Hard gainer looking for advice
kevinbruno222
Posts: 18 Member
Im 5'7 about 130 lbs . 23 year old male. Im relatively sctive for about half the week. I want to gain at leat 20-25 lbs . Im not too picky of a eater but do have a budget. Is there a meal plan i can follow to help gain weight ? Supplements ? I want to atleast gain 10-15lbs before i start to workout. Ive also been looking to buy Serious Mass by optimal. Anyone with experiences with this. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Would like to meet someone with similar goals to be kind of a buddy system !
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Replies
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GOMAD - Gallon Of Milk A Day.
Seriously, milk is good for weight gain; you're looking to add about 500 calories a day above maintenance to put on about a pound a week, and 24oz of whole milk a day will cover it. Combine this with a beginner weight lifting program like Starting Strength or Stronglifts and you'll be well on your way.0 -
I appreciate the reply so much. Its stressful not being able to gain weight. Im glad you mentioned milk as i am currently looking at what to drink with a pb&j sandwich. I need to intake about 3,000 calories a day. Which sounds a little intimidating. Any suggestions for large cal intake ?0
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Like eating an elephant, one bite at a time.
3000 calories a day isn't a unearthly amount. A PB&J with 16oz milk is already seven hundred calories - over 20% of your daily calories - in short order. 0 -
Cool i alreafy ate 2 pb& j & drank 2 12 oz whol3 milk. I just work 12 hr days so its hard to eat the right things. Im open to more suggestions people. What are some of the typical meals you ate when bulking ? Still looking for good supplements as well. So glad i found this !
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I would love to be your buddy system! Why? I went through the same struggle.
I actually started at 115lbs. Currently at 175lbs. I would have hit my goal much sooner if I did not make a ton of mistakes.
So with that said, I wanted to share my advice to you from what I have learned involving us "hardgainers" I have actually grown to hate that word too. haha. We don't need excuses. We need progress.
So to begin, you need to make sure you are setting realistic goals for yourself.
Your goal of 20-25lbs with the proper training with take about a year. I'm sorry, you may not want to hear this but its the truth.
But there is hope... If it will take that long, why not put your focus on looking incredible as soon as you can?
What I mean is, start your training now...
Focus on exercises that will promote strength but also aesthetics such as:
Incline Bench Press
Weighted Chin Ups
Standing Shoulder Press
Barbell Curls
And throw in a leg exercises such as pistol squats or normal squats to start out with.
Hanging Leg Raises
You need to focus on getting STRONG AF! haha. Do not worry about any high reps yet.
You should be lifting in the 4-6 rep range, getting as strong as you can with those key exercises listed above.
Make sure to track your lifts for improvements every week.
Diet:
Eating 3000 calories is not hard if you focus
And my budget was very tight for me as well.
Stick to things like,
Steak
Pasta
Veggies
Apples
Tortillas with cheese fried in coconut oil (Freaking love these)
Peanuts
Yogurt
Cookie Dough Balance Bars
Granola ( I get Chia Organic Granola Cereal, has some pretty high calories per serving)
Frozen Yogurt Ice Cream
Chocolate Bars (I like Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate)
I also wrap peanut butter and jelly in a tortilla (Don't knock it till you try it haha)
I do not take any supplements except for black coffee or a caffeine pill before I workout.
If you want to take some though:
Stick with
Creatine and a protein supplement if you need it. The rest are garbage.
Hope that helps man!
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gtmfitness wrote: »I would love to be your buddy system! Why? I went through the same struggle.
I actually started at 115lbs. Currently at 175lbs. I would have hit my goal much sooner if I did not make a ton of mistakes.
So with that said, I wanted to share my advice to you from what I have learned involving us "hardgainers" I have actually grown to hate that word too. haha. We don't need excuses. We need progress.
So to begin, you need to make sure you are setting realistic goals for yourself.
Your goal of 20-25lbs with the proper training with take about a year. I'm sorry, you may not want to hear this but its the truth.
But there is hope... If it will take that long, why not put your focus on looking incredible as soon as you can?
What I mean is, start your training now...
Focus on exercises that will promote strength but also aesthetics such as:
Incline Bench Press
Weighted Chin Ups
Standing Shoulder Press
Barbell Curls
And throw in a leg exercises such as pistol squats or normal squats to start out with.
Hanging Leg Raises
You need to focus on getting STRONG AF! haha. Do not worry about any high reps yet.
