Hard Gainers

JNick77

I dare you to look at my diary from yesterday

Well done!!
I prefer the Chili n Lime Almonds tho LOL

It is difficult to keep your palate entertained and keep it all clean, while still reaching that protein goal.

If you like Almonds I found the mother-lode last week. Blue Diamond makes Dark Chocolate covered Almonds. It's not like the candy almonds but more of chocolate powder that's artificially sweetened. Minus the 3 additional carbs it's the same nutrient profile as regular almonds and they're really good. I'll even grind some up and put them in a chocolate whey shake.

Determinednoob

Female trying to gain.

Now that I eat healthy, I find it very difficult to eat enough calories to gain muscle! I'm also afraid of gaining more fat after losing 50 pounds. I think that "chubby girl" inside me is very hard to get rid of and she freaks out when I gain a pound.

But I've gone up almost 7 pounds - though that's taken about 7 months to do!

I'm 5'8" and I eat about 2,100-2,200 calories a day.

I hear ya I am reticent (sp?) about gaining back fat after losing ~45lbs of it, but I just accept that it is a part of gaining muscle.

1lb/month is not really a bad rate for a female natty

Determinednoob

I dare you to look at my diary from yesterday

Well done!!
I prefer the Chili n Lime Almonds tho LOL

It is difficult to keep your palate entertained and keep it all clean, while still reaching that protein goal.

I am not concerned with eating 100% "clean" maybe 80% or so...

wjranch

I dare you to look at my diary from yesterday

Well done!!
I prefer the Chili n Lime Almonds tho LOL

It is difficult to keep your palate entertained and keep it all clean, while still reaching that protein goal.

If you like Almonds I found the mother-lode last week. Blue Diamond makes Dark Chocolate covered Almonds. It's not like the candy almonds but more of chocolate powder that's artificially sweetened. Minus the 3 additional carbs it's the same nutrient profile as regular almonds and they're really good. I'll even grind some up and put them in a chocolate whey shake.

Noted...Thank You Ima girl who luvs her chocolate!!!

Determinednoob

I dare you to look at my diary from yesterday

Well done!!
I prefer the Chili n Lime Almonds tho LOL

It is difficult to keep your palate entertained and keep it all clean, while still reaching that protein goal.

If you like Almonds I found the mother-lode last week. Blue Diamond makes Dark Chocolate covered Almonds. It's not like the candy almonds but more of chocolate powder that's artificially sweetened. Minus the 3 additional carbs it's the same nutrient profile as regular almonds and they're really good. I'll even grind some up and put them in a chocolate whey shake.

I dunno if they were blue diamong although I think so, but I have had these, and let me suggest keeping them in the freezer. They are fuggin awesome cold...

wareagle8706

If you're a personal trainer like your profile says, why are you asking people on here how to do stuff that you should already know how to do?

Just asking...

JNick77

I dare you to look at my diary from yesterday

Well done!!
I prefer the Chili n Lime Almonds tho LOL

It is difficult to keep your palate entertained and keep it all clean, while still reaching that protein goal.

If you like Almonds I found the mother-lode last week. Blue Diamond makes Dark Chocolate covered Almonds. It's not like the candy almonds but more of chocolate powder that's artificially sweetened. Minus the 3 additional carbs it's the same nutrient profile as regular almonds and they're really good. I'll even grind some up and put them in a chocolate whey shake.

I dunno if they were blue diamong although I think so, but I have had these, and let me suggest keeping them in the freezer. They are fuggin awesome cold...

DUDE! We so need a way to rep people on this site because that is the single-best recommendation I've ever read on this web-site. I will do this tonight!

rogerbosch

Glad to see so many having the same issue… I'm only 1.69 m tall and even at 3000 calories it's hard to gain any weight! I'm doing a 3 day/week full body workout after I came down 10 kilos with dieting and Insanity. Seems now I have reached a REVERSED plateau lol

Determinednoob

Glad to see so many having the same issue… I'm only 169 and even at 3000 calories it's hard to gain any weight! I'm doing a 3 day/week full body workout after I came down 10 kilos with dieting and Insanity. Seems now I have reached a REVERSED plateau lol

Glad to know it isn't just me too. I dunno wtf is goin on but when I was ~ 190 in mid 20s? bf i was maitaining at ~2800 or so dropped to 166 then went back to 177 over a few weeks of upping cals from 2k back to 2800 and also loading creatine (which is probably where most of the weight came from along with maybe a small rebound and some addt water\nutrient from carbs?) Then went to 3200 and gained nada for 2 weeks, went to 3500 and gained nada for 5 days, said fuggit and went to 4000... I may need ot dial it back but I am also running 3 day fb with linear progression (SS) so needing a lot of food to keep it movin.

rogerbosch

Glad to see so many having the same issue… I'm only 169 and even at 3000 calories it's hard to gain any weight! I'm doing a 3 day/week full body workout after I came down 10 kilos with dieting and Insanity. Seems now I have reached a REVERSED plateau lol

Glad to know it isn't just me too. I dunno wtf is goin on but when I was ~ 190 in mid 20s? bf i was maitaining at ~2800 or so dropped to 166 then went back to 177 over a few weeks of upping cals from 2k back to 2800 and also loading creatine (which is probably where most of the weight came from along with maybe a small rebound and some addt water\nutrient from carbs?) Then went to 3200 and gained nada for 2 weeks, went to 3500 and gained nada for 5 days, said fuggit and went to 4000... I may need ot dial it back but I am also running 3 day fb with linear progression (SS) so needing a lot of food to keep it movin.

