I'm trying to bulk , gain weight & make my abs show

randolphm94
randolphm94 Posts: 8 Member
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So this is me : I currently weigh 122 pounds and I'm trying to get to 150 pounds. It's tough because it's hard for me to gain weigh due to my metabolism I think. I use mass gainer and protein shake and get my calories , well at least try. I just don't know what to do.
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Replies

  • ovinas1
    ovinas1 Posts: 413 Member
    Dbl whopper with chess heavy all, Large Onion rings and a Coke. lunch then dinner
    Doritos for snacks in between and all the soda you can put down.

    2 fried eggs, house potatoes, sausage patties,bacon and toast. Cook the eggs in the bacon grease. Breakfast.

    I did this till I was 23 and still couldn't gain weight. My mom worked at BK. But after 30 all hell broke loose.
  • randolphm94
    randolphm94 Posts: 8 Member
    That doesn't even sound healthy & I eat a lot I just have a huge metabolism. And I'm only 20
  • ovinas1
    ovinas1 Posts: 413 Member
    edited February 2015
    im 43 and im not dead yet. But it isnt very healthy. dude you need eat everything that crosses in front of you. Calories calories calories. your 20 so your body will forgive you later on. Bread and peanut butter isnt to bad. Red Meat. cereal with whole milk, chocolate cake, everything.

    Gaining weight is really expensive.
  • kunalsingh9
    kunalsingh9 Posts: 69 Member
    I think it is very important to understand that you cannot gain weight and expect to see abs at the same time. You need to get to a suitable body weight before you should start cutting back for those abs. Eat in surplus for a few weeks and see how your body is progressing
  • Man I know your struggle. For me its time and budget but one thing I have to say is that focusing on eating clean now will pay dividends in the future body. I have many older brothas tell me do all you can to eat healthy and right now! As far as gaining goes, what are you eatingeating the gainer and protein shakes and doing for exercise? Glad to exchange notes, I've had some success in this area.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    ovinas1 wrote: »
    im 43 and im not dead yet. But it isnt very healthy. dude you need eat everything that crosses in front of you. Calories calories calories. your 20 so your body will forgive you later on. Bread and peanut butter isnt to bad. Red Meat. cereal with whole milk, chocolate cake, everything.

    Gaining weight is really expensive.

    As you say, the Burger King, cookies, etc diet isn't very healthy. I'm not sure the body will forgive later on. Ovinas, you may have been lucky and don't have any issues but as a person in their late 50's who has lifted for 40+ years, I've seen many friends who ate like crap while younger and are paying for it now. Stuff like heart problems, diabetic issues, etc, things you don't want to deal with.

    Instead, how about the OP concentrate on eating a ton of grilled chicken breast, lean red meat, fish, brown rice, spinach (and other healthy veggies) milk, cottage cheese, avocados, nuts and other healthy foods. That said, throw in a piece of cake or some ice cream occasionally, but not as a staple of your diet.

    Diet and work in the gym, heavy (for the OP) compound movements, skip the curls.

    This combination of diet and exercise will get you there. Good luck.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    Bulking will cause your abs to disappear as you increase your body fat unless you are well below 10% and work your abs hard while you bulk so that they become more apparent. Sure, BK or McD's aren't the best diet but the basics are solid. You need to eat more than you burn and that's all there is to it. Find your maintenance and eat 500 calories per day higher and increase 100 calories per day each week if you aren't making progress. Eat a decent base diet so that all of your needs are met but then have the fries and burger to add more calories.

    Don't over think it. Look around and you'll notice that it's pretty easy to gain weight in this day and age.
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  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    ovinas1 wrote: »
    im 43 and im not dead yet. But it isnt very healthy. dude you need eat everything that crosses in front of you. Calories calories calories. your 20 so your body will forgive you later on. Bread and peanut butter isnt to bad. Red Meat. cereal with whole milk, chocolate cake, everything.

    Gaining weight is really expensive.

    As you say, the Burger King, cookies, etc diet isn't very healthy. I'm not sure the body will forgive later on. Ovinas, you may have been lucky and don't have any issues but as a person in their late 50's who has lifted for 40+ years, I've seen many friends who ate like crap while younger and are paying for it now. Stuff like heart problems, diabetic issues, etc, things you don't want to deal with.

