Help at gaining weight?

yesno1234 · 06-02-2011 1:43am #1

Right well I'm about 5'11 or a little more. Have always been very thin. Weighed myself there about a week or two weeks ago and was just over 10 stone. I 'd really like to put on weight with a view to toning and gaining definition.

The last week I have eaten at least 2800 calories a day, have beent trying to get 3000 calories as thats what I have seen said to eat to gain weight. Just wondering is there any good foods for putting on weight which would help me. I would rather not be taking protein.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Brian? · 06-02-2011 1:51am

yesno1234 wrote: »

Right well I'm about 5'11 or a little more. Have always been very thin. Weighed myself there about a week or two weeks ago and was just over 10 stone. I 'd really like to put on weight with a view to toning and gaining definition.

The last week I have eaten at least 2800 calories a day. Just wondering is there any good foods for putting on weight which would help me. I would rather not be taking protein.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Taking protein? Do you mean whey powder? Protein is a macro nutrient that will help build muscle, whey is a protein supplement that's a by product of making cheese. It's perfectly fine to eat or drink whey. It's the main ingredient in baby formula, so if you were bottle fed as a chisler you have already eaten a fair amount.

Have a look at the nutrition stickies. But as a general guide, add 500 to your BMR and try to get 1g per pound of bodyweight of protein into your diet.

Eat lots of meat, eggs, cottage cheese etc.

El Horseboxo · 06-02-2011 2:01am

To get to that level of calories or more it is worth increasing you carb intake. But keep them to before 8pm or 4 hours before going to bed. Before and after a workout would be the most beneficial. Brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes (lidl sell these now) and pasta are all good sources. Some fruit and veg are too. Drinking lots of milk will also give you a quick amount of calories. Any lean meat is gonna be a good source of protein. 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% good fats is a good breakdown of your daily intake.

Of course with a bulking diet expect to put on some fat. But since you are mainly looking to gain weight i imagine that's not a big concern for you.

yesno1234 · 06-02-2011 2:11am

briankeating wrote: »

Taking protein? Do you mean whey powder? Protein is a macro nutrient that will help build muscle, whey is a protein supplement that's a by product of making cheese. It's perfectly fine to eat or drink whey. It's the main ingredient in baby formula, so if you were bottle fed as a chisler you have already eaten a fair amount.

Have a look at the nutrition stickies. But as a general guide, add 500 to your BMR and try to get 1g per pound of bodyweight of protein into your diet.

Eat lots of meat, eggs, cottage cheese etc.

Cheers, ya according to a calculator I should be consuming about 2600 calories. I have been able to do this so hopefully I should be able to keep this up.

El Horseboxo wrote: »

To get to that level of calories or more it is worth increasing you carb intake. But keep them to before 8pm or 4 hours before going to bed. Before and after a workout would be the most beneficial. Brown rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes (lidl sell these now) and pasta are all good sources. Some fruit and veg are too. Drinking lots of milk will also give you a quick amount of calories. Any lean meat is gonna be a good source of protein. 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% good fats is a good breakdown of your daily intake.

Of course with a bulking diet expect to put on some fat. But since you are mainly looking to gain weight i imagine that's not a big concern for you.

Ye well my usual daily meals would be:
Breakfast: Fry or beans on toast or sausage rolls or cereal with about 400ml of Orange juice
Dinner: Stir fry or chicken curry or sweet and sour chicken or steak and potato chips or something like potatoes and pork chops with about 500ml of milk
Tea: Pizza or chicken wraps or goujons and chips or something along these lines again with another few glasses of milk
Snack: Crisp sandwiches or bars or something.

Any recommendations on something I should change or anything.

Thanks for the help lads.

El Horseboxo · 06-02-2011 2:37am

yesno1234 wrote: »

Ye well my usual daily meals would be:
Breakfast: Fry or beans on toast or sausage rolls or cereal with about 400ml of Orange juice
Dinner: Stir fry or chicken curry or sweet and sour chicken or something like potatoes and pork chops with about 500ml of milk
Tea: Pizza or chicken wraps or goujons and chips or something along these lines again with another few glasses of milk
Snack: Crisp sandwiches or bars or something.

Any reccomendations on something I should change or anything.

Thanks for the help lads.

Your diet could be a lot cleaner and still hit the 3000 calorie mark. I can see where your calories are coming from but your salt intake must be very high. Seems to be a good bit of processed food in there. Something you should try avoid and keep for cheat meals. I'm sure your goal is to bulk up a bit and look good. Not just get fat. Especially if you are lifting weights or doing any form of exercise.

In my opinion a better breakfast would be porridge, 4-6 egg omelet and if you want to use bread choose wholewheat or granary. Sausage rolls and a fry isn't the best way to start the day.

