Gaining weight with whole30

[JThomas]

I want to eat healthier for so many reasons. I also have a hard time keeping on weight. I'm in my mid 20s and very active with school and work. I've been eating whole30 foods for two days. I'm extremely hungry. I've always been a big eater. I've eaten a lot of salad, eggs, veggies, some fruit, and chicken. I keep having intense cravings for snacks and junk foods. Any suggestions on what else I can eat so I can gain weight and still eat be within whole30 foods? I need a lot of food to maintain my weight and I don't have the biggest budget. 

[ShannonM816]

There are tips here:  https://whole30.com/2013/12/keeping-weight-whole30/ 

Basically it boils down to, eat more. Eat very calorically dense things, so fats, starchy vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, other root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, beets, turnips, or rutabagas, plantains, and winter squashes like butternut or acorn squash. Salad is not necessarily your best choice unless you fill it up with lots of dense vegetables, not just a big pile of leafy green stuff. If you want salad, try adding hard boiled eggs, chicken, avocado, olives, beets, and lots of other vegetables. Mostly concentrate on cooked vegetables though, as you can typically eat more cooked than raw. Be sure you add fat to your meals -- a serving or two from what's listed on the meal template in addition to what you cook in. And if you need a fourth meal, or even more than that, that is fine. The three template-based meals each day is a minimum, it sounds like you may end up needing more than that and that is fine. If you eat between meals or add another meal, be sure it's not just snack type foods -- have a combination of protein, fat, and vegetables, or at least two of the three. 

The meal template is here if you need to review it:  https://whole30.com/pdf-downloads/