Help me gain 10-15 pounds.(Update 23 pounds gained!)

[gtsiawd96]

I'm 25 years old, 6'4", 160lbs, tall and skinny, I can literally eat anything and never see one pound gained or loss. I'm creating this thread to try and give myself some extra motivation, becuase I really want to accomplish this goal. I'm really trying to add some weight and gain some upper body size and strength. Pretty much all around size and strength, but for now I'd like to focus on upper body. I'm not trying to get shreaded or be perfect, I'm just tired of being too skinny.

I have taken out all crap/fast food, no more soda, candy, etc. out of my diet and joined the gym, I used to never eat breakfast till around 9-10am after I had already been awake since 6am.

I'm a mechanic and commute a over an hour to work. So getting good healthy food is my biggest concern, when out and on the road. Does anyone have any good easy tips for packing a good easy lunch's and snacks for work, high in protien, carbs? I don't have alot of down time at work, very active.

Right now I'm taking: Creatine pills. I'm not sure of the Calories I'm consuming on the following food cause I haven't counted, but the Protein intake is around 180grams, I've been doing this for a couple days now and I already feel hungry all the time, even after a big meal. (I was never like this before a couple days ago, I almost never had a big appetite.) So something tells me, something here is working. Also starting taking

Breakfast : Protein shake in the morning, 3 whole eggs on whole wheat.
Snack : Raisins, Granola health bar
Lunch : Chicken breast grilled, large salad, some more raisins
Snack : To-go Albacore Tuna in water 2 servings
Dinner : Pasta large serving, Protein shake
Before bed : Peanut butter on whole wheat.

^^On top of at least 8 glasses of water per day.

I was planning on switching out the pasta dinner, with chicken or lean ground beef every other night. Any other suggestion would be appreciated.

Or any other workout routines that you have been trying to add weight and muscle has used with good success please share.

Thanks guys,

James

[igo4bmx]

finish each meal/snack with one tablespoon of peanut butter

[massone]

gonna need a lot more protein than that and a lot more calories if you wanna bulk up. the forums at bodybuilding.com is your friend hit it up and see what other people are eating on their bulking diet. i'd say you'll wanna aim upwards of 3000 cals a day and 300 grams of protein. but def hit up bb.com plenty of experience there just hit that search button and go to town.

good luck

[gtsiawd96]

Thanks alot. I bought some natural peanut butter, so I'll be doing the one scoop after each meal. I'm going to make an account over there on BB, I just wanted to get some opinions and motivation over here since I know some people here hoping they could help keep me honest. lol

I was figuring 2500-3000 calories is what I should be consuming, its hard to count calories when your trying to consume alottt. I definitly did not think that much protein though, but if thats recomended for gaining than I'll do it!

[massone]

Originally Posted by gtsiawd96

I was figuring 2500-3000 calories is what I should be consuming, its hard to count calories when your trying to consume alottt. I definitly did not think that much protein though, but if thats recomended for gaining than I'll do it!

definitely man, at 6'4" and 160lbs I'd eat everything in sight and as long as you're keeping a good gym schedule and workout plan you should be good to go.

[215ek]

good luck bro im a skinny ass dude too, but i cant get on any type of workout/eating routine. ive tried but i never stick with it

[mg23]

eat until you feel like you will throw up if you burp

[jpalamar]

Eat more bacon.

[gtsiawd96]

Originally Posted by 215ek

good luck bro im a skinny ass dude too, but i cant get on any type of workout/eating routine. ive tried but i never stick with it

I have tried this more than once, but just the gym and working out, I saw small gains, but I never changed my diet. I'm really determined to stick with it this time.

Originally Posted by mg23

eat until you feel like you will throw up if you burp

I have tried, the hunger comes back relatively fast. So just eat again?

Originally Posted by jpalamar

Eat more bacon.

Best way prepared?

[blkZ06]

meal 1:
1 scoop whey
3 whole eggs and 5-6 whites
1 cup oatmeal (measured uncooked)

meal 2
8 oz chicken
2 tbsp natural pb
salad/broccoli/spinach

meal 3
2 scoops whey
2-3 large bananas

meal 4
8-10 oz steak
3/4 cup brown rice (measured uncooked)
vegetables

meal 5
2 scoops whey
handful cashews or mixed nuts

meal 6
8 oz salmon
1 large sweet potato
veg

meal 7
8oz chicken/steak/ground turkey
2 tbsp nat pb
veg.

enjoy

dont know what your time frame for your workout is but add it to the appropriate time slot

[TROLL]

Sounds like you're doing pretty well with the diet so far. Try not to overload yourself and make it so crappy that you get sick of it and stop... you'll only be successful if you find a way to make this long term.
If you're hungry, keep eating! My problem is I'm not hungry but I'm still trying to eat, and that sucks sometimes.

When do you work out and for how long, and what kind of exercises are you doing?
Don't do any cardio... you can't afford to lose the calories from it. You want to focus on bulking, but before I go into all of that I'll let some of the others here who are more experienced and educated chime in here.

FWIW I've been able to gain ~15 lbs in the past 9 months, including at least a few months of lost progress in there. I'm hoping to put on another 10-15 still, but I can already see a difference for sure.

If you join bb.com make a bodyspace on there and use it to track your weight... its pretty cool to look back on your progress. You can also record a ton of other things if you want to, it definitely helps motivate to be able to see your hard work paying off when you look back.

[hetzyhetz]

i went from 155 to 185 (6'0) in about a year of going to the gym and loading myself up with whey protein. i would do the gym about 5 days a week. my preworkout consited of n.o.xplode (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/bsn/xplode.html) which is not for everyone...and kre-alkalyn (http://www.kre-alkalyn.net/). post workout was about 75 grams of protein in a shake.

the really only true way to put on the mass is eating right and often, hitting the gym, and not giving up when you dont see results. it took me like 4 months before i really started to get it going.

