trying to gain 10 lbs

Just eat food that most likely make you stick to your plan. And also don't go to fast with gaining weight take it slow and steady.

Of course, at only 109 pounds at 5'5, gaining fat could be a good thing....

ok, good When it comes to bulking (or gaining weight in general), you have to get enough calories. Most people find it extremely difficult to do that with only "healthy" foods. In my bulk, my intake of whole milk, ice cream and wine has increased dramatically. Bigger bang for the buck than increasing my fresh salad intake. Fortunately, as long as your lifting and building muscle, your body doesn't care if your calories come from ice cream or iceberg lettuce.

When I bulk I set my macros and shoot for 150 cals over maintenance. Truly I'm only concerned with hitting enough protein and fats. If I go over I don't worry so much as long as I met them and my calorie goal. And lifting helps add that as muscle. If it takes two years of slow gaining....well, there's nothing wrong with that.

Lift heavy weights. (No pink dumbbells!) Obviously increase your caloric intake. You need to take in more calories than you are burning. Eat calorie dense foods such as nuts, avocados and whole milk. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to your protein shakes. You could also drink 2 Ensure Pluses a day in ADDITION to your regular meals. Each one is 350 calories. That's 700 additional calories a day.

I'm currently gaining around 2lbs a month by eating 2800cals a day which is 300cals over my maintenance. I lift heavy 5 days a week which is a must if you don't want your gains to be fat. Food choices can be relatively 'clean' (hate that word) e.g. chicken, steak, bread, pasta, rice, oats, peanut butter, bananas, protein shakes, dextrose, nuts, fish, etc but don't be afraid to reach for ice cream and snacks to make up those calories. Send me a FR with a brief message and check out my diary, only too happy to advise you along the way

aimsr23 wrote: »

Thank you all for your help. I'm gluten free due to a allergy so it's hard to eat carbs. I went over my goal today and ate 2,573 calories which was very hard to do for me. I will definitely take any other advise anyone else has.

You can easily add gluten free carbs (rice is a good example), and lots of the previously mentioned calorie foods are also gluten free. Take the lists you've been give and just weed out what you can't eat.

I'm currently thinking of bulking as my body fat is already low enough, 8.8% (on handheld scanner) - 15.6% (on those tanita bodyweight machine) for females.

Is it still necessary to track calories and macros when on a bulk then?

Eat in cal surplus -- train -- and sleep = repeat