I've been having this problem ever since I was say 16. I can't gain weight. Nutritionists have just told me to increase calorie intake and even eating foods with higher fat content like ice cream more often. Now don't get me wrong, I eat alot! I might not eat as fast as most people but I can put down a good sized meal for my size. My whole dilema is trying to gain some body mass without looking fat, but in order to get some mass I need to get some weight, which has been hard for me to do. I guess I just have a super fast metabolism and it has been like this for as long as I can remember. I have tried weight gainer supplemements, creatine, etc. etc. nothing works. Has anyone been successful at gaining extra weight (when they really want to)?
I don't mean to sound like a ****, but I will guarantee that even though you say you 'eat alot', you probably don't.
You don't need weight gainer supplements (or supplemements ) or creatine. You need alot more food and it wouldn't hurt to get a good protein powder.
Do this: Make a log of all you eat in a given day, and tally up the results (total calories, fat, protein, carbs). Are you really eating enough?
Do you eat breakfast? A pop tart doesn't count. We neglect breakfast because we're all 'too busy' to have a meal in the morning. Guess what? Bullshit. Wake up and slam a 40g protein shake and some carbs, then eat again in 3 hours.
Do you take anything in before bedtime? Slam another 40g protein shake and go buy some fish oil capsules to take before bedtime. We don't get enough EFAs, and taking the fat (fish oil) along with a good shot of protein before you go to bed MAY help to slow the digestion of the protein while you are sleeping. The key is to stay in positive nitrogen balance, if you really want to grow.
To truly gain size, you have to take in more than you expend, period.
This means you should be eating something every 3 hours. That is how you grow. This means that even if you don't feel hungry, you have to keep feeding yourself every three hours. This means that you constantly need to be getting calories, as clean as possible. This means that you need to be taking in alot more protein than a normal person and that is not easy to accomplish on whole foods alone (which is why you can use protein shakes to increase total protein consumption).
If you eat every 3 hours and you are getting ATLEAST 1g or protein per lb of bodyweight AND you lift like a man, you will gain weight.
I used to make that excuse that "my metabolism is just too fast" but I was lying to myself. Not until I upped my caloric intake and started going heavy on deadlifts and squats did I really start to grow. Lifts that are considered compound (ie when your entire body has to be used to complete an exercise) will create more overall stress on your body, and the only response your body can have is to adapt to that stress....which equals better overall growth.
I was always skinny until I decided to stop making excuses and actually worked hard at growing. People that are naturally leaner have to put up more of an effort to add serious size, but if you really are serious about gaining, you have to do just that.
yeah i have a problem with gaining weight too. i dont work out for shit, but i'm naturally cut at an average weight of about 140 that fluctuates constantly. it kind of sucks. i eat tons of fattening food's, but don't gain anything. my family always tells me i need to eat more, but even though i don't usually have time for breakfast (i'm always late for class it seems) i always make sure to consume at least $13 worth of fast food (or whatever i'm eating) throughout the rest of the day. that seems pretty reasonable to me, but i still never gain shit.
^ You're probably like me then. People probably won't believe me when I say I eat alot, but I know for a fact that I do and everyone that knows me knows this. I probably consume about 4 meals a day, and pretty good sized portions also. I was lifting regulary for about a year until I stopped when I saw little results. I know that I should'nt have given up but when you don't see any change for a year (which is a long time) you get a little discouraged.
I just eat a lot and do protein shakes after workouts and I have put on near 20 lbs in the last 2 months. I also drink a lot of beer but I don't think that has much to do with it...
Drink a lot of slim fast. Yes they are supposed to help you lose weight and that’s if you just drink one and don't eat at meal time. But if you drink a lot of those and eat at the same time it will do just the opposite and gain weight.
I probably consume about 4 meals a day, and pretty good sized portions also. I was lifting regulary for about a year until I stopped when I saw little results. I know that I should'nt have given up but when you don't see any change for a year (which is a long time) you get a little discouraged.
ARE YOU KIDDING? Jesus Christ, you don't even work out and you wonder why you aren't getting bigger?
So you just want to gain weight in the form of fat? C'mon man, this isn't too difficult.
4 meals/day is not enough, try 6-8 (including a postworkout protein/high GI carb combination), and do compound movements like I mentioned earlier.
By far, this is the number one question I get. It's always the same: I eat a lot, I tried weight gainers and I worked out, but nothing happened.
Well, you DIDN'T eat a lot. You just thought so.
Someone from this board emailed me, asking for a plan to build muscle. I sent him the diet, below. I never heard from him, again.
Most people are clueless, when it comes to what it takes to get big. And, once they find out what it really takes, then they suddenly decide that they don't look as bad as they thought.
You better get your behind into the gym and start lifting seriously, again, too. Like 4 days a week.
Here's the menu. See if you can handle it. Ask questions.
I will ask you to try to eat 5 meals a day. You will want to space
them out at least 2 hours between one another. Bodybuilders eat so
many meals a day, we do not give them names, like breakfast, lunch,
and so on. We give them numbers. You'll eat your last meal before
bed.
Your eating day first begins when you wake up. I will ask you to
have a shake as meal 1. You will need a blender.
Meal one:
In a blender-
1 cup dry plain unflavored uncooked oatmeal(don't buy the packets,
they are expensive)
1 heaping tablespoon of Nestle Nesquick chocolate "No sugar added"
powder
1 cup non-fat milk
3/4 cup cold water
1 heaping tablespoon of orange marmalade(get the cheap store brand)
3 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil(get the cheapest brand of
Extra Virgin only, in a 34 ounce bottle)
3 dashes of cinnamon powder(cheapest store brand)
4 scoops of chocolate flavor protein powder
Cover with lid and blend together. Stop the blender, open the lid,
use a spoon to scrape the undissolved protein and oatmeal from the
insides of the blender back into the shake liquid. Close lid and
blend again. Drink. Take your multivitamin with this meal.
