Recommended foods/amount to consume to gain muscle?

Cat_Lifts

Hey there, my boyfriend has been trying to gain muscle for quite some time now but seems to have the metabolism of a racecar. He's 160lbs at 6'2", works out typically 3 days a week doing heavy lifting, but he's unsure of what the best, muscle growing foods should be.

I've told him in order to gain muscle, you need to eat at a surplus, meaning more than your maintenance level to give those repairing muscles nutrition to grow. So for those of you who have packed on the muscle, what's your food of choice pre and post workouts? For breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

All help is appreciated, I'll do my best to answer any questions I can! He'll be sittin' here with me, I'm actually trying to get him to make an account here due to all the extraordinary advice and support you all give. Thank you!

- Jen

Cat_Lifts

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offthedeependay

lots of protein with every meal,1 gram of protein for your lean body mass weight I weigh 160 lbs and my lean body mass is 140 lbs so I try for at least 140 grams .I eat lots of meat,cheese ,eggs,greek yogurt,anything with lots of protein,my maintenance calories is 2200 ,I am 5'10 and 160 lbs I eat anywhere higher than that number,usually 2400 to 2700 cals..took a bit of playing around with numbers ,he will just have to see what works for him

Cat_Lifts

Awesome, thanks! Do you have any recommendations or links to in terms of food to consume that will aid in his goals of getting bigger/bulky? He's a frozen pizza/scrambled eggs/burrito type of guy - would adding in a protein powder help with meeting his caloric and protein needs for the day of he's lacking, as well? If so, what would you recommend?

Cat_Lifts

lots of protein with every meal,1 gram of protein for your lean body mass weight I weigh 160 lbs and my lean body mass is 140 lbs so I try for at least 140 grams .I eat lots of meat,cheese ,eggs,greek yogurt,anything with lots of protein,my maintenance calories is 2200 ,I am 5'10 and 160 lbs I eat anywhere higher than that number,usually 2400 to 2700 cals..took a bit of playing around with numbers ,he will just have to see what works for him

Great, thank you for your input!

offthedeependay

Awesome, thanks! Do you have any recommendations or links to in terms of food to consume that will aid in his goals of getting bigger/bulky? He's a frozen pizza/scrambled eggs/burrito type of guy - would adding in a protein powder help with meeting his caloric and protein needs for the day of he's lacking, as well? If so, what would you recommend?

I use all natural protein powder to help meet my goals,use it in yogurt and smooties,I have a personal trainer so get his sugestions for what to eat ,as far as links just google it and see what you can find.I use GNC ,whey ISO burst for protein as it has not additives,pure whey powder45 grams of powder is 40 grams of protein and 170 calories.I would stick with whole foods ,try and stay away from too much pizza,,lots of sodium in that,I dont eat processed food much like frozen pizza and buritos,,not much nutrients in that ,if i want something like that I make it from scratch,,a little more work but so much better for you..
my diary is open if you want some ideas

slacker80

At 6'2" and 160 he is without a doubt an ectomorph. It's a genetic body type that has to do with structure and metabolism. This is a hard gainer body type. Typically also best at distant running, basketball stuff like that.

Fortunately for him he can likely eat up everything without the worry of gaining much fat at all. While he's young anyway. I strongly suggest going carb crazy, i'm not an ectomorph as i am weight sensitive without exercise and good nutrition. However i once bulked up pounds pretty good with large servings of whole grain pasta immediately post wrkout.

He needs to go in prefueled on complex carbs at least 1.5 hrs before wrkout. I'd suggest around 50g carbs prewrkout. And about 80g post wrkout 1 serving of pasta is ussually 41g . (Whole grain,complex) sweet potatoes, pasta, broccolli, oatmeal, brown rice.

Cheapest meat protein to get his hands on is likely to be 4-6 lb packs of boneless,skinless chicken breast. Cut them in half (fillet style) into 6oz portions and pack them into sandwhich bags and place the packaged portions i to a larger freezer bag to cycle throughout the week. (I love foreman grills)

His gym session should be focused on compund movements (stick to free weights) If he sits on any machine, unless he's working around an injury, he needs to slap himself.

Keep the cardio short and easy. No more than 20 minute cardio sessions. That's if he feels the need to do cardio. Cardio will rob you of sny possible gains post heavy wrkout sessions. Especially after the 20 min mark. Body is already drained by this point and looking to rob your muscles of necessary aminos to keep the body fueled (muscle breakdown) so maybe only two cardio sessions a week.
10 minute light warmup is ok as long as he doesnt get carried away. Gonna need to preserve as much fuel as possible

Creatine might help. It allows the muscle cells to retain more water keeping them hydrated and allowing for fuller muscle tissue and more stregnth.

Gawd I love spaghetti!! eat up!

Elyas23

Ty!

waldo56

Whole milk. Lots and lots of whole milk.

It is grow juice. Specially formulated by nature to help you grow larger. Humans have not yet invented a more perfect product for this purpose.

And he'll gain muscle just fine "lifting heavy". It is not just for strength.

NRBreit

I'm just under 6'2" and recently bulked up from 165 to 180 in 15 weeks. I averaged approx. 3,000-3,100 calories per day. If you want to, send me a friend request and you can look at my food diary on what I ate. I logged pretty consistently The staples were eggs, chicken, tuna, milk, and whey for protein along with oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice, and fruits for carbs. I also ate nuts (esp. almonds) for extra protein and fats. You will be surprised how much food you have to eat to hit 3,000 calories of you're not eating junk.

ChrisLindsay9

If he's having trouble gaining weight, he may have to "dirty" up his food. That doesn't mean eat crap all the time. During my bulk, I still avoided sweets and french fries. But I did have a meat-lovers pizza, chicken nuggets, and steak burritos on a more regular basis (3-4 times a week). You can eat clean, it's just a bit harder (slightly more expensive, more time-consuming, etc.). Other than that, he should buy stock in Quaker Oats, because that's probably the best, cheapest way to get clean carbs. Eggs is another one.

Here is an article that helped me out:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/weik26.htm

monty619

he just needs to learn how to eat.