For Those Who Can't Gain Weight

Training Bodybuilding
121

[quote]oneils wrote:
I can’t say that I have much experience bulking but I am trying to increase my caloric intake and have found that consumption of olive oil, natural peanut butter, and milk are easy ways to increase your caloric intake.

Olive oil, and natural peanut butter have been mentioned. Those are great for adding calories to the diet. 4 tablespoons of each over the day will add a total of about 800 calories to anyone’s diet.

A quart of 2% milk will add around 400 calories - a half gallon would give you 800. If you are lactose intolerant, buy the lactaid version.

[/quote]
I use the peanut butter on shakes, Milk already taking 1/2 gallon. I will start adding the olive.: I will Grow!

122

[quote]Professor X wrote:
juanjromero wrote:

The point being, there are those of us with faster metabolisms who need a hell of a lot more than 2,000 cals a day to make progress and if it helps me to eat out in order to accomplish my goal without making this pure hell, then so be it.[/quote]

Yes, I have a hell, carrying two bags of food to my work (morning/evening). And sneaking from meetings just to eat.
I has been very conservative about my metabolism, may be the 38 previous years are hard to forget. I have to clear my mind and think I can handle 5,000kcal, with the real wold fluctuations I will increase my caloric intake enough to grow more.

123

[quote]rainjack wrote:
bostonbigticket wrote:

The discussion was about whether or not BK is an ethical business. It isnt by any reasonable judgement but compared to most major corporations it is far from the worst.

No - the discussion was about doing what you need to do to put on mass. The ethics of BK was a misplaced opinion - as has been stated several times.

The fact that you have added large amounts of mass doesnt not necessarily make you an expert on mass gaining “it does not follow” thats like saying Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player thus he must be the most knowledgable person on basketball.

If I want to know about basketball, and have the opportunity to pick MJ’s brain, I would be a fucking idiot to turn that down. But who said I was an expert. I know what works if one needs to put on mass. If that makes me an expert - by all means - do some more reading.

Also you dont know my background or my weight but the argument was intially about the health issues involved with eating moderate amounts of fast food, not the efficacy of the plan.

No - the argument was about putting on mass. You were the one who made the head-in-your-ass assumption about the health issues.

Eithe join the topic of the thread, or start another one. You have dragged this one far enough off topic as it is. [/quote]

My point is doing an activity doesnt necessarily make you an expert on it. Driving a car doesnt make you an expert on internal combustion, theoretically someone who has never driven a car before could know a hell of alot about its operation.

Jehovah made an off the cuff comment about ethics and because you were on yoru period and or trying to be an internet tough guy you made a big f-ing deal about it. Relax! With all the cheeseburgers stress and quick nutting your gonna have a stroke or something.

Also the nutritional aspect was part of the discussion. While I do agree moderate amounts of fast food can help put on short term weight gains, over time it will hinder performance in lifts and stunt growth.

Maybe we need to define moderate in this context but I would say moderate means 4-5 times a week thats unhealthy ask any doctor.

124

[quote]bostonbigticket wrote:

Maybe we need to define moderate in this context but I would say moderate means 4-5 times a week thats unhealthy ask any doctor.[/quote]

I am a doctor and what you just wrote is bullshit. The bodybuilder who is eating 6 times a day would end up eating 42 meals in one week. If only 4-5 meals of that 42 end up being random fast food (which is itself too general a term because it isn’t like beef and bread itself is bad for you) then the bodybuilder is doing a FUCKING GREAT job.

I am also betting that those of you who act like food nazis and pretend you are so strict that any “fast food” will kill you aren’t developed enough to justify this mentality.

125

[quote]Professor X wrote:
jstreet0204 wrote:
I love fast food burgers. Especially hardies thick burgers, but they are not needed as a staple to gain mass.

A tripple whopper with no cheese is 1130 calories
67g of protein
74g of fat
51g of carbs
1160 mg of sodium

If you made a meal at home using 2 cups of cooked rice and 3/4 lbs of 90% lean ground beef.
1008 calories
77g of protein
34g of fat
89g of carbs
227 mg of sodium

So to me the only benefit is the convenience, because that meal cooked at home is cheaper, less sodium, less fat, and less saturated fat.

Convenience is the issue. I don’t know about you, but the bigger guys getting in over 6,000 cals a day would be spending all day in a kitchen if they honestly had to cook all of it when gaining. Even when cooking ahead of time, it is still difficult for me to get the calories in without eating out at all when my goal is weight gain.

