Training & Nutrition - Weight Gain Help

Hi,

Can anyone recommend some way of putting on a little extra weight. I could do with 7 to 14 extra pounds for appearences sake. I've been eating crap and cycling a lot over the past while. So, I've dropped weight and could do with a bit more on me to look healthy.

I think my diet tends to be a bit fatty, so even though most of my body looks anorexic I always have a small bit of flab on my belly. I know my daily calorie intake isn't enough. So, can anyone recommend a healthy way to bump it up a bit? Are protein drinks or anything like that a help between meals?

Being in work stops me from picking and putting on extra weight. Then I do a few MTB spins every week, and I don't think I'm even getting enough calories to maintain my current weight...

Thanks

Hi BadBreaks,

I have to deal with low-body-weight issues as well--just real hard to put & keep weight on! Those folks without this problem don't realise what a curse it is ;)

Anyway, you've already alluded to the answer in your question:"I don't think I'm even getting enough calories to maintain my current weight..."

When I was training nearly full-time for endurance events, I was consuming close to 10,000 calories/day and a significant amount of that came from fats (very little animal fat). Without the fats, I couldn't get out of my own way! Now, I'm not advocating just jackin' up your fat intake...

I was able to put weight on by cutting back on my aerobic training from 5-7 days/week to 2-3 lighter days/week, maintained my caloric intake, and began some serious weight training for power development (as opposed to a body-building style training program). The weight training had the double effect of increasing my lean weight, making it easier to get rid of that last little bit of unwanted fat (due to the increased resting metabolic rate of muscle vs adipose tissue), and increasing my time to fatigue in endurance activities.

I found no value whatsoever in protein drinks or other supplements... FOOD felt and tasted great and gave me lasting and "even" energy (no bad energy spikes or drops). It's not too hard to get well balanced nutrition if you eat everything in sight provided it's not more than minimally processed ;)

Hope this helps; feel free to ask for more specifics if you need...

Slán!

Undertake a weightlifting routine if you haven't. 3-6 days a week in the gym depending on your activity level, focusing on heavy lifts like deadlifts, squats, bench press and rowing movements. Get your diet in check - plenty of good protein and complex carbs.

I'll give you a sample of my program. I'm 19 years old, stand 6'0 and weigh 150 pounds, up from 130 when I started lifting 6 months ago.

I workout 6 days/week, and my routine is like this:

Day 1 - Chest/triceps - flat barbell bench press, incline barbell bench press, dips, close-grip flat barbell bench press

Day 2 - Legs - Squats, leg press, lying leg curls, standing calf raises

Day 3 - Shoulders/traps - seated barbell shoulder press (military press), front and side lateral dumbbell raises, rear deltoid barbell row, upright row

Day 4 - Back/biceps - Wide-grip pullups, bent-over barbell row, deadlifts, barbell bicep curls

Day 5 - off

And repeat.

Keep the intensity high on the workouts and keep sessions to an hour or so. By high intensity, I mean keeping rest time in between sets low and focusing on improving your mind-muscle connection.

Diet-wise, I recommend whole foods: plenty of lean meats (steak, chicken breast, fish), eggs, whole milk, quality carbs such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, oats and whole wheat bread. Eat fruits like bananas and oranges and increase your intake of nuts and seeds: almonds, peanuts, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Get a good amount of greens: steamed or boiled spinach, broccoli, collards etc. Keep your caloric intake high and you WILL start gaining quality mass.

Bodybuilding.com has a great database of exercises for different body parts.

Hope this helps.

Eat at buffets more. When you do not have to cook and there is no cost penalty to eating more the pounds will add up rapidly.

Eat at buffets more. When you do not have to cook and there is no cost penalty to eating more the pounds will add up rapidly.

If as you say you have gut flab, I'd stay away from this method. Your body composition will only get worse if you're eating crap with reckless abandon.

Hi BadBreaks,
Sounds like you need more calorie dense foods since your output is so high, and to maintain weight you'd have to eat constantly...I have the same problem and the more I train, work, and go to the gym, the less time I take to eat. The older you are, the less your body retains the nutrition you take in, so you have to be really careful about the quality of your proteins, fats,and carbs. Have you tried increasing your nut and seed intake? It's low volume but high calorie and you can eat on the run or ride easily. also, Ensure(or the generic) plus has 360 calories in 12 oz and goes down easily - for extra bang use it instead of milk on your cereal. Or put olive oil on veggies, ad it to soups, etc, it's 100 calories and oz and you won't know it's there... Good luck and have fun