Can you gain weight on empty calories? The Unhealthy Truth About Nutrient-Poor Foods

October 10, 2025 •

5 min read

Studies reveal that many adults consume hundreds of empty calories daily, often from added sugars and solid fats, which significantly contributes to excess energy intake. So, can you gain weight on empty calories? The unfortunate answer is yes, and it's a primary driver of unhealthy weight gain due to easy overconsumption and low satiety.

Quick Summary

Empty calories, found in nutrient-poor foods, can easily lead to weight gain by promoting a caloric surplus. Because they offer low satiety, people tend to overeat without feeling full, storing excess energy as fat and increasing the risk of chronic diseases.

Key Points

Empty calories cause weight gain via a caloric surplus: The high energy but low satiety of empty-calorie foods makes overconsumption easy, leading to excess calories being stored as fat.
Not all weight gain is equal: Gaining weight on empty calories is distinctly unhealthy, contrasting sharply with healthy weight gain achieved through nutrient-dense foods and exercise.
Empty calories pose significant health risks: A diet high in empty calories can lead to nutritional deficiencies, metabolic issues like insulin resistance, obesity, and an increased risk of chronic diseases.
Low satiety promotes a cycle of overeating: The body's satiety signals are not properly triggered by empty-calorie foods, meaning you can eat more and still feel hungry, driving further consumption.
Healthy weight gain requires nutrient-dense choices: For those needing to gain weight, the best approach involves increasing intake of nutrient-rich foods like proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbs, often paired with strength training.
Processed and sugary foods are primary culprits: Major sources of empty calories include soft drinks, candy, fast food, and packaged snacks, which are high in added sugars and solid fats.

What Exactly Are Empty Calories?

Empty calories refer to foods and beverages that provide energy, but very little to no nutritional value in the form of vitamins, minerals, protein, or fiber. These items are often loaded with added sugars and solid fats, which can quickly increase your total caloric intake without providing the essential nutrients your body needs to thrive. Common culprits include sugary soft drinks, candy, packaged baked goods, and fast food. While all calories are a measure of energy, the source of those calories profoundly impacts your body's function, satiety, and overall health.

The Mechanisms of Empty Calorie Weight Gain

The fundamental principle of weight gain is consuming more calories than your body expends, creating a caloric surplus. Empty calories are particularly effective at facilitating this surplus for several reasons:

High Caloric Density, Low Nutrient Density: A small portion of an empty-calorie food can pack a significant number of calories. For example, a 12-ounce can of soda contains roughly 150 calories, while a nutrient-dense food like a cup of broccoli has only about 30 calories. The soda provides a quick sugar rush with no lasting nutritional benefit, while the broccoli offers sustained energy and vital nutrients.
Low Satiety: Unlike high-fiber and high-protein foods, empty-calorie items do not provide a strong sense of fullness. Your brain's satiety centers don't register the intake of these calories as effectively as they do for nutrient-dense foods. This means you can consume a significant amount of empty calories in a short period and still feel hungry, prompting you to eat more and perpetuate the cycle of overconsumption.
Impact on Blood Sugar: Consuming high levels of simple sugars found in empty-calorie foods causes a rapid spike and subsequent crash in blood sugar. This blood sugar roller coaster can lead to increased cravings for more sugary foods, making it even more challenging to control your overall calorie intake.

Empty Calorie Weight Gain vs. Healthy Weight Gain

Not all weight gain is created equal. The health implications depend on the source of the extra calories. Gaining weight from empty calories is fundamentally different from gaining it in a healthy, controlled manner, which is crucial for building muscle mass or recovering from being underweight.

A Comparison of Weight Gain Methods


Feature	Healthy Weight Gain	Empty Calorie Weight Gain
Source of Calories	Nutrient-dense foods: lean proteins, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, whole grains.	Nutrient-poor foods: sugary drinks, processed snacks, fast food, refined grains.
Nutrient Value	Rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein essential for body functions.	Little to no vitamins, minerals, or fiber. High in added sugars and solid fats.
Satiety Effect	Promotes a feeling of fullness and satisfaction, helping to regulate appetite.	Low satiety, leading to overeating and increased cravings.
Body Composition	Primarily involves the growth of lean muscle mass and healthy body fat stores.	Leads to the accumulation of excess body fat, particularly visceral fat, which surrounds organs.
Health Outcomes	Supports overall health, improved energy levels, and stronger body systems.	Increases the risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Health Risks of Gaining Weight on Empty Calories

While gaining weight itself might be a goal for some, doing so with empty calories carries significant risks that extend far beyond simply gaining fat. A diet dominated by these foods is linked to numerous long-term health problems.

