Easy Ways to Gain Weight by Eating Oatmeal and Drinking Milk

You might think of oatmeal as a “diet food,” but it can help you gain weight, too. Making healthy foods often linked with weight loss — like oatmeal and milk — part of your meal plan as you gain weight ensures you’re getting lots of nutritional value at the same time.

Whether you’re looking to gain weight due to illness, medication side effects, a desire to add muscle, or for other reasons, you can eat nutrient-dense foods to add calories to your diet.

For help with weight gain, opt for higher-calorie milks like whole milk. And use calorie-dense toppings — like nuts, cacao nibs, and protein powder — to boost the energy content of your oatmeal.

Choose Whole or Chocolate Milk

When you’re trying to gain weight, relatively high–calorie drinks like milk are a great way to reach your goals. Sugary beverages, like chocolate milk, don’t trigger feelings of fullness, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. That’s a downside when you’re trying to shed pounds, but it can be a bonus when you’re trying to gain them.

For the most weight gain, go for whole milk or whole chocolate milk. They contain 149 and 211 calories per cup, respectively, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Depending on whether you choose regular or chocolate whole milk, drinking a glass or two of milk throughout the day can provide 149 to 422 extra calories daily — enough to gain roughly one-third to four-fifths of a pound per week.

Enjoy milk on its own for weight gain or cook your oatmeal in milk for a higher-calorie breakfast. A cup of plain, cooked oatmeal made with water has just 154 calories, according to the USDA. Make it with a cup of whole milk, and you’ll almost double the calories.

Add Protein to Your Oatmeal

Gain weight with oatmeal by adding high-protein mix-ins. Getting enough protein is especially important if you’re trying to put on muscle mass, because the amino acids abundant in protein-rich foods get reused to make new muscle tissue, according to Cleveland Clinic.

The extra calories and protein, paired with a strength-training routine, can add muscle to your frame, according to research. Eating a protein-rich snack after a workout can also help your muscles recover from exercise more effectively and reduce soreness, according to The Ohio State University.

Making your overnight oats or oatmeal with milk — or simply drinking milk with your oatmeal — already boosts the amount of protein you get by 7.7 grams (g), according to the USDA. And if you stir two egg whites into your oatmeal as it cooks, whisking continuously to fully mix the egg, you add about 7.3 g of protein, along with about 35 calories, according to the USDA.

Or stir a flavored protein powder into your oatmeal for protein oats, or “proats.” The exact calorie and protein counts vary from powder to powder. But for example, a one-scoop serving of chocolate-flavored pea protein from Now Sports could add 160 calories and 24 g of protein to your oatmeal.

Add Other High-Calorie Toppings

Fat is high in calories, so it could help you hit the calorie target you need to gain weight.

Chop a small, 2-by-2-by-one-half-inch cube of coconut meat into your oatmeal for 159 extra calories, according to the USDA. Or use 2 tablespoons (tbsp) of peanut butter to add 188 calories to your meal. Chopped almonds, pecans, and other nuts add healthy fats and calories, too. For example, an ounce (oz) of pecans adds 201 calories.

You can also boost your calories by topping oatmeal with fruit. An extra-large banana, for example, adds 135 calories to your oatmeal, according to the USDA. Dried fruits — like raisins, mangoes, banana chips, dehydrated apples, and dried cranberries — also serve as concentrated sources of calories to help you gain weight. Eat one-fourth cup of raisins to get 109 calories. Or enjoy half a cup of dehydrated apples to get 104 calories.

Healthy Weight–Gain Serving Suggestions

In general, you only need 250 to 500 extra calories daily for safe weight gain of one-half to 1 pound per week, according to Loyola University Chicago.

A 1-cup serving of oatmeal made with water and topped with 1 tbsp of peanut butter provides roughly 250 calories. So, eating this as a snack in addition to the number of calories your body uses for energy each day might be enough to help you reach your goals.

If you want to get 200 to 500 more calories than you'd typically need per day, but you’re not sure what total number to aim for, you can try using an online calculator that the USDA created.

Experiment with adding other fruits — like a cup of berries or mango chunks — to your oatmeal for weight gain. And serve your oats with a glass of whole chocolate milk on the side to add more calories.

You can flavor your own milk to avoid monotony with your weight-gain plan. Add a chai teabag to your milk to steep in the fridge overnight for an iced chai latte. Or blend a spoonful of cacao powder and a pinch of cinnamon into whole milk for a creamy, spiced chocolate milk.

Before you embark on a weight-gain diet, speak with your doctor or a registered dietitian. Be sure to get a healthcare checkup if you don’t know the cause of your weight loss or if you’re still losing weight despite eating extra calories.