Okay, so I am starting out and I am tremendously small. I have started taking some needed medicine which is making me lose much-needed weight. I am only 5’8", 135-140 pounds and have lost 10 pounds over the last 1-2 months.
Do any of you have any recommendations for increasing caloric intake for someone who’s appetite only allows him to consume about 1500 calories a day as is? I looked on this website for a weight gainer, but the most calories I could find was 300 per serving. I was thinking about including more fats since they are chocked full of calories but don’t know which ones to stay clear from.
Sorry it’s too late to give any good recommendations other than a good weight gainer that I have been using lately. Here it is…
2 scoops of Low-Carb vanilla Grow!
10 tablespoons of heavy cream
2 table spoons of olive oil
6 ounces of water
This shake is about 1000 kcal and is very good tasting. If you drink it in the morning or early afternoon add a tablespoon of instant coffee and you will be in heaven. Very good tasting high quality calories. Good luck.
Food is nice for gaining weight…
I have a light appetite too, but you’re kinda gonna have to suck it up and make yourself eight five or six times a day on this one. I started eating like that, and I’ve put on a good six solid pounds in about the last three and a half weeks. Lots and lots of protein, with every meal. And you can have lots of carbs and protein in one meal and a little fat, then have lots of protein and lots of fat in another meal with very little carbs in that meal.
Also, remember to drink a protein shake before bedtime Grow! is good because of the Micellar Casein (sp?) in it, which breaks down in your system slowly, so it’ll continue to ‘feed’ your body throughout the night, because remember, whether you’re sleeping or not, it’s still a period of time when you’re missing a chance to eat.
You were talking about weight gainers… too bad, I don’t even know if Biotest makes any high calorie weight gainers… somebody should make a suggestion to the people in charge with that stuff, but I use ‘Serious Mass’ by Optimum Nutrition (The vanilla flavor, the chocolate flavor tastes like shite) I don’t take the whole dose every time, though, I mix about half the dose with extra protein and a small dose of creatine before my workouts, and sometimes in the mornings with breakfast. Good luck with your gaining
It sounds as if you need to talk to your doctor about this if the meds are worsening your problem. PLEASE TALK TO HIM OR HER BEFORE YOU APPLY ANY OF THIS INFORMATION. I am not a medical practitioner and work only with healthy subjects that have been cleared to do so by their doctor.
I have never had your problem myself, but many of the athletes I train are trying to gain mass fast for football, moving up a class in wrestling, etc. The biggest thing I have to get most of them to overcome is the fact that they have a little bit of knowledge in this area and most of it is directed toward the average trainee.
Ectomorphs have to first realize that their needs are unique. All of the well intentioned info concerning this diet or that tend to cloud the issue. The following are some guidelines and recommendations I always require my skinny guys to abide by. General principles:
Any recommendations to limit carbs make no sense in that carbs have a stimulatory effect on the appetite and this is what you need. To the post that suggested a weight gainer recipe, it stands to reason that Classic Grow! should be substituted.
You need calories! There is no way on earth that you will gain on 1500 calories per day. You must learn how to eat more.
Unless you have some underlying CV problems, don’t worry too much about the source of fats in your diet while you are gaining. Calories are calories at this point.
Forget any notion of training to be healthy. Bulgarian weightlifting legend Ivan Abadjiev made the statement, “We do not train to be healthy, we train to be strong!” The point is to let your goals dictate your efforts. Dump the cardio.
Recommendations:
Frequent small meals are the current dietary fad, but the old schoolers did fine on three squares. Not everybody can completely change their daily habits. Most of us eat the way our mothers fed us as children. Try to eat at least 5 or 6 times a day if you can, but don’t go crazy if you can’t.
