# need help with gaining weight.



## NumeroUno (Oct 23, 2009)

sup guys? i'm just under 5'9 and my weight hugely varies from 130-145lbs but never under or over that. i'm a skinny guy, which is hugely knocking my confidence and to top it off i'm a particularly hard gainer. plus, i can easily go a whole day eating one meal because 9/10 i'm comfortable with feeling hungry, or i'm busy and don't care. i'm looking for any advice on gaining weight, but the catch is...i'm on a extreme budget. 

i live with my girlfriends parents and while getting a healthy diet (they're all dieting which means hardly any fats for me) it's only the one meal a day. no in between food. once i've paid out everything i'm literally left with at a stretch £15-20, or $40 usd per week that I can use on ''extra'' food. i'm not looking to go on a bodybuilding diet eating a cow a day spending $500 a week on food, i'm just looking for some cheap ways to bulk up.

I will be starting to do some lifting, so i'll be getting some creatine. I'm thinking about suppliments, definetly interested in getting whey protein suppliments, is there anything else I can get just for a extra calorie boost throughout the day? i work in catering believe it or not, so i'm tempted to just buy rice, pasta, eggs, and a crap load of peanut butter in bulk through the company we use haha. 

any advice?


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

Protein helps one bulk up, but needs to be supplemented with regular exercise as it could possibly just make you fat if not participating in physical activity.


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## silver777 (Mar 20, 2011)

if u have anxiety dont buy creatine or any whey protein as they contain toxic chemicals that will make u feel worse, ive tried both and im in the same boat as u in terms of battling to gain weight..ive bought a pure protein powder thats specifically made by a health shop and contains no added chemicals..but it hasnt helped me much..i gym and take it after..


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## paulyD (Feb 16, 2011)

NumeroUno said:


> sup guys? i'm just under 5'9 and my weight hugely varies from 130-145lbs but never under or over that. i'm a skinny guy, which is hugely knocking my confidence and to top it off i'm a particularly hard gainer. plus, i can easily go a whole day eating one meal because 9/10 i'm comfortable with feeling hungry, or i'm busy and don't care. i'm looking for any advice on gaining weight, but the catch is...i'm on a extreme budget.
> 
> i live with my girlfriends parents and while getting a healthy diet (they're all dieting which means hardly any fats for me) it's only the one meal a day. no in between food. once i've paid out everything i'm literally left with at a stretch £15-20, or $40 usd per week that I can use on ''extra'' food. i'm not looking to go on a bodybuilding diet eating a cow a day spending $500 a week on food, i'm just looking for some cheap ways to bulk up.
> 
> ...


your best friends should be milk, tuna, cottage cheese, whey protein and oats .

whey is extremely cheap. mix one scoup with 250ml milk and some oats and youve got a meal replacement with almost 30 grams of protein in it

cottage cheese and tuna are also very cheap. mix half a tim of tuna with half a tub of cottage cheese and youve got over 30 grams of protein. simply spread it on 2 slices of wholemeal bread and have some veg on the side and youve got yourself a cheap and quality meal

also use a multivitamin. the creatine is a good idea too


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## Jessie203 (Feb 20, 2008)

^ sounds good. My bro lost a bunch of weight , went to the gym a lot and used protein powders.. he never eats vegetables hes a picky eater he would eat like those frozen dinners etc.. nothing very healthy but he did gain some muscle. Your plan sounds better though haha

Also just want to add to OP, plz don't feel bad about your body as it is now if you do. Girls feel that pressure to be thin and guys feel the need to be very muscular and cut, and I just feel bad that maybe it's society pressure on you hope it isn't.


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

Eat at least 4 times/day. Or if u can, at every 3 hours would be great. You said you were comfortable eating just 1 time a day, not good if u wanna get some weight.

I appreciate you realized the importance of fats in a diet, you said u can't eat them although u would want. There are your concentrated calories. Although you should eat like 40% carbs, and assure you have like 30g of protein every meal, fats can bulk up your daily calories with a small volume.