Inspiring. I started to take creatine after I had reached my initial goal, which was 60 kilos (in retrospective too light)… and went up to almost 66 kilos again when I stopped the creatine… that's when again I lost 7.5 kilos in 2 weeks - worrisome! I'm now back to 60 kilos which is 2 or 3 too light for my height, so I'm working toward my new goal, dropping all the cardio for now. I'll also never ever take creatine again, it gave me a bad experience.

RunXstrong

I just started a program to gain at the beginning of this month. It's great to see the tips here. I have the additional challenge that I am serious about running fast marathons which is a conflicting goal to building muscle mass.

Determinednoob

Glad to see so many having the same issue… I'm only 169 and even at 3000 calories it's hard to gain any weight! I'm doing a 3 day/week full body workout after I came down 10 kilos with dieting and Insanity. Seems now I have reached a REVERSED plateau lol

Glad to know it isn't just me too. I dunno wtf is goin on but when I was ~ 190 in mid 20s? bf i was maitaining at ~2800 or so dropped to 166 then went back to 177 over a few weeks of upping cals from 2k back to 2800 and also loading creatine (which is probably where most of the weight came from along with maybe a small rebound and some addt water\nutrient from carbs?) Then went to 3200 and gained nada for 2 weeks, went to 3500 and gained nada for 5 days, said fuggit and went to 4000... I may need ot dial it back but I am also running 3 day fb with linear progression (SS) so needing a lot of food to keep it movin.

Inspiring. I started to take creatine after I had reached my initial goal, which was 60 kilos (in retrospective too light)… and went up to almost 66 kilos again when I stopped the creatine… that's when again I lost 7.5 kilos in 2 weeks - worrisome! I'm now back to 60 kilos which is 2 or 3 too light for my height, so I'm working toward my new goal, dropping all the cardio for now. I'll also never ever take creatine again, it gave me a bad experience.

I've heard of people having bad times with creatine, but it has been cool for me. Without too much tldr anecdoal personal story, I think it may be accounting for as much as .5" of my arm size (flexed cold)

blakleycj

Im not really a hard gainer but I am trying to bodybuild, I am a marine so the diet can be hard at times. mainly just wanted to meet some people to swap knowledge with. Im new to this so friend me or whatever it is you do on here.

JNick77

Im not really a hard gainer but I am trying to bodybuild, I am a marine so the diet can be hard at times. mainly just wanted to meet some people to swap knowledge with. Im new to this so friend me or whatever it is you do on here.

One of the best resources I've read was "Massive Eating" by Dr. John Berardi. You can probably Google it and find the article, it's about 10 years old I think.

hesn92

I was surprised how long it takes to gain... I felt like I was eating all day long and eating a lot of crap on top of that after I reached my protein goal and I still only gained like 2-3 pounds over a 2ish month period....

eireannyoung

Yup I'm also a hard gainer. I managed to get some fat on me now I need the muscle to back it up! LOL

Meg_78

Also a hard gainer...managed a 10lb bulk a few months back, now on a second smaller bulk, and struggling. but after a month of losses even on a higher cal amount I FINALLY saw a gain this week, so yay me!

strikerjb007

Clean diet, plus the right program or the right routines (if you go to the gym) and little cardio will make you gain lean muscle. The less crap you eat, the less fat you will gain.

IMO (just me), there is no point on bulking if you are going add 20 lbs. of fat.

Meg_78

Clean diet, plus the right program or the right routines (if you go to the gym) and little cardio will make you gain lean muscle. The less crap you eat, the less fat you will gain.

IMO (just me), there is no point on bulking if you are going add 20 lbs. of fat.

True about not wanting to gain fat, but there are some of us, in particular us lady gainers who actually needed to gain fat in our bulk as we were so underweight to start, but now I do want a leaner gain...it just sucks that clean food is generally low in cals. Not all of us find it easy to eat huge amounts, sadly! :ohwell:

Determinednoob

One does not need a diet consisting of nothing but chicken and broccoli to gain muscle.

wellbert

One does not need a diet consisting of nothing but chicken and broccoli to gain muscle.

I have to quote rippetoe.

You guys that worry about eating clean are actually merely bodybuilders looking for justification for your obsession with abs. You cannot get big and strong on 3000 kcal/day. And you cannot eat 7000/day and eat perfectly "clean".

