MILO has been my favorite chocolate powder that has helped me survive through childhood drinking milk. However, as an adult pursuing a fitness journey I wondered if MILO helps you gain weight.
Milo consists of three types of sugars, malt barley, and milk powder that are high in calories and carbohydrates. Sugar tends to increase triglycerides and fat levels. All these ingredients are bound to make you gain weight. However, if you stay within your calorie intake it is not a problem.
There are ways to consume MILO to balance your diet while incorporating this tasty drinking powder. Let’s find out more about this.
Disclaimer:
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This article shows how to consume Milo for weight gain. However, I personally do not endorse Milo. I recommend fresh and organic foods over readymade or processed foods. I was myself a Milo fan and eventually realized that our body doesn’t require it.
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I also discuss how to lose weight or manage weight while consuming Milo.
Why does MILO make you gain weight?
Let’s first look at why MILO was invented and introduced in this world. MILO is not your ordinary drinking powder to entice kids into drinking milk. There is an interesting history behind this product.
MILO was produced by NESTLE throughout the 1930s in response to the fact that children were not able to receive proper nutrients from the daily diet.
Thomas Mayne was the creator of MILO who perfected the taste at his own home with the help of his wife and kids who are actually responsible for that delicious crunchy top layer to remain like that.
Hence, the original intent of Milo was to provide essential nutrients while keeping it tasty.
Let us take a look at Nutrition Facts of MILO :
| Nutrition Facts | |
| Serving Size 3 tbsp (28 g)
Servings Per Container about 53 |
|
| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 120 | Calories from Fat 25 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 3 g | 5% |
| Saturated Fat 1.5 g | 8% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol < 5 mg | 2% |
| Sodium 50mg | 2% |
| Total Carbohydrate 20g | 7% |
| Dietary Fiber 0 g | 0% |
| Sugars 12 g | |
| Protein З g | |
| Vitamin A 0% | Vitamin C 20% |
| Calcium 15% | Iron 15% |
| Vitamin D 10% | Riboflavin 15% |
| Niacin 15% | Vitamin B6 15% |
| Vitamin B12 6% | Phosphorus 15% |
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2.000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories: | 2,000 | 2,500 | |
| Total fat | Less than | 65 g | 80 g |
| Saturated Fat | Less than | 20 g | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300 mg | 300 mg |
| Sodium | 2.400 mg | 2,400 mg | |
| Carbohydrate | З00 g | 375 g | |
| Dietary fiber | 25 g | 30g |
Source: https://kurbo.com/the-truth-about-milo/
MILO contains three types of Sugar:
- Lactose
- Sucrose
- Maltose
Let us see how much sugar you will consume per glass of milk from MILO
Source: https://milo.com.au/products-and-nutrition
As you can see there is 4.7 tsp (19.8g) of sugar consumption for a glass of milk combined with MILO powder. That definitely adds to your weight gain. In addition, sugar will only increase your hunger pangs and urge you to keep on eating.
There is also another variant of the MILO with 30% less added sugar:
Source: https://milo.com.au/products-and-nutrition
This variant eliminates the sucrose from the ingredients that added 3.3 g of sugar to the classic MILO product.
Sometimes, people consume two glasses of MILO, one in the day and another at night. Therefore, you can say it doubles the calorie intake and therefore the weight gain. However, you should also take into consideration that you are consuming a huge amount of sugar.
Sugar in all forms is a simple carbohydrate that the body uses to form glucose to provide energy. Since our body heavily relies on carbs for energy, unless you switch to a low-carb diet, your fats will remain stored increasing gradually and as a result promoting weight gain.
Another way to manage the excess carbs is by being physically active. If your lifestyle doesn’t demand you to be physically active then please introduce exercise. However, exercising separately for managing weight is not a good idea.
If your lifestyle is sedentary then you need to eat less, as you do not require more energy. “Eat Less” is a misleading term. Therefore, I use the words “Eat Smart”. Please go through my program to learn it.
If you learn the healthy-eating skill that I teach in the program then you’ll automatically learn to eat smart based on your energy requirement without using willpower. However, it is a skill so please do not expect a magic pill.
MILO however has always made efforts to reduce sugar in their product while maintaining the taste. In June 2018, MILO launched a new product in Singapore called MILO® Gao Kosong which contains no added table sugar or artificial sweetener.
It contains only natural sugars from malt and milk. It contains 9.7 g of sugar, way less than the previous versions.
Its purpose was to reduce diabetes in Singapore and it was a direct result of the challenge posed by Singapore President Halimah Yacob.
The above facts indicate the MILO’s impact on your weight gain or general diet depending on which country you buy MILO and which variant you consume.
It is also important to check the manner in which you consume MILO. If you look at the above table in the pictures, you can see that in both cases MILO has used Skimmed Milk for its depiction.
