The Best High Calorie Bars for Weight Gain
High calorie bars can be used to help you gain weight, stop unintended weight loss, replace a meal, or even have enough energy while you go hiking and backpacking. Jam packed with calories and convenient, high calorie bars are a great for on-the-go.
Most snack bars are low in calories and are formulated for those looking to lose weight. It can be challenging to find some good high calorie options to gain weight. In this article we’ll share some of the best high calorie bars for weight gain that have over 300 calories per bar.
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Why Do You Need High Calorie Bars?
High calorie bars can benefit a lot of different people. From those who need to gain weight. To those who need a simple meal replacement. And to those who need extra energy while hiking and backpacking.
High Calorie Bars for Gaining Weight
Some people struggle with unintended weight loss and/or need to gain weight. It can be hard to get in enough calories day-in and day-out. Eating 3 meals per day plus 2-3 high calorie snacks can help you get the most calories in your day.
High calorie bars make a great snack for adding extra calories to help promote weight gain.
High Calorie Bars for Meal Replacement
Some people are looking for high calorie bars for meal replacement. Perhaps they are too tired to cook. Or they are recovering from illness/ injury. And they just need access to some easy calories. High calorie bars often contain enough calories to serve as a meal replacement.
Balanced meals are so important. But high calorie bars can be a great option for when you need some quick calories.
High Calorie Bars for Hiking & Backpacking
And finally, some people are looking for high calories bars for hiking and backpacking. When you are spending your day hiking, you are burning some serious calories. You need to make sure you can replenish those calories so you have the energy to keep going.
Additionally, hikers don’t have a lot of room in their packs to carry a ton of food. A high calorie bar is small, relatively light weight, but jam packed with calories.
Benefits of High Calorie Bars
High calorie bars offer multiple benefits, primarily the fact that they are calorie dense and convenient.
Calorie Dense
When I say calorie dense, I mean jam packed with calories! Calorie dense means there are a lot of calories in a small amount of food.
Different types of foods contain different amounts of calories. For example, fat is the nutrient with the most calories per volume. High calorie bars incorporate calorie dense foods so you get “more bang for your buck”.
Convenience
There are many high calorie foods and high calorie snacks available. The benefit of a high calorie bar is that they are convenient. You can grab a bar and go. Or you can eat it at home or when out and about.
You don’t need utensils or plates. You don’t need to keep them frigerated. And if you buy them, they are even more convenient.
Types of High Calorie Bars
When it comes to high calorie bars, you have two choices: pre-made, store-bought high calorie bars or home-made high calorie bars. Within each category, of course there are a variety of choices.
Pre-made High Calorie Bars
There are a wide variety of brands and flavor choices when purchasing pre-made high calorie bars. You can find high calorie bars at the grocery store, nutrition shops, and online.
When purchasing a high calorie bar, read the nutrition facts label to learn how many calories are in the bar. Some protein bars are meant to be high in protein and low in calories. Look specifically at the calorie count to find a bar with a good amount of calories (300+ calories).
Home-made High Calorie Bars
Are you interested in making your very own home-made high calorie bars? Here are a couple of recommended recipes from our dietitian friend over at Snacking in Sneakers!
Fig Energy Bars
Fig Energy Bars contain fresh figs, rolled oats, walnuts, raisins, dates, chia seeds, and pumpkin seeds. One quarter of this recipe (a 4.5” x 4.5” bar) provides 371 calories. It contains healthy, whole food ingredients and is easy to make.
Check out the recipe here: Fig Energy Bars
Peanut Butter Honey Cheerio Bars
Peanut Butter Honey Cheerio Bars contain coconut oil, honey, peanut butter, and Cheerios. The cereal provides a fun, crunchy texture. And it provides a little variety from a traditional snack bar. One quarter of this recipe (4.5″ x 4.5″) provides 450 calorie.
Check out the recipe here: Peanut Butter Honey Cheerio Bars
The Best High Calorie Bars
The truth of the matter is, there really is no single “best” high calorie bar. We all have our own taste preferences. Ultimately, the goal is to find the best high calorie bar for YOU.
We picked these five as our best high calorie bars because most had over 300 calories per bar.
The reality is that most snack bars on the market have less than 300 calories. In fact, some have less than 200 calories. So many bars are targeted to help people lose weight.
However, the bars on our list have the calories you need to gain weight! There is a lot of variety within each category we listed. Best of luck finding the best high calorie bar for you.
| BAR TYPE | CALORIE COUNT |
| Greenbelly Meal2Go Bars | 650-695 calories |
| MET-Rx® Big 100 Meal Replacement Bars | 390-410 calories |
| SANS Meal® Bars | 380-390 calories |
| PROBAR® Meal Bars | 360-390 calories |
| CLIF BAR® Builders | 280-300 calories |
Greenbelly Meal2Go Bars
Greenbelly Meal2Go bars* are pretty interesting food product. Each pouch contains 2 bars and provides around 650 calories. That is a ton of calories! They are a little more expensive than the other bars, but for the calories and convenience, it may be worth it for you.
Additionally, these bars are more like food than a blended and pressed bar. While marketed towards backpackers, these bars are great for anyone in need of some extra calories.
Try their variety pack with 4 different flavors: click here*
MET-Rx® Big 100 Meal Replacement Bars
MET-Rx Big 100* meal replacement bars are high in calories. Some of their bars provide over 400 calories per bar! Their tasty Peanut Butter Pretzel and Super Cookie Crunch bars each contain 410 calories.
Additionally, these bars are high in protein for those looking for extra protein. Each bar contains around 30 grams of protein.
Try their variety pack featuring 3 fun flavors: click here*
SANS Meal Bars®
SANS Meal* replacement bars contain real food ingredients. Each bar provides 390 calories along with some protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. SANS doesn’t have a huge variety of flavors (yet), but they have some tasty options,
Try their Peanut Butter Cacao bars for a tasty treat: Click here*
PROBAR® Meal Bars
PROBAR* is boasted as a Meal On-the Go… because these bars are packed with calories and nutrients. Their bars contain between 360-390 calories. And they contain whole foods you can see like oats and nuts and dried fruit.
I love the wide variety of fun flavors PROBAR provides. From chocolate coconut to banana nut bread. You won’t get bored with these tasty high calorie bars.
Their variety pack contains 12 different flavors to try: Click here*
CLIF BAR® Builders
Clif Bars are a classic. This company has been around for a long time and has a wide variety of products to choose from. Of all of our high calorie bars, this one has the lowest number of calories, but the variety and taste keeps them on the list.
The CLIF Bar Builders* variety tend to have the most calories, ranging from 280 to 300 calories. Their Crunchy Peanut Butter variety provides 300 tasty calories.
CLIF BAR®
And if you are looking at their classic bars*, they still have a decent number of calories. Less than our others, but they still average about 250 calories per bar.
Their variety pack provides an assortment of fun flavors for added variety, and so you can decide your favorites!
Conclusion
I hope this article gave you some ideas and inspiration for finding the best high calorie bar for you. With all of the “diet” food on the market, it can be challenging to find good high calorie products.
If you are looking for a handy e-Cookbook full of recipes to help you gain weight, be sure to check out our:
Or get both cookbooks, our Weight Gaining SECRETS e-Book, and so much more with our signature Gaining Weight MADE EASY Course!
At last, I hope I have found a product with extra calories to allow me to gain weight. I plan to shop for some of these protein bars.
I’m glad this was helpful!