And folks, for weight-gaining purposes, "eating clean" is not a useful concept. Big Macs are.

Just like the quotes.

I like Marshal White's advice from LBEB too.

Bakkasan

More than a few BB's eat dirty and love it during a serious bulk. Many of those are also accompnied by steroids to be able to use all that junk effectively.

taylor5877

When I'm lifting 3 or more days/week I can eat a LOT of calories. 3200 per day ( and actually eating 3400-3500 on average) is a cutting diet for me.

I was trying 2500-2800 for a long time, but I was DRAINED all the time. I feel much better at 3200, but it seems like the more I eat, the more my body tells me to eat more even though I'm not gaining any fat.

I started doing 3200 SUPER clean, and as stated, it's about like a second job. After some experimentation and football saturdays and sundays, it's clear that I don't need super clean to keep losing fat. I also lowered my protein macros from 40% to 30%, and that's made me feel a bit better (due to eating more carbs). Ditching cardio has also helped a lot.

Even though I'm already a big guy the low T bug runs in my familiy and hit me earlier this year too. After 6 months of HRT, I actually brought up to my Doc that i feel like I'm cheating. In 7 months now of lifting after not picking up a weight since my peak in 2006, I'm the strongest I've ever been in everything but squats. I'm like 20% stronger on all my middle back pulls than I've ever been.

Doc suggested I keep up the monthly shots. I know they're only helping, but I still feel weird about it.

Bakkasan

When you are on T you are cheating a bit. You don't experience the high/low daily from the natural flow of test. Mothly shots though? What T version and how much?

taylor5877

Mothly shots though? What T version and how much?

I don't know...and I should...

For the sake of being useful info, at first I defiinitely noticed a high and low after I got shot and before the next one was due, now not so much. I'm thinking I naturally controlled some of the ebb and flow with my training and diet, but doc still wants to keep me on it.

I know it only helps my goals.

Hendrix7

Glad to see so many having the same issue… I'm only 169 and even at 3000 calories it's hard to gain any weight! I'm doing a 3 day/week full body workout after I came down 10 kilos with dieting and Insanity. Seems now I have reached a REVERSED plateau lol

Glad to know it isn't just me too. I dunno wtf is goin on but when I was ~ 190 in mid 20s? bf i was maitaining at ~2800 or so dropped to 166 then went back to 177 over a few weeks of upping cals from 2k back to 2800 and also loading creatine (which is probably where most of the weight came from along with maybe a small rebound and some addt water\nutrient from carbs?) Then went to 3200 and gained nada for 2 weeks, went to 3500 and gained nada for 5 days, said fuggit and went to 4000... I may need ot dial it back but I am also running 3 day fb with linear progression (SS) so needing a lot of food to keep it movin.

Inspiring. I started to take creatine after I had reached my initial goal, which was 60 kilos (in retrospective too light)… and went up to almost 66 kilos again when I stopped the creatine… that's when again I lost 7.5 kilos in 2 weeks - worrisome! I'm now back to 60 kilos which is 2 or 3 too light for my height, so I'm working toward my new goal, dropping all the cardio for now. I'll also never ever take creatine again, it gave me a bad experience.

Buy better quality creatine.

Good creatine shouldn't cause major water retention.

As for hard gainers, I used to think I was one.... Then I ate more.

100grams instant oats
50 grams protein powder
Scoop of peanut butter or coconut oil
500ml whole milk

Thats about 1000 good clean calorie in one shake.

I think a lot of it is people's unrealistic expectations, as a natural who has been lifting for a while, you really can't expect more than a couple of pounds lean mass gain in a month.

It's easy to want to make the scale move up quicker and think you need more calories when really this is just going to make you fatter

JNick77

When you are on T you are cheating a bit. You don't experience the high/low daily from the natural flow of test. Mothly shots though? What T version and how much?

Really, see I do feel it to be honest. Overall I feel a ton better from my HRT but there are still days where I'm dragging-*kitten* in the weight room and I know it's not diet or stress-related. It's funny because sometimes I get these declines in strength and I can tell that it's time to go get another blood panel and have my numbers looked at and therapy adjusted. Sometimes the E is too high, the T has declined, or both are jacked-up for some reason. Some days it's amazing to me that I ever make strength gains. LOL

Determinednoob

I'm not on any therapy, but I have seen someone on it say it's best if you can get on one with a more frequent dosing so you are more constant\steady instead of getting the big high at dosing followed by a decline into a low just before next dose.

JNick77

I'm not on any therapy, but I have seen someone on it say it's best if you can get on one with a more frequent dosing so you are more constant\steady instead of getting the big high at dosing followed by a decline into a low just before next dose.

I totally agree. The positive of this clinic is that they give me good treatment and most of the time I do feel better. The negative is that they won't prescribe the Test or HCG and I have to go in the office once a week, so it's not convenient to go or I would be doing half does twice a week for sure.