Hardgainer? Can't gain weight? READ THIS!!!

[AandF6969]

Diet is 75% of bulking up IMO. You can lift like Ronnie Coleman, but bottom line you will not grow any muscle without the calories behind it for bulking. Simple biology and one equation---->

Calorie balance=Calories in - Calorie expenditure

If you aren't gaining weight, you are not in a positive calorie balance so you need to either cut out all cardio, eat more, or both. Eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight; eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. The kind of weight you gain or lose is dependent on your macronutrient breakdown, timing of meals, training, cardio, etc. Try adding up your calories using the links at the bottom of the page, many people who think they "eat all the time" actually eat under 3000 calories per day, which is very low for a bulking diet. Get used to eating frequently also, like every 3 hours tops. The only time I was hungry on my last bulker was right when I woke up in the morning. Remember: an appetite is not necessary to eat. You need to get used to eating what/when you MUST, not what/when you want.

There are two ways to bulk: A clean bulk (slower, but leaner gains) and a dirty bulk (faster gains, more fat storage if metabolism isn’t fast) The main difference is that on a clean bulk, you NEVER eat carbs and fats together. Milk is bad for this reason. Eating carbs and fats together causes almost all of the fat to get stored instead of used for energy. Don’t eat carbs in your last 2 meals of the day because they get stored as fat while you sleep. Eat at least 40g protein with every meal, and make meals either protein/fat or protein/carb.

PWO=Post Workout, the most anabolic (muscle building) time in anyone’s day is the half hour following a workout. It is best to use a fast-acting protein like Whey. Your muscles soak up protein like a sponge. It is also useful to eat twice as many carbs as protein to help shuttle the proteins to the muscles. The PWO shakes I use are

---50g Optimum Nutrition Whey
---50g Dextrose (Corn sugar, causes an insulin spike to increase absorption of protein)
---50g Maltodextrin (Powdered complex carb supplement)

Some people prefer to drop the maltodextrin and just do 100g of dextrose. Try both and see what works for you.

Eating approximately every 2.5 to 3 hours is good for 3 reasons…
1. You can eat more calories in a day if your meals are smaller. Its easier to eat 600 calorie meals 6 times a day then it is to eat 1200 calorie meals 3 times a day.
2. Your body can only digest so many calories at a meal, and the rest gets stored as fat. Lowering the amount of food eaten at one time reduces the “extra” over what you need.
3. Muscles start to catabolize (break down) if they are without protein for 3-4 hours unless you are sleeping. Hell, when I'm bulking I drink a milk/casein shake when I get up to piss at night.

For all you 130-150 pounders thinking about taking steroids... re-evaluate your diets. If you can't gain weight naturally, steroids aren't going to do anything for you except shrink your balls. Think about it... raw materials to form muscles have to come from somewhere right? They don't just appear out of thin air. Calories are the bricks that are building your house.

Try eating 300g protein, 400g carbs, and 150g fats.

You will grow.

A couple useful links

1) www.fitday.com <----Huge database of foods, can look up pro/fat/carbs and calories on them.

2) http://www.ntwrks.com/~mikev/chart1.html <------Basically the same

3) http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi41.htm <----- An equation that you
plug in your weight and bodyfat percentage and it will tell you how many calories you need to eat every day to grow.

If your diet is "all that and a bag of chips", and you STILL weigh 140 pounds dripping wet, either you have a SERIOUS thyroid problem or your training sucks. Remember "The Big 5" - Squat, Deadlift, Row, Bench, Military.

GET BIG!

-A&F-

[getbig888]

great post bro.

[dr.shred]

good post bro. If you can't gain weight your not trying hard enough IMO.

[diesel21]

i always gain natural up to around 200 lbs, then ever spring summer i go down to 170-185.... around 6%, i'd like to go under... it sux shreeding... its like i wonder if all i do is gain fat

[SwoleCat]

Good post!



~SC~

[GREENMACHINE]

Sticky time.

[fitnessguy]

really good post AandF...