    Instead, how about the OP concentrate on eating a ton of grilled chicken breast, lean red meat, fish, brown rice, spinach (and other healthy veggies) milk, cottage cheese, avocados, nuts and other healthy foods. That said, throw in a piece of cake or some ice cream occasionally, but not as a staple of your diet.

    Diet and work in the gym, heavy (for the OP) compound movements, skip the curls.

    This combination of diet and exercise will get you there. Good luck.

    I understand your concerns, but it wasn't just a poor diet that got them to where they were healthwise. Most links between diet and those diseases are based on obesity and underactivity, particularly lack of cardiovascular activity that many lifters are guilty of. Genetics also plays a huge role. A good basic diet with some junk food on top isn't going to cause any real health issues.
  • randolphm94
    randolphm94 Posts: 8 Member
    bigres20 wrote: »
    Man I know your struggle. For me its time and budget but one thing I have to say is that focusing on eating clean now will pay dividends in the future body. I have many older brothas tell me do all you can to eat healthy and right now! As far as gaining goes, what are you eatingeating the gainer and protein shakes and doing for exercise? Glad to exchange notes, I've had some success in this area.

    I just want to thank everyone for their comments on helping me. I also know me bulking will make me loose my abs yeah of course. I just want to gain & I do eat a lot .. Probably just not enough to where I would gain.
    Bigres- how did you get to where you wanted to be?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    bigres20 wrote: »
    Man I know your struggle. For me its time and budget but one thing I have to say is that focusing on eating clean now will pay dividends in the future body. I have many older brothas tell me do all you can to eat healthy and right now! As far as gaining goes, what are you eatingeating the gainer and protein shakes and doing for exercise? Glad to exchange notes, I've had some success in this area.

    I just want to thank everyone for their comments on helping me. I also know me bulking will make me loose my abs yeah of course. I just want to gain & I do eat a lot .. Probably just not enough to where I would gain.
    Bigres- how did you get to where you wanted to be?
    Well, you have pictures from July and "today", which I'm assuming is several months later. How many calories did you average eating, and what was your change in weight in that time frame?
  • allenbrowning
    allenbrowning Posts: 34 Member
    edited February 2015
    I posted in another board on this same topic but I'll post here too. I used to make a healthy weight gainer shake that was 1200+ calories. It consisted of oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, my homemade peanut butter, coconut oil, eggs, and whole milk. Don't buy the commercial weight gainer it has so much crap in it that that your body doesn't need. You can make something that is healthier, tastes better, and wayyyyyy cheaper all u need is a little effort and a good tongue lol. Coconut oil is the magic ingredient
  • randolphm94
    randolphm94 Posts: 8 Member
    I posted in another board on this same topic but I'll post here too. I used to make a healthy weight gainer shake that was 1200+ calories. It consisted of oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, my homemade peanut butter, coconut oil, eggs, and whole milk. Don't buy the commercial weight gainer it has so much crap in it that that your body doesn't need. You can make something that is healthier, tastes better, and wayyyyyy cheaper all u need is a little effort and a good tongue lol. Coconut oil is the magic ingredient

    When you state: it has a whole bunch of stuff you don't need as In?
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    I posted in another board on this same topic but I'll post here too. I used to make a healthy weight gainer shake that was 1200+ calories. It consisted of oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, my homemade peanut butter, coconut oil, eggs, and whole milk. Don't buy the commercial weight gainer it has so much crap in it that that your body doesn't need. You can make something that is healthier, tastes better, and wayyyyyy cheaper all u need is a little effort and a good tongue lol. Coconut oil is the magic ingredient

    When you state: it has a whole bunch of stuff you don't need as In?

