We all can agree that to gain weight you have to eat, right? I hope so or else you’re on the wrong website. If you’re training drug free you won’t be able to gain weight or add an impressive amount of muscle mass if you’re not consuming enough clean calories to promote hypertrophy, i.e. muscle growth.On the contrary, if you don’t eat enough, chances are that you’ll lose muscle no matter how hard you train.Sherlock Holmes would be the first to acknowledge a ‘see food diet’ as the logical answer to gain weight and mass because the more you eat, the more you grow, correct?
Not exactly.
It is very true that you’ll be putting the breaks on gaining weight if you’re nutrition intake is impaired. However, there is a clear difference in getting bigger and getting more muscular. We’re talking about gaining weight without getting fat which will make you more muscular, not just bigger.
Which leads me to my pet peeve…
Guys who justify eating too much junk food to gain weight and accept an excessive amount of fat gain (more than I endorse in my book) in hope of stimulating extra muscle growth.
It does not work that way.
Your body has a limited capacity to gain muscle. Unfortunately it does not have a limited capacity to how much weight we can gain (we would be a much more attractive society).
Each person has a different ability to manufacture muscle based on how much protein their body can synthesize which is based on your Testosterone levels, your Testosterone to cortisol levels, your insulin sensitivity, your genetic muscle fiber make up and many other variables.
Lets look at 7 secrets to help you eat more food so you can gain weight that does not turn into body fat.
1. Double It Up.
This is the easiest and fastest route to go. Turn one chicken breast into two. Down a second slice of bread instead of just one. Inhale a second handful of nuts. Drop in two scoops of protein powder. Most likely you are only a few dozen meals short of filling out your underdeveloped body parts so take advantage of already having the food out. You body will have no other option but to surrender and start gaining weight if you double it up.
2. Live Your Life Around Food.
Sure, you know that you must eat every 2-3 hours, but how well do you execute? Set your clock on a countdown timer to go off every 2.5 hours so that you reinforce the habit of eating literally not a second late for each meal! Don’t turn off the damn beeper until you start chowing down.
Ensure you are eating your first meal within 15-30 minutes of waking up – absolutely no later. This first meal of the day should always consist of REAL food to flood your body with quality nutrients. I question anybody’s commitment to gaining weight if they are too lazy to wake up 15 minutes earlier to eat a real meal.
Lastly, don’t be surprised if you can’t gain weight if you do not find yourself spending more time preparing food, more time eating food and more time cleaning your kitchen. You should notice you are spending more time in the grocery store and you should also notice a larger grocery bill each week!
3. Use BIG Eating Equipment.
If you want to bulk, then you have to eat like Hulk. Do you think Hulk eats out of a small plate, or a small bowl, or a small cup? If you are aiming to gain weight, you are going to require large amounts of food, most likely close to double of what you are currently eating. So get BIG eating equipment! Get a BIG cup, get a BIG bowl, and get a BIG plate. Surround yourself with BIG. Most of the time hard gainers are nothing more than “under eaters.” If you struggle to complete a meal, then a bigger serving on a bigger plate will look small!
4. Never Train Hungry.
How many times have you woken up, whipped up a protein shake and then headed off to the gym? Or maybe you had a long afternoon and missed a few meals and then attempted a weight training workout after work?
I thought this was common sense to avoid, until a few of my skinny clients confessed that they were showing up for their workouts having only eaten a piece of fruit and some crackers within the entire day! After dropping the 45-pound plate on my foot out of shock, they reassured me: they were not hungry. I sometimes screamed back, “Yeah, that‚s because your metabolism is in starvation mode and shut right down, you skinny pencil neck!”
I understand that training in the morning is the only time for some; however, I recommend aiming for a minimum of at least three solid meals in your system prior to training. Or eat the biggest meal of your day immediately after your AM workout. Would you take your car out on a long trip with a half empty fuel tank? Not unless you wanted the car to die and you push it the rest of the way. So why would you take your body through a grueling training session on an empty stomach?
5. Eat Nutrient Dense Foods.
Focus on caloric-rich foods that are loaded with nutrients to gain weight. Avoid foods with empty calories, which mean there is little or no nutrient value in the calories you are eating. Why would you consume a 500-calorie plus meal that is loaded with fat and sugar which does nothing but make you feel sluggish and soft? Instead, eat a high caloric meal loaded with slow releasing carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and fiber.
Here are some of the best choices:
* Carbohydrates – Oatmeal, rice, breads, yams beans, potatoes, fruits and veggies.
* Proteins – Steak, chicken, lean beef, cottage cheese, whole milk, eggs and salmon.
* Fats – Olive oil, flax oil, avocados, nuts and peanut butter.
* Extras (high calorie cheat food) – Ice cream, raisins, dried fruit and trail mix.
6. Drink A Carb And Protein Drink While You Workout.
How hard is to sip on a calorie-rich drink during your weight training sessions? Simply mix up a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein with one liter of water and you instantly have a few extra hundred calories per day. Now have an extra workout drink before your workout and an extra workout drink after your workout and that’s easily an extra one pound per week. Only use this technique if you are weight training at a very high intensity.
7. Live the motto, “Never Stop Eating.”
Did I hear you say, “But I’ll throw up if I eat all day?” Maybe… Is it necessary? Of course not. But this is a part of pushing your body’s threshold. Don’t worry, you will get used to it and your body will require more food as you gain more muscle on your body and your metabolism increases. Just think, that if you are not eating, then you are not growing, and if you are not growing then you are staying the same. Is that what you want?
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Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building: Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain foundat VinceDelMonteFitness.comHe specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly without drugs, supplements and training less than before.
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