Learn to eat more by consuming a more dense diet. Most people think they eat a lot more than they do. A typical fast food meal is a great example. Burger, fries, and a soft drink. Maybe an apple pie for desert. How can you improve this for gaining? Look at the majority of the sources by VOLUME. Maybe most of the calories come from the meat and fries, but a large protion of the volume of this meal comes in the form of lettuce, tomato, onions, bread and soda. Also, fries supply calories but zero protein. These take up valuable space in your stomach that could be used for more protein and nutrient dense foods. Try this next time: order two bacon cheese-burgers (no garden) and small fries. Throw away the bread from one of the burgers and make one giant burger out of the rest of it. The small fries could be replaced as well, but what is a burger without some fries? Instead of soda, have a milkshake and throw in a pie at the end. You have increased your calories many times more than your volume and added more protein and nutrients in the process. Find other ways to do this and you will be amazed at how many calories you can eat in a day. Make this a process and you can slowly learn to eat more at each sitting.
Train the basics. Big movements, progressive volume, lots of rest, and no cardio. Remember, you have almost zero potential to get fat because your metabolism is so fast. All of this may seem contradictory to some of the advice you have received, but do what works- not what is popular.
Make the commitment and you can do this. I am currently training a boxer who started out at 5’10" and 145. He can’t replace his cardio due to the demands of his sport, but has still managed to get his weight up to around 160 in the last year and a half. Not bad for a really thin guy. He is now fighting guys with whom he can match hand speed and distance. All we did was replace his mileage with intervals, taught him how to eat, and started employing my own variations of GVT, Westside, etc.
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
Okay, so I am starting out and I am tremendously small. I have started taking some needed medicine which is making me lose much-needed weight.[/quote]
The meds thing kind of throws a monkey wrench in the whole machine. It is impossible to give you healthy, sound advice it you don’t post what meds you are on.
However, assuming you can ingest dairy products - Milk. Milk. Milk. Whole milk - none of that skim crap, or 2%. Drink at least a gallon of whole milk every day. Milk is God’s own weight gainer.
join the club of skinny bastards, I am one myself 6"3 and 180 lbs. I don’t seek to gain weight, but being a competeive fighter you gotta train all the time and not just weights, and it revs up your metbolism like you wouldn’t belive, so I have had to take steps to increase my caloric intake to prevent my body from falling apart.
What worked for me is alot of little changes. Drink homo milk insead of 1% or 2%. Add a protien drink to you diet, and mix it with milk, instead of water, and add a small meal extra to your day, like a small sandwich or salad, or better yet pasta or rice. What I like to do is boil up a pot of pasta and put it in some tupperware in the firdge so if I need some extra food, just put some ina bowl microwave it for a minute or two and add some sauce, and you can tak on 200+ extra calories a day. For me little changes worked the best
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
Okay, so I am starting out and I am tremendously small. I have started taking some needed medicine which is making me lose much-needed weight. I am only 5’8", 135-140 pounds and have lost 10 pounds over the last 1-2 months.
Do any of you have any recommendations for increasing caloric intake for someone who’s appetite only allows him to consume about 1500 calories a day as is? I looked on this website for a weight gainer, but the most calories I could find was 300 per serving. I was thinking about including more fats since they are chocked full of calories but don’t know which ones to stay clear from.
Any help would be appreciated…
Meatwad[/quote]
Why does your appetite only allow you to consume 1500 calories? Does your medicine make you want to vomit if you eat more? Does the medicine actually promote weight loss, or is it affecting your appetite so you can’t eat your required calories?
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
Okay, so I am starting out and I am tremendously small. I have started taking some needed medicine which is making me lose much-needed weight. I am only 5’8", 135-140 pounds and have lost 10 pounds over the last 1-2 months.
Do any of you have any recommendations for increasing caloric intake for someone who’s appetite only allows him to consume about 1500 calories a day as is? I looked on this website for a weight gainer, but the most calories I could find was 300 per serving. I was thinking about including more fats since they are chocked full of calories but don’t know which ones to stay clear from.