[TROLL]

Oh and regarding how much protein to take in daily... most of what I've read suggests to take in 1 - 1.5 grams of protein for every pound of body weight.

[gtsiawd96]

Thanks Jordan, Bryan, Hetz.

I'm going to print out that meal plan and try and incorporate it. It looks actually pretty delicious, for the exception of that sweet potato, lol.

I'm taking these two supplements:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/mhp/mass.html

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sf/kre.html

Hertz and Bryan your stories make me feel better, like this is actually possible.

Pretty much I have only been to the gym a few times now. And I have no set lifting schedule. Some off the exercises I did I don't even know there names..noob. And I'm also pretty sure I am mixing up the body parts you should work together. So if anyone has a plan, I'm all ears. I plan too work out 3-5 days a week, when I get home from work so around 6pm on those days

Day 1

I did about 10min slow jog on the treadmill.

Smith machine flat bench 3x10
Smith machine incline 3x10
Smith machine decline 3x10

Incline Dumbell Press 3x10
Dips

Leg Press 3x10

Day 2

Slow jog 10min.

Skull crusher 3x10
Dumbbell kickback 3x10
Seated Dumbbell extension 3x10

And some back exercises I'm not sure of there names

After that I got nothing. Gotta go eat

If anyone wants an inside look into my first day at the gym...here it is.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/...&videoId=85473

[Evo8kid]

just start carrying around a jar of peanut butter and just eat that. i would LOVE to do that

[httrdd]

Get off of those smith machines. Your muscles need to be pused harder and you use more muscle to balence a bar or dumbells. Stick to heavy workouts like benching (flat, incline and decline), deadlifts, bent over rows (back), squats, leg presses, shoulder presses. Lower you reps from 10 to 7. Your best bet is start talking to guys at your gym and watch their workouts and learn. I used to be in much better shape, but I still lift 4 days a week and try and eat right.

[natethegreatt]

best thing i can suggest to you is EAT
it looks like your meals are pretty decent.
BUT
-eat cottage cheese or a weight gainer before bed, not peanut butter
-eat, dont drink your breakfast (8 egg whites and 1 whole egg with 1 cup of oatmeal) 3 whole eggs is too much cholesterol

and at 25, you're probably going to need more like 3500-4000 calories per day

as far as training goes check this book out
http://www.amazon.com/New-High-Inten.../dp/1594860009
dont do high volume training, it doesnt help much for gaining muscle

[natethegreatt]

Originally Posted by httrdd

Get off of those smith machines.

if he's working by himself, it's actually better because he work harder because the smith machine will work as a spotter

the smith machine will also help develop proper technique in exercises like squats

[GOULET]

Originally Posted by blkZ06

meal 1:
1 scoop whey
3 whole eggs and 5-6 whites
1 cup oatmeal (measured uncooked)

meal 2
8 oz chicken
2 tbsp natural pb
salad/broccoli/spinach

meal 3
2 scoops whey
2-3 large bananas

meal 4
8-10 oz steak
3/4 cup brown rice (measured uncooked)
vegetables

meal 5
2 scoops whey
handful cashews or mixed nuts

meal 6
8 oz salmon
1 large sweet potato
veg

meal 7
8oz chicken/steak/ground turkey
2 tbsp nat pb
veg.

enjoy

dont know what your time frame for your workout is but add it to the appropriate time slot

This but more carbs seems like there are not enough meals with carbs. I think the formula is take your body weight and mulitply by like 14. That should be your calories for the day. The adjust it accordingly as you gain weight.

When I was bulking I'd always chug this in the morning

2 scoops whey of your choice
1 cup oatmeal
1 banana
some raisins on the side

[gtsiawd96]

Originally Posted by httrdd

Get off of those smith machines. Your muscles need to be pused harder and you use more muscle to balence a bar or dumbells. Stick to heavy workouts like benching (flat, incline and decline), deadlifts, bent over rows (back), squats, leg presses, shoulder presses. Lower you reps from 10 to 7. Your best bet is start talking to guys at your gym and watch their workouts and learn. I used to be in much better shape, but I still lift 4 days a week and try and eat right.

I used the smith machines to try and get and very baseline idea of what I can lift before going to the real bench machine and make a complete A-hole of myself. lol.

I'm going to try to stick to all those excersices you mentioned. I don't know how to do squats properly, and becuase I'm so tall it looks even more rediculous. I have been watching people, but it looks like alot of there form is crap too. lol.

Originally Posted by natethegreatt

best thing i can suggest to you is EAT
it looks like your meals are pretty decent.
BUT
-eat cottage cheese or a weight gainer before bed, not peanut butter
-eat, dont drink your breakfast (8 egg whites and 1 whole egg with 1 cup of oatmeal) 3 whole eggs is too much cholesterol

and at 25, you're probably going to need more like 3500-4000 calories per day

as far as training goes check this book out
http://www.amazon.com/New-High-Inten.../dp/1594860009
dont do high volume training, it doesnt help much for gaining muscle

Thanks alot for the post, I might buy that book! I'm going to pick up some cottage cheese, I bought Oatmeal but I haven't even used it yet. But I completely forgot about it.

I have been taking in roughly 3000 calories and alittle more the 200g protein. Last night I ate until I was full, literally gaging. Than 20 minutes later I was huingry again. Weird.

On a lighter note I haven't gotten on a scale in a week, but I can already tell there is a change in my midsection. I don't know if I'm just bloated or whatever, but its definitly bigger.