As for supplements, vitamins and minerals is a must. Also a post-workout supplements of prot+carbs would be good, and if u really must a gainer, but I would suggest investing in food rather than a gainer, anyway you're choice here.



i would also point a thing about training. You say you are skinny, this brings me to think you're an ectomorph.

If u wanna gain some weight in this situation, keep the training short. I mean shorter in duration and in number of exercises compared to a regular routine weightlifting program. But keep the intensity.

And also skip the cardio, in your skinny case, it does more harm then good. Maybe do it like 30 mins a week if u really want to.

Gaining muscle is gonna be hard/slow in your condition but ectomorphs have an advantage: they don't put on fat. So you're ripped all the time. Or are u a skinny fat ?


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## crimsoncora (Mar 29, 2011)

I can never gain weight either am 5'8 and 130 but it works because am a girl

However i think ur weight is fine, just love you for you. Skinny guys r sexier too in my opinion.


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## eek a mouse (Apr 14, 2010)

your weight doesnt fluctuate by 15 pounds. Weight yourself everyday in the morning and youll see what I mean. If you want to bulk up and eat once a day, guess what? you wont bulk up. You need to eat at least 4 times a day.

Look up bulking calorie calculators, get 4-5 different ones and do an average. Thats how much you need to eat. For example, I am 6'1 180, I need to eat about 3500 calories which is a lot. 

It almost sounds like you are saying, I want to bulk up without eating a lot....well....surprisingly, thats not gonna happen.


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## NumeroUno (Oct 23, 2009)

RenegadeReloaded said:


> Gaining muscle is gonna be hard/slow in your condition but ectomorphs have an advantage: they don't put on fat. So you're ripped all the time. Or are u a skinny fat ?


No not skinny fat, theres hardly anything of me. I just look toned if you like. I have a kinda nice...shape? I have some pecs, can see the makings of the V shape you get at your abs/hips but it's pretty undefined. I used to ride a 10 mile trip to work so I have quite nice calves (okay this is sounding a bit gay now) haha but I have stuff I can work on and see the results rather than having to lose weight.

And yeah I've heard my body type if I am a ectomorph is hard. My friend is the...quick gain type, he binged stupidly on cocaine and got to a ridiculous low weight, within around 6 months he was gaining a ridiculous amount of muscle. Annoying.



eek a mouse said:


> your weight doesnt fluctuate by 15 pounds. Weight yourself everyday in the morning and youll see what I mean. If you want to bulk up and eat once a day, guess what? you wont bulk up. You need to eat at least 4 times a day.
> 
> Look up bulking calorie calculators, get 4-5 different ones and do an average. Thats how much you need to eat. For example, I am 6'1 180, I need to eat about 3500 calories which is a lot.
> 
> It almost sounds like you are saying, I want to bulk up without eating a lot....well....surprisingly, thats not gonna happen.


Seriously I will go from 135lbs to 145lbs in the space of a couple weeks. And yeah I always weigh myself on a empty stomach so I don't understand why my weight changes so drastically. I understand a lb or two at night and in the morning but i'm talking 5-10lbs every couple weeks.

I'm only looking at gaining 20 lbs though and I'm sure buying some cheap stuff in bulk and adding it to my diet is gonna help me. The reason I don't eat much is because there is nothing for me as everything is planned/dieting for who I live with.

Thanks all!


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## JimmyDeansRetartedCousin (Nov 28, 2009)

I really found a night time shake along with small meals throughout the day and snacks and shakes good for bulking. Either just plain casein or a complex if you can afford it!

Sci MX are pretty cheap if you are in the uk!

Starting strength is a tried and tested workout plan, and it's absolutely perfect for beginners.

Drink tons and tons of water, lift heavy, never go hungry (not even at night) and watch yourself grow! Simple as.


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## eek a mouse (Apr 14, 2010)

I guess you gotta sit down with your gf family and tell them,

look...im numero uno in this house. And we are gonna start having some real food.


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## CopadoMexicano (Aug 21, 2004)

If by weight you mean muscle mass you need to eat six small meals a day every two or three hours spread out the day to increase metabolism. exercise is optional if you want to accelerate fat loss/muscle gain. 80 percent nutrition/ 20 percent exercise..


