So the story goes as you have heard a hundred times, I am 19 6’4 and 155 pounds. Sick of my body and will start weight lifting in December. I would start now but a had a collapsed lung and it sorta had to heal. My question is what should I go for Weight Gainer or Protein powder? I would like to gain 20 pounds. Would someone please suggest their favourite hopefully available through SNDCanada. Anything else I should take? Flax Oil? Fish Oil? Looking to change my diet, start working out and take some supplements I want a complete change. Thanks
Skinny bastard,…both. Buy both and consume ungodly amounts of everything. 4,000 calories a day and 200g of quality protien a day. Get some quality creatine and saturate your blood with it then add a steady amount. i saw dramatic increases the first 3 months with creatine. Deticate yourself and you will gain, I know your metabolism is higher than average but if you can’t make gains on a 4,000 cal diet than your doin somethin wrong. I’ve been there bro. Grab my 2 cents and take it to the bank.
Weight gainer is simply protein powder with added calories, usually from sugar. Get a good MRP like Grow! instead then add calories yourself by mixing it with skim milk or natural peanut butter (or both!) But focus mainly on whole foods and keep a food log. Have you read the “Missing Ingredient” article yet at T-mag? Read that one and “Dawg School: The Bodybuilder’s Hierarchy of Needs”. The search engine at T-mag will bring both up.
100 bucks says 20 lbs wont satisfy, i remember saying exactly that, when iwas 6’4 and 142. then at 162, then at 182, then at 202 and im still going, but…i do have a great mrp to suggest, its “solid mass” from Sports One, 40 g protein (whey & albumin-egg), 122 g carbs-22 from sugar, 801 calories total. Speaking as a skinny bastard myself, we just need to eat- a lot! No shit, I eat every 2.5 hrs, making sure to get 80 g of protein or so per meal, and strive for 5500 calories a day. Now thats alot to start out at…shoot for a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight divided amongst 6 meals. Take protein powder unless you have trouble hitting your caloric intake for the day. But pay attention to your calories too, i wasted a lot of time eating enough protein but not not enough calories, years wasted there! Great bf% tho!
I have to say that, in this case, I am going to disagree with TEK. At 6’4" and 155 lbs, you are obviously new to this, as you mention. As such, you will make rapid gains if you eat right and train correctly.
Because you seem to be an ectomorph, I would not be too worried about putting on fat; doesn't seem to be something you have a problem with. So, consuming a weigh gainer loaded with carbs from any source (even sugar)--while it is not the best idea--is certainly not going to be too terrible.
In terms of cost, I think that for someone who needs to consume as many calories as you do, you'd be better served with a weight gainer. You can likely get a 10lb tub of Prolab's N-Large for around $40, whereas 3lbs of Classic Grow! will cost around $30. Clearly, I feel that Grow is, overall, a better product, but for someone just starting out who needs to take in at least 4,000 calories per day, it's not necessary.
My recommendation is to try T-Mag's Skinny Bastard diet, and Ian King's Bulk Building program. You should see good results. And, fish oil is an essential supplement, I highly recommend it.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the advice. What I have pulled out of all this is I need a diet consisting of 4000 - 5500 calories per day, 200g of protein. And suggested products of Solid Mass or N-Large, and fish oil. Took a look at the articles you sugessted Bulk Building Program looks great. Some of the articles talk about low fat foods?? Should I not be consuming whole milk as oppossed to skim? I read this in Skinny Bastard diet if I recall correctly.
just buy the weight gainer, and knock it down post workout. nlarge is good, you’re really skinny so bottom line is gettin in more cals. the rest of the day eat a lot of meat and i would recomend white pasta, and of course fish oil. the reason i say white pasta is i find that i can eat truckloads of it, equating to much more calories than i could get elsewhere.
Check out “Shake it up” in issue 226 for a do it yourself weight gainer drink that about 800 calories and 80 grams of protein per serve. I’m 6’4 and used to weigh 155 but am now upto about 190. I eat every 2 to 2 1/2 hours and try to take in at least 4000 cals a day and at least 200 grams of portein.
At 155, it wouldn’t hurt you to bump the protein up to 250-300g a day. Shoot for 300. It’s easier than you think when you start eating lean meats.