    I would say that gainers are the most useless supliments but not because of the ingredients but because few people really need them. They are mostly just cheap proteins and carbs to give you calories. A milkshake is just as good and costs less.
  • allenbrowning
    allenbrowning Posts: 34 Member
    I posted in another board on this same topic but I'll post here too. I used to make a healthy weight gainer shake that was 1200+ calories. It consisted of oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, my homemade peanut butter, coconut oil, eggs, and whole milk. Don't buy the commercial weight gainer it has so much crap in it that that your body doesn't need. You can make something that is healthier, tastes better, and wayyyyyy cheaper all u need is a little effort and a good tongue lol. Coconut oil is the magic ingredient

    When you state: it has a whole bunch of stuff you don't need as In?

    Overly processed proteins carbs and fats and fillers. You can get all your macros and a good amount of fiber and potassium and sodium balance with *kitten* u have in your fridge if u take the time to prep it. You're spending more money for them to process it where there is better quality in whole foods that cost less and taste better
  • allenbrowning
    allenbrowning Posts: 34 Member
    I posted in another board on this same topic but I'll post here too. I used to make a healthy weight gainer shake that was 1200+ calories. It consisted of oats, protein powder, cocoa powder, my homemade peanut butter, coconut oil, eggs, and whole milk. Don't buy the commercial weight gainer it has so much crap in it that that your body doesn't need. You can make something that is healthier, tastes better, and wayyyyyy cheaper all u need is a little effort and a good tongue lol. Coconut oil is the magic ingredient

    When you state: it has a whole bunch of stuff you don't need as In?

    I would say that gainers are the most useless supliments but not because of the ingredients but because few people really need them. They are mostly just cheap proteins and carbs to give you calories. A milkshake is just as good and costs less.

    ^^^ what they said...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Packerjohn wrote: »
    ovinas1 wrote: »
    im 43 and im not dead yet. But it isnt very healthy. dude you need eat everything that crosses in front of you. Calories calories calories. your 20 so your body will forgive you later on. Bread and peanut butter isnt to bad. Red Meat. cereal with whole milk, chocolate cake, everything.

    Gaining weight is really expensive.

    As you say, the Burger King, cookies, etc diet isn't very healthy. I'm not sure the body will forgive later on. Ovinas, you may have been lucky and don't have any issues but as a person in their late 50's who has lifted for 40+ years, I've seen many friends who ate like crap while younger and are paying for it now. Stuff like heart problems, diabetic issues, etc, things you don't want to deal with.

    Instead, how about the OP concentrate on eating a ton of grilled chicken breast, lean red meat, fish, brown rice, spinach (and other healthy veggies) milk, cottage cheese, avocados, nuts and other healthy foods. That said, throw in a piece of cake or some ice cream occasionally, but not as a staple of your diet.

    Diet and work in the gym, heavy (for the OP) compound movements, skip the curls.

    This combination of diet and exercise will get you there. Good luck.

    ughhhh who wants to bulk on all that ..OP is 20 and is going to eat 3500 + calories a day of chicken breaks, fish, brown rice, spinach,etc...???

    OP - chicken, fish, meat, rice etc are good staples, but throw in some ice cream, bagels, cookies, burgers, etc....
  • ramdettmer751
    ramdettmer751 Posts: 13 Member
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.

    good luck getting into a surplus "eating clean" ....

    what are "good" carbs...??????????
  • I was 73 kilos and am now 90 and only saw progress when I planned my diet with the high carbs at 50%, proteins at 20% and fats at 30%. Fats are incredibly vital but good fats such as penut butter, olive oil (unheated) etc. if you eat enough and are in a calorie surplus you will scientifically gain weight that is a fact. Be consistent = see results. Ps. If in a bulking faze I would also keep cardio to a minimum of once a week. You will not be able to gain good mass while staying lean I assure you.
  • zaxx1953
    zaxx1953 Posts: 389 Member
    I had this old school trainer who would always tell the skinnier kids who lifted with us a SIMPLE trick to put on weight:

    Buy 2 loafs of white bread a jar of PB, a jar of jelly and a 1 gallon jug of whole milk a week.

    Eat exactly what you've been eating, but simply add a generous PBJ sandwiched and 16 ozs of milk to your diet RIGHT BEFORE BED.

    We always made fun of him, but damn.....it worked. Think about it, that gives you all your macros, it's high calorie and fairly slow digesting to help stave off break down over the nigh time hours a lot with high metabolism suffer from.