The risks include:

Nutrient Deficiencies: When empty calories displace nutrient-dense foods, your body misses out on crucial vitamins and minerals needed for proper functioning. This can lead to weakened immune systems, poor bone health, and overall fatigue.
Obesity and Chronic Diseases: Gaining fat, especially visceral fat, from a high intake of empty calories is a major risk factor for obesity. Obesity, in turn, is a gateway to other serious conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
Metabolic Disturbances: The constant influx of sugar can lead to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, the body expends fewer calories digesting processed foods, which can slow down metabolism over time.
Increased Inflammation: High consumption of added sugars and unhealthy fats contributes to systemic inflammation, which is implicated in numerous chronic health conditions.

A Better Approach: How to Gain Weight Healthily

For those who need to gain weight, prioritizing nutrient-dense calories is key to ensuring that the extra weight is healthy muscle mass and not just fat. Here are some strategies:

Eat More Frequently: Instead of three large meals, try eating five to six smaller, balanced meals and snacks throughout the day.
Increase Portion Sizes: Gradually increase the size of your meals, focusing on adding larger portions of healthy carbohydrates and proteins.
Incorporate Healthy High-Calorie Foods: Add concentrated sources of healthy calories to your meals. Examples include nuts, seeds, avocados, and healthy oils like olive oil.
Prioritize Protein: Eating plenty of protein is essential for building muscle mass. Include sources like lean meats, fish, eggs, dairy, and legumes in your diet. Protein supplements can also be helpful.
Choose Nutrient-Dense Snacks: Opt for snacks that offer more than just energy. Think trail mix with dried fruit and nuts, Greek yogurt with fruit, or a smoothie with nut butter.
Drink Smart: Choose nutrient-rich beverages like milk, smoothies, or fruit juice instead of sugary drinks. Drinking fluids between meals can also help you avoid feeling too full to eat.
Add Strength Training: Combine a high-calorie, nutritious diet with resistance training to stimulate muscle growth. This ensures that weight is gained as muscle rather than unhealthy body fat. More information can be found at the NHS Live Well site.

Conclusion: The Final Verdict on Empty Calories

The answer to the question, "can you gain weight on empty calories?" is an unequivocal yes. However, it's a deceptive and detrimental path to weight gain. While an excess of calories, regardless of their source, will lead to an increase in body mass, the quality of those calories dictates the resulting health outcomes. Relying on empty calories to gain weight can lead to a host of health problems, including nutrient deficiencies, obesity, and an increased risk of chronic diseases. For those looking to gain weight, the far healthier and more sustainable approach is to prioritize nutrient-dense foods, ensuring that the added weight comes from muscle and healthy fat stores, not junk food. Making smarter, more informed dietary choices is the key to achieving any weight goal in a healthy and responsible way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Empty calories are calories from foods and beverages that are high in solid fats and/or added sugars but provide little to no nutritional value, such as vitamins, minerals, protein, or fiber.

Empty calorie foods often lack fiber and protein, which are key for promoting fullness. Your brain's satiety signals aren't effectively engaged, allowing for high consumption without feeling satisfied, which increases cravings for more food.

While any caloric surplus can cause weight gain, the source of the calories matters greatly for your health. Gaining weight from empty calories leads to fat accumulation and potential health problems, while gaining weight from nutrient-dense foods can help build muscle and support overall health.

Long-term health risks include nutrient deficiencies, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and increased systemic inflammation.

Reduce empty calories by swapping sugary drinks for water or unsweetened tea, choosing whole foods over processed snacks, cooking meals at home to control ingredients, and reading nutrition labels to identify added sugars and solid fats.

Yes. Even when trying to gain weight, you should focus on nutrient-dense, high-calorie foods like nuts, avocados, lean proteins, and whole grains. This will ensure you gain healthy muscle mass and not just unhealthy body fat.

No. Gaining weight on empty calories is often associated with increased visceral fat, which is stored around the organs. In contrast, healthy weight gain, especially when paired with exercise, focuses on building muscle mass and healthier subcutaneous fat.