Need to gain 7lbs in 1 month

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jbgolf52
jbgolf52 Posts: 210 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I've posted before about my stomach problems and you guys have been great, so I thought I would come here again. I need to get up to 145lbs by Wednesday December 18th for medical reasons and if I cannot then I can't go on a ski trip my Dad planned for my bro, sis, himself, and I. I lost 27lbs last year due to a digestive disease called gastroparesis and was 145lbs before it all started. My doc wants me to get back to that weight before I go on a ski trip that Friday, December 20th. Getting back to my weight will allow me to cycle off my stomach medication which is not good to be on long term (been taking it for one year). Getting there and maintaining will also allow my low testosterone and crap sleep habits to hopefully resolve themselves.

I've figured out that my maintenance cals are around 1,800-1,900 as a 24yr old guy, 5'10, and 138lbs. I would have to gain at least 1.5lbs per week, which would entail eating 750 cals min over maintenance everyday, so my target cals should be around 2,550. Does this look right or should I go higher? I recently bumped them up to 2,400 but I think I need to eat more than that. I know it's not an ideal situation and the majority of it will be fat, but I have to do this. Also, if anyone who replies here is bulking at 2,500 or greater would allow me to friend them so I could get more ideas of what to eat I would appreciate it. Only limitations are I can't drink milk or anything besides a straight protein shake or else it wrecks my stomach.
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Replies

  • CrystalDreams
    CrystalDreams Posts: 418 Member
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    peanut butter, soy milk, avocados, bananas, beans. lots of them
  • tyrsnbdr
    tyrsnbdr Posts: 234 Member
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    Drink a Gallon of milk a day. But just eat, alot.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
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    I'm a 5'6" 120-something pound female and my maintenence is around 2200. Are you sure your TDEE is that low? I'm currently bulking and I'm having a hard time eating all the food I need to sometimes because I can't do gluten. I agree with the above poster--anything that's a high caloric dense food like avocados, nuts, whole eggs, etc. will help you get there.
  • TriLifter
    TriLifter Posts: 1,283 Member
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    Drink a Gallon of milk a day. But just eat, alot.

    Except he can't drink straight milk.
  • lrmall01
    lrmall01 Posts: 377 Member
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    Coconut milk, in a can might be worth looking at. You'll find it in the "Asian food section" of most grocery stores. Don't get the coconut milk in a carton. The canned variety is high in fat. Throw the coconut milk, some fruit, some protein powder if you have it, some peanut butter, and some water into a blender and you'll have a high calorie shake. A couple of those a day will get you a lot of calories and be easy to consume since it is in liquid form.

    As others have said, nuts are a good option too. Pecans, walnuts, macadamias are all pretty high calorie. Also adding butter and olive oil to your food will add calories. Mashed potatoes with extra butter for example would be pretty easy to eat. Vegetables sauteed in olive oil rather than steamed, cook your rice with butter to add calories - you get the idea.

    Of course you could always go the junk food route and just cram on whatever kind of stuff that doesn't wreck your stomach, if it exists. I'm assuming that isn't an option though since you are asking on this forum.

    Good luck!
  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
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    You say no milk, what about ice cream? Avocados and peanut butter are extremely calorie dense. You could add coconut oil to your protein shake. I don't think you'll have any problem hitting 2500, I cut on that. You might even consider aiming higher.

    Rigger
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
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    Roast your veggies in olive oil.
    Cook things in butter or oil
    Use some heavy cream in a shake, add oil (coconut or olive as Rigger said)
    Toss your pasta in olive oil.
    No non-fat or low-fat products

    OMGOSH
    A can of tuna mashed with an avocado and some salt on your fave bagel!
    (I use a sandwich thin since I like to taste the insides of my sandwiches lol)

    There are powdered weight gainers out there as well.
  • jbgolf52
    jbgolf52 Posts: 210 Member
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    Yea as I mentioned I can't do milk, or even coconut milk. I don't know why, but I literally cannot drink any kind of shake unless it's just protein and water. I added a banana once and couldn't eat for the rest of the day due to stomach pains. I've been pounding peanut butter, potatoes, and junk food but was looking for what others bulking do as well, hence the friend request thing.

    @primalrunner: you have a pretty high TDEE as a woman, you must be pretty active. What are you bulking at?

    @lrmall: I can't do shakes or nuts, but have been doing peanut butter and cooking my vegetables in oil. I've also been having poptarts and ice cream as fall backs when I can't eat enough good food, any other easy junk food you'd recommend? Surprisingly I can handle gluten in some forms, like poptarts and the odd bagel or English muffin once a week, but pancakes wreck me.

    @navyrigger: I've been doing ice cream, guess I need more of it then. Only milk gives me stomach pains, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream do not thankfully. How high do you think I should aim?

    @crystaldreams: I don't like soy milk or beans, but I've been using almond milk.

