Weight Gainers!!

[scotty1]

Same here mate, I'm 22 and I think that I could do as much 'building' as I like but its only a combination of my training and my age that are at last filling me out.

[Lice]

Hi,

I'm going through the same thing right now. Six weeks ago I was 5'11" and 120lbs. Now I'm 140lbs (and still 5'11" ) and still working on gaining.

I lift weights four times a week and eat a lot more. I try to take in around 175 to 200 grams of protein a day and about 300 to 400 grams of carbs. Good sources of protein are eggs, tuna(and other fish), nuts and meat. I also use protein shakes because I don't like feeling full all the time as I did when I tried doing it with just eating. Also, it's good to eat 5-6 meals a day instead of 3 large meals.

It's a diet, just like an overweight person trying to lose weight. The same willpower will be needed to stick with it. As you age your metabolism will slow down and eventually when you're pushing 40 you'll be wondering where all this fat came from.

[IronFist]

Keep in mind tho (and I speak from experience) that if you are an ectomorph with a naturally fast metabolism, and you build up to eating 5-6000 calories a day, there is a chance that because your body is expecting food, your metabolism will further increase. Does that make sense? It's like the opposite of starvation mode... when you DON'T get enough food, your metabolism slows down to preserve what you do have. When you get too much food, your metabolism speeds up to compensate.

That being said, if you do get to the point where your body is expecting 5 or 6000 calories per day, and one day for whatever reason you can't eat very much, believe me that you will be hungry as hell. Your body expects a big meal NOW, and if it doesn't get one, your stomach will let you know.

That, and many other reasons, are part of why I quit bodybuilding.

Just something to consider if you decide to be hardcore about building muscle mass.

Oh, and to the guy who gained 20lbs in 6 weeks, do you know your bodyfat % (before and after)? 20lbs doesn't really mean anything by itself. You could gain 20lbs of fat and look like crap. Or you could gain 15lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat and look pretty cool. Do you have any idea what your bf levels are?

IronFist

[Lice]

Ironfist,

I've been tracking that also. I started at 6% and currently at 10%. From what I understand, 10% is still pretty darn low.

But it's all going to my gut! Darnit.

[Spark]

What would you recommend for a Starving Student like myself who can't afford $100 in extra groceries?

There are different types of 'shakes' - Carb, Whey, high calorie (aren't there???) that could possibly compensate?

Later!

[dezhen2001]

Tuna is pretty cheap

I'ma student as well and just eat lots of meat and veg etc. But actually i don't train weights or anything anymore, just do my gong fu training and qigong and have reaped good benefit from those

david

[looking_up]

I know that this may sound like the complete opposite of what
one would expect to hear as advice on gaining weight, but..

Try practicing some zhan zhuang (standing pole) meditation.

I put on more weight since I started meditating than all the
protein shakes and weight lifting that I did before that.

There's something about learning how to be still (especially in the
mind) that helped my body to chill out a little and stop burning
those calories so quickly. I was always hyper and tapping my
foot and stuff and I think the meditation helped my body to
find its natural weight. You learn to breathe deeply from the
belly and become more efficient.

Also, you're only 17; you'll put on at least 10 pounds your Frosh
year in college...

- Peace -

[Grahf1]

My advice:

Keep doing what you are doing, except eat more. Just eat, eat, and eat. Don't worry about getting fat, if you do get fat, I'm sure with metabolism like yours you will lose it in no time.

My experience with people with high metabolism is, even when they try eating more and more, they still have trouble gaining weight, so I think getting fat is the last thing you need to worry about.

Eat a lot of potatoes.

[Taone]

I think there's more of us out there than each one thinks I don't know about pounds and feet but I'm 185cm and 65kg at 18... But I've given up on the notion of a 'buff' look I only just started doing free-weights properly cause I gotta do a lot of shoulder cuff rotator rehab after a dislocation a few weeks ago... and for some reason I don't care about the look anymore. Function and tone is all I'm after. Consider how many Kung Fu masters or teachers are really ripped... some are, but hey, it's in the genes. You can or you can't, don't stress over it.

And ironfist, you're right about the six-pack. My stomach is an item of pride naturally

One other thing, I'm sure I read somewhere that the body can only assimilate about 30g of protein an hour, so excess (ie big lumps of steak or choking down them huge shakes) only puts a burden on the kidneys... anyone confirm/disagree??

Ta

[IronFist]

I was at GNC tonight looking at the weight gaining powders. I wonder who the "engineers" are that come up with some of these formulas.

I saw one a while ago (sorry, I forgot the brand) that was like 30g sat. fat per serving. That's 150% saturated fat (the bad kind of fat) of the daily recommended value (based on a 2000 calorie a day diet). Holy ****, they should rename that stuff heart attack powder.

Then tonight I saw this other one that was called "Weight Gain 2150" or something. The 2150 is because each shake has 2150 calories in it. Holy ****! Now, that's probably not much if you're a pro bodybuilder eating 7000 calories a day, but that's still quite a bit for one meal. One serving was "3 scoops", however, so if you wanted to be normal you could use only 1 scoop and have a nice, 700 calorie shake. If you did it this way you would extend the life of the product from 7 servings to 21 servings. But for $45 that's still expensive.

Why is that last one worth mentioning? Because of the ingredients. Out of the 2150 calories, I think 50-80g were protein. Now the funny part. In a 2150 calorie shake, only 2g was fat. That means the rest was carbs ! I remember in the RDA % column it said it was 160% of the RDA's recommended daily carb allowance. Holy ****!!! They should rename this stuff, "Who wants to become a diabetic powder."

I wonder who came up with that last stuff? "Hey guys, let's make a bulking powder with no fat in it! I'm SMART." Is it supposed to make you huge and lean?

Rant over.

IronFist

[stuff]

they need the carbs to spare the muscle. of course carbs aren't the only thing involved. BCAA's esp. Glutamine and many other things play a part in sparing muscle.

[yenhoi]

Well..... you are kinda responsible for reading the label and stuff.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by stuff
they need the carbs to spare the muscle.

What are you talking about?

IronFist

[stuff]

that was in response to the part in your rant about the carbs.

[IronFist]

I knew that much

I meant what are you mean by "sparing the muscle?"

IronFist