Hi I'm looking for advice with gaining weight..
I'm really skinny, 125 lb at 5"11(male). I can't feel confident at all when my body feels so weak and fragile..
I would mostly like to know what I'm supposed to eat. I've done some reading through google and it says stuff like "fish, chicken, pasta" etc, but I'm really bad at cooking.. how am I supposed to make that stuff!? All I have to eat are the stuff my parents cook and when we go out to eat, and ramen noodles that I make for myself.
I know I'm supposed to keep a good schedule of when to have my meals, but that's kind of difficult when I don't even have any good food available.
So.. any suggestions on easy to make food that is high in calories/protein/carbs?
Thank you in advance.
you need to consume 15-20% more calories than you burn. this will ensure that the weight you gain is healthy e.g muscle not fat. if you go beyond 20% then you will gain fat not muscle .
as well as that you must also train with weights. all you need to do is 45 minutes 3 times per week, thats it
to see how many calories you need use the katch- mcardle formula (should be able to find it on google).
basically you figure out how many calories your body burns just to function. then you add that amount to the amount of calroies you will burn through your 3 weeights sessions per week.
lets say your body burns 2000 calories a day. and you burn 1000 calories by training with weights. so thats 3000 calories. so to gain wieght you wopuld need to consume 15-20% above this.
15% of 3000 is 450, so add that to 3000 and you get 3450
20% of 3000 is 600, so thats 3600
to gain weight you would need to consume 3450-3600 calories per day
from those calories 55% needs to be cabrs, 30% protein and 15% fat
you need to spread those calories evenly over 6 meals per day
each meal should consist of complex carbs, protein and fruit or veg. also add some essentail fat to some meals e.g olive oil , flaxseed oil
meal 1-complex carbs , protein , fruit
meal2-complex carbs, protein , fruit
meal3-complex carbs , protein , veg
meal4-complex carbs , protein , veg
meal 5-complex carbs , protein , veg
meal 6-complex carbs , protein , veg
each meal should be spaced 2-3 hours apart. never go 3 hours without a meal
good sources of complex carbs are oatmeal, yams, sweet potatoe, potatoe, brown rice.
good sources of protien are whey protein powder, tuna, chicken , steak , eggs
my advice would be to use a weight gainer for meal 2 and 4. a weight gainer is like a protein shake that contains both carbs and protein and is packed full of calories. its like a full meal but liquid. a normal protein shake is just protein , no carbs and needs to be added to a carb
meal 6 should be consumed about 30 mins before bed. try and make this slow release protein such as cottage cheese or a prtoein supplement that is casein protein (not whey) or a even better a blend of both whey and casein
here is an example :
meal 1 -bowl of porridge , whey protein shake, banana, olive and flaxseed oil
meal 2- weight gainer , apple
meal 3- yams, tuna , veg , olive and flaxseed oil
meal 4- weight gainer , veg
meal 5- brown rice, chicken , veg , olive and flaxseed oil
meal 6- 200g cottage cheese on wholegrain toast, olive oil
you should also use creatine. its very cheap , you can get a tub of creatine monohydrate (100 servings ) for £20.
on weight training days have your creatine straight after your weights.
on non training days have creatine 1st thing int he morning , 30 mins before breatfast .
here is how to take it. after weights mix 5g creatine with 24g whey protein , at least 35g dextrose (this is simple sugars, u can get dextrose from your health food store) and some water
1st thing in the morning, on non weight days, mix 5g creatine with at least 35g dextrose and some water
have the creatine drink as well as your 6 meals. dont include it as a meal, but do include it in total calories
after your weights you need to have your whey/creatine/dextrose drink straight away. and then 1 hour later have a propper meal . *THIS IS EXTREMELTY IMPORTANT. look it up on the internet as i havent got time to explain why
you should aim to gain 1 pound a week .
here is a weights routine :
mon - chest , shoulders , triceps
wed - legs and abbs
fri - back , biceps, traps and forearms
*monday :
bench press 2 sets of 6-12 reps
incline bench press 2x 6-12
flys 2 x 6-12
military press 2 x 6-12
lateral raise 1 x 6-12
tri pushdown 2x 6-12
ez bar skull crusher 1 x 6-12
*wednesday :
squat 2 x 6-12
leg press 1x 6-12
stiff leg deadlift 2x 6-12
leg curls 1 x 6-12
standing calf raise 2 x 12
seated calf raise 2 x 12
crunch 2 x 12
leg raises 1 x 12
fri:
deadlift 2 x 6-12
pullup 2 x 6 -12
bent over barbell row 2 x 6 - 12
shruggs 2 x 12
barbell curls 2 x 6-12
seated curls 1x 12
wrist curls 1 x 12
on all sets the last rep should be impossible .
progress each session by either doing more reps or more weight than the previous session