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you dont have to cut out cardio... you want to gain mass not necessarily weight.... start weight lifting.... you should see results pretty quickly.... and increase your protien intake more than anything....

good luck!!!

you may need more than 3000 to gain weight if you feel like no matter what you eat you never gain weight. calorie count put me at 2100 to gain a pound a week, but thats too little to even be my maintenance calories. follow your intuition, if you feel like you need to eat more then eat more. eat high density but low volume foods such as nuts and nut butters, dried fruit, graham crackers, granola, and drink  lots and lots of juice.

Try a different calorie tool, I've been told that the calorie-count tool on this site is geared moreso toward people losing weight. It also told me I needed 3000 calories to gain a pound per week but another counter stated I need close to 4000. From what I've read on this site, you can do whatever you want in regards to cardio, sports, exercise etc as long as you intake more calories to accomodate for the lost calories from performing such activities.

alvincible, 3000 is extremely low for a 6'3 23yr old guy.  if you're active, you're prob burning closer to 4000/day.  so it's quite possible that you're eating what look to be "normal/average" meals and still not gaining weight.  i would suggest beefing up your meals w/fun foods: sauce, cheese, avocado, nuts, full fat greek yogurt/sour cream/cream.  you can sautee veggies in oil or butter.  you can bread your chicken and fish.  i would also suggest either protein shakes or protein bars as snacks, bec they have a lot of calories and often aren't super filling.  of course, peanut butter and jelly is always a great snack.  there's also the option of drinking milk and juice instead of water/tea.

it's not necessary to eliminate basketball even though you love it--unless you find yourself unable/unwilling to eat more.  you need to fuel the fire.

uh

Original Post by alvincible:

caloriecountingme, holy crap 4000 calories a day?! That's going to be a mountain climb, but I will do what's necessary to reach my goal. Is it safe to have that much caloric intake though? I mean I only exercise once a week; the other 6 days I'm pretty sedintary, especially at my office job.

I like your idea of protein shakes/bars as a snack. I use to drink protein shakes with a scoop of peanut butter mixed in it.

Another problem I have is: what should I eat for breakfast everyday? I like a little variety. I mean, one thing I will have for sure is a bagel with a good amount of cream cheese and a cup of yogurt one day. I try not too spend to much time making breakfast as I enjoy waking up at the last minute for work haha ;-).

I pretty much know what I want to eat for lunch and dinner everyday. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

 i eat 4k a day (and am not the only one to eat this much) to gain weight, its definitely not impossible. yes it is safe to have that much if your body requires it . i barely gain a pound a week off of that intake, i need to add in strength training to speed things up. you may need to aswell.

have your bagel with cream cheese, you can add in ham too. eat yogurt with almonds and strawberry preserves mixed in and wash it all down with a 16 oz glass or more of orange juice

 you might also want to look at this thread

:http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/894 27.html

for some good links to high calorie ideas

Hi :D I eat 4k a day too! 6'1 and a girl, heh. And like Meesh said it is doable! For breakfast I swear by porridge (oatmeal!) as it's filling, can be made quickly (microwave) and you can stir high cal, low density stuff in. I like putting in dried fruits, nuts, peanut butter sometimes or jams, or combinations of those! :D I'd have dark chocolate if I can find one that's dairy free... hmm. Still, it's good and quick. Good luck!

for breakfast, i'd recommend all of my favorites that i don't get to eat bec they're too calorie dense:

pancakes/waffles/FRENCH TOAST w/whipped cream and syrup

granola or a huge bowl of "great grains," yummiest cereal on earth

smoothie (whey protein, milk/yogurt/ice cream, banana, chocolate/cinnamon, various fruits)

buttered toast w/an egg and cheese omlette (sausage/bacon if you like)

muffin?  toaster struedel?  dunno if you're a fan

alvincinble, you just need to eat more protein and good fats like some of the other people have stated. My dad used to be a body builder he's 5'10" and weighed about 210 lbs of lean muscle, of coarse he's shrunk down to about 175 now, but he still eats alot. For breakfast, he usually eats some kind of hot cereal, like corn grits, or oatmeal, 1 egg along with 4 eggs whites, or egg whites and tofu, a tbsp or 2 of almond butter, and some fresh fruit and maybe toast. At lunch he'll either eat some kind of sushi, or chicken with lots of veggies wrapped in a whole grain tortilla. He usually snacks on chips or nuts or something, and then eats lean protein with lots of veggies for dinner. Basically you just need to eat alot of healthy foods. But you should also make sure you aren't gaining weight to fast because that usually means you're gaining fat rather than muscle. 

 

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Original Post by alvincible:

BTW what's the difference between almond butter and normal butter? Does almond butter have more calories and less calories from fat?

who cares, it has CALORIES, you need calories to gain weight. its healthy. it has good fats. and it seriously depends on the brand of butter for the fat/calorie content.

Original Post by alvincible:

BTW what's the difference between almond butter and normal butter? Does almond butter have more calories and less calories from fat?

"normal" butter is a dairy product.  almond butter is like peanut butter, except it's made from almonds.  it's just crushed up almonds.  you can also get cashew butter, macadamia butter, etc.  there's not actual "butter" in nut butters.

Original Post by yellagirljay:

you dont have to cut out cardio... you want to gain mass not necessarily weight.... start weight lifting.... you should see results pretty quickly.... and increase your protien intake more than anything....

good luck!!!

actually you would want to mass lift not necessarily weight lift...lol jk

taylorchewbacca was joking, but actually he/she is right:  mass = weight.  now MUSCLE mass is muscle, and FAT mass is fat.  it is not possible to gain weight/mass w/o gaining fat.  and it doesn't really matter if a lot of your calories are "calories from fat."  peanut butter doesn't make you any more fat than chicken breast does.  it's the number of calories you eat that determines your weight.  you can maximize muscle gains as you gain weight by weight lifting.  personally, i don't eat much protein and have a lot of muscle; so i know that protein isn't what makes muscle.

if i were you, alvincible, i wouldn't worry about weight lifting or cutting out cardio.  i would focus on eating enough calories from healthy foods (and healthy foods include foods high in fat like olive oil, nuts, seeds, olives, cheese)

Original Post by alvincible:

Original Post by meeshmeesh:

Original Post by alvincible:

BTW what's the difference between almond butter and normal butter? Does almond butter have more calories and less calories from fat?

who cares, it has CALORIES, you need calories to gain weight. its healthy. it has good fats. and it seriously depends on the brand of butter for the fat/calorie content.

 The main thing is I just want to make sure I'm not getting a lot of "calories from fat."

 

 

There are different kinds of fat: saturated and unsaturated. Basically, unsaturated fats are healthy fats that you need in your diet, and saturated fats like Trans fat are unhealthy. A food with a lot of calories from fat isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

Original Post by breakinghearts: There are different kinds of fat: saturated and unsaturated. Basically, unsaturated fats are healthy fats that you need in your diet, and saturated fats like Trans fat are unhealthy. A food with a lot of calories from fat isn't necessarily a bad thing.

just fyi, the claim that saturated fats are bad for you is controversial.   and many foods that have a lot of saturated fat have so many health benefits, that their consumption could outweigh the drawbacks of the saturated fat:  eggs are a good example.

protein definitely makes muscle, it's the building block for muscle. It doesn't necessarily have to be animal protein, you can get protein from many different food sources like beans, some vegetables, etc... but you do need protein to build muscle.