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## angus (Dec 18, 2010)

There are anti-depresents that make you gain weight if your on any anti-d's you could ask you doctor about that. Otherwise the way I bulked up was putting raw eggs in my milkshakes and lifting seriously heavy wieghts.


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## NumeroUno (Oct 23, 2009)

BPA free said:


> i gotta agree with this one. Peanut butter is a good choice as well to make sure you're getting healthy fats as well (you said you're barely getting any) you can add a table spoon with your oats and add it with your protien shake (if you're drinking it as a meal replacement, not post workout)


Yeah i've been eating ridiculous amounts of peanut butter recently, so much so that I'm actually spoon eating it straight  Seems pretty cheap aswell which is a bonus for me.

I'm paid tomorrow so i'm doing a list of stuff, so far I got

More peanut butter (Seems all round good) 
Cottage Cheese (protein)
Whole Milk 
Oatmeal 
Pasta (carbs)
And few meal replacement suppliments


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## JimmyDeansRetartedCousin (Nov 28, 2009)

^Go for natural peanut butter if you can, it's got much less sugar and palm oil in it.


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

MavenMI6Agent009 said:


> If by weight you mean muscle mass you need to eat six small meals a day every two or three hours spread out the day to increase metabolism. exercise is optional if you want to accelerate fat loss/muscle gain. 80 percent nutrition/ 20 percent exercise..


Eating more often doesn't increase metabolism, but is better than eating rarely. Exercise does. And for fat loss it may not be necessary to exercise (although if u do u speed up a lot weight loss), but for muscle gain, u DO need to exercise, namely weight lifting, only way.

The muscle grow is the way your body adapts to the effort. If u don't make any effort, there is no stimuli for your body to adapt to, so you don't grow.

U were right about those percents, 80% nutrition, 20% exercise. Nutrition is much harder and complex to do than exercising.


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## NumeroUno (Oct 23, 2009)

My metabolism is amazingly fast. Like if I do eat high fats regular, good ol' mcdonalds and all kinds of fast food, I gain hardly anything. Or if I go on vacation/holiday for a couple of weeks where I'll eat almost constantly, everyone else gains, I stay exactly the same. It's almost as if I have a barrier at 145lbs and it's not budging past that.

I'm definetly gonna start lifting though obviously. Heavy weights and low reps right? My arguement with people is whats the point of lifting when there's nothing to build on. Would bulking up somewhat then lifting be a better option or should I just start right away? Everyone says start lifting now and eat along with it but i'm not sure. 

Like I said before though I know it's a defeatist attitude but i'm not looking for insane nutrition like eat certain carbs at a certain time every 3 days etc etc. If it would increase my gains ten fold then I would but again i'm not so sure. 

Thanks again everybody. Today is pay day so it's time to suppliment and food shop =]


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## Hell Boy (Apr 1, 2011)

NumeroUno said:


> My metabolism is amazingly fast. Like if I do eat high fats regular, good ol' mcdonalds and all kinds of fast food, I gain hardly anything. Or if I go on vacation/holiday for a couple of weeks where I'll eat almost constantly, everyone else gains, I stay exactly the same. It's almost as if I have a barrier at 145lbs and it's not budging past that.
> 
> I'm definetly gonna start lifting though obviously. Heavy weights and low reps right? My arguement with people is whats the point of lifting when there's nothing to build on. Would bulking up somewhat then lifting be a better option or should I just start right away? Everyone says start lifting now and eat along with it but i'm not sure.
> 
> ...


You are right, it's good to gain a little fat first before you start lifting. That way you never completely starve your muscles. If you ever starve your muscles and there is no fat around for them to burn they will start feeding on themselves.

You can stick to a few basics and still get impressive gains. The top foods on my list are:

Peanut Butter
Oatmeal
Eggs
Fish
Whey Protein
Oranges
Bananas

You don't really need any expensive supplements. Just give your body what it needs and it will thrive naturally. Be sure to get lots of rest. Most of your gains are made while resting. Better to under train then over train.


