put on 16 kg in weight
This is part of a text talking about women Polar explorers. My question is about the phrase "put on 16 kg in weight". Does it mean they gained some weight (16kg??- incredible!:) - or that after training they were able to carry that much in their backs maybe?

"By the time they left the UK they had trained for months with the British army and they had put on 16 kg in weight".

Question

put on 16 kg in weight
This is part of a text talking about women Polar explorers. My question is about the phrase "put on 16 kg in weight". Does it mean they gained some weight (16kg??- incredible!:) - or that after training they were able to carry that much in their backs maybe?

"By the time they left the UK they had trained for months with the British army and they had put on 16 kg in weight".

Answer

Basically it means that the person in question had gained 16kg herself, either through putting on muscle bulk or fat. I suspect if she was training hard it would probably be muscle though. That's quite a lot of weight to gain!

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