This is a concept that seems foreign to those who don’t really need that much food.[/quote]

Do you ever eat MREs? Those have a ton of calories.

126

Rain Jack says…
“6. Take the number you wrote down, and eat that many grams of protein every damn day. I don’t care of they come from pig snouts, chicken lips, or the BK lounge. Just get your protein…”

Umm yea sounds like a terrific idea…

Make your own burgers go light on the cheese, eat steak chicken and fish. Copious of saturated fat and salt will kill you before you get big.

Weight gain shake I been drinkign a couple of times a week.
Milk
Whey Protein
Banna
Peanut Butter
One egg
Tons of protein, some vitamins and sugars, good fats, cholesterol lots of amino acids and calorie dense.

127

As everyone’s saying Juan, it’s real, real simple. Don’t overcomplicate this.

The idea is, that no matter what, if you really want to get those calories in, you can’t run around with food horror, afraid of getting fat, or listen to idiots who don’t know a fucking thing about Bio-Chemistry. No one’s suggesting that you eat triple whoppers 6 times a day, but as part of a mass plan, you’re damn right I’d down one of those bad boys, preferably after lifting as the next meal beyond my PWO shake.

Thing is, if you’re doing everything else right (getting plenty of healthy fats, taking a fish oil supp, and training like it’s your last day on earth) you aren’t going to get appreciably fat. Yes, you MUST accept a certain amount of fat gain - emphasis on MUST - but you can gain plenty of mass and still keep bodyfat in check. Don’t overdo cardio - it should be limited during mass phases, but it still has it’s place - and pick a solid mass gaining program - do it consistently, be patient, and what you want will come to you - I promise. If not we’ll send you to the Mayo Clinic to be studied, because you have some unique physiology that no one else on earth shares. ; )

Notice that everything I’m saying has been posted already - that’s because there is no secret to this. People always think there is and that’s when all the overcomplicating comes in - what program should I do? Do I cycle my carbs? Do I dare eat a whopper, or a huge burrito from the mexican place? The idea is to just do it - lift big, eat big, rest big and grow. Make shakes, put in several spoons of natty peanut butter - cook in olive oil, peanut oil - eat lots of eggs - including the yolks…and don’t live in fear of the whopper, just do it, and do it consistently over time.

Consistency + maximal effort + the nutrition, over time = success.

128

Here is my typical diet before I reduced my intake.

Meal 1 = 1047

Eggs = 390 = 33g protein
Blueberries = 84
Oats = 300 = 13g
Banana = 105
Apple = 72
Orange = 37
Flax = 59= 3g

Meal 2 = 1179

Meat = 550 = 50g
Broccoli or cruciferous = 30
Oats = 300 = 13g
Milk = 160 = 10g
Flax = 59 = 3g
Fish Oil = 80 =3g

Meal 3 = 476 (Snack)

Protien Powder = 100 = 16g
Cottage Cheese = 216 = 20g
Milk = 160 = 10g

Meal 4 = 1399

Meat = 550 = 50g
Spinach or leaves = 10
Walnuts = 350 = 9g
Pumpkin Seeds = 350 = 16g
Flax = 59 = 3g
Fish Oil = 80 = 3g

Meal 5 = 1110

Salmon = 380 = 40g
Walnuts = 350 = 9g
Almonds = 260 = 10g
Coconut oil = 120

Meal 6 = 546

Cottage Cheese = 216 = 20g
Peanut Butter = 250 = 7g
Fish Oil = 80 = 3g

Gym Meal = Eggs, Milk, Bananas, Raisins,2 whey=1010=75g

TOTAL = 5757 GYM TOTAL = 6767 = 344g and 419g respectively.

I’m trying around 4000 a day now to see how it works for me.

129

[quote]Short Hoss wrote:

I know of no one who can get in 4500 calories clean. Do you realize how much food that is?[/quote]

I think that’s what it pretty much comes down to. Shakes help at least.

As far as I could tell, the point of this thread was to give quick and easy fixes to the ridiculous people that “just can’t gain weight.” It’s a guaranteed solution for people who don’t eat enough, not the bulking Bible.

Nobody is trying to say fast food is optimal or overall healthy, more that there are some very viable menu options if someone is having trouble getting their calories in without it.

