I Need 20 Lbs of Muscle!

Nutrition
1

I’m 20, 195 lbs and 6 foot 3. I’m not a shrimp haha, but I totally need to get some more muscle on me. I’ve been a pretty slow gainer only gaining 20lbs of muscle in 2 yrs. It’s not awfull but not great at all. I used to weigh 256 lbs of fat when I was younger and I think I took dieting to an extreme when I got down to 175.

But, since I’ve been at the point in which I felt disgusted with my body, I find it really hard to eat certain things. I don’t want any sloppy weight, just good clean and lean muslce. This is my most recent diet so if anyone has anything for me to adjust it’d be great, but I am in college so I’m not made of money haha.

meal 1: 6-8eggs, 1.5 cups raisin bran in cup of 2% milk, 2 peices whole wheat bread, banana, 1 scoop whey

workout

post workout: 2 scoops whey and creatine

meal 2: 8 oz chicken, baked potato, salad w/ olive oil vinager dressing

meal 3: 8 oz chicken or steak, same salad as before and sweet potato

meal 4: Tuna sandwich

meal 5: 1 scoop whey and a tblsp peanut butter

I don’t eat this absolutely everyday because I can’t really afford everything all at once sometimes, but for the most part, I eat this or something very similar. Any help would be great, thanks.

2

You kind of answered your own question. Get your finances and/or schedule in order so at the very least you’re sticking to this meal plan every day. Eat at least that much every single day and check the scale and your measurements to see if they’re going in the right direction.

3

diet looks ok, make sure you’re getting your veggies and consider upping the calories a little. You look light on carbs PWO. You’ve gotta massively load those in the meals after lifting and it doesn’t look like enough. I have a pretty similar diet to yours. Sometimes I blend a bunch of veggies with carrots and apples into a smoothie PWO and drink it throughout the day.

4

Fruit?

More vegetables?

Dump the raisin bran in favor of old fashion oatmeal.

I’d also use another, less insulogenic protein source before bed.

5

Add more fat and carbs to the diet. I wouldn’t be all that concerned either with EXACT measurements of food. Through trial and error you will find how much food you need.

6

Well, when I got down so low after being so heavy, I dieted pretty harshly for a while and thats how I got down to 175. I’m 195 now but still at like 18% bodyfat because my previous dieting was impossible to stay on so I have to lose some bodyfat but still gain weight in muscle. I’m just contemplating what would be best because my abs are hardly there now, I’m afraid of losing the little buggers for good haha.

7

It’s a lot easier to lose a few pounds of fat after you’ve gained 10+ lbs. of lean muscle.

8

Lower your eggs for the meal 1, thats crazy. You’re going to be spending a lot there where you could be using that extra chedda for your meat.

9

Go to Mexico for some Vitamin S if you really want fast vitamin enhanced muscle :slight_smile:

JUST KIDDING!

10

As mentioned, they problem is your diet and lack of consitency too it if your not eating this everyday.

Your worried about turning into a flabalanche again, i get that.

Here is how i would chage up that diet with money in mind.

meal 1: 3 whole eggs, 5 whites, 200g oatmeal in water with blueberrys or real fruit jam (no added sugar) 2 peices whole wheat bread,

workout

post workout: 2 scoops whey and creatine 100g maltodextrin (dirt cheap)

meal 2: 8 oz chicken, baked potato, salad w/ olive oil vinager dressing, 100g broccoli

meal 3: 2 scoops of a milk and egg protein, 4 g fish oil (fish oil expensive but where possible buy it - Flameout baby!)

meal 4: 8 oz chicken or steak, same salad as before and 200g mixed veg

meal 5: 2 scoops milk and egg protein and a tblsp peanut or sub for another 4g of fish oil.

So after your postworkout meal, we have reduced carbs to only from vegatables. If you find that you are not gaining fat, try adding carbs to the next meal and so on.
Also be sure to keep your red meat intake up.

This is now very similar too my diet, i have just gained back 6lbs of muscle in 2 weeks.
But i am struggling to stay lean due to a lack of full mobility in my legs following an accident.

Might also be worth mentioning, swap potatoes for brown rice every other day - rice is cheaper and high in leucine - a key amino for muscular development.

I wont delve to far into supplements with you as your are on a budget, but good quality supplys of the following are well worth investing in and are usually a reasonable price.

Fishoil - flammeout, expensive, but without a doubt the best on the market.

Vitamin B complex - one that incudes a good serving of each b vitamin especially 6 and 12.

Calcium - does as much for muscle strength as for bones

Chromium - not essential, but unbeatable for fatloss and organ health.

Obviously a good multi vitamin and mineral complex.

All the best

11

18% and planning another big mass gaining phase? I am a FFB and believe that this might be a mistake, if anything maybe take a cyclic approach with a clean small surplus mass gaining phases with a solid dieting plan, rotating them three weeks one, three weeks the other.

If you have gained 20lbs of muscle in the last two years, then you are doing something right, if a good portion of that is fat, then you have been doing something wrong. I personally am a fan of small short duration mass gaining phases alternated with smart dieting. If you diet the right way for shorter durations you can basically eliminate the losses in lean mass, while lowering your bodyfat.

Alternate this with a good mass gaining phase and you can add a lb or two of muscle while dropping a couple lbs of fat in a month and a half.

Good luck from one FFB to another.

12

Testanabol outlined an excellent diet IMO…I would just say more veggies, no raisin bran, and a carb source after your workout.

13

Your stats are pretty much identical to mine. Except I’m 4 years older, but I also have fat boy genes, and live on a restricted budget.

The best advice I can give you is if you can only focus on one thing, try to get your diet down to a T. Us fatties make it or break it in the kitchen. I can’t drop weight or add it without about 98% accuracy in my diet. Cardio is unfortunately necessary regardless of what your goals are. Even though you are trying to gain some mass, do about 15 minutes of cardio on your off days and try to keep your NEPA high.

And as scary as they are, don’t be afraid of carbs before noon. Also, Shugs has been tossing around mini-bulk cycle ideas for the FFB, I think he might be on to something. You could PM him into oblivion and maybe get some ideas.