Hello thur. :]

Helllo. I'm new here and very glad I found this website.. a little information about myself before I get started

• Name: Joel
• Location: UK
• Age: 18
• Height: 5'10
• Weight: 148 pounds
• Bodyfat: 11.5%

So, I've noted down some of the high-cal healthy foods that'll help me get to my 3500 cal a day goal but wondered if anyone could drop me a few more, here are the ones I have so far.

• Peanut Butter, Chunky (1/2 cup = 760)
• Ensure High Protein (230)
• Bananas (200)
• Spaghetti (220)
• Tuna Tanned in Oil (289)
• Complan (400/500 per shake)
• Icecream, Vanilla (1/2 cup = 145)
• Bagels, toasted (1 large = 354)

The foods I'm looking for are healthy ones and would help if they are high in protein.

What I've had so far today...

• Apple (80)
  
• Orange (62)
  
• 2 bananas (401)

So, 542 so far. Not great but it's a start, to say I barely ate any fruit before. Now I'll be looking to get my 5 fruits a day and more.

Another question of mine would be how does calories actually work? What if I was to eat like normal but ate 10 bananas to boost my calories up by 2000? Would that still be helping me gain weight? I was thinking about it but I thought if it was that simple everyone would be doing it as they aren't that filling and could eat everything they would normally eat on top, it would boost their overall calories right up. Sorry if this is a dumb question, just curious.

One last question, how fast would I be gaining weight (pounds per month) if I ate 3500 a day? Would you be able to give me an estimated figure or does it just depend on the person themselves?

Sorry for any spelling mistakes and whatnot, it's 9:10am in the mornin' and I've had zero sleep. :(

Thank you.

Hi Joel. Yay, fellow briton!

While you could eat 10 bananas for 1000 calories (a banana is, average, 100 calories, not two!) it would be terribly constipating and not a lot of variety! 3500 is a good target, as you're a guy and a teenager. It depends on the person, though. Here's some general advice:

Gaining weight can be tricky for people who generally struggle with it or with fast metabolisms, but it can be done! As a general target for gaining, get your calories up to the given 3500 and then go up from there. It looks like a lot but this IS a doable number - I have had to eat 3000 to 4000 calories regularly in weight gain and haven't done it with gainer suppliments or anything like that.

To help you along:

1. High calorie, low density foods. These are foods that are as the name says - high in calories but low in bulk. These are not only vital in the sense that they can still easily be broken down by a stomach trying to mend itself but also because they add calories without adding bulk. Examples of these would be whole fat dairy, nuts and nut butters, avocado, oils like olive oil and canola (rapeseed) oil as two examples, oily fish, dried fruit and dense fruit like bananas as just a handful of examples. There are two threads stickied at the top of this forum: Support Recipes - while aimed more at recovering disordered eaters these may still help you - and The Official High-Cal Food List.
   
2. Eat your meals spaced out over the day - aim for about five to six total. Breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner, or switching one of those snacks for an evening snack would be an example. This may make it easier on your stomach and mean you're not cramming calories in at three meals. If it is easier for you, devise a meal plan routine by yourself or with a nutritionist and stick with it.
   
3. This is an important one: do not weigh or measure yourself for two weeks when upping your calories. Why? Because our body will hold to a large amount of water initially. This water shows up on the scale, but is not a true indication of weight gain and will flush out after two weeks. After those two weeks you will have a better indication of whether things are working at the number you're eating at or not.
   
4. If you eat a steady 3500, and then find you are maintaining or even losing weight, you will need to increase. Do not think about this just yet - just get to 3500 first.

Do not worry about specific nutrition at this point. You will probably have a higher intake of everything compared to others - and really, comparing yourself to anyone else at all isn't the way to go. The only thing I personally think is worth watching when upping calories is salt and trans fat, but as for numbers of other nutrients and food groups? Don't worry about it. Aim for carbs, proteins, fruit or veg, healthy fats and dairy in all your meals over the day, get enough fibre, and take a full multivitamin as a buffer, and you'll be fine.

You may want to weight lift and do resistance exercise during your gaining, as it helps build healthy muscle in a surplus, but be aware: cardiovascular exercising is completely counter-productive during gaining unless you are willing to eat back everything you burn. And as with any exercise, if your doctor, nutritionist or another professional tells you not to exercise at all, not even weights or yoga/pilates, then listen to them.

If you have any further questions please ask! Good luck!

 - Ellie.

and thus I realize how dumb my questions were... I shall just blame it on lack of sleep. Sorry for the 100/200 calorie mix up. *takes 200 calories off my list and sheds a tear* ;p

Thank you very much for your advice though, I'll take it all into consideration. I'm currently working out everyday, trying to gain muscle. It's a workout called P90x that lasts for 90 days and gives you a totally ripped body, the only problem is that there are 12 workouts altogether that it provides and I'm thinking maybe I should skip some (e.g. Kenpo, Plyometrics) and just do the workouts that involve weight lifting/muscle gain. The rest just seem like calorie burning workouts more than anything, which I really don't need.

