Posts by ak604

being a "naturally thin" person myself, here's what I learned after gaining 40 pounds

- even with an additional 40 pounds (22.6 BMI) I still look thin, so no worries about the flab you mention. one of the perks of having a small frame

- bottom line is if you want to gain, you eat more and  increase your calories. but, you can still have a healthy diet. you say you want to minimize fat, I think that is fine as long as you avoid (or minimize) the UNhealthy fats (ie: fast food, junk food, ect). There are LOTS of healthy fats, ie: found in nuts, olive oil, flax seed, ect. Not all fats are created equal!

- when you gain, some parts of your body gain faster than others, but over a long period of time, it all evens out

- personally, I like weight training. not only did it help me steadily increase my calories over time, but it also helped me stay healthy. just make sure to do strength training, keep the cardio to a very minimum, and no marathon sessions.

- about shakes/protein/supplements: I think they're fine as long as you get most of your nutrition using real food, and use shakes as small bonuses, emphasis on small. Especially when you start out, you don't really want to rely on shakes too much. If you use shakes, be sure to add stuff to it, like blend some fruit in it, or peanut butter. Or take it with other foods.

So I hope some of this helps, and best wishes!

here's the hard truth. if you are 120 and 5'10, weight gainers aren't going to help you. only food will. I would suggest taking a look at the stickied posts on the top of this forum and start working on increasing your daily calorie intake. your body needs to repair itself and food provides all the building blocks to do that.

weight gainers such as the one you are asking about, are meant for people who are not underweight, and it takes several BUCKETS of them and also in conjunction with a weight training program for them to work. So don't look for them as a magic bullet, and definetly don't listen to the sales person, please. I've been there and done that, with no results.

Proper diet and exercise is the way to go, there isn't any silver bullets unfortunately. But the good news is that there's is tons of information in this forum to help you overcome the hurdles you had before. First off, look at the stickys posted in this forum for calorie dense foods. That way, you don't have to be eating every hour. For exercise, look for strength training workouts. And I'm sure that if you have any specific questions, many people here can help you out or point you in the right direction.

I'm also a guy that was very underweight and never gained any pounds since highschool, but am now at a healthy normal weight. I'm not going to lie, it definetly was tough to put on the weight, but I stuck with it. If being skinny bothers you now, don't wait until you get older in hopes that you'll naturally put on pounds. Wouldn't you rather enjoy life in your 20's with a healthy weight than wait until your 40's to gain?

I did the "grin and bear it" thing but it would still bug me for the rest of the day. So instead, I usually just say that I'm underweight and I'm actually trying to gain weight. When people hear what I have to say and understand that it's the same struggle being on the underweight side, they usually change their tone. Most people just don't understand, much like how we would never understand what's it like being overweight and trying to lose. Personally, I feel better responding this way and I find that these people even come back later on and ask how I am doing and end up being pretty encouraging.

Hope this helps, and best of luck!

Original Post by agruskin:

why do u have to cook everything from scratch, spend so much time in the kitchen?

 

 Sometimes I will have take out or go out to eat, but I cook/make most of my meals because it saves me money, and it's easier to measure what I'm eating. Mind you, I'm not cooking anything fancy, but I still end up spending alot of time cooking and then eating.

Strength training exercises would be best, and try to limit cardio and endurance exercises to a minimum. Theres quite a few strength exercises and workouts on this site in the "Exercise" tab, so definetly check those out. But basically, it's slightly heavier weights but much smaller amount of reps and sets and longer rests. Like maybe 3 sets of 5 reps, with 1 or 2 minute rest between sets, that way you don't burn as much calories but still get a workout and help spark some muscle growth. Also only workout 3 times a week, with at least 1 day of rest in between. Like you workout on Monday, Weds, Fri and then take the weekend off and repeat on the next Monday. I also suggest trying to keep the length of your workout to 40-60mins in length. Again, this is to help retain as much calories as possible but still get a good workout. And as with any underweight people who also exercise while recovering, don't forget to keep up with your diet plans and you'll probabyl even find you can eat more because of the exercising. Good luck! :)

if you're at 1800 and you want to hit 2000, that should be pretty simple to get an extra 200 calories in. For example 1 cup of 2% milk is already 122 cals according to CC, and since it's liquid, it'll be easier to take than a solid food. You can even mix in 2 teaspoons of olive oil (a healthy fat) to make it an even 200 calories in 1 cup of liquid. Another suggestion that was mentioned is to find calorie dense foods.. peanut butter is a favourite of many on recovery.

I also agree with the person who said eating healthy doesn't only mean choosing low cal foods. I'd like to think that eating healthy means having a nutrionally complete daily diet and avoiding all the junk food and processed food that is always shoved in our faces (mcD's, chips, soda, candy, ect). Well okay you can have some ice cream or cake once in a while  Finding calorie dense foods (like pasta, potatoes, nuts, stuff mentioned in the above replies) that you enjoy will definetly help you alot and will make it much much easier to hit your daily calorie goals.

Another helpful tip is to evenly divide your calories for the day. For example, if you need 2500 calories per day, and you eat 5 meals a day, then each meal should be 500 cals each.  If that's too much per meal, then split it to 6 meals a day, equalling 416 cals each. Naturally, you will need to eat more frequently using this method but it makes it so you don't have to stuff yourself and also keeps you on track for the day. Set an appropriate goal for yourself and aim for it every day for at least 2 weeks, and then try to increase it, even if it's just an extra 100-200 for another 2 weeks, then increase again.... rinse and repeat.

best wishes!