[ReX357]

Nice post AnF!!!

[SwoleCat]

I've stuck this as an important post.

~SC~

[Soldier of Misfortune]

Well played. Isnt that what weve been sayin and doin ever since you started me liftin 3 years ago??

[AandF6969]

lol i love the new captain avatar

[LeanMeOut]

Read this yesterday, great read.

[lilarmyman]

will things like creatien help out with gaining some mass...I have a ton of 500 mg pills...

[soldieriniraq]

man thanks for the info gonna give it a try to see what happens

[SPIKE]

Good Post, nice and detailed w/ other sites for back up

[Dark Spivey]

Thanks man. This info will be really helpful as I adjust my diet. Im gonna go eat some carbs.

[Flack]

Very good info thanx a ton, that calorie calculation site helped alot. I thought i was eating all the time as you said it wasnt enough. i need about 1,000 more calories a day. Thanks again.

[pelly789]

awesome post great information

[hardlifter]

Great post always glad to see good posts to keep the little guys off steroids

[ascendant]

don't know man. that calculator told me i should be up at around 4200 calories just on expenditure right now. well, i'm currently at about 3800 daily and i have a high metabolism, and i'm making gains no problem. i think the calculator on that site might be a little high?

other than that though, great info.

[Assapopolis]

Thanks for the info and links

[FLEX83]

one of the best posts i've read... i'm printing this out for this kid in my gym that keeps asking me how to gain weight...

[sircharles]

Im a hardgainer (5'10", 148lbs lean), and this post has reallly opened my eyes. thanx.

- SC

[realjo1000]

....

[mickaveli2001]

Good post and info there

[Chitown Raider]

Thanks for the links

[lukepistol18]

thanks, i fall under this perfectly. i have a problem of my work is walking all day everday up to 15 miles a day sometimes. what ever i eat is easily burned right of. any solutions on how to overcome this i would be very thankful!

[Crest]

yer cheers bud that fitday sites spot on, if i didnt have that i would been stuck readin the labels on food in the supermarket, can make my diet more structured now

[scottish]

I just was on the beradi site. Damn, according to him, I should be eating almost 5000 k a day.. Holy shiznit.

[AandF6969]

Yeah that site is a little on the heavy side I think.

[scottish]

Not sure I could eat the 5000 every day..

I know I read somewhere on here what the correct fat, protein, and carb percents where. but cant find them again..

[AandF6969]

Not sure I could eat the 5000 every day..

I know I read somewhere on here what the correct fat, protein, and carb percents where. but cant find them again..

Depends what your goals are but 40/40/20 is usually a rule of thumb.

[scottish]

I was just checking what I ate today and it came out to.

35% fat, 36% carbs 29% protein. Boy I sure hope I messed up the numbers somewhere.

[scottish]

I better change that ratio pronto.. Its amazing what you think your eating, then once you sit down and right it down, you figure out what your doing wrong..

[Dave92983]

thanks for the informative post Im new here and have been working out on an off for most of my adalesent and adult life. I would go for about three months or so and once the results would slow down I woul get discurraged by looking at all the monsters in the gym and I would miss a day here and there and then just quit.

I just recently dedicated myself and have got over that
I already knew the basics of the pro,carb,fat balance from research but I didn' know about parring carbs&pro early and fat&pro later .After reading your post I realize that I have been lax on realy keeping track of my numbers. I still plan on using anabalics in the near future but now I think Ill make sure I get as much as I can out of a proper bulking diet and routine first as I continue to research anabolics

[scottish]

Rock on.

[MANchild]

defiantly like the info thanks a lot

[torontodude]

Great post bro..........i had the same problem a couple of years ago, it's all in your diet man, you are what you eat....so eat eat and eat.

[ultimatethombus]

----

[meloyelo7337]

great post thanks i will be taking some pics of me before. cant weight for the after......with the new diet.
6 foot 5 201lbs now
6 foot 5 250lbs in my future


again thanks for your time to educate