High Calorie Fruits for Weight Gain

High calorie fruits for weight gain are some of the best ways to gain healthy, high-quality weight gain. They aren’t always as popular as fruits for weight loss, but they’re just as effective.

Fruits are one area where high-calorie and nutrient-dense can overlap. They’re packed with some of the most important nutrients and phytochemicals, while also offering you sugars and starches for short-term energy.

Today, we’re going to discuss the most important high calorie fruits for weight gain, and how you can pick the best fruits for your weight gain diet.

Underweight and Hardgainers: When High-calorie is Healthier

High-calorie foods are healthy when you need more energy – such as when exercising intensely or when you’re trying to gain weight. This is common for skinny men and women trying to bulk up, either for personal reasons or because they’re underweight.

Calories aren’t bad for you. They measure your energy intake, which is all relative to your personal needs. Some people need more calories, and others need less. High calorie foods aren’t bad – diets that don’t match your needs are unhealthy.

Elite athletes use high calorie diets to repair their bodies after exercise and fuel up for intense workouts. A high calorie diet – that is rich in protein and paired with exercise – can support healthy weight gain. This is especially healthy when it’s muscle gain, with less fat gain.

This is why we’re going to look at high calorie fruits to help weight gain. Many people want to gain weight in the healthiest way possible – and the combination of calories and nutrients is how fruits can help!

Fruits: Their Role In Your Diet

The role of fruit in your diet is as a source of faster-absorbing carbohydrates, as well as a wide range of vitamins and minerals. They also contain pigments and other compounds which directly support health, either reducing cell damage risk, improving brain function, or otherwise improving your body’s processes.

Fruits are typically sugary and starchy, but also contain plenty of dietary fiber. Then, on top of this, they’re dense in micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, and other ‘small quantity’ nutrients).

Sugar and starches are fast- and medium-absorbing carbs. These are your body’s main energy source for exercise and muscle growth, which makes fruit a good dietary choice around workouts to replenish energy and carb stores in the muscle.

Fiber helps regulate digestive speed, keeps your gut healthy, and balances out the sugars in fruit. This means that they contain sugar but they also have a relatively sustained energy release, as fiber slows everything down and prevents “spiking and dumping” patterns of blood sugar (e.g.).

The micronutrients in fruits are varied by type. Typically, they’re rich in vitamins and contain some minerals.

These both support the healthy processes of your body and make sure everything is “running as it should”. They prevent deficiency to support overall healthy function, as well as supporting things like immunity, cell health, and even daily energy levels.

High Calorie Fruits: Nutrient and Calorie Density

Fruits are a great place to get extra calories because they’re delicious, nutrient dense, and packed with short-term energy. They can be used to directly support muscle growth, but also work well in many meals and snacks – such as combined with yogurt, nuts, seeds, and other foods.

The interesting thing about fruits is that they can be used to find a rare overlap between nutrient dense foods and calorie dense foods. You’ll usually find that “healthy” foods are high in nutrients and low in calories, like dark leafy greens and chicken breast.

On the other hand, calorie-dense foods are typically ‘unhealthy’. Things like ice cream and other luxury foods are rich in calories but lack important nutrients and may even be pro-inflammatory. This is obviously not the healthiest way to gain weight.

High-calorie fruits are rich in both – like other high-quality calorie and nutrient rich foods. Other examples include fatty fish, high quality meats, eggs, cultured dairy, nuts, seeds, beans, pulses, legumes, and some starchy vegetables.

Best High Calorie Fruits for Weight Gain

The best high calorie fruits for weight gain are those which are enjoyable, nutritious, and high in calories. We’re outlining 12 examples that should be a major part of your diet.

These fruits are rich in energy, support better muscle growth, reduce fat mass gain, or fill some other key role in high-quality weight gain.

1. Banana

The original sugar-and-starch vegetable, bananas are rich in calories, delicious, and super versatile. They’re also packed with B vitamins, potassium, manganese, and important dietary fiber.

Bananas are some of the easiest and most versatile home made weight gain shake ingredients, especially when combined with a protein powder and whole grain carb like oats.

Each medium banana should typically contain:

• 105 calories
• Protein: 1 gram
• Carbohydrate: 27 grams
• Fat: 3 grams
• Vitamin B6
• Potassium
• Manganese
• Fibers

2. Blueberries

Blueberries are some of the best fruits for improving your weight gain. They’re not as high calorie as other items on this list, but they’re packed with anthocyanins, a pigment that supports muscle gains directly. This is a powerful addition for a simple, delicious fruit that pairs perfectly with yogurt and other staples.

You can even make blueberry compote if you’re looking for a high-energy, sugary addition to your oatmeal.

1 cup of blueberries contains:

• 85 calories
• 1g protein
• 21g carbohydrates
• 0.5g fat
• Manganese
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin K

3. Mango

Mango are some of the most delicious foods on the planet. Fresh mango is high in sugar, packed with vitamins, and a powerful hydration aid. They’re utterly delicious and provide one of the most enjoyable ways to increase your calorie intake.

Mango is also super easy to blend into a wide range of smoothies and shakes, which are a great example of super calorie rich and nutrient dense weight gain choices. You can make them at home and mango is the perfect tonic for a green weight gain smoothie.

1 normal cup of fresh, diced mango will typically offer you:

• 99 calories
• Protein: 1.4 grams
• Carbohydrate: 25 grams
• Fat: 0.6 grams
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B
• Vitamin E
• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Fiber

4. Watermelon

Watermelon is rich in complex sugars and some starch, as well as a ton of fiber. It’s also packed with vitamins and a few minerals. What’s most useful is that watermelon contains the performance boosting compound citrulline.