    @lishiefruit: that tuna sandwich sounds really good! I have a bunch of canned salmon that I could use to make that, thanks!
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
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    seven pounds in four weeks means an extra 800 or so calories a day above maintenance.

    Deep frying anything. A pound of sweet potato fries a day will make it, and I know I can eat those by the metric ton.
  • jbgolf52
    jbgolf52 Posts: 210 Member
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    seven pounds in four weeks means an extra 800 or so calories a day above maintenance.

    Deep frying anything. A pound of sweet potato fries a day will make it, and I know I can eat those by the metric ton.

    Due to my disease, which causes massive constipation, my weight can fluctuate by like 3-4lbs with all the food in my system so I'm hoping I don't have to gain a true 7lbs. But dang, 2,600 is a lot for me, not used to eating that much. Better to overshoot though, ugh bulking problems hah. Sweet potato fries are good, I haven't had those in awhile, definitely picking some up after work today, thanks for the suggestion.
  • tyrsnbdr
    tyrsnbdr Posts: 234 Member
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    Drink a Gallon of milk a day. But just eat, alot.

    Except he can't drink straight milk.

    Then I appoligize for my bad advice. I missed that fact.
  • mike_ny
    mike_ny Posts: 351 Member
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    Almost every response you got was to eat fat. I eat fat to lose weight.

    They are right about eating calorie dense food, which is fine to help get to your TDEE number, but you need carbs to quickly convert to glucose for the excess calories that will get stored as fat. Since essential proteins and essential fats are nutrients, not all of them even get used as fuel and aren't as efficient in being used as glucose is. Carbs contain nutrients, but there're no such thing as an essential carb, so they all get used as calories or stored as fat. Another advantage of eating carbs for you is that they don't fill you up like protein or fat will, so you can easily eat a lot of them every day.
  • jbgolf52
    jbgolf52 Posts: 210 Member
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    Almost every response you got was to eat fat. I eat fat to lose weight.

    They are right about eating calorie dense food, which is fine to help get to your TDEE number, but you need carbs to quickly convert to glucose for the excess calories that will get stored as fat. Since essential proteins and essential fats are nutrients, not all of them even get used as fuel and aren't as efficient in being used as glucose is. Carbs contain nutrients, but there're no such thing as an essential carb, so they all get used as calories or stored as fat. Another advantage of eating carbs for you is that they don't fill you up like protein or fat will, so you can easily eat a lot of them every day.

    I know this, but thanks for typing all this out. Before bulking, I unconsciously ate predominantly fat and protein but lately I've been limiting my fats to a degree and it has helped. I've been having more potatoes, oatmeal, and fruit and I can get hungrier quicker after eating them.
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
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    Bulking @ 2900 calories.

    Protein shake consisting of 2 medium frozen bananas, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 2 cups almond milk, 2 scoop vanilla whey is approx 700 calories. That and ice cream are my best friends right now.
  • djeffreys10
    djeffreys10 Posts: 2,312 Member
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    Bulking @ 2900 calories.

    Protein shake consisting of 2 medium frozen bananas, 2 tbsp peanut butter, 2 cups almond milk, 2 scoop vanilla whey is approx 700 calories. That and ice cream are my best friends right now.
  • GBPack93
    GBPack93 Posts: 76
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    I would say in this situation don't be afraid to get a little "dirty" OP. I have been bulking at 3.3K and fat fills me up too much as well. Once you hit your minimum required fat intake go for low fat high cal foods, I like pop tarts and soda when I just can't stomach anything else.
  • mustgetmuscles1
    mustgetmuscles1 Posts: 3,346 Member
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    Pizza, waffles with syrup and peanut butter, spaghetti, Chinese food.....Man I could go on all day. :happy:
  • jbgolf52
    jbgolf52 Posts: 210 Member
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    @djeffreys: Nice shake, wish I could do it. How many over maintenance is 2,900 for you? I definitely need to hit up ice cream more, about to go pick some up.

    @GBPack93: I'm guilty of eating too clean. I really enjoy eating brussel sprouts, broccoli, artichokes, salmon, chicken with mustard, and tons of strawberries, but that doesn't help in this situation. I've been going with poptarts and they definitely have been a big help. What's your favorite flavor? Mine is the gone nutty plain PB one, with chocolate chip cookie dough in a close second.

    @mustgetmuscle: Surprisingly I don't like pizza, and spaghetti is another gluten bomb that doesn't sit well with me. But I do have eggo waffles in my freezer. I totally forgot about general tso's chicken, delicious stuff. The Wegman's near me has it, I'll pick some up this week.
  • annette_15
    annette_15 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    Chocolate is very calorie dense... just saying lol :P
  • GBPack93
    GBPack93 Posts: 76
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    @jbgolf cookies n' cream for sure, with s'mores as a 2nd. I did the same thing at first, I was eating super clean, but it becomes laborious to pound through broccoli, salad, tuna to hit your calories after a while. As long as you keep a good amount of healthy foods in your diet it won't kill to eat something high cal that goes down easy for you.

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