Any help would be appreciated…
Meatwad[/quote]
It is not possible that you can only consume 1500 k/cals a day meds or no. It is more of a choices and volume thing. If you simply ate 2 1/2 cups of walnuts in a day there is 2000 K/cals. Bam A clear 500 over what you have as a set limit. Your body will not simply no let you eat more when a certain k/cal 3 is reached. Or there would be no BIG people, either muscle or our national Fat epidemic. You simply need to aim for dense foods and build on the ability to slowly eat more.
This means more calorie dense everything. Veggies, fruits, that are more dense. meats including fish of fatter variety. Cheeses, Fatty, nuts.
After you nail the k/cals with the denser food then work on adding in more of the fiber and stuff you need. In no time you will be an eating machine.
The medicine is for Attention Defecit Disorder. Its called Strattera, and it works charms, I’m doing better in school than I can ever remember.
And whoever said it earlier, I have tried to stuff myself, but just ended up having to go visit my cousin ralf if you know what I mean.
I have adequate lower body strength. I saw this formula calculator based on an old greek systen (to be taken with a grain of salt), and everything below the waist was fine. It said my forearms needed to gain an inch, my arms 2 inches, and chest 4 inches. Not to mention I can feel my weakness, and would like to be more on par with the rest of people in physical capabilities.
I have a good friend who’s been taking aderall(SP?) for ADD and he suffers from the same loss of appetite. He’s a twig and probably only weighs 130-140 at 6’0. I’m not saying to not take your medication, but it’s like speed, so it’s not something one would want to take while trying to gain weight.
I’m not a doctor or anything, but try to only take your medication when necessary (ie: schoolwork). Other than that, I’d say talk to your doctor and see what he says. It’s definitely a common problem associated with this type of medication.
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
The medicine is for Attention Defecit Disorder. Its called Strattera, and it works charms, I’m doing better in school than I can ever remember.
And whoever said it earlier, I have tried to stuff myself, but just ended up having to go visit my cousin ralf if you know what I mean.
I have adequate lower body strength. I saw this formula calculator based on an old greek systen (to be taken with a grain of salt), and everything below the waist was fine. It said my forearms needed to gain an inch, my arms 2 inches, and chest 4 inches. Not to mention I can feel my weakness, and would like to be more on par with the rest of people in physical capabilities.
Meatwad[/quote]
If you mean “the golden proportion”, this was orignally conceived by the ancient Egyptians and then built on by the Greeks…like so many other aspects of culture. It is more than just “a grain of salt” as entire concepts of beauty are based on it. You also need to realize that while it may claim you only need to gain a few inches to reach that porportion, you can still be one skinny son of a bitch.
Strattera has a low occurance of appetite suppression, and even that is supposed to be adjusted to within the first month of use. Blaming it for your lack of appetite doesn’t quite make much sense. It is NOT a stimulant. That is actually one of its selling points.
Claiming to stuff yourself and then throw up simply makes you sound like you don’t want this bad enough. 1,500cals a day max…and you have accepted this as all you can ever take in for a day? Expect to be stuck in rut for many years to come.
Many of us have had to deal with “stuffing ourselves” and forcing our bodies to adjust to a greater food intake. You either deal with that and make progress…or wimp out and fail at this. It seems you have made your choice.
I must once again insist that you talk to your doctor about this and do not under any circumstances alter your medications without his/her expressed direction.
Two points here:
If you stuffed yourself once and puked, you missed the point. It isn’t how many cals you take in one time. It’s how many you take in over the course of the day, week, month, and year. This is a process. Remember my boxer? 15 pounds in 18 months. Less than one pound per month, but his physique is now radically different. Patience.
It is paramount that goals be coupled with priorities. The fact that you are doing much better in school is so much more important than gaining muscle- I know, I know- a very shocking statement for one of these boards. Just remember that a buff body is nothing compared to a buff mind. Athletes influences lives, but thinkers change the world. How many people care that Wherner Von Braun could bench his bodyweight 10 times at 200+ pounds? All anybody remembers is that he built the rockets that sent men to the moon. Mind power. The thing about the bench is true BTW. My great aunt’s sister was his secretary when he lived and worked in Huntsville, AL.