I skipped a bit of this, but that’s what I took away from it :-/

130

[quote]PRCalDude wrote:
Professor X wrote:
jstreet0204 wrote:
I love fast food burgers. Especially hardies thick burgers, but they are not needed as a staple to gain mass.

A tripple whopper with no cheese is 1130 calories
67g of protein
74g of fat
51g of carbs
1160 mg of sodium

If you made a meal at home using 2 cups of cooked rice and 3/4 lbs of 90% lean ground beef.
1008 calories
77g of protein
34g of fat
89g of carbs
227 mg of sodium

So to me the only benefit is the convenience, because that meal cooked at home is cheaper, less sodium, less fat, and less saturated fat.

Convenience is the issue. I don’t know about you, but the bigger guys getting in over 6,000 cals a day would be spending all day in a kitchen if they honestly had to cook all of it when gaining. Even when cooking ahead of time, it is still difficult for me to get the calories in without eating out at all when my goal is weight gain.

This is a concept that seems foreign to those who don’t really need that much food.

Do you ever eat MREs? Those have a ton of calories. [/quote]

They also make you constipated. You could get fat as hell eating nothing but MRE’s.

No, I personally haven’t had one since I was in South America.

131

[quote]Professor X wrote:
PRCalDude wrote:
Professor X wrote:
jstreet0204 wrote:
I love fast food burgers. Especially hardies thick burgers, but they are not needed as a staple to gain mass.

A tripple whopper with no cheese is 1130 calories
67g of protein
74g of fat
51g of carbs
1160 mg of sodium

If you made a meal at home using 2 cups of cooked rice and 3/4 lbs of 90% lean ground beef.
1008 calories
77g of protein
34g of fat
89g of carbs
227 mg of sodium

So to me the only benefit is the convenience, because that meal cooked at home is cheaper, less sodium, less fat, and less saturated fat.

Convenience is the issue. I don’t know about you, but the bigger guys getting in over 6,000 cals a day would be spending all day in a kitchen if they honestly had to cook all of it when gaining. Even when cooking ahead of time, it is still difficult for me to get the calories in without eating out at all when my goal is weight gain.

This is a concept that seems foreign to those who don’t really need that much food.

Do you ever eat MREs? Those have a ton of calories.

They also make you constipated. You could get fat as hell eating nothing but MRE’s.

No, I personally haven’t had one since I was in South America.[/quote]

Yeah, I always thought they should include fiber tabs. But for somebody who “can’t gain weight” there’s 4000 calories in one fell swoop.

132

I was surprised to read how much a wankfest this thread has turned into.

My advice to those who can’t gain weight is that go ahead and make the mistakes you make, you have to learn on your OWN that simplifying your weightlifting life will truly bring you results.

No 145 lb kid needs Tribulus or even BETA-7. Seriously, you won’t believe me now but some day you’ll start gaining weight like mad, and it will all be thanks to:

-Lots of good food (more than you’re comfortable with)
-Whey protein
-Carbs to add to that whey after a workout
-Fish oils and a multivitamin for your health
-A weight program that YOU like and you don’t ditch after 4 weeks.

And finally, you’ll gain weight when you ACCEPT that it’s slow and painful process, but worth it. Once you accept 1 lb/week as progress, you’ll be happy with gaining 10 lbs in 10 weeks.

133

More advice for the “hard gainers”; Avoid foods that create a feeling of fullness, in other words, any food they recommend for fat people trying to lose weight.

This can be an individual thing. When I first stopped eating breakfast cereal and switched to oatmeal, it used to bloat me up pretty bad. 500 calories worth of oatmeal made me feel as full as 1100 calories of Raisin Bran. I was in college and trying to gain weight at the time, and this was definately a step in the wrong direction. Most people are ok with oatmeal, but never mind them, listen to your stomach.

134

[quote]Short Hoss wrote:
nichaaron wrote:
Artem wrote:
I’ve been having trouble getting past even 150lbs. My lifts were all going up and I’m looking better and better, but I could not figure out why I could not gain weight AND lose that bit of belly fat covering the abs.

I finally counted my calories very recently and I have been eating about 1100 a day.
I’m going to start doing just what you said and eating a shit ton and see what happens.

This will be easy. I don’t even have any abs to kiss goodbye, despite working out for 1-2 hours every day and eating an extremely clean apparently 1100 calories a day.

see case in point
1100 calories and I personally drop weight like a crack head

up the intake if you start gaining fat then work harder or lower the intake slightly

That’s another thing.