Well protein helps build and repair tissues and most of us have been underweight for several years, so we need it to repair ourselves. The recommended diet is for "normal" people. The recommended calorie intake for a normal person is also 2000, and lets just say those of us gaining are not really normal in that aspect either, as quite a few of us need to consume 3000+ cals a day just to get back to "normal" :) hope this sheds some light into it

I always go in with a list of foods so I can expect how much my bill will be roughly. It definetly can be tough while on a budget but I feel it can be done but takes some extra effort. If you eat certain things alot, try to get them in bulk and on sale. Meat can be bought in bulk and frozen. Also look into the alternate brands of similar items. Most of the times the store brand is cheaper and same quality as a name brand. Nuts I totally agree are expensive, but shop around your local area. For example, almonds at my local Safeway is $1.50 per 100g, but at the Save on Foods it's only $0.99 per 100g. Same with fruits and veggies, there is a smaller fruit market grocery nearby that is much cheaper than my local Safeway and bette quality too. I've gotten to the point where I've been writing down the price of certain items and then when the weekly flyers come around, I check if they have a sale :) Good luck!

Everybodies got a little fussiness about food, you just gotta work with what you like to eat. If you don't like mushy foods thats okay, what non-mushy foods do you like? Make it into a healthy meal, and don't feel bad about eating it on a regular basis because if you like it, you won't mind it. For example, I love pasta, and I eat some kind of pasta almost everyday and I don't get sick of it. Right now you've got a lemon and only seeing the lemon, you gotta start making some lemonade!

Weight gain in the start will always show up in easy to grow areas first, like the gut, or buttocks, thighs, ect... but several months down the road the rest of your body will also increase and will look porportional

Determining your daily caloric goal varies from people to people, but it is safe to start with an increase of 200-500 calories ontop of what you are taking right now and then slowly increase as your weight increases. Fats are part of a nutritious diet so you shouldn't be avoiding them unless you are trying to become leaner. However, make sure to stick with healthy fats such as olive oil and nuts which happen to be the fats you listed.

For protein powders and such, my personal opinion is to avoid weight gainers. I feel they are unhealthy supplements because they are usual filled with.. well, fillers, in order to have such a high calorie content. However, pure protein powders are great. These include protein isolate, protein hydrolysate or protein concentrate and check the ingredient listings and look for one with either one of those 3 in the first few ingredients. If you feel you NEED a weight gainer, you can make a homemade one using protein powder and blending it with things such as peanut butter, oatmeal, bananas, fruits such as berrys, even adding some olive oil and you have a complete protein, carb, fat, high calorie drink.

Are you looking to continue gaining or just looking to maintain?

Being able to fit in clothes is definetly my highlight

Another one, this one's kinda weird.. but when i was really skinny, whenever I lay on my back, I could feel my pelvis bones sticking out and my stomach would kinda sink downward from the gravity.. ugh! I'm so glad I don't get that anymore but every now and then I have to just double check, lol

gonna toss in my 2cents as well  thats awsome you're able to get over 4000cals, but has it been a consistent thing or just one day? for some it can take at least a week of an increased calorie diet before it will show up on you. Next, check to see if you're not overestimating some of your portions. I did that when I first joined. Lastly, I also agree with dropping any "junk" foods and go with a healthy balance approach. Fast food hamburgers, pop, chips, candy and such may have high calories, but they are extremely poor in nutrition.

I think you're doing great, give yourself time and it's okay when you don't see results right away as long as you don't give up.  In general, if you go 2 weeks without any increase, re-evaulate, change, and commit for another 2 weeks and see if any results. It can be a bit of a trial and error sometimes, but it's well worth it.. keep it up!

I can understand that but you know, I'm on 6 meals and 3034 cals per day with whole foods and some whey protein so it's definetly possible. Alot of people here are even higher without any whey to help. It's just picking the right calorie dense foods for each meal. So if you ever reconsider about whole foods, just know its possible and not too hard

In general, whey protein and glutamine is not necessary. You can still follow a workout without the need for it, and if you need more protein, then basically just eat more protein rich foods like chicken. However, as a supplement, whey protein has great benefits. Mainly because it can be very difficult to eat enough chicken, beef, fish, food per day to reach whatever protein goal you may have, and thats where whey protein comes in and answers one of your questions; yes, whey protein has more protein than meat and can easily be increased by adding more scoops.  Another benefit of whey is that it is easily digested and faster absorbed than solid foods, that's why it's a great drink to take right after a workout when your body needs it the most. When you don't consume food after a strenuous workout, whether it's whey protein or not, your body will start to break it's own tissue in order to provide nutrients. This is known as catabolism. The opposite is known as anabolism (check google for more scientific info)

As far as glutamine is concerned, I think the research is still uncertain on it. Some say it works, some say it doesn't or has no effect.

A quality whey protein supplement should contain either whey protein isolate,  whey protein hydrolysate, or whey protein concentrate within the first 2 ingredient in the ingredient listings. Personally, I think the less ingredients after that, the better, as then it won't contain much "filler". Whey protein is typically a little more expensive than other supplements because, from what I understand, it is more expensive to manufacture. The one I currently use is Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard which costs about $59 Canadian for 5lb, almost $100 for 10lbs.

I think that whey protein, although seems pricey, is very cost effective because the alternative is buying more meat, which can be even more expensive.