For all your other meals make sure you are eating lean meats. Chicken fillets with brown rice and a small serving of sauce to add taste. You can substitute the chicken with any lean meat/tuna or the rice with pasta. And as mentioned earlier drop the carbs for the meals later in the evening. Add pints or more of whole milk to each meal. Fries are fine if you use them the right ingredients. Look for sausages with 80% + pork content. Lidl or Dunnes sell them. Most ones are only in the 50% region. Again same with rashers or use turkey bacon. Eggs are always good in a bulking diet. Pudding won't really offer much and i suppose the beans aren't too bad. Just look for ones with low salt content.

rocky · 06-02-2011 4:05am

OP, go to the nutrition forums on bb.com for more up-to-date advice.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Brown rice, seriously? I guess because it's 'clean' and white rice is 'dirty'...
Carbs before 8pm? because at 8:01pm the insulin fairy shuttles them directly into fat stores...
Lean meat, what's wrong with fatty meat? Seems full fat milk is ok...
40/40/20 P/C/F is too much protein, on a 3kcals diet it's 300gprotein, whereas you need around 140g. Sure, more is not bad, but not necessary.

Sorry to simplify it for you, briankeating's advice is spot on nutrition wise.

Get a weight training programme going also, 3-4 times a week to make sure all those nutrients go to creating new muscle.

El Horseboxo · 06-02-2011 4:51am

rocky wrote: »

OP, go to the nutrition forums on bb.com for more up-to-date advice.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

Brown rice, seriously? I guess because it's 'clean' and white rice is 'dirty'...
Carbs before 8pm? because at 8:01pm the insulin fairy shuttles them directly into fat stores...
Lean meat, what's wrong with fatty meat? Seems full fat milk is ok...
40/40/20 P/C/F is too much protein, on a 3kcals diet it's 300gprotein, whereas you need around 140g. Sure, more is not bad, but not necessary.

Sorry to simplify it for you, briankeating's advice is spot on nutrition wise.

Get a weight training programme going also, 3-4 times a week to make sure all those nutrients go to creating new muscle.

White rice is brown rice after the milling process. The process removes some nutritional values. Dietry fiber is a lot higher, calories are higher, fat is higher, carbs is higher in brown rice.

Setting a rough time instills discipline. The main point is to avoid snacking on crap late at night. There's a lot of people who don't need an insulin spike that late at night. At 208 lbs and under 10% body fat cutting out carbs late at night worked for me compared to when i used to eat them. So no need for your smart tone.

And the fella wants to put on weight and described himself as very thin. Why would he be aiming for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight? 300 grams would be fine until he increases his weight. Then change to something like 30/50/20.

And i said lean meat as there are much better sources to get your fat from.

rocky · 06-02-2011 12:17pm

El Horseboxo wrote: »

White rice is brown rice after the milling process. The process removes some nutritional values. Dietry fiber is a lot higher, calories are higher, fat is higher, carbs is higher in brown rice.

White rice nutritional values
Brown rice nutritional values

I wouldn't call 2.2g extra fiber /100g 'a lot higher'. Not that it matters, but calories and carbs are higher in white rice. NOT THAT IT MATTERS. In the context of a full day's diet, the choice of rice is insignificant. He may go for white for the taste, less fiber (not everyone wants to watch movies on the toilet). Plus, research comparing the two types showed that white rice, due to its lesser antinutrient (fiber, phytate, etc) content, allowed better nitrogen retention & bioavailability of the nutrients contained within it. But even given that, it still doesn't matter unless your diet is composed mostly of rice.

Setting a rough time instills discipline. The main point is to avoid snacking on crap late at night. There's a lot of people who don't need an insulin spike that late at night. At 208 lbs and under 10% body fat cutting out carbs late at night worked for me compared to when i used to eat them. So no need for your smart tone.

What if they feel like eating a baked potato late at night? not sweet potato, no. If they can't do that while bulking, they're doing it wrong

In what sense it 'worked for you' , were you also bulking at the time ? I don't think so.

And the fella wants to put on weight and described himself as very thin. Why would he be aiming for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight? 300 grams would be fine until he increases his weight. Then change to something like 30/50/20.

Exactly, he wants to put on weight so stop making his choices for him in insignificant matters.
Actually, protein requirements decrease while bulking, because the amount of extra calories are protein-sparing, the body will use carbs and fat that are supplied in abundance instead of protein. While cutting, protein requirements increase.

And i said lean meat as there are much better sources to get your fat from.

What's the difference between milk fat (that you recommend) and animal fat (that you don't) ?

yesno1234 · 06-02-2011 3:07pm

Thanks for the help lads appreciate it. I'm in college so I tend to go for the quick and handy meal hence just throwing a pizza in the oven or something. But thanks this is a great help.

Brian? · 06-02-2011 4:30pm

yesno1234 wrote: »

Thanks for the help lads appreciate it. I'm in college so I tend to go for the quick and handy meal hence just throwing a pizza in the oven or something. But thanks this is a great help.

Forget about the White v brown rice stuff for the moment. Think about 1 meal you had yesterday how it could have been better. A pizza takes longer to cook than an omelette, a steak, a few chicken breasts or all of them together.

