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Kevin asks: People say I am too skinny. Should I eat more to gain weight?
Wynnie says: Gaining weight healthily and keeping it on isn't as easy as you might think. Although you need to regularly eat more calories than you burn, you can't just stuff yourself with burgers and fries all day, since you still need to eat healthily.
Aim for three main meals and two or three snacks a day or, if you struggle with large quantities of foods, six small meals spread throughout the day should help. Try not to leave more than four hours between eating. 
A snack before bedtime may be particularly helpful - studies show that growth hormone levels are highest during early sleep. 
Putting on weight in a healthy way means setting yourself a realistic target of no more than a kilogram a month. That's equivalent to eating around 300-350 extra calories each day. 
How to get those extra calories
As well as your usual eggs and sausages at breakfast, have a small bowl of cereal with semi-skimmed milk, too 
A glass of fruit smoothie and a fruit yoghurt make a great nutritious snack 
Help yourself to a larger portion of pasta, potatoes, noodles or rice at meal times 
A chilled yoghurt drink, unsweetened soy milk or a carton of cold semi-skimmed milk makes great nutrient-dense alternatives to water
A piece of fruit and some crackers with peanut butter and chopped banana makes a healthy afternoon snack. 
If you usually eat Chinese-style evening meals with vegetables, meat or chicken and fish, just serve yourself a bigger portion than usual from the communal dishes.
If you eat salad, add a bit more dressing 
Adding a tablespoon of milk powder to a glass of milk, or bowl of soup, stew or mashed potatoes will boost your calorie intake as well as adding nutrients
A bowl of oatmeal made with reduced-fat milk and topped with nuts and dried raisins is a healthy and filling alternative to cake or ice cream
If you like baked potatoes, try experimenting with different nutrient-dense toppings such as cheese, baked beans, tuna and sweetcorn or cottage cheese with pineapple
Try sprinkling some soy nuts, peanuts or pine nuts over your favourite congee or soup noodles for extra texture as well as calories.
Munch on a handful of unsalted pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, cashew nuts or almonds on the way home from school
Physical activity still remains important even when you're trying to gain weight. For underweight teenagers, Kevin Tang, a health and fitness instructor at Hong Kong University's Institute of Human Performance, recommends doing resistance training three times a week to build muscle mass. 
'Teens should learn the proper technique under supervision first, without any added weight, remembering to warm up and cool down before and after each session,' says Tang. 
'Then they can perform three sets of 12 repetitions for each exercise, starting with a light weight. 
Tang adds: 'To work each muscle group effectively teens should be performing a minimum of eight to 10 separate exercises that train the major muscles: hips, thigh, legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms and abdomen.'
Kevin's diary:
Breakfast: Egg and sausage
Lunch: Rice, pork or beef dish, vegetables
Dinner: Rice, seafood, vegetables, chicken or beef dish
Snacks: Chocolate cake, apple pie and ice cream
Exercise: Badminton, running and table tennis
Wynnie Chan is a British-trained nutritionist. If you've got a question for her or would like to be featured in this column, e-mail nutrition@scmp.com



Easy, healthy steps to gain weight