Are you a hard gainer, please read!
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@psuLemon Thanks for your post. as you have mentioned im hardgainer. Could you please tell me shall i drink protien shake without workout? or do i need workouts after consuming protien shake. could you also suggest very good protien shake please?Since one of the most common threads in this section seems to be that people struggle to gain weight, I wanted to create a one stop source for members to read on how to gain (particularly, specific foods to help and some techniques). First, you have to eat enough calories to get above your maintenance levels; you cannot add mass, if you are not providing a foundation to grow (i.e - calories). Once you achieve a surplus, and you want to minimize fat gains, you should consistently maintain a surplus (as opposed to huge calorie fluctuations) and ensure proper training (progressive overload lifting program that is focused on compound moves).
There are a variety of reason why people struggle to gain. One of the main reasons why people feel they are hard gainers is because they believe they have a high metabolism. Statistically speaking, the average person doesn't have a slow or fast metabolism, but rather have one of the following issues: 1. current eating style isn't conducive towards their goals, 2. psychological struggles or 3. high/active job/daily routine. What I mean by each is simple. Many people develop eating strategies, whether during dieting or habitual, that focus on many low calorie or "diet" foods. This in turn, makes it very difficult to add enough calories to get into a surplus. Also, bulking can be a huge psychological barrier for many people. It's hard going into a program where you are intentionally gaining fat and getting rid of the progress you previously had. And lastly, there are some people (teachers, construction workers, etc...) whom have jobs that are extremely active and will burn a ton of calories. This in turn, makes achieving a surplus a more difficult task than those of us who have desk jobs. Unfortunately, if you want to achieve the goal of gaining muscle, you must hit a surplus and ideally, in a consistent manor.
With that in mind, hopefully the below list of foods and some dietary strategies will provide you a guide to meet your goals:
Foods:- Avocado
- Nuts, granola
- Olive/Coconut Oil (as a dressing or to cook in)
- Peanut/Almond/Pumpkin/etc butter
- Butter and spreads
- Greek Yogurt (higher fat options)
- Cheese (put that crap on everything or eat a brick of it)
- Creams (sour cream, cream cheese)
- Ice cream, chocolate, candy
- Chocolate/Strawberry milk
- Bagels (I use P28 protein bagels and top with peanut butter and jelly/jam)
- Pancakes (if you want a "healthier" version, then go protein pancakes)
- Waffles
- Muffins/Scones
- Syrup, honey, jams, fluff, nutella
- [Marinade all meats - especially oil based marinades
- Add sauces to foods
- High sugar fruits (pineapple, banana, mango, apples, etc...)
- High calorie protein bars (Cliff Builder, Cliff Energy Bars, etc...)
- High calorie protein drinks (put in milk)
- Red meats (Buffalo, Bison, Steak, 80/20 Hamburger, Duck, Ribs)
- Dark Fish (Salmon,Tuna)
- Bacon (thick cut)
- Eggs
- Starches (potatoes, corn, etc..)
- pizza
- Rice
- Couscous
- etc...
While above is not a full list and I can expand if people have other suggestions, there are a few other things you can try to get those calories up:- Increase meal frequency
- Limit cardio while you bulk
- No diet foods (stay away from low calorie dense foods - again, aim for the veggies/fruits that are higher in sugars)
- Limit "clean" foods
- Drink calories
- Recognize this is mental and that getting nutrients in a bulk is a lot easier
- And trust the program and the math.
Hopefully, this can provide a good start to a bulk.
1 -
@psuLemon Thanks for your post. as you have mentioned im hardgainer. Could you please tell me shall i drink protien shake without workout? or do i need workouts after consuming protien shake. could you also suggest very good protien shake please?Since one of the most common threads in this section seems to be that people struggle to gain weight, I wanted to create a one stop source for members to read on how to gain (particularly, specific foods to help and some techniques). First, you have to eat enough calories to get above your maintenance levels; you cannot add mass, if you are not providing a foundation to grow (i.e - calories). Once you achieve a surplus, and you want to minimize fat gains, you should consistently maintain a surplus (as opposed to huge calorie fluctuations) and ensure proper training (progressive overload lifting program that is focused on compound moves).
There are a variety of reason why people struggle to gain. One of the main reasons why people feel they are hard gainers is because they believe they have a high metabolism. Statistically speaking, the average person doesn't have a slow or fast metabolism, but rather have one of the following issues: 1. current eating style isn't conducive towards their goals, 2. psychological struggles or 3. high/active job/daily routine. What I mean by each is simple. Many people develop eating strategies, whether during dieting or habitual, that focus on many low calorie or "diet" foods. This in turn, makes it very difficult to add enough calories to get into a surplus. Also, bulking can be a huge psychological barrier for many people. It's hard going into a program where you are intentionally gaining fat and getting rid of the progress you previously had. And lastly, there are some people (teachers, construction workers, etc...) whom have jobs that are extremely active and will burn a ton of calories. This in turn, makes achieving a surplus a more difficult task than those of us who have desk jobs. Unfortunately, if you want to achieve the goal of gaining muscle, you must hit a surplus and ideally, in a consistent manor.