    You really want to get technical and assuming you are lifting fairly hard, add a scoop of Casein protein to the milk.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    zaxx1953 wrote: »
    I had this old school trainer who would always tell the skinnier kids who lifted with us a SIMPLE trick to put on weight:

    Buy 2 loafs of white bread a jar of PB, a jar of jelly and a 1 gallon jug of whole milk a week.

    Eat exactly what you've been eating, but simply add a generous PBJ sandwiched and 16 ozs of milk to your diet RIGHT BEFORE BED.

    We always made fun of him, but damn.....it worked. Think about it, that gives you all your macros, it's high calorie and fairly slow digesting to help stave off break down over the nigh time hours a lot with high metabolism suffer from.

    You really want to get technical and assuming you are lifting fairly hard, add a scoop of Casein protein to the milk.

    Aside from the timing thing, which is actually irrelevant since you body isn't going to break down over night time, the idea is pretty good. You've just added about 500 calories to your intake and if you assume that you were eating at maintenance, you have enough of a surplus for a 1 pound/week gain.
  • ramdettmer751
    ramdettmer751 Posts: 13 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.

    good luck getting into a surplus "eating clean" ....

    what are "good" carbs...??????????

    Easy. Complex carbs are the good ones that you should be getting. Its a slow digesting form of carbs so it gives your body plenty of energy. Simple carbs are things like soda, artificial syrups or anything white bread, rice etc. When people say eat more carbs, its like thinking you can eat a bunch of cake which contains simple carbs those are the bad ones. But if you're on a bulk its ok to always have a limited amount of white bread after a workout since it digests faster. If you really wanna get in extra calories then make your own weight gainer its easy.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.

    good luck getting into a surplus "eating clean" ....

    what are "good" carbs...??????????

    Easy. Complex carbs are the good ones that you should be getting. Its a slow digesting form of carbs so it gives your body plenty of energy. Simple carbs are things like soda, artificial syrups or anything white bread, rice etc. When people say eat more carbs, its like thinking you can eat a bunch of cake which contains simple carbs those are the bad ones. But if you're on a bulk its ok to always have a limited amount of white bread after a workout since it digests faster. If you really wanna get in extra calories then make your own weight gainer its easy.

    No, some of what you say is kind of right but most of it is incorrect and you need to learn more about nutrition.
  • ramdettmer751
    ramdettmer751 Posts: 13 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.

    good luck getting into a surplus "eating clean" ....

    what are "good" carbs...??????????

    Easy. Complex carbs are the good ones that you should be getting. Its a slow digesting form of carbs so it gives your body plenty of energy. Simple carbs are things like soda, artificial syrups or anything white bread, rice etc. When people say eat more carbs, its like thinking you can eat a bunch of cake which contains simple carbs those are the bad ones. But if you're on a bulk its ok to always have a limited amount of white bread after a workout since it digests faster. If you really wanna get in extra calories then make your own weight gainer its easy.

    No, some of what you say is kind of right but most of it is incorrect and you need to learn more about nutrition.

    Feel free to correct me then but what is incorrect?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.

    good luck getting into a surplus "eating clean" ....

    what are "good" carbs...??????????

    Easy. Complex carbs are the good ones that you should be getting. Its a slow digesting form of carbs so it gives your body plenty of energy. Simple carbs are things like soda, artificial syrups or anything white bread, rice etc. When people say eat more carbs, its like thinking you can eat a bunch of cake which contains simple carbs those are the bad ones. But if you're on a bulk its ok to always have a limited amount of white bread after a workout since it digests faster. If you really wanna get in extra calories then make your own weight gainer its easy.

    No, some of what you say is kind of right but most of it is incorrect and you need to learn more about nutrition.

    Feel free to correct me then but what is incorrect?

    there is nothing wrong or bad about white bread or white rice….

    but I will let wheel correct the rest….
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited February 2015
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    No don't go eating fast food or anything you see. Head to the market and buy things that are high in carbs and food with good protein. I normally get wild caught salmon, red meat and chicken breast. If you want good carbs get some whole grain spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce. The money you spend into fast food could just go into something more healthier while bulking which is what I've been doing &it helps keep you from having so much fat that it would be a lot more difficult to get rid of in the future. So eat clean while you can.

    good luck getting into a surplus "eating clean" ....

    what are "good" carbs...??????????

