Before i had a hard enough time consuming enough calories to gain, i know how many calories i have to eat, i just really have a hard time eating that much. But an even harder time now that i work 10 hour days 5 days a week at a lumber yard. Most days i just stock shelves on the inside and load customers, but loading customers could mean anything from 1, 2x4, to like 25, 80 lbs bags of instant cement. So its hard to know how many calories i expend. But i would guess i need to eat anywhere from 4000 to 5000 calories a day, considering that i weight 140 lbs and have a fast metabolism. I wake up at 6 and go to bed at 10 almost every night. My eating schedule is this.
breakfast- 6 AM, normally can’t eat alot at breakfast but i may have to start drinking something like prolab inlarge to get more calories.
Snack- 9:30, snickers bar
Lunch- 11:30, usually steak or chicken and noodles
Snack- 3 PM, snickers bar
Dinner-6 PM i normally eat big here cause i’m usually starving when i get home from work, i eat pizza most of the time here cause its quick and easy and i normally eat about 1000 calories worth in this meal
Then around 8:30 i’ll eat again but i’m not real hungry for the rest of the night and i’ll drink a big glass of milk and eat some peanuts before i go to bed.
I dunno how i can eat much more in the meals i do to try and put on a few lbs, i may have to invest in a quality high calorie protein shake. I would prefer something with a casein/whey mix if anybody knows of anything good and kinda cheep. But the reason i can’t eat more is i dont get any breaks except lunch, i eat my snickers while i’m working, so i’m not sure what else to do. I may just have to weight untill i go back to school when my activity level is less.
I am in no way a nutrition “expert” but I think the following would help you.
EAT A BIG BREAKFAST. I know you may be one of those people that doesn’t like eating in the morning because they will feel “sick”. My advice would be to suck it up for a little while, let your body adapt and you will feel much better. My recomondations would be eggs, cottage cheese, Natural PB and J sandwiches, etc. The goal here for you would be to consume a lot of calories and get you ready for the day. Also, if you eat a big breakfast, (not to the point where your stuffed and can’t move, but to the point where you feel a little more than "full) you will be hungrier throughout the day, providing you keep eating.
Eat more than a snickers bar on your break!! A can of tuna, Natural PB & J sandwiches, Turkey breast sandwiches, etc. In short, eat a real meal. You may only get 15 minutes I know, but spend it EATING.
3)Eat a bigger lunch than your eating
4)Eat again on your break! Not a snickers bar though. A can of tuna, some yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.
Don’t pig out on starchy foods till you want to fall over at the supper table. Eat some pizza or whatever sure your going to regardless of what I say, but try and add some more protein, and see supper as just another meal, not the “ONLY” real meal you have all day. If I were you, in my lunch, I would pack a little sandwich or something I could snack on (even some trailmix) right when I was done my shift, so then I wouldn’t feel the urge to eat that much pizza at supper.
6)Try and consume one more “real meal” or “MRP” before bed, not just a little snack.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. You work outside so there probably is no reason you cannot keep a big jug with you.
Try to eat fruits and vegetables, more than your eating now.
Obviously, while very basic, this would cause you to do a complete overhaul of your diet. The main thing here is to eat eat eat! Something more than a snickers bar as well. Eat a good, high protein breakfast. Eat some more real meals in the day with good, whole food, dont gorge yourself at supper, and drink lots of water, and you will start to incorporate all of the above into your diet without knowing it!
Tags makes a very good point about the breakfast. I would suggest eating some oatmeal in the morning. High in simple carbs and a great thing to get you going in the morning. If you’re like me and can’t eat it by itself, throw some berries in there. If you don’t want to take my word for it, check out the article on great foods :
If you have time for drinking ater, you have time for consuming an mrp.
Simply mix up a bottle of mrp and water and drink it throughout the day.
John Berardi descibes how he used to mix up a big bottle of whey and water and drink it continously inbetween meals.
He would snack on rasinbuns inbetween meals to.
[quote]jjl51 wrote:
Tags makes a very good point about the breakfast. I would suggest eating some oatmeal in the morning. High in simple carbs and a great thing to get you going in the morning. If you’re like me and can’t eat it by itself, throw some berries in there. If you don’t want to take my word for it, check out the article on great foods :
Snickers are okay if you need to pack on the weight, but i would definitely recommend adding in some protein - ham/tuna/egg salad sandwiches all being the best options. my personal favourite for ‘bulking’ sandwiches is a mix of full-fat mayo, avocado and ground up ham flakes.
Like i said guys when i eat my snickers bars, its not an actual “break,” i eat them while i work, but i might be able to mix up a big water bottle with an MRP in there and sip it throughout the the day. Because i’m inside most of the time, so i could just sit it down go work a lil and come back to it, then maybe refill it at lunch and do the same in the afternoon. And i’m tryin to work up to eating more at breakfast. And as of right now i really dont think eating alot of starches or fats will hurt me, maybe later on but it has never been a problem for me. So i can eat pretty much anything i want as long as i get enough calories and protein.
Yea having that kind of schedule sucks. What i’m planning to do when school starts is to get a thermos and fill it up with a liquid mrp.
im not sure if its healthy but I use
1 cup 2% milk, sometimes regular
good scoop of cottage cheese (lowfat or reg)
1 tablespoon nat. peanut butter
a few tablespoons of nonfat dry milk
maybe half cup raw oatmeal.
1 scoop choc, or vanilla whey
then blend it for a little then add.
1 banana
a few cut up strawberries.
thats good like that it its a good amount of calories and tons of protein from the cottage cheese, milk, whey, PB and dry milk.
right now im trying to bulk and im pretty light so i add a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt. it tastes great, even without the ice cream.