You should be lifting in the 4-6 rep range, getting as strong as you can with those key exercises listed above.
Make sure to track your lifts for improvements every week.
Diet:
Eating 3000 calories is not hard if you focus
And my budget was very tight for me as well.
Stick to things like,
Steak
Pasta
Veggies
Apples
Tortillas with cheese fried in coconut oil (Freaking love these)
Peanuts
Yogurt
Cookie Dough Balance Bars
Granola ( I get Chia Organic Granola Cereal, has some pretty high calories per serving)
Frozen Yogurt Ice Cream
Chocolate Bars (I like Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate)
I also wrap peanut butter and jelly in a tortilla (Don't knock it till you try it haha)
I do not take any supplements except for black coffee or a caffeine pill before I workout.
If you want to take some though:
Stick with
Creatine and a protein supplement if you need it. The rest are garbage.
Hope that helps man!
Wow man seriously you are awesooooomeeeeeee. That helped alot !!
So what you are saying is instead of just focusing on my weight, start training now. Im assuming increasing my cal intake and working out at the same time is gonna be more beneficial than to just get fatter then shape up. Its just that i feel so skinny now and i would love to see some improvement in my weight before i start hitting the gym hard. I feel like that would make the eating effort obselete if i just spent time working out what ive eaten u know what i mean ?
115 to 175 !!! Sickkkkkk . How long was the process ? Would also love to add u as a friend !0 -
Trust me I know you feel skinny, but just eating to put on fat is going to hurt your progress.
Begin training now. I have been training "properly" for about 2 years now. But I started weight lifting about 4 years ago.
Here is another cool trick:
Focus on getting as strong as possible with those key exercises above in mind. Why?
It will help you reach these standards:
Ideal waist = Height in inches x 0.445
Ideal chest = Ideal waist x 1.4
Ideal shoulders = Ideal waist x 1.618
Ideal arms = Ideal waist x 0.51
The closer you get to those measurements, the better you will look.
So if you just ate to get fatter, you will hurt yourself by messing up your ideal waist measurement.
Yes, you are probably thinking what the heck is this kid talking about? hahah
I like to tie in science, strategy, and purpose behind my training. Not just flirt around with a bunch of different things and not see any results.
I only train 3 hours a week too. Yes a WEEK. I want to look great to live my life, not live in the gym and kitchen.
And of course! I will add you right now!
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Nice man . 3 hours a week ? Sounds like my ideal training !! Lmao
If thats u in the pic, which i dont see why it wouldn't be lol, u look great man. Thats honestly what i wanna look like !!
What are some of your daily meals ? What do you find to be the easiest way to get ur 3,000 calories daily ?
Also do u suggest daily pushups and situps ?
I wont lie man im sooooo glad you reached out. Im so much more inspired knowing that others have been in my shoes.
Im from Connecticut BTW, Curious where ur from if u dont mind disclosing that info , that is lol0 -
man before going through all of this crazy long advice
are you tracking your food? counting calories? weighing and logging? do you know exactly how much you consume? do you know what your TDEE is?
etc.0 -
If you want to look better, do some resistance training NOW rather than after you gain a bunch of weight.
Weight gain without training basically means you're going to gain a lot of additional fat. Resistance training while gaining weight will give you the opportunity for a good portion of the additional weight to come in the form of muscle.
You essentially need to eat enough calories to start gaining. If you are new to resistance training you should be fine gaining 3-4lbs/month.
If the issue is budget, look for foods in bulk. Oats, rice, potatoes tend to be pretty inexpensive. Eggs, whey protein, tuna tend to be cheap relative to the amount of protein you are getting.
If the issue is that you can't stomach enough food to get the necessary calories in to gain weight (ultimately this is typically the root of "hardgainer" problems) then start drinking calories to reduce satiety. You could very easily combine dry oats, full fat milk, whey protein, and some peanut butter and crank out a good 700-800 calories that won't keep you full for very long.
As far as training programs go, there's a ton of ways to go about that. I'd suggest taking a look at All-Pro's beginner routine, check for it on google.0 -
man before going through all of this crazy long advice
are you tracking your food? counting calories? weighing and logging? do you know exactly how much you consume? do you know what your TDEE is?
etc.
Yea i just started to track my intake again today. 800 cals to go. I cant say i know what TDEE is . Care to enlighten me ? Lol0 -
If you want to look better, do some resistance training NOW rather than after you gain a bunch of weight.
