Too skinny, too fat, it can be a long road to finding your happy size.

This week's column is for those of you trying to gain weight -- the natural way.

People can become underweight for many reasons: from disease, trauma or stress; or, simply because they have a high metabolism. Love it or hate it, being underweight as a result of unhealthy reasons can lead to lower bone density due to inadequate consumption of calcium, hair loss, lethargy, and the inconvenience and frustration of constantly feeling cold. Keeping your body weight within the healthy weight range is definitely desirable.

Gaining weight can be empowering and exciting, but it takes diligence and patience. Most people who need to gain weight are already eating a lot, so it's not quite as simple as just eating more -- it's more about sneaking in extra calories when you can and mixing up your workout regime so you still get the benefits of exercise without burning off the calories that you need to reach your weight goal.

Choose calorie-dense foods so you can increase your energy consumption without having to eat an uncomfortable amount of food. Although water is a great choice when it comes to hydration, I suggest drinking orange juice and/or higher fat milk a couple of times a day when you're trying to gain weight as it's sometimes easier to drink your calories as opposed to eating them. Limit pop and alcohol as they offer little to no nutritional benefits.

Snack between meals on foods that won't interfere with your appetite at meal time: mindlessly eat trail mix and dried fruit (it's an easy food to eat at your desk), crackers, cheese and granola bars. My best weight gaining tip is peanut butter on toast before bed. Clients love this because it's easy to do and it adds a couple hundred calories, which helps them reach their goal of eating about 500 calories more than they need in their usual diet every day.

Find out how many calories you're burning -- there are lots of resources on the Internet -- it's probably around 2,000 calories a day. If this is the case, the best results in your weight-gain mission will happen by eating up to 2,600 calories a day.

This will give you a slower weight gain, which is best because you want to gain lean muscle mass, not fat. Fast weight gain usually shows up around your midsection.

Keep up the exercise program, although it might seem counter-productive, there are lots of positive things that come from working out that have nothing to do with weight loss -- higher energy, improved self-esteem, health benefits -- the list is long!

Weight-bearing exercises are best, such as weight-lifting and low-impact activities like walking, light bike riding, or yoga. Intensive cardio workouts are not your best choice for weight gain workouts as they are higher calorie burning.

Cat Smiley is a freelance writer and fitness professional. She has been named Canada's top trainer three times by the International Sports Science Association. Info: www.catsmiley.com.