Looking for help and opinions

EItadakimasu

I'm underweight and vegan, recovering from an eating disorder.

I really want to gain weight and tone up, but I'm not really sure about how to do it!
I'd be a little less vague, but I'm a complete beginner to this and any advice at ALL would be helpful.

Crazykid23

Try GOMAD ( approx 3.8l of milk a day) and Focus on your compound lifts and before that search up how to do them step by step online to prevent injury and build muscle.
I would advice to do full body workouts but the thing is dont give up as DOMS - meaning muscle soreness usually fatigues new lifters as the pain is unbearable to work out again ( You should definitely look into protein shakes to increase your protein since you're a vegan it will be hard to get all your protein solely from just foods!

Good luck

MakePeasNotWar

It's hard to give advice without knowing anything about you, but certainly increasing the calorie density of your diet will be key to any amount of weight gain.

If it were me I would look to add high calorie but nutrient dense foods, like nuts, seeds, avocados, and whole grain breads. Don't neglect your fresh fruit and veggies, but realize that they are too low in calories to form the bulk of your diet. Dried fruit and fruit juices and cooked greens and vegetables are less filling per calorie than raw, so they are great choices for gaining weight.

You also want to make sure you are getting enough protein to build mass, though you won't need extreme amounts as long as you are eating adequate calories. Beans and grains are good sources of vegan protein if eaten in sufficient quantity, and protein powders like hemp, pea, or rice protein will add concentrated protein without filling you up.

This is only one example, but a typical day of my weight gain diet last year looked something like this:

7-ish am: pea protein smoothie made with cashew milk, ground flaxseeds and frozen berries

10: Cooked steel cut oats with walnuts, raisins, and maple syrup

Noon: Black beans, corn and rice, served over brown rice and topped with 1/2 an avocado

4pm. Hummus and pita, or fruit and nut butter

7pm: whole wheat pasta with cooked spinach and cashew cream sauce (Google for great recipes)

9pm: pb2 chocolate, either blended into a second protein shake or mixed with a bit of cashew milk and eaten with a spoon

MakePeasNotWar

My post got cut off, so I will recap:

Eat high calorie foods that aren't too filling (ex. Nuts, seeds, juice, dried fruit, etc.

Eat as often as needed to get enough calories without feeling you are force feeding yourself

Make sure you are meeting your protein requirements

Eat mostly nutrient dense foods for best health and well being. Treats are optional.

Also, doing some kind of strength training, like the above poster suggested, will help you gain muscle mass and strength above and beyond what you'd naturally add just by being heavier and better nourished.

RoxieDawn

How many pounds did you set MFP to gain weight .5, 1, 1.5 or 2 a week? Primary focus should be to gain your weight first and then incorporate exercise/ lifting weights. You will need calories to keep you in weight gain mode instead of burning them.

Depending on how many calories (surplus) you plan to eat try to eat calorie dense foods like from the list will up your calories. There is stuff vegan in the list.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10142490/a-list-of-calorie-dense-foods/p1

As you increase your calories you can incorporate strength training or even body weight exercises. But until you are at optimal calorie surplus you will not gain muscle, but you will maintain your current muscle mass and if you really want to build more muscle fibers well this will entail what we call "bulking" (either clean or dirty) and of course doing a progressive overload strength training program is what you will need.

Best optimum thing to do with your diet when starting a strength training program is to get plenty of protein. Perhaps the rule of .8 to .1 gr per body weight. Protein is an essential macro and definitely needed to build muscle, recover muscle and maintain muscle.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

DancingMoosie

When I was an underweight child, my mom replaced all of my milk with half-and-half and added cream soups to my veggies. Sometimes I would make my own protein shakes with ice cream. Make sure you are using full-calorie or full-fat versions of foods, no lite or reduced fat. Because you are vegan, I would recommend coconut milk and cream. Coconut oil is great for cooking and coconut butter is delicious as a spread or dip. (Can you tell I love coconut?) Nuts/seeds and their butters are also calorie dense, as well as dried fruit.

As for "toning" you could start a strength/lifting program. But you should probably work on gaining a bit first so that you don't begin malnourished or too underweight.

EItadakimasu

DancingMoosie wrote: »

When I was an underweight child, my mom replaced all of my milk with half-and-half and added cream soups to my veggies. Sometimes I would make my own protein shakes with ice cream. Make sure you are using full-calorie or full-fat versions of foods, no lite or reduced fat. Because you are vegan, I would recommend coconut milk and cream. Coconut oil is great for cooking and coconut butter is delicious as a spread or dip. (Can you tell I love coconut?) Nuts/seeds and their butters are also calorie dense, as well as dried fruit.

As for "toning" you could start a strength/lifting program. But you should probably work on gaining a bit first so that you don't begin malnourished or too underweight.

I love coconut too

I think this will be really helpful

EItadakimasu

Thank you all for the reality check that I'll need to gain weight before toning!