Mainly for Max,

I will try to make some reccomendations here:

First, help me figure out exactly what your goals are - since you are asking for weightgainer reccomendations, I assume you are looking to bulk up. B4 going any further with any reccs., tell me if you think you are a "hardgainer" (ie - can you eat a shitload - even of junkfood- and not gain weight/fat?). Your personal metabolism will greatly effect what kind of bulking diet you can go for. I will assume until you say otherwise that you are the typical ectomorphic, metabolism of a hummingbird (you lucky bastard), "hardgainer".

For weightgainers I reccomend:
1 - Prolab's NLarge 2 (about 600 cal;52g prot; 86gcarb - 30gsugar;6gfat)
- this is a good one that is sort of middle of the road - not the lowest in sugar, but not the worst either
-others for true hardgainers that can take the extra sugar/carbs I would reccomend are: Champion's SuperHeavyweight Gainer; TKEs Monster Food; etc

Protein Powders:
*really depends on your budget and needs - Again I like to keep one fast acting whey supplement for immediate post workout, one blend for other times of the day (especially b4 bed), and usually another "middle of the road" type of thing.

I personally use ASTsVP2 (hydrolysed Whey Isolate) for immediately postworkout - expensive.

Optimum's Pro Complex for middle of the road (blend of wheys with extra egg albumin and glut peptides)

MetRx Prot.Plus (milk isol, casein, whey, egg, glutamine) for pre bed/slow digest

Another good old standby for good quality and cheap for all around use is Optimum's 100% Whey. Blend of 4 wheys, good serving size, and you can get like 10lbs of it for dirt cheap.

Also check into Poteinfactory.com where you can design your own protein blends etc.

As far as protein bars go, if you are a "hardgainer", look into some of the protein + carb bars. They tend to tast a lot better. Good ones are: MetRx nutrition bars (27gprot/50gcarb), Mesotech (especially the peanut butter mmmmmm), and Promax Bars, oh and the OptiProMeal bars

For low carb go for Pure Protein, Designer, Nitrotech, Pro42, etc.

Any other questions?
Improving