It’s the original source of citrulline – which is named after the watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). This compound improves the health and circulation of the muscles, supporting better workouts, improving endurance, and potentially improving muscular recovery.

This makes watermelon a triple threat for better weight gain – and a delicious way to improve your calorie intake and performance with a light snack.

1 cup of cubed or balled watermelon offers:

• 46 calories
• 1g protein
• 11.5g carbs
• 0.2g fat
• Tons of fiber
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Citrulline

5. Papaya

Papaya, like pineapple and mango, is about getting plenty of sugars from your fruits to get more calories into your diet. It’s also rich in a range of vitamins, providing more nutritional support than your typical sugar source.

Papaya is delicious, nutrient-rich, and another easy choice for daytime snacking. It can also be cubed and dried out for some of the best tasting fruit sugars around!

In one cup of cubed raw papaya, you’re going to get:

• 54 calories
• 1g protein
• 13.5g carbs
• 0.2g fat
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C (over 100% of your needs)
• Vitamin E
• Folate
• Potassium

6. Pineapple

Pineapple fills the same kind of niche as papaya and mango, as a pure sugar choice that can be used before and after workouts to get the best out of your performance. It fuels workouts when taken beforehand, and drives up blood sugar and insulin response afterwards to improve your muscle growth potential.

Pineapples are another simple, delicious choice that can offer great vitamins on a food you’re going to enjoy eating. It’s relatively low satiety and high-calorie, making it an easy appetite-boosting choice to keep gaining high-quality weight – and it tastes brilliant.

• 82.5 calories
• 1g protein
• 21.5g carbs
• 0.2g fat
• Vitamin C (over 100%)
• Thiamin
• Vitamin B6
• Folate
• Magnesium
• Copper
• Manganese

7. Avocado

Yes, avocado is a fruit – and one of the most nutrient and calorie rich fruits. It’s a rare fat-rich fruit that offers you a ton of calories, along with some fat-soluble vitamins to provide a ridiculously powerful healthy weight-gain choice.

Avocado is rich in calories because of the 9-calories-per-gram density of fats. This makes it one of the best choices, and it can be added to things like shakes and smoothies to get a creamy texture with a very mild taste.

It’s a great addition to your diet, though it can be a little expensive, so consider using it in shakes and smoothies to spread out the cost!

1 cup provides:

• 240 calories (enormous)
• 3g protein
• 12.8g carbs
• 22g fat
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Vitamin K
• Most of the B vitamins (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 9)
• Magnesium
• Potassium
• Copper
• Manganese

8. Coconut

Coconut is another fat-rich fruit, but also includes plenty of sugars. Coconuts are also electrolyte-rich, which makes them the perfect all-round support for performance and recovery.

They pair perfectly with foods like Greek yogurt and dried papaya, which can provide all your healthy weight gain needs in one place. The fats in coconut are MCTs – some of the healthiest available, giving you a metabolism-supporting fat as well as plenty of calories and minerals!

30g of coconut flesh will offer you roughly:

• 101 cal
• Protein: 1 gram
• Carbohydrate: 4.5 grams
• Fat: 10 grams
• Vitamins
• Selenium
• Manganese
• Fiber
• Phosphorus
• Copper

9. Dates And Other Dried Fruits

Dried fruits are calorie dense because they’re smaller and less filling than the hydrated versions. During the drying process, the calorie content per gram goes up as the food becomes smaller. This makes them a wonderful source of calories and sugars on the go.

Other choices besides dates include apricot, mango, and even a wide range of berries and currants. These are easy, versatile, and convenient (since they can be stored without mess). They pair well with all kinds of other foods – or just as a “hand snack” before and after workouts.

The nutritional information will vary from one food to another. Dates are among the most popular and nutrient-dense choices, and you will get these nutrients from one piece (roughly 25grams):

• 69 calories
• Protein: 0.5 grams
• Carbohydrate: 19.5 grams
• Fat: 0.1 grams
• Vitamin B6
• Potassium
• Magnesium
• Manganese
• Fibers
• Iron

10.  Plums

Plums are another fleshy fruit that offer enormous fiber, starch, sugar, and micronutrient content. They’re among the most versatile foods and are packed with Vitamin A, C, and K – supporting cell health and circulation.

Plums aren’t super high calorie but offer an easy choice with a range of important micronutrients, including a ridiculous mineral content: 4 of the 5 electrolytes, as well as zinc and iron. This is a perfect example of a muscle health boosting fruit, and shows that the best fruits for weight gain aren’t just about calorie content.

Plums offer a wide range of benefits and directly support muscle function, health, and recovery. 1 cup of sliced plums typically brings:

• 76 calories
• 1.2g protein
• 19g carbs
• 0.5g fat
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin K
• Potassium
• Phytosterols

Conclusion: Our Final Thoughts

Fruits are a great place to look for pleasant ways of improving your calorie intake. They offer some of the most wide-ranging micronutrients, and they deserve their place in a weight gain diet, alongside vegetables. Fruits are definitely better for weight gain than weight loss, and even provide some direct muscle-supporting nutrients.

Work these fruits into your diet and use them to replace low-nutrient or low-calorie foods. Making the right swaps towards these fruits will drastically improve your weight gain quality and quantity if you’re smart about it.

The best move is to add a few of these fruits into your diet around the time when you need high-calorie, high-carb choices. You should also consider how they play into weight gain smoothies and shakes, which are an easy and enjoyable way of adding a wide range of nutrients to your diet.