If you can more fat than you wanted, up the intensity and exercise MORE.

That’s right. Cardio.
[/quote]

Thank YOU

135

This thread is great (minus all the stupid BS). It helps a lot to hear it coming from big guys who have personally done it and have the results to show for it.

I started out very small (5’10", 140lbs) and it took me a long time to start eating enough to really put on any size because I was always too worried about getting fat. I’m at 185lbs now around 10% bf and would like to get up to over 200 lean (I have a smaller frame), which means I probably need to get up to like 220 before dieting down.

I have been doing a lot of reading all over this site, threads and articles and been considering carb cycling and all the other stuff. But it seems every person who has really done it just fucking ate, the idea of trying to perfectly carb cycle and eat exact amounts of carb, protein, fat at each meal seems like it would get very very irritating very fast.

Best way to stick to it? Keep it simple.

Also I find the tips about mixing in heavy cream and stuff with protein shakes to be very helpful for high calorie protein/fat meal supplementing. Thanks to all the big guys!

136

[quote]acelement wrote:
I was surprised to read how much a wankfest this thread has turned into.

My advice to those who can’t gain weight is that go ahead and make the mistakes you make, you have to learn on your OWN that simplifying your weightlifting life will truly bring you results.

No 145 lb kid needs Tribulus or even BETA-7. Seriously, you won’t believe me now but some day you’ll start gaining weight like mad, and it will all be thanks to:

-Lots of good food (more than you’re comfortable with)
-Whey protein
-Carbs to add to that whey after a workout
-Fish oils and a multivitamin for your health
-A weight program that YOU like and you don’t ditch after 4 weeks.

And finally, you’ll gain weight when you ACCEPT that it’s slow and painful process, but worth it. Once you accept 1 lb/week as progress, you’ll be happy with gaining 10 lbs in 10 weeks.[/quote]

AMEN!

137

[quote]bostonbigticket wrote:
Rain Jack says…
“6. Take the number you wrote down, and eat that many grams of protein every damn day. I don’t care of they come from pig snouts, chicken lips, or the BK lounge. Just get your protein…”

Umm yea sounds like a terrific idea…

Make your own burgers go light on the cheese, eat steak chicken and fish. Copious of saturated fat and salt will kill you before you get big.

Weight gain shake I been drinkign a couple of times a week.
Milk
Whey Protein
Banna
Peanut Butter
One egg
Tons of protein, some vitamins and sugars, good fats, cholesterol lots of amino acids and calorie dense.[/quote]

What a fucking douche bag.

138

[quote]juanjromero wrote:
JoeG254 wrote:
I’m ignoring all the political BS right now. What I think could also really help with weight gain is natural peanut butter. I finished a 4,300 calorie jar in 3 days in addition to the rest of the food I eat through the day without even realizing it.

How are your love handles doing?[/quote]

They’re quite happy, thank you =P

139

I’m really confused why this thread exploded into 6 pages of nonsensical banter lol.

Here’s an old quote I came across for the 50th time a few minutes ago… worth reading in this discussion I guess.

"I personally am an overkill guy—I would much rather maybe take in too much protein and excrete the excess than worry about taking in inadequate amounts of protein and losing out on muscle mass I would of gained and wasting these workouts (that Im killing myself with)—I’d rather use cardio and low/trace carbs after 6pm to keep my bodyfat levels in check than be safe and take in 2500 calories and worry about half filled glycogen stores or worse yet catabolism of muscle. My mindset is to turn someone into a machine–heavy weights, high protein, filled glycogen stores, use the treadmill to solve the excess–it sure as hell isnt easy but its the fastest way Ive found to get someone from point A to point B.

And if you think a 6 foot 170lb man with average genetics can turn himself into a 6 foot 300lb superheavyweight bodybuilder on 2500 calories a day, and 200 grams of protein a day your sadly misinformed. You can look at world class powerlifters in the lower (under 200lb)classes. They are lifting shit heavy, many are using boatloads of drugs, why the hell arent they getting dramatically bigger if thats all thats needed? Food thats why. Now you put a superheavy 360lb powerlifter on the treadmill 6 times a week for 45-60 minutes a day and low trace carbs after 6pm and Ill show you a massive bodybuilder in about 3 months."

140

Just to be clear, please clarify what a “Low Trace Carb” is?

Do you mean things like nuts, cottage cheese, vegetables, etc. with minor carb counts?

Thanks