Hi, I am 55 years and I remained skinny till today, I tried eating lots of paneer, cheese, butter, pizzas, potato and everything my friends suggested but nothing worked on adding any weight. Although I remained fit for all this time still I feel like I should have some weight. I am tagged underdeveloped casually, I don't feel bad for this but I am looking for a way to add some weight, can you please help? I am vegetarian.

Weight gain should be targeted as increase in lean mass.

Start with regular strengthening exercises daily and ensure a good protein intake for muscle build-up. This will help gradually increase your weight.

Have a balanced diet with a good balance of macro and micro nutrients.

Eating excess carbohydrate or high fat foods will only increase fat percentage.

If you are an ectomorph whose metabolic rates are very high, you will need to plan your activities with more focus on weight training and less on cardio.

Your profile indicates that you are severely underweight.

Has this been your weight for a long time?

If you have recently lost weight, we need to identify the causative factors before deciding on the treatment.

Loss of weight could be due to various reasons. Stress, unbalanced diet, excessive activity, body type with high metabolic rate, certain physiologic conditions or medical reasons, etc, could be some of the reasons.

Based on your dietary recall, you are consuming a normal diet, although it may be deficient in proteins.

Include high protein foods in your diet in every meal.

Incorporate strength training exercises to increase muscle mass.

Physical and mental rest is the key to slowing down high metabolic rates.

You can undergo a thorough physical examination and find out the underlying cause before embarking on the mode of weight gain.

An ectomorph tends to be thin and struggles to gain weight.

You may have this body type wherein you may be typically skinny and have a light build, with small joints and lean muscle.

You may have fast metabolism and so may need a huge amount of calories to put on weight.

Workouts should be short and intense, focusing on big muscle groups.

Less aerobic activities should be your goal.

Supplements may be necessary to support the workout and muscle build up.

Since you are a vegetarian, aim at acquiring good protein combinations from plant foods and good quality protein absorption.

Include milk and milk products as well.