When I graduated from highschool I weighted 140 lbs at 6 ft 4 1/4 inches tall. I am now at 220 lbs.
You have to eat. I drank about one gal of milk everyday and ate seconds at every meal. I also ate lots of eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, beef, sweet potatoes, beans, etc… I ate even if I did not feel like it. I also drank a big glass of water with everytime I ate.
I worked out doing three working sets to near failure for every exercise. I would finish each exercise with a 10 second static hold. I would increase the weight a small amount every week. (When you can not progress any more drop the working weight by 10% and progress from there.)
I tried to get as much sleep as I could.
I gained about one lb a week and at one point was up to 234Lbs.
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
The medicine is for Attention Defecit Disorder. Its called Strattera, and it works charms, I’m doing better in school than I can ever remember.
And whoever said it earlier, I have tried to stuff myself, but just ended up having to go visit my cousin ralf if you know what I mean.[/quote]
Then why not try to adjust your caloric intake more gradually? OK, so let’s say you are eating 1,500 calories a day (which is obviously not going to get you any bigger). How many meals is that spread over? Again, I echo the sentiments of the other posters in that more frequent meals make it easier to eat more. Also, no one is saying that you should go from 1,500 calories one day and then 4,500 the next. Try adding a few hundred calories to each meal, whether it be through whole milk (as rainjack suggested) or anything else.
But if you don’t accept the fact that you just have to want it, it ain’t ever gonna happen.
I agree with most of what titanium350 said except for this part.
[quote]titanium350 wrote:
3. … Remember, you have almost zero potential to get fat because your metabolism is so fast.[/quote]
I’m not sure this is true. His appetite is jacked up because of Strattera, and if I remember correctly, that’s a non-stimulant medication. Nausea, vomiting, and poor appetite are common side effects of Strattera, but most of the people who are on the medication for over a year end up gaining back any lost weight, as well as gaining weight normally. It may just be a while before he adjusts to the new meds.
Also, how old are you, Meatwad8? Not to be too ageist, but ADHD is mostly diagnosed and treated in younger people.
You can wait it out, you’re going to put on weight naturally anyway. Drinking cream, oil, and protein shakes will work, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t address the underlying issue of not having enough appetite.
If you’re really having trouble, you should see if there are any diet and exercise combinations that will help the ADHD. I’ve found that cleaning up my diet (especially adding in more fish and fish oil for EFAs), getting out in the sun every day, and making sure that I get regular exercise does wonders for mine. Talk to your doctor about it. If he’s resistant, start doing it anyway, it’s not going to hurt you.
[quote]Meatwad8 wrote:
Do any of you have any recommendations for increasing caloric intake for someone who’s appetite only allows him to consume about 1500 calories a day as is? [/quote]
Well, the 300 calorie shake you looked at is at least 300 more than you are getting now, right? Then get creative with it; for example add natural peanut butter if you aren’t allergic. I use it in or on all sort of things (like on French Toast and such; EVERY breakfast I have includes natty pb). And as mentioned, use whole milk for the shake. Adding calories really isn’t that difficult, it just take discipline.
Eat lots of fruit.
You need to read the articles here, not just the supp info. Go to the Authors section on your right and read everything by Berardi. You might also take a look at his book, Scrawny to Brawny. The S-to-B website also has a .pdf with an example of what you can eat to get to like 4k calories (I believe that’s how many the lifting day was).
What’s wrong with your appetite? Just gradually increase calories like Kuz said. Your body will adjust. When I did my first bulk, it was a job to force myself to eat all I needed to, but my body got used to it. Soon I was hungry for all the food I needed to gain muscle and more beyond that point.