Health experts suggest if you consume MILO with Full Cream Milk or on ice cream, which is how some people consume it, then it’s not considered healthy at all.
In fact, MILO powder had a 4.5 star rating exploiting a loophole by making it appear with the use of skimmed milk. After reviewing the product, experts brought it down to 1.5 star concluding that people consume it in a variety of ways and therefore it isn’t as healthy as it appears.
Therefore, if you think that Milo with cream milk can help you gain weight then also remember that the gain is not healthy due to excess sugar.
The way to gain weight is by creating caloric surplus i.e. excess calories than required. However, the calories should come from nutrient-rich foods and not through empty-calorie foods like sugar.
MILO is no exception to this rule and you have to keep that in mind while adopting it as a part of your diet.
MILO actually now comes in a variety of different products and not just as milk powder. Each product has its own way to serve your needs while providing you the same nostalgic taste that you have always loved.
In addition, MILO’s wide popularity has resulted in people making their own recipes using MILO as the secret ingredient. We will discuss how people use MILO as a part of their healthy diet and lifestyle.
How MILO can be used in your diet to help you gain weight?
MILO has been in this world for almost a century now. People have found ways to make this delicious product even tastier and healthier by mixing and matching it in a variety of different ways.
We will look into products MILO has to offer other than the classic milk powder.
- MILO Cereal
If you want to include milo as your morning breakfast, then you have an option to choose MILO cereal. It gives you 371kcal per 100 gm of serving and 78.1 g of carbs. You won’t require anything else to include in your breakfast after that.
NUTRITIONAL FACTS:
| Typical Values | |
| Energy | 1572 kJ/371 kcal |
| Fats
of which Saturates |
2.9 g
|
| Carbohydrates
of which Sugars |
78.1 g
29.2 g |
| Fibre | 7 g |
| Protein | 8.1 g |
| Salt | 0.16 g |
| Vitamins & Minerals | |
| Riboflavin (B2) | 1.6 mg |
| Niacin (B3) | 18 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 2 mg |
| Folic Acid | 200 mg |
| Pantothenic Acid | 6 mg |
| Iron | 14 mg |
It contains tapioca starch that is a good source for healthy weight gain,
- MILO Ready to drink
If you prefer to have MILO before or in between workouts, then ready to drink is definitely something you can consider. It is a readymade MILO chocolate drink that doesn’t require any preparation or mixing of powders. It comes in two different variants
- Milo 240ml Can & Milo 2 Go packet
Both these products have received 4.5 Star ratings. They help to sustain energy to keep you going for a long time while doing your physical activities.
Per serving of 240 ml can provide you with 163 calories per serving while MILO 2 GO will provide 143 calories.
NUTRITIONAL FACTS:
| MILO 240 ML CAN
Servings Per Pack: 1 Serving Size: 240ml |
Ave Qty Per Pack | %DI+ Per Pack | Ave Qty Per 100mL | |
| Energy | kJ | 680 | 8 | 285 |
| Cal | 163 | 68 | ||
| Protein | g | 8.2 | 16 | 3.4 |
| Fat, Total | g | 3.3 | 5 | 1.4 |
| – Saturated | g | 2.0 | 8 | 0.8 |
| Carbohydrate | g | 23.9 | 8 | 10.0 |
| – Sugars | g | 16.6 | 18 | 6.9 |
| -Lactose | g | 7.5 | 3.1 | |
| – Added sugars | g | 9.1 | 3.8 | |
| Dietary Fibre | g | 2.2 | 7 | 0.9 |
| Sodium | mg | 125 | 5 | 52 |
| %RDI^ | ||||
| Iron | mg | 2.3 | 19% | 1.0 |
| Calcium | mg | 385 | 48% | 160 |
| Phosphorus | mg | 360 | 36% | 150 |
| Vitamin B2 | mg | 0.4 | 24% | 0.2 |
| Vitamin B3 | mg | 3.0 | 30% | 1.3 |
| Vitamin B6 | mg | 0.4 | 25% | 0.2 |
| Vitamin D | mcg | 3.0 | 30% | 1.3 |
| MILO 2 GO
Serving Size: 200 mL |
Average Quantity per Serving | %DI* per Serving | Average Quantity per 100ml | |
| Energy | 610 kJ | 7% | 300 kJ | |
| 146 Cal | 72 Cal | |||
| Protein | 8.1 g | 16% | 4.0 g | |
| Fat-total | 2.8 g | 4% | 1.4 g | |
| – Saturated | 1.8 g | 8% | 0.9 g | |
| Carbohydrate | 21.6 g | 7% | 10.8 g | |
| – Sugars | 16.8 g | 19% | 8.4 g | |
| Sodium | 90 mg | 4% | 45 mg | |
|
|
%RDI per serving | |||
| Riboflavin (B2) | 0.5 mg | 30% | 0.25 mg | |
| Niacin (B3) | 3.0 mg | 30% | 1.5 mg | |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.4 mg | 25% | 0.2 mg | |
| Vitamin B12 | 0.4 µg | 18% | 0.2 µg | |
| Vitamin D | 2.5 µg | 25% | 1.3 µg | |
| Calcium | 400 mg | 50% | 200 mg | |
| Iron | 3.4 mg | 25% | 1.7 mg | |
| Phosphorus | 320 mg | 32% | 160 mg | |
- MILO Snack bars:
MILO has delicious snack bars that come in two flavors and the packet contains 10 energy-packed bars.