If I have anymore questions I'll be sure to ask, maybe I'll wait till I get some sleep first, ay?

Original Post by topsup:

and thus I realize how dumb my questions were... I shall just blame it on lack of sleep. Sorry for the 100/200 calorie mix up. *takes 200 calories off my list and sheds a tear* ;p

Thank you very much for your advice though, I'll take it all into consideration. I'm currently working out everyday, trying to gain muscle. It's a workout called P90x that lasts for 90 days and gives you a totally ripped body, the only problem is that there are 12 workouts altogether that it provides and I'm thinking maybe I should skip some (e.g. Kenpo, Plyometrics) and just do the workouts that involve weight lifting/muscle gain. The rest just seem like calorie burning workouts more than anything, which I really don't need.

 

If I have anymore questions I'll be sure to ask, maybe I'll wait till I get some sleep first, ay?

You should be wary of these kind of workout programmes. For example, the muscle confusion theory is pure ****. Instead, google bodybuilding and go to the prestigous sites and read their articles. What you want to be doing is doing weight training 3 times a week, so that's at least 30 times in 70 days. (Thus I'm calling bull on this programme)

when i was trying to gain weight i found doing little things like eating higher calorie bread, more potatoes, butter, olive oil etc all added up over time and they don't make you feel too gross and full. & dip your bananas in peanut butter :) sooo good. i dont know much about weight lifting etc but i think if you want to gain muscle it's good to eat loads of protein? (that might be totally wrong :|) good luckkk xx

Original Post by toasttoasttoast:

Original Post by topsup:

and thus I realize how dumb my questions were... I shall just blame it on lack of sleep. Sorry for the 100/200 calorie mix up. *takes 200 calories off my list and sheds a tear* ;p

Thank you very much for your advice though, I'll take it all into consideration. I'm currently working out everyday, trying to gain muscle. It's a workout called P90x that lasts for 90 days and gives you a totally ripped body, the only problem is that there are 12 workouts altogether that it provides and I'm thinking maybe I should skip some (e.g. Kenpo, Plyometrics) and just do the workouts that involve weight lifting/muscle gain. The rest just seem like calorie burning workouts more than anything, which I really don't need.

 

If I have anymore questions I'll be sure to ask, maybe I'll wait till I get some sleep first, ay?

You should be wary of these kind of workout programmes. For example, the muscle confusion theory is pure ****. Instead, google bodybuilding and go to the prestigous sites and read their articles. What you want to be doing is doing weight training 3 times a week, so that's at least 30 times in 70 days. (Thus I'm calling bull on this programme)

I don't know mate, it seems to be working pretty well so far and has everything planned out for me for the whole 90 days. See, if I didn't have it all planned I probably wouldn't know what to do and the equipment they use are basically just dumbells and a pullup bar rather than any machines they use at the gym.  I'm not really looking to become really ripped, I just wanna gain weight through muscle and fat at the sametime, help me bulk up faster.  I'm already 3 weeks into the programme so I can't really quit now... maybe I'll give what you said a try once I've finished this, thanks anyway.

Original Post by bugsylover:

when i was trying to gain weight i found doing little things like eating higher calorie bread, more potatoes, butter, olive oil etc all added up over time and they don't make you feel too gross and full. & dip your bananas in peanut butter :) sooo good. i dont know much about weight lifting etc but i think if you want to gain muscle it's good to eat loads of protein? (that might be totally wrong :|) good luckkk xx

Dippin' mah banana in mah peanut buttah? Sounds lovely. :P

and yeah, protein is the way to go, so I'll make sure I eat plenty of meat, fish, pasta, etc. Thank you for the food tips.

Well I don't know an awful lot about bulking up but I do know about the healthy high cal foods list: http://caloriecount.about.com/official-high-c al-foods-list-ft85039

You've probably seen this already but I reckon that would be really helpful for what you are trying to achieve! Good luck.

Original Post by kahlia-jade:

Well I don't know an awful lot about bulking up but I do know about the healthy high cal foods list: http://caloriecount.about.com/official-high-c al-foods-list-ft85039

You've probably seen this already but I reckon that would be really helpful for what you are trying to achieve! Good luck.

That it would. The stuff I noted down was mainly from that list, I just added the food that I like but I guess I'll have to overlook it again... I never realised how hard it was to pack 3500+kcal a day whilst eating healthy. Then again, I don't really have any of the high-cal foods in my house, need to go shopping. T_T

I know I can eat a 150g bag of twiglets so that's like.. 585 right there. That along with the peanut butter, Complan and fruit would boost it to over 2000 a day, just have to worry about the other 1500. I need to plan something in advance, it seems.