Rather than buying weight gainer you could also get protein and maltodextrin powder seperatley and mix them. I have personally found that by supplementing my 40 gram protein shakes with about 100 grams of maltodextrin powder I am finally putting on some weight. Also keep carbs to protein at about a 3:1 ratio making sure you get in 200 grams of protein a day and you should be fine. Oh yeah, don’t go from 2,000 calories a day to 4,000 overnight gradually warm yourself up to it. The same goes with weight lifting, don’t be dumb like I was when I was starting out at 18 and injure yourself. Get your form down and gradually add weight, changing programs everytime your progress seems to stall.
We get a little over zealous around here with the whole protein intake, but dont try to eat 300 grams when you may be used to say, 50-75 g a day. Bump it up in increments, plus if you start gorging on that much so quick, you will probably only make it a couple of weeks before you cant stand feeling sick all the time, but if you build up to that level it wont cause ya any problems. Just a thought.
7 months ago I was 19 and had your exact stats. . i’m now 190 and going strong… .anyway, initially i didn’t increase my caloric intake much at all, and i already ate clean. Just ease your way into the lifting, don’t push it too hard at first, make sure you have someone with a lot of experience help you out with all your exercises and make sure you are using good form. I gradually increased my calories and got some protein powder, and this helped put on more weight… but just be comfortable in your routine and don’t rush things, as you might loose your drive.
A lot of good advice here, but if you’re really that ectomorphic you’re going to have problems trying to ingest that much food (4000+ cals) right off the bat.
My suggestion: since you seem to want to make a lifestyle change, start by keeping a food log. (Do a search on the T-Mag website.) This will not only tell you how many calories you’re consuming at the moment, but start to make you aware of your macronutrient breakdown as well.
Once you know your calories/day, bump it up by 10% every day. Try this for a few weeks, if you don’t gain weight (and you may not), bump it by another 10%, and so on until you start to see gains.
I fully agree with John Roman that, as a newbie, you don’t particularly need a weight-gainer. They are convenient and won’t hurt, but get your “real food” ducks in a row first, then start thinking about supps.
Good luck.
Thanks everyone, as noted above tons of great info for me. I am heading home from university in Dec where I plan to step into all of this gradually. When I get back in Jan is when I plan to grab a weight gainer and see what can happen. Where can I find info on all sorts of food and the ratios each food has in it? I eat in a caf for every meal there are no labels to read any where I should look online? Thanks again
JP… there are a number of sites that have food composition info on them (however i can’t think of any off the top of my head) but there was a post recently where someone asked the same question and got a number of websites… just browse through the recent forum posts.
JP, snd is the best place I have ever dealt with. I’m in T.O. and I always have my order in 24hrs. But supplements are just that. Eat your ass off. Eat like the world is going to end. Read JB’s Appetite for Construction articles, that’s a priceless resource, like the rest of this site. Check fitday.com to get macro breakdowns of almost every food you can think of. Since you are so skinny I doubt you’ll gain much fat by pigging out. Ease into the eating and keep a food log as char-dawg suggested. For supps from snd I would grab some creatine(Prolab is good) and either Classic or Low Carb Grow. Mix two scoops of either with 16oz milk and a couple tbl spoons peanut butter and you have an awesome tasting calorie packed shake. Need more calories, add some flax oil to that. Cottage cheese is also a good inexpensive source of protien. Oatmeal is also a staple to good eating. An often overlooked meal for newbies is the bedtime meal, do not skip this. Ectomorphs can not afford to go eight hours without eating, well none of use should. A multivitamin and multmineral wouldn’t hurt either. So go to it like you really want it and if you eat well and train consistently I bet you’ll amaze yourself with your results. Best of luck. Now go eat.
I hate you…
You eat in a cafeteria every meal?!?? Please tell me you didn’t say that.
Look, if you want to gain muscular weight, you have to make at least the majority of your own food (if not all of it). One or maybe two meals a day (out of six) in a cafeteria might be okay, but every meal? That’s just insulting, both to your body and to the people here trying to help you out.
Yes, it’s a hassle making and packing your own food to take to work or wherever. Tough. You need to do it. Cafeteria food is so leached of nutrients that you’ll never get anywhere as long as that’s your main source of “nutrition”.
Quick explanation to my caf meals all the time. I am in University residence and lets face it I have no access to anything that wil cook my own meals. The caf is ok no your usual just Hambur and fries, I can get a good variety of everything here… Didnt mean to insult anyone. Thanks guys. If I think of anything else I will start a new post, or maybe an update Skinny Bastard JP.