Ways to Gain Weight
By ALGetsBig
Using these tips, I went from a skinny 117-pounder to my current weight of 160 pounds! Read my ways to gain weight:
1. Count how many calories you eat in a normal day. Don't change anything, just eat like you normally would and count how many calories you consumed. Use FitDay.com to EASILY track your calories in an online account. I use FitDay every day to make sure I reach my calorie goals; it is truly amazing software. This is an extremely important step, so try to be as exact as possible when entering the foods and food quantities. Also, weigh yourself. You want to weight yourself at the same time of day when you do so, in the morning on an empty stomach after a morning bowel movement is ideal so that food products in your body don't influence the weight reading.
2. Starting the day after you counted calories, eat 500 calories MORE then you normally do. So, lets pretend that the day you counted calories you counted 2300. For the rest of the week, you would now eat 2800 calories a day. Instead of eating 3 big meals a day or eating all day all the time, spread those calories out and eat six small meals a day. Eat one small meal every 2.5 to 3 hours. That means if you are eating 3,000 calories per day, each meal should be about 500 calories. To get big, you have to eat big! Remember that.
Shortcut to Finding Your Weight-Gain Daily Calorie Goal:
Multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 24.
Recommended Calorie Intake for Muscle Gain: Bodyweight (lbs) x 24
150-Pounder: 150 x 24 = 3600 calories/day
Carbs: 40% = 1440 Carb Calories = 1,440 / (4 Calories Per Gram of Carb) = 360 grams of Carbs Per Day
Protein: 30% = 1080 Fat Calories = 1080 / (4 Calories Per Gram of Protein) = 270 grams of Protein Per Day
Fat: 30% = 1080 Protein Calories = 1080 / (9 Calories Per Gram of Fat) =
120 grams of Fat Per Day
3. Weightlifting is key! Get in the gym and lift! This is another important step in how to gain weight, so make sure you are doing it correctly. For more information on weightlifting workout routines and splits, check out No Nonsense Muscle Building for a complete weight training program.
| 4. Weigh yourself at the end of the week. You will notice weight gain after one week! Don't expect to see a 10-pound increase. Gaining any more than 1 or 2 pounds a week is unhealthy and means that you are putting on way too much fat. So look for 1 – 2 pound gains at the end of the week. It may not sound like much but it is! You can be gaining 4 to 8 pounds a month! |
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5. Plateaus. At some point, you will stop seeing weight gain. At this point, you will have to eat even more. So, when you stop gaining weight for at least 2 weeks, that means it's time to start eating an extra 250 calories a day. Every time you see you haven't gained weight for at least 2 weeks, add an extra 250 calories.
| 6. Stay away from junk food! Get rid of the chips and candy. No more fast food, nothing fried. Eat high protein foods like tuna fish (and other seafood), chicken breast, turkey, lean meats, fruits and vegetables, etc. You should be eating muscle building food every 3 hours so you shouldn't have ANY room for junk food! Read about the diet to build muscle. |  |
| 7. Eating protein is absolutely essential to muscle building – without question. Without protein, don't even bother going to the gym! Muscle tissue is repaired with protein. It is widely accepted that 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily is necessary to build and maintain muscle. So if you weigh 150lbs, eat 150 grams of protein every day, forever. Embrace that goal and make it a basic part of your life like brushing your teeth twice a day. And that means everyday, whether you are weight training that day or not, you still need to supply your muscles with the protein that they need to recover for the next workout and to grow. |
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8. Post-Workout Shakes Are a MUST! Consume a post-workout shake with oats, whey protein, and whole milk immediately after your workout. It is absolutety vital that you consume this shake within 30 minutes of your last set. This period is called the "golden window", during which your muscles are desperate for the protein that it takes to rebuild them, and your body is yearning for the carbs it needs to replenish its energy (glycogen) stores. Ingredients for Post Workout Shakes. You want protein for muscle recovery, carbs for energy, and milk/water for rehydration.
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9. Drink 1 Gallon of Water Per Day! The best thing to drink is water, and a lot of it. Your body needs it desperately to perform well amidst the incredible strain you are placing on it with your workouts. Water is crucial even for those who don't workout because your bodily functions (blood circulation, breathing, perspiration, digestion, etc) demand it greatly. |
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Drink at least .66 oz of water per pound of bodyweight every day. A gallon of water a day is a good mark for most people, bigger people will need more. Water will excel your body in all performances. Hydration is king! Read the importance of water. Split your water intake up over the course of the day. Buy a Brita water pitcher – you definitely don't want to be drinking tainted tap water or expensive bottle water. |
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10. Drink Whole Milk. Milk is really the only other drink you need to be consuming. Milk is the life liquid of baby animals for a reason. It is packed with protein, carbs, and healthy fat. Milk is a skinny man's power elixir. Drinking up to a gallon of milk a day will seriously help you gain wait in no time. |
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Gradually train yourself to drink more and more milk each day until you can handle as much as you need to satisfy your nutrient needs. Spread the milk drinks throughout the day in 10 – 16 oz quantities. DO NOT drink all your day's milk in one sitting or you will be sorry! If you are lactose intolerant, don't worry. My brother is lactose intolerant and he takes lactase pills in order to digest milk just fine. Buy lactase pills for easy digestion of milk, if you need them. If drinking milk makes you go to the bathroom, you are probably lactose intolerant and you need lactase pills. The pills work wonders for my brother who is lactose intolerant. Read Lactose Intolerance and GOMAD: Gallon of Milk A Day to Gain Weight. |
Why 95% of All Hardgainers are
DEAD WRONG in How They Train for Massive Muscle Growth…
11. Plan Your Diet! To gain weight the healthy way, you have to get organized. Plan what your going to eat before you eat it. Aim for 30% protein, 40% carbs, and 30% fat. Start tracking your nutrients with an account at FitDay.com and do it every day until you know exactly what to eat and when to eat it to achieve your nutrient goals.
