Having always been skinny, I am making a serious commitment to bulking up. This is not the first time that I have tried.
Does anyone know of any tests that I can get done to find out if I am digesting food properly, because i’m not getting anywhere with weight gain, and I seem to be getting into the toilet too soon after dinner… and i’ve got the worst farts in the world
[quote]stokkers wrote:
Having always been skinny, I am making a serious commitment to bulking up. This is not the first time that I have tried.
Does anyone know of any tests that I can get done to find out if I am digesting food properly, because i’m not getting anywhere with weight gain, and I seem to be getting into the toilet too soon after dinner… and i’ve got the worst farts in the world[/quote]
Going to the toilet soon after eating itself is not that much of an issue - in general what’s coming out should be from the PREVIOUS meals. An easy way of checking your gut transit time (which should be, as far as I remember, 12-24h) is to take 5g of charcoal tablets on an empty stomach and look for when they come out. See here: You Are What You Absorb for more details.
If you’re bulking you WILL be going to a lot more often, so that in itself is nothing to worry about.
You mention that you’re not getting anywhere with weight gain. How long has it been? How much are you eating?
B.
[quote]stokkers wrote:
and i’ve got the worst farts in the world[/quote]
Also could be WHAT you’re eating that makes you fart.
Sorry I should have given all of this info. I weigh 82kg, and I have been on it for 2 months, and have only put on about 2kg. I started out with ~4000 calories a day, and have been trying to progressively increase the daily amounts. The diet below includes the values that I started out on - i’m actually taking in a little bit more now
7am
6 egg omlette and 40g cheese
40g porridge with 200ml full fat milk
10am
weight gain shake (30g protein, 60g grounded porridge oats) 500ml full fat milk
as much peanut butter as I can handle
1pm (depends on what is being served at lunch)
200g chicken
100g brown rice
loads of veggies
fruit
4pm
1 tin tuna and mayo
4 slices brown bread
lots peanut butter
6pm - training
BCAA’s
7pm - post training
40g whey
60g dextrose
10g creatine
8.30pm
300g mince
300g sweet potato
veggies
Cheers for the advice so far, i’ll check out the charcoal thing
Use a digestive enzyme, been great for me.
I use NOW super enzymes. Cheap and works.
[quote]BiP wrote:
Going to the toilet soon after eating itself is not that much of an issue - in general what’s coming out should be from the PREVIOUS meals. An easy way of checking your gut transit time (which should be, as far as I remember, 12-24h) is to take 5g of charcoal tablets on an empty stomach and look for when they come out. See here: You Are What You Absorb for more details.
[/quote]
A marker is the first step. The charcoal works, but so does corn. Eat corm w/mid-day meal, should see it the following morning. repeat daily.
Lactose intolerance?
I normally find things are worst after eating mince
[quote]BlueCollarTr8n wrote:
[quote]BiP wrote:
Going to the toilet soon after eating itself is not that much of an issue - in general what’s coming out should be from the PREVIOUS meals. An easy way of checking your gut transit time (which should be, as far as I remember, 12-24h) is to take 5g of charcoal tablets on an empty stomach and look for when they come out. See here: You Are What You Absorb for more details.
[/quote]
A marker is the first step. The charcoal works, but so does corn. Eat corm w/mid-day meal, should see it the following morning. repeat daily. [/quote]
Corn! Oh yes. Playing the shell game.
To me digestive enzymes are like band-aids, if your body isn’t making enough there is probably an underlying issue. Probiotics on the other hand you need to take every few months because the food most people choose to eat is garbage. (not to mention that the average adult has received several courses of anti-biotics in there life time)
Also, your not eating enough food to really have a problem you just need to stick it out until your body gets use to eating that amount of food. If you normally eat 2500 calories then jump straight to 4000 you will temporarily stress your digestive system but it will pass.
A lack of digesting food could be from a couple causes. Your body isn’t making enough digestive enzymes, your stomach isn’t getting acidic enough, food intolerances, etc. I use a couple different labs when ordering stool tests Metametrix has a GIFX test, and diagnos-techs also has a good stool test.
They test for digestion, absorption, h. pylori, fungus, blood in stool, probiotics, etc. Your GI tract is like an ecosystem… it has to be in proper balance for things to thrive (including you). The Metametrix test is more expensive, but in my opinion is worth it. Yes, when the results come in you will probably be put on digestive enzymes and probiotics, but it can also point you in more specific directions as to what YOU need for YOUR body.
On a side-note, I rarely see a negative test for what I call “critters”, even in industrialized countries like the U.S. …and when I say rarely I mean 1 out of 75ish. Everybody has something wrong with them, they just haven’t run enough tests to find out what. If you have an overgrowth of opportunistic bacteria, parasites or yeast, or you eat foods you shouldn’t… your immune system will be ramped up which will spike your cortisol, which thins the lining of the gut, is catabolic, and so on and so forth.
Kind of long I know, but it really is a complex system. Hope it helps.
Thanks for all of the advice guys