If you want to consume milo as an evening snack or throughout the day, then this option suits you the best.
It comes in the original chocolate flavor and another with a white chocolate layer. The latter contains more calories and carbs, so that would be an optimal option for weight gainers.
NUTRITIONAL FACTS:
| MILO SNACK BAR ORIGINAL
Servings Per Pack: 10 Serving Size: 27g |
Average Quantity per Serving | %DI* per Serving | Average Quantity per 100g |
| Energy | 330kJ | 4% | 1590Kj |
| Protein | 1.2g | 2% | 5.9g |
| Fat-total | 1.1g | 2% | 5.4g |
| – Saturated | 0.3g | 1% | 1.5g |
| Carbohydrate | 14.8g | 5% | 70.6g |
| – Sugars | 4.6g | 5% | 21.8g |
| Dietary Fibre | 2.1g | 7% | 10.0g |
| Sodium | 23mg | 1% | 110mg |
| MILO DIPPED SNACK BAR
Servings Per Pack: 10 Serving Size: 27g |
Average Quantity per Serving | %DI* per Serving | Average Quantity per 100g |
| Energy | 460kJ | 5% | 1690Kj |
| Protein | 1.7g | 3% | 6.3g |
| Fat-total | 2.6g | 4% | 9.8g |
| – Saturated | 1.3g | 5% | 4.8g |
| Carbohydrate | 18.2g | 6% | 67.3g |
| – Sugars | 6.5g | 7% | 24.2g |
| Dietary Fibre | 2.4g | 8% | 9.0g |
| Sodium | 27mg | 1% | 100mg |
Source: https://milo.com.au/products-and-nutrition
These are the products with different ways to include MILO in your daily life.
If you are someone who goes to the gym at night, then you can drink a glass of milk with milo for an instant energy boost to keep you awake. MILO contains some caffeine in the form of cocoa that can help keep you alert while exercising.
Here are some homemade recipes for MILO:
If you do not prefer a drink, then you can opt for simple homemade milo ice cream. This recipe includes heavy cream and egg yolk, which is a good source of healthy fat and for your weight gain diet.
You can find the full recipe here: https://www.cookrepublic.com/homemade-milo-ice-cream-and-underwater-adventures/
If you are looking to make a homemade snack, then this MILO Slice is the best recommendation for it. It contains Flour, butter, rolled oats, eggs, dark chocolate all of which are a good source of healthy fat for weight and muscle gain.
Here is the recipe for the same: https://theorganisedhousewife.com.au/recipes/Milo-slice/
If you cannot resist coffee pleasure but also want to have MILO in the morning, then this heavenly combination of MILO Mocha will help fulfil that desire. Add whipped cream to help you get those extra kilos.
Recipe: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Milo-Mocha
If you want to please your sweet tooth with milo, then milo muffins will do you solid.
Recipe: https://createbakemake.com/milo-muffins-recipe/
Lastly, for a fun-sized dessert that can help you reach that desired mark, you can go for this delicious Milo Cake with Buttermilk Icing & Milo Ganache. It is heavily loaded with butter, flour, eggs, buttermilk, cream, and dark chocolate.
Recipe: https://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/322984040/milo-cake-with-buttermilk-icing-and-milo-ganache/
I hope these recipes and methods would help you incorporate MILO in your diet plans. Now you have all the information and facts about MILO to help with your weight gain journey.
RELATED QUESTIONS:
Does Milo help you sleep?
Since Milo contains magnesium, it can help fall asleep especially if you consume it with a heavy full creamed milk at night.
Does Milo contain caffeine?
Since Milo contains cocoa powder, it does have traces of caffeine. It’s about 2.2-4.8mg of caffeine per 20 grams of Milo powder, as stated by Nestle.
Is Milo gluten-free?
Milo is not gluten-free as it contains traces of gluten from malt barley and other grains used in milo.
Why does Milo taste different in different countries?
As confirmed by Nestle, Milo changes its recipe according to consumer preference in a respective country. There are more than 60 MILO recipes globally. Source
Kind request
I want to request you to have an open mind and give my program a try. I am not charging any fees for it. I genuinely want you to achieve your goal. At any point, if you face any problem in understanding the program please feel free to email me. I promise I’ll help you in every way to achieve your goal. Wish you the best. Happy Eating!