12. Eat Carbohydrates. Aim for 40-50% carb intake. FitDay.com will help you track your nutrient intake EASILY! Focus on complex carbs (oatmeal, wheat bread) and limit simple carbs intake (white flour foods, candy, pastries).
| 13. SLEEP! Get 8 hours of sleep per night. Your muscles will only grow (be repaired and rebuilt stronger) during periods of rest. Getting a good amount of sleep is vital to muscle gain and vital to overall body health in general. Make a commitment to yourself to go to sleep in time enough to get 8 hours of sleep a night, every night. If you are having difficulty sleeping, consider trying a Sleep Support Supplement. |  |
14. You cannot gain weight without gaining some fat! Believe it and accept it! Unless you are using steroids, it is basically impossible to gain weight without putting on a little bit of extra fat. No worries, you will be able to lose the fat you gained in the next phase. Accept the fact that you will gain bodyfat when you are on a bulking eating plan. Your main focus during the bulking phase is to gain mass and muscle; focus on that. After you have reached your goal weight, you will then switch to the fat loss phase, called the cutting phase. Read more about the different phases of fat loss and muscle gain.
Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle!
15. Split your weight training. When you are on a weightlifting workout programs for gaining muscle weight, you want to make sure to split it so that you aren't overtraining bodyparts. Doing chest on Monday, then triceps on Tuesday, then shoulders on Wednesday will overtrain your triceps. Why? Because just about every chest and shoulder exercise works the triceps secondarily. Also, almost every back exercise works the biceps secondarily. So, work your chest, shoulders, and triceps on Mondays, work your back and biceps on Wednesdays, and work your legs on Fridays. You want to give yourself a rest day on the day after a training day. Hardgainers should workout no more than 3 days a week to allow for optimal rest time. Limit your workouts to 60 minutes or less.
16. Carefully plan your meals with foods that will help you gain lean mass. I suggest that you eat six small meals a day. Do this with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three other small meals scheduled throughout the day. The goal is to eat every 2.5 to 3 hours. See the diet to build muscle. The best way to plan and track your meal plan is by using FitDay.com.
Focus on foods such as steak, chicken, fruit, milk, vegetables, cheese and assorted types of nuts. It's recommended to eat 4 to 6 pieces of fresh fruit a day, and at least four tall glasses of milk. Milk is a great, inexpensive protein source – take advantage of it. A sample snack meal would be a glass of milk, an apple, and a hand full of peanuts.
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17. Drink weight gain shakes. Weight gainers will provide you with a large quantity of calories in one small serving. Weight gainers worked wonders for me in getting from 117 pounds to my current weight of 155 pounds. They are especially great for people who do not have time for breakfast, or for snacks while on the go. Just mix a serving with milk and gulp it down. |
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18. To build mass, you must train with heavy weights. Heavy means a weight that is challenging for you. To consider a weight heavy, you should only be able to do a maximum of 6 to 8 reps before your muscles temporarily fail. A weight is considered "light" if you can do more than 15 reps before muscle fatigue sets in. |
19. Keep your workouts under 90 minutes. Short and intense!
| 20. Concentrate on free weight exercises that work the large muscle groups. The best weight training exercises for building mass are the simple ones. Stick with compound free weight exercises like squats, deadlifts, the bench press, barbell rows, pull-ups and dips. | |
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All of your muscles tense when doing squats and deadlifts. They work your body as a single unit and allow you to lift heavy weights. Don't waste time with leg extensions, squats and deadlifts are the kings of mass building. Your legs make up a great deal of your bodyweight – Don't neglect the legs!
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21. Use heavy weights and low reps, rest 3 minutes between each set.
Check Out "No-Nonsense Muscle Building" for a Ready-Made Weightlifting Program for Super Mass-Gain!
22. Stretching before your session is necessary to warm-up and loosen your joints, muscles and ligaments, while stretching after your workout helps to aid in recovery. Stretching the muscles you that just work will help to remove the lactic acid buildup in those muscles. Stretching helps in the removal of waste from the muscles, and supplies them with much needed oxygen and nutrients. This will also help to alleviate some of the muscle soreness that accompanies heavy training.