With that in mind, hopefully the below list of foods and some dietary strategies will provide you a guide to meet your goals:
Foods:- Avocado
- Nuts, granola
- Olive/Coconut Oil (as a dressing or to cook in)
- Peanut/Almond/Pumpkin/etc butter
- Butter and spreads
- Greek Yogurt (higher fat options)
- Cheese (put that crap on everything or eat a brick of it)
- Creams (sour cream, cream cheese)
- Ice cream, chocolate, candy
- Chocolate/Strawberry milk
- Bagels (I use P28 protein bagels and top with peanut butter and jelly/jam)
- Pancakes (if you want a "healthier" version, then go protein pancakes)
- Waffles
- Muffins/Scones
- Syrup, honey, jams, fluff, nutella
- [Marinade all meats - especially oil based marinades
- Add sauces to foods
- High sugar fruits (pineapple, banana, mango, apples, etc...)
- High calorie protein bars (Cliff Builder, Cliff Energy Bars, etc...)
- High calorie protein drinks (put in milk)
- Red meats (Buffalo, Bison, Steak, 80/20 Hamburger, Duck, Ribs)
- Dark Fish (Salmon,Tuna)
- Bacon (thick cut)
- Eggs
- Starches (potatoes, corn, etc..)
- pizza
- Rice
- Couscous
- etc...
While above is not a full list and I can expand if people have other suggestions, there are a few other things you can try to get those calories up:- Increase meal frequency
- Limit cardio while you bulk
- No diet foods (stay away from low calorie dense foods - again, aim for the veggies/fruits that are higher in sugars)
- Limit "clean" foods
- Drink calories
- Recognize this is mental and that getting nutrients in a bulk is a lot easier
- And trust the program and the math.
Hopefully, this can provide a good start to a bulk.
You can drink them with or without a work out. Its just a protein supplement.1 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know
) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
1 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
For every lb of muscle its 4 to 6 calories per day.3 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
It's really not.2 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
Honestly,it's not - it's around what I've been taking in and I'm not a big eater.2 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
For every lb of muscle its 4 to 6 calories per day.
You mean 40 to 60 cals per day?1 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
For every lb of muscle its 4 to 6 calories per day.
You mean 40 to 60 cals per day?
No, I literally only mean 4-6 calories extra burned per day. So 10 lbs of muscle (not lean body mass) would be 40-60 calories. The claims of calories burned per lb of muscle are highly exaggerated.
4 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
For every lb of muscle its 4 to 6 calories per day.
You mean 40 to 60 cals per day?
No, I literally only mean 4-6 calories extra burned per day. So 10 lbs of muscle (not lean body mass) would be 40-60 calories. The claims of calories burned per lb of muscle are highly exaggerated.
that sucks!!!4 -
PsuLemon, I have gained roughly 5 lbs over the past 5 months (as you know) and it's mostly more of a body recomp effort due to how slow I'm gaining it seems.
My maintenance cals used to be 2000 cals, so I increased daily cals to 2250 cals.
For every pound of muscle, you need an extra 40 cals right? So as you gain muscle, you increase your cals? So if I've gained about 4 lbs of muscle (bc visually I don't see any extra fat), I should now be eating about 2400?
Man that is a lot of food if that's accurate!!!
For every lb of muscle its 4 to 6 calories per day.
You mean 40 to 60 cals per day?
No, I literally only mean 4-6 calories extra burned per day. So 10 lbs of muscle (not lean body mass) would be 40-60 calories. The claims of calories burned per lb of muscle are highly exaggerated.
that sucks!!!
Increases in TDEE generally come from exercise and NEAT.2 -
Great thread0
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So is anyone giving all this advice on here, have a professional Medical Degree?2
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So is anyone giving all this advice on here, have a professional Medical Degree?
You are in a free internet forum and you getz the advice you payz for!
It is UP TO YOU to judge posts, decide what to believe, or not believe, and verify any advice independently before following it.
If you want to find a qualified professional and contract their services... do so.
I do believe that this would have to take place outside of MFP as MFP's terms and conditions frown on advertising.5 -
So is anyone giving all this advice on here, have a professional Medical Degree?
You'd be more informed by people who hold degrees in biology, chemist, biochemistry, etc... . One of my best friends is a pedantic cardiologist and i know a crap ton more than her in nutrition as she didnt have any classes in it.4 -
So is anyone giving all this advice on here, have a professional Medical Degree?
You'd be more informed by people who hold degrees in biology, chemist, biochemistry, etc... . One of my best friends is a pedantic cardiologist and i know a crap ton more than her in nutrition as she didnt have any classes in it.
Right? You don't need a degree to know what you're talking about1 -
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TavistockToad wrote: »
Especially when you consider that most doctors have minimal (at best) training in nutrition:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/4 -
In all seriousness, if you want, there are a plethora of good people to follow on social media or on other sites, many of which have PhDs or Masters: Layne Norton, Alan Aragon, Brad Schoenfeld, James Kreiger, Lyle McDonald, Mike Matthews, and so many more.1
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