    Easy. Complex carbs are the good ones that you should be getting. Its a slow digesting form of carbs so it gives your body plenty of energy. Simple carbs are things like soda, artificial syrups or anything white bread, rice etc. When people say eat more carbs, its like thinking you can eat a bunch of cake which contains simple carbs those are the bad ones. But if you're on a bulk its ok to always have a limited amount of white bread after a workout since it digests faster. If you really wanna get in extra calories then make your own weight gainer its easy.

    No, some of what you say is kind of right but most of it is incorrect and you need to learn more about nutrition.

    Feel free to correct me then but what is incorrect?

    To start the classification of good/bad is not scientific but moralistic and your description of simple vs complex is loose and mostly incorrect. Simple carbs are monosaccharides (most importantly glucose) and disaccharides such as table sugar while complex carbs are longer chains i.e polymers. Simple vs complex is an antiquated classification system and speed of digestion depends on things other than complexity since some complex carbs can be absorbed very quickly.

    There is a lot to the subject so I'm not going to go into a thesis here but just ask you to do some more research.

    ETA the two main categories of complex carbs are starches and cellulose
  • zaxx1953
    zaxx1953 Posts: 389 Member
    zaxx1953 wrote: »
    I had this old school trainer who would always tell the skinnier kids who lifted with us a SIMPLE trick to put on weight:

    Buy 2 loafs of white bread a jar of PB, a jar of jelly and a 1 gallon jug of whole milk a week.

    Eat exactly what you've been eating, but simply add a generous PBJ sandwiched and 16 ozs of milk to your diet RIGHT BEFORE BED.

    We always made fun of him, but damn.....it worked. Think about it, that gives you all your macros, it's high calorie and fairly slow digesting to help stave off break down over the nigh time hours a lot with high metabolism suffer from.

    You really want to get technical and assuming you are lifting fairly hard, add a scoop of Casein protein to the milk.

    Aside from the timing thing, which is actually irrelevant since you body isn't going to break down over night time, the idea is pretty good. You've just added about 500 calories to your intake and if you assume that you were eating at maintenance, you have enough of a surplus for a 1 pound/week gain.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017

    It doesn't necessarily ascribe the difference of breaking down (catabolism) or not, so whatever regarding that, but the data is fairly clear that in this case taking protein before bed helps.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
    edited February 2015
    zaxx1953 wrote: »
    zaxx1953 wrote: »
    I had this old school trainer who would always tell the skinnier kids who lifted with us a SIMPLE trick to put on weight:

    Buy 2 loafs of white bread a jar of PB, a jar of jelly and a 1 gallon jug of whole milk a week.

    Eat exactly what you've been eating, but simply add a generous PBJ sandwiched and 16 ozs of milk to your diet RIGHT BEFORE BED.

    We always made fun of him, but damn.....it worked. Think about it, that gives you all your macros, it's high calorie and fairly slow digesting to help stave off break down over the nigh time hours a lot with high metabolism suffer from.

    You really want to get technical and assuming you are lifting fairly hard, add a scoop of Casein protein to the milk.

    Aside from the timing thing, which is actually irrelevant since you body isn't going to break down over night time, the idea is pretty good. You've just added about 500 calories to your intake and if you assume that you were eating at maintenance, you have enough of a surplus for a 1 pound/week gain.

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22330017

    It doesn't necessarily ascribe the difference of breaking down (catabolism) or not, so whatever regarding that, but the data is fairly clear that in this case taking protein before bed helps.

    Yes, I am aware of the research and that there is a small recovery boost with both fast and slow absorbing proteins taken before bed or right after a workout but it's not necessary and isn't going to of much practical significance to anyone who is not a high performance athlete. However, this doesn't mean that the body is breaking down over night.

    The most significant factor was the increase in calories not the timing of the protein intake.
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