The remaining 4 meals:
I have a modular system for meals. The idea is to allow you
flexibility, so that you get to eat what you like, and also not
have to eat the same damn diet every day. Here is how it works:
Each meal MUST have 3 components: a protein, a carbohydrate, and
fats. You may mix and match together one of each component. Here
is the makeup of the components:
PROTEIN: PER MEAL anywhere from a minimum of 8 ounces to 12 ounces,
uncooked, of white meat chicken(no skin), white meat turkey(no
skin), any fish, and lean beef with fat trimmed away. If you want
to eat ground turkey or beef burgers, they must be at least 90
percent meat(10 percent fat).
All meats must be grilled or broiled to drain away all fats. Fish
is to be broiled or baked. No fried foods!
The quickest and best way to cook meats is on a George Foreman
grill. It automatically drains away fats.
CARBOHYDRATES: Allowed are oatmeal, sweet potato(Yams), brown rice,
lentils, whole wheat pasta.
QUANTITY PER MEAL:
oatmeal, 1 cup uncooked. 2 cups cooked
sweet potato(with skin), 8 ounces uncooked. 8 ounces cooked
brown rice, 0.5 cups uncooked. 1.25 cups cooked
lentils, 0.5 cup uncooked. 1.25 cups cooked
whole wheat pasta, 1 cup uncooked. 1.5 cups cooked
You can cook this stuff up any way you like, to make it taste good
to you.
Carbs that are NOT allowed: white potato, sugar, white pasta, white
bread. If you must eat bread, eat only whole wheat bread or
pumpernickle. No desserts. No pies, cakes, candies, cookes, or
ice cream. No soda pop.
FATS: I want you to find a way to incorporate 3 tablespoons of
Extra Virgin Olive Oil with each meal. So, if you are eating brown
rice, pour the oil on it. If you are eating a sweet potato, use
the oil instead of butter. Same with lentils, same with the whole
wheat pasta. If you are eating whole wheat bread, pour the oil on
it instead of butter. In general, use the olive oil everywhere you
would use butter. Don't buy the fancy expensive oil. The cheapest
Extra Virgin Olive oil is the best, in large bottles.
Go buy a cheap digital kitchen scale. Most department stores and
places like Bed, Bath, and Beyond have them for well under $50.
This way you can quickly and easily weigh your foods. Eventually,
you will learn how much a particuar size of a particular food
weighs, without the scale.
Buy food in bulk. Buy everything as cheap as you can. Go to the
discount food chains and buy boneless skinless chicken breasts by
the bag, and the same with all the other meats. Buy a large
Foreman grill so you can grill up everything you need for a week,
on one afternoon on the weekend. Then you portion it all out, wrap
it in plastic wrap and put it into the freezer. Then you can take
it out, and thaw it, each day, during the week. You can cook up
the sweet potatoes in batches, when they have cooled, cut them up
into slices, then put them up in zip lock baggies or tupperware
containers, dust them with cinnimon powder, yummy. Same with the
rice: cook up a big batch, then portion it out into tupperware
containers you can then freeze. Then take them out as you use
them, put the oil on them and take them to work. You can wash the
tupperware stuff in the dishwasher if you have one. Be careful to
put it in the top shelf of the machine, not the bottom, or it will
melt. Make a nice lentil casserole with onions, tomato celery and
seasonings. If you need a recipe let me know, but I bet your Mom
has a good one.
And so on. It is the very best way, to cook everything for the
whole week, in advance, on a weekend afternoon, then portion it up
and freeze it. Most of this stuff tastes OK cold, at work. If you
have a microwave in a break room, then all the better.
Plan to eat one of these meals roughly one hour after your workout.
Bring a shaker bottle with you to the gym. In the shaker bottle, I
want you to put 3 scoops of protein powder and a tablespoon of the
Nestle Quick chocolate powder, dry. IMMEDIATELY after your
workout, I want you to put 8 ounces of water into the shaker and
drink it down. I want you to eat a nice big sweet yummy candy bar,
right after, too. Whatever you really like. Check the label. If
it has, like, 200 calories or more, then it's cool. This is the
ONLY sweet food I want you to eat, each day.
Water. Water is essential to keep all this food washed down and
out of you. Water is important to your health with this diet. I
want you to eventually learn to drink up to ONE GALLON of water a
day. I know that seems impossible. What you do is keep a water
bottle with you at all times. Get yourself addicted to taking
swigs of it all the time. All the time. All the time. Like a
tobacco smoker, keep the water bottle at hand. Keep a water bottle
next to you on your night table, by your bed. Every time you open
your eyes, all night, just grab that water bottle and have a swig.
I am serious about how very important it is to keep drinking that
water. Some guys like to put some Crystal Light into it, to give
the water some flavor. That is OK, but I like plain water, myself.
Whatever works for you.
Of course what goes in must come out. So, you will piss all the
time and you will prolly have to take a huge dump maybe 3 or 4
times a day. We get used to that. I never go out without thinking
where the next toilet will be. I know that's funny, but you will
find out for yourself.
I will allow you to eat three cheat meals per week, where you get
to eat whatever nasty food you like to eat. You can eat them as
one single cheat meal on 3 different days, or all of them on a
single cheat day. I recommend the single cheat day, but that's up
to you.
How do I gain weight? 
) or creatine. You need alot more food and it wouldn't hurt to get a good protein powder.