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## alte (Sep 4, 2010)

I am about your height and weight. Other than eating well, I found doing pushups regularly to be the most effective way to put on weight. You probably would get even more benefit from lifting and other strength training exercises because they are more strenuous than pushups.


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## FlashBulb (Aug 9, 2010)

Don't resort to eating a ton of fat to gain weight. Everything you listed is carb/fat. Invest in some natural protein powder (Look at amazon for gold standard 100% whey protein. Its only $40 and it should last you 2 months if you use 1 scoop a day). 

Creatine is crap really. It'll help you add weight, mostly water weight. Since it mostly just hydrates/stores water in your muscles. 

I wouldn't invest money in a gym if you aren't getting enough food, or sleeping enough. If your calorie maintenance is 2000 calories you'll need to hit around 2400-2800 calories to gain muscle.


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

NumeroUno said:


> I'm definetly gonna start lifting though obviously. Heavy weights and low reps right? My arguement with people is whats the point of lifting when there's nothing to build on. Would bulking up somewhat then lifting be a better option or should I just start right away? Everyone says start lifting now and eat along with it but i'm not sure.
> 
> Like I said before though I know it's a defeatist attitude but i'm not looking for insane nutrition like eat certain carbs at a certain time every 3 days etc etc. If it would increase my gains ten fold then I would but again i'm not so sure.
> 
> Thanks again everybody. Today is pay day so it's time to suppliment and food shop =]


The standard for gaining mass is around 3 exercises for large muscle groups and 2 for small muscles, 3-5 times a week. Each exercise would consist of 3 series of 12, 10, and 8 repetiitions. U choose weights so you can do that amount of repetitions, no more, no less. You being an ectomorph should do less, like 2 ex for large muscles and just 1 for small ones, 3 times a week. It's enough. But hey, you gotta experiment with your body to come to the right amount of exercise.

U wanna bulk up first. Meaning gain some fat ? I dunno why fat tissue is good, but whatever. My advice: u should focus on gaining muscle, so that means gym.

As for meals, eat high calories food often, like every 2-4 hours. Simple. If u don';t wanna go into detail like how many grams of protein I should eat per meal.

Supplement for start: vitamin and minerals is a must, then a post workout supplement of carbs+proteins if u have cash. If u still have cash a weight gainer. But mostly focus on food, supplements don;t do any good if u eat rarely and poorly. Other members here suggested right what u should eat.

Lol i wrote too much


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## ForeverStallone (Apr 4, 2011)

OP you don't have to put on weight before you start lifting weights because that weight will mainly be fat and there's no point in just gaining fat without muscle.

Start lifting weights and eating more calories than you burn. This way you put on muscle but also some fat. 
Low reps, high weight compound lifts - squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, overhead press, pull ups - check out Starting Strength or Stronglifts, both good programs for beginners. Don't start out lifting heavy straight away, work your way up, read about and practice proper form so you don't hurt yourself.

You're on the right track with with the foods you mentioned and a few other people suggested some good stuff too. I know you said your meals are planned for you but try getting red meats, chicken, bacon and veggies into your diet.

Good luck


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## candrnow (Jun 15, 2010)

I've gone from 5'8" 115lbs to 190lbs over the past 4 years. I think you mostly just want to eat a lot of anything you can get your hands on. I generally try to eat "clean" (complex carbs, no sugar, healthy fats, etc.) but whenever I'm trying to gain weight I have to eat a little dirty (fast food like hamburgers and pizza with but I still try to stay away from desserty foods that are just sugar + fat) because it's just too tough to get in calories on a clean diet. The most important thing is just calories for gaining weight. If you want to gain muscular weight, get into the gym as well and lift hard. Be sure to down lots and lots of milk!


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## silver777 (Mar 20, 2011)

avoid coffee and coke or any stimulating drink, i put on weight when i cut those out and drank decaffinated green tea and purified water. The caffeine and stimulants in drinks boost your metabolism aswell as induce toxins in your body which a person like u must certainly avoid.


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