Weight gain without training basically means you're going to gain a lot of additional fat. Resistance training while gaining weight will give you the opportunity for a good portion of the additional weight to come in the form of muscle.
You essentially need to eat enough calories to start gaining. If you are new to resistance training you should be fine gaining 3-4lbs/month.
If the issue is budget, look for foods in bulk. Oats, rice, potatoes tend to be pretty inexpensive. Eggs, whey protein, tuna tend to be cheap relative to the amount of protein you are getting.
If the issue is that you can't stomach enough food to get the necessary calories in to gain weight (ultimately this is typically the root of "hardgainer" problems) then start drinking calories to reduce satiety. You could very easily combine dry oats, full fat milk, whey protein, and some peanut butter and crank out a good 700-800 calories that won't keep you full for very long.
As far as training programs go, there's a ton of ways to go about that. I'd suggest taking a look at All-Pro's beginner routine, check for it on google.
Appreciate the info bud. I need to do some grocery shopping so i will def pick up some essentials ! Id be very happy if i could gain 3-4 lbs a month. Sounds like a dream... seriously lol
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kevinbruno222 wrote: »man before going through all of this crazy long advice
are you tracking your food? counting calories? weighing and logging? do you know exactly how much you consume? do you know what your TDEE is?
etc.
Yea i just started to track my intake again today. 800 cals to go. I cant say i know what TDEE is . Care to enlighten me ? Lol
Total Daily Energy Expenditure
it's basically the calculative basis for our CICO (calories in calories out) mantra
there are a number of calculators you can use to determine yours, here are a few:
iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/0 -
BMR is 1522
TDEE is 2159.
So i have to eat more than 2159 a day to gain ? & i burn 1522 without doing anything.0 -
You'd have to eat above 2159 to gain.0
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@kevinbruno222 you have gotten some great advice so far. The only thing I'll add is feel free to follow my forum post on my first "true" bulk. I say "true" because I'm tracking calories, measurements, etc...
It's called "First True Bulk - Progress Report"
It's here in the weight gain section. It might help you along the way.0 -
yea but are you in love wit da coco?
did you get for da low low?0 -
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@kevinbruno222 you have gotten some great advice so far. The only thing I'll add is feel free to follow my forum post on my first "true" bulk. I say "true" because I'm tracking calories, measurements, etc...
It's called "First True Bulk - Progress Report"
It's here in the weight gain section. It might help you along the way.
Will do thanks man !0 -
@kevinbruno222
Some great advice already here. I'll just add a bit of information you may find useful and some advice from someone that's been there.
There's two key elements in my mind: maintaining a positive level of nitrogen in the blood, and literally having the space to fit enough calories in.
Firstly, being nitrogen positive is maintaining a steady supply of nitrogen-based amino acids into the bloody, for the body to use. You can only get this from food as excess aminos aren't stored like fats and carbohydrates; they're metabolised into urea and passed as urine.
Staying nitrogen positive is important to stop the breakdown of the muscle you have worked so hard to build. Catabolism (tissue wastage) is the opposite of anabolism (tissue growth) and is the body's evolutionary response to conserve energy. Preventing this is key.
Therefore you should maintain your protein consumption throughout the day, and aim for 5/6 smaller meals as opposed to 3 big ones. This will decrease the time you are in a catabolic state (muscle wastage).
If you're trying to build muscle, I'd aim for 2.0-2.5 grams of protein per kilo of body weight, per day. So 60kgs of bodyweight = 120-150g protein per day = 5 meals of 24-30g protein per meal. (Apologies but you'll have to do the imperial conversion yourself.)
Consider this a non-negotiable before you consider the calories for consumption.
Now all you have to do is fit all that food in. But also be hungry to do the same in 3 hours time, which is something I struggled with.
My answer was nutrient dense foods, specifically fats. Fats give you almost twice as many calories as carbohydrates and have a better hormonal influence on testosterone production, in turn helping you recover and build more muscle.
For long term health, it is best to focus on unsaturated fats, such as nuts, seeds, fish etc. Don't go clogging your arteries with deep fried things.
One major tip is: peanut butter is your friend. Put it in sandwiches, blend it milkshakes, make a satay sauce for stir frys...
Lastly, don't neglect your micronutrients (fruit and veg). If you're training at a high enough intensity, you will get run down and sick without them. My advice for this is the same: eat nutrient dense veg like broccoli, green beans etc and fruit like berries, prunes etc. Don't waste your time with salads. You're not a rabbit.
Good luck.0
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