Change your diet one meal at a time, get more calories number 1 and then worry about the macro nutrients.

70sbig.com hasa a great nutrition guide.

Doctor_Socks · 06-02-2011 4:38pm

One way of adding calories is by eating nuts, cashews have a large amount of calories per gram and are a nice 'clean' food.

Another great way I found to add calories, especially in the morning, is to have a smoothie with milk, fruit and some nuts or oats. I used to have a smoothie with a pint of milk, fistfuls of oats and sunflower seeds, spoonful of peanut butter, banana, and any other fruit I had lying around the place. Was nice and was easy to drink after a few eggs.

budweiser90 · 06-02-2011 9:40pm

I'm in the same boat as yourself man! If you wanna get more calories into yourself I recommend Serious Mass!

http://www.fitnessireland.ie/optimum-nutrition-serious-mass.html

It's more used as a diet supplement. I wouldn't take it before going to the gym. Handy to have if ya don't have the time to make meals.

deadlybuzzman · 06-02-2011 10:14pm

youre way way too light for your height-heres an idea-lift some heavy things eat more every week than you did the previous week and then lift even heavier things again

yesno1234 · 10-02-2011 1:18am

budweiser90 wrote: »

I'm in the same boat as yourself man! If you wanna get more calories into yourself I recommend Serious Mass!

http://www.fitnessireland.ie/optimum-nutrition-serious-mass.html

It's more used as a diet supplement. I wouldn't take it before going to the gym. Handy to have if ya don't have the time to make meals.

Thanks gonna try gaining weight on my own first and see how that goes but if that does'nt go too well I might give that a try.

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

youre way way too light for your height-heres an idea-lift some heavy things eat more every week than you did the previous week and then lift even heavier things again

Yeah thanks that's a huge help.

DARCHA22 · 10-02-2011 11:40am

yesno1234 wrote: »

Ye well my usual daily meals would be:
Breakfast: Fry or beans on toast or sausage rolls or cereal with about 400ml of Orange juice
Dinner: Stir fry or chicken curry or sweet and sour chicken or steak and potato chips or something like potatoes and pork chops with about 500ml of milk
Tea: Pizza or chicken wraps or goujons and chips or something along these lines again with another few glasses of milk
Snack: Crisp sandwiches or bars or something.

Any recommendations on something I should change or anything.

Example:

Breakfast: Oats, 4 eggs, whey shake with tablespoon of olive oil or peanutbutter, Orange Juice

Snack

Dinner: Chicken Breast, Veg, Sweet/White potato, Glass Milk

Snack

Tea: Turkey steak, Veg, Noodles/Rice/Potatoes

Snacks: Nuts, Fruit, Grilled Chicken sambo with wholegrain bread

Keep the diet clean and adjust the portion sizes according to your caolrie needs

Fighters Planet · 10-02-2011 5:46pm

yesno1234 wrote: »

Cheers, ya according to a calculator I should be consuming about 2600 calories. I have been able to do this so hopefully I should be able to keep this up.

Ye well my usual daily meals would be:
Breakfast: Fry or beans on toast or sausage rolls or cereal with about 400ml of Orange juice
Dinner: Stir fry or chicken curry or sweet and sour chicken or steak and potato chips or something like potatoes and pork chops with about 500ml of milk
Tea: Pizza or chicken wraps or goujons and chips or something along these lines again with another few glasses of milk
Snack: Crisp sandwiches or bars or something.

Any recommendations on something I should change or anything.

Thanks for the help lads.

Should you change anything?
Yes...you eat complete ****, are you ****ing stupid?
'Snack: Crisp sandwiches or bars or something.'
You probably drink alcohol too do you?

FTA69 · 10-02-2011 6:53pm

Fighters Planet wrote: »

Should you change anything?
Yes...you eat complete ****, are you ****ing stupid?
'Snack: Crisp sandwiches or bars or something.'
You probably drink alcohol too do you?

At least he's trying to make the effort to adopt a healthy diet, many people haven't a clue about nutrition unfortunately. There's no need to ridicule those who attempt to learn about it.

Khannie · 10-02-2011 7:02pm

Fighters planet temp banned.

gavney1 · 10-02-2011 7:04pm

Hey OP,

Struggled to gain weight myself. About two years ago was about 11st 5lbs at 6"0
Tried to bulk up with diet and weights but after a year, had only gotten to 11st 10lbs, even though I thought i was eating like a horse.

In the last year I've jumped to 14st 4lbs (most of that in the last few months). What's made that difference is

1. Getting on a proper weightlifting programme that's geared around lifting heavy weights (Starting Strenght is what im doing)
2. Drinking about 4L of milk a day (previously i probably was drinking about 1L)
3. Realising that eating **** loads is as important as the training I do in the gym and it requires dedication. Not just to eat clean but to force yourself to get a good meal in every few hours.
4. Not being afraid to get little bit fat.

Help at gaining weight?

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