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23. Supplements will SURELY help you gain weight faster. Treat supplements as additions to an already great muscle building diet and weightlifting program. Check out our weight gain supplements and our muscle recovery supplements. Creatine is the most popular supplements among bodybuilders, for good reason. Most people gain 5 to 7 pounds in the first two weeks of creatine use. Buy Creatine Now. |
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Take the following supplements EVERY DAY! Without supplements, I would probably not have gained as much weight as I have because I might have given up. They have been completely outstanding in my muscle gain progress and they will ensure that I get to 170 pounds this year. I recommend that everyone take daily a Multi-Vitamin, 3,000 mg of Vitamin C, 3 5-gram servings of Glutamine powder, one 5 -gram serving of Creatine, and a serving of Glucosamine.
I use the following supplements faithfully:
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Multi-Vitamin Weight training increases the body's need for many minerals like magnesium and selenium. Multivitamins will ensure that you are not deficient in any major essential vitamin or mineral. Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness and suppression of the immune system, muscle cramping and fatigue. Buy multivitamins. |
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Vitamin C Vitamin C is essential to prevent free radical damage, which is accelerated after the heavy trauma of weight training. It is also essential in helping to repair connective tissue which helps decrease the amount of time that you are sore. Vitamin C helps recovery so you can get back to training. Typical Vitamin C intake is around 3,000 mg in three doses spread throughout the day. Buy Vitamin C here. |
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Glutamine Glutamine is an amino acid that the body uses to help your muscles combat the stresses of exercise trauma, lack of calories (dieting), or illness. Supplementing your diet with extra glutamine will help prevent muscle protein breakdown while you're asleep or dieting. Glutamine promotes increased cell volumizing, strengthens your immune system, decreases recovery time and increases growth hormone levels. Never take large amounts of glutamine all at once because most of it gets destroyed in the gut. It never reaches the bloodstream. The best way to get maximum absorption of glutamine is to take it in smaller, divided doses. I recommend you take 15 grams per day in 3 divided doses of 5 grams each. Since you will be taking more than 100 grams of this stuff per week, I suggest save money by purchasing this product in bulk (powder form only, do not get capsules). Buy Glutamine Powder. |
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Creatine Creatine Monohydrate: Most people gain 5 to 7 pounds in the first two weeks of creatine use. If you are interested in quick weight gain, and increased energy for your workouts, creatine is definitely worth a go. Buy Creatine Powder. |
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Glucosamine Glucosamine — Glucosamine is produced by our bodies, but most of the time our bodies demand so much of it, that it can't create enough. Glucosamine is a powerful antioxidant, which helps to combat the stresses of exercise trauma, and prevent muscle protein breakdown. Suggested glucosamine intake is about 1,500 mg per day, which would be impossible to get naturally. Take one dose at bedtime. Buy Glucosamine here. |
24. Make your eating plan easy by having food in the fridge! Keep foods within easy reach. When you're shopping, remember that convenient packaging reduces the effort of preparing meals and snacks. It also requires less energy…save that energy for bulking up those muscles!
25. Limit greasy or fried foods. They take longer to digest and therefore diminish your appetite. They're also bad for heart-health.
26. Write down your specific goal on a piece of paper (e.g. you want to gain 30 pounds of muscle and get your body fat below 6 percent), and either carry it with you everywhere, or hang it somewhere you will see it everyday.
27. Find a photo of someone who has the physique that you are trying to attain. You must be realistic when choosing this. Choose someone who is realistically achievable. Now hang that where you will see it everyday. Each time you look at your role model photo or read your written goal, you should visualize what you will actually look like at that goal and how you will feel.
28. Take your physical measurements every two weeks. This will gauge how well your program is working for you. You will see what is and what is not working for you. Read body measurements and taking your bodyfat percentage with skinfold measurements.
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MyoTape is the best measuring tape available. The MyoTape from Accu-Fitness is a vast improvement over the simple tape and it works wonderfully. You can buy one for less than $10 and also as part of a package when you get your body fat caliper (See the skinfold measurements page for how to use the bodyfat caliper to get your skinfold measurements and calculate your bodyfat percentage). |
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Get your bodyfat percentage super easily with the FatTrack Gold Digital Caliper. It automatically calculates your bodyfat percentage based on 3 skinfold sites. |
| 29. Replace sodas and energy drinks with good energy sources, such as milk. Soda and energy drinks are bad for you as they have excess amounts of simple sugars and it's best to cancel them from your diet altogether. |  |
30. Power-pack each meal and snack. A few simple additions can add considerable amounts of nutrients and calories to your food. Add peanut butter to toast with honey or jam, dried cranberries and almonds or walnuts to oatmeal, and add cheese to crackers. My favorite is muenster cheese…so tasty.
31. STAY FOCUSED. Things rarely go exactly as planned. Nobody makes the gains they expected when they expected. At some point, guys who have made incredible gains became discouraged and felt disappointed, but they did not quit. They stayed focused on their goals. That is the key.
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With No Nonsense Muscle Building, you will receive a planned program that will tell you exactly what exercises to perform in the gym and what foods to eat to ensure size and muscle gains. Vince DelMonte does an excellent job in laying out exactly what you need to do to get from skinny to muscular in no time. |
Filed under Lifting by alboa45
