grated cheese, pizza cheese, meatballs, veal, according to the ingredients.

Our editor, some time ago, wrote an article on gaining, and in it he recommended the use of fortified, thick, rich soups. Well, my own experience on the subject agrees with him completely. Such a meal is easy to prepare, costs little, tastes fine and is very easy to assimilate. Within it you get a great deal of vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats; the very things which we have already discussed and proved necessary for rapid weight gains.

High potency, fortified protein drinks are also very necessary for full weight gains. IronMan has carried many such drinks in the past and there are many to choose from. You merely suit your own palate. These drinks are invaluable in your quest for a more massive form.

I am now about to introduce you to two meals that I have used when extensively when trying to gain weight. They enabled me to weigh at one time 258 lbs. at a height of 5;6”. I hope they work as well for you.


Sample Weight Gaining Soup

Three cups prepared vegetable soup.
One cup peas.
One cup corn niblets.
One pound precooked lean beef.
One cup pork and beans.
One cup lima beans.
One cooked potato, cut up.

Do not add any water to the above recipe.


Sample Weight Gaining Drink

One quart whole milk.
One pint light cream.
One pint heavy cream.
One pint ice cream.
Two packets gelatin.
One cup skim milk powder.
Three tbsp. honey.
One cup fruit salad.
One cup protein powder.

Blend the ingredients together. I would recommend drinking half this mixture an hour before a workout, and finishing the other half one hour before retiring for the night. Coupled with all the information and suggestions in this article I can’t see why anyone can’t gain all the weight he wants.