# Healthy, high calorie, and easy-to-prepare recipes?



## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

I'm lazy and a terrible cook. In addition, I am relatively skinny yet find it hard to exercise due to malnutrition. What would you suggest for each meal?


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## drealm (Jul 7, 2009)

Your weight would be helpful to know. I'm in your same boat, skinny, suck at cooking, wanna get buff. I'll keep my advice simple.

1. 30% - 40% of your caloric intake should be fatty milk. Liquid is easier to consume than food and milk is the cheapest highest caloric beverage you can buy in bulk. Don't drink anything but milk. Drink it with every single meal and between meals. Every drink should be a tall glass with 2 cups of milk in it.

2. Caloric density is more important than "high calories". There's a difference between eating big and eating smart. If your appetite sucks, then don't try eating like a body builder. Try eating foods that are the same cubic volume but provide substantially higher calories.

3. How many meals a day? Your average person eats three meals. Your average body builder will tell you something ridiculous like 6-7 meals. However if you don't have a sponsorship to be a full time body builder like Ronnie Coleman, then you likely don't have the time due to work or school. I'd go with 4 meals at 750 calories each. That sounds like a lot until you realize 2 cups of milk equal 300 calories. So you're only eating 450 solid calories. 4 meals is doable and just slightly harder than 3.

4. Meal types: anything caloric dense. Here's a basic list:


peanut butter
butter
mayonnaise
almonds
creme cheese
avocados
Most high calorie items aren't meals in themselves, but additives. Here's a list of some meals I do:


Oatmeal (1 cup oats, 2 cups milk, 1 cut banana).
Tuna in oil (plus 4 - 5 tsp of mayonnaise).
Peanut butter sandwich (two pieces of bread with peanut butter).
Also buy some microwave food, pizzas, breakfast meals, ect. This stuff is easy and usually packs calories. Get in the habit of changing your meals every week, eating the same meal gets boring. You'll quit if your food is boring.

4. Plan. Every. Single. Meal. Us skinny guys have a tendency to put off eating. If I don't remind myself I can go a whole day without eating. So schedule a time on a piece of paper to eat every single meal.

5. Get on a consistent sleep schedule. Exercise + nutrition + sleep = results. Minus any one of those and you lose.

There's a lot more I can say but this should get you started. If there's one key skill I'd encourage you to develop it'd be looking at nutritional labels. Learn what's caloric dense and what's not. If you see two loafs of bread with slices that are the same size, and one is 100 cal per slice and the other is 150 cal, then it's a no brainer. Always pick the higher calorie item when shopping.


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

First of all, thanks for the detailed post.



drealm said:


> Your weight would be helpful to know.


138lb, my height is 5' 8" or so(~170cm).



> 1. 30% - 40% of your caloric intake should be fatty milk. Liquid is easier to consume than food and milk is the cheapest highest caloric beverage you can buy in bulk. Don't drink anything but milk. Drink it with every single meal and between meals. Every drink should be a tall glass with 2 cups of milk in it.


Wouldn't that be too much? I don't plan on going to a gym and lift weights for an hour or anything rigorous like that. I want to get in shape relatively slowly. And even though I like milk, I get diarrhea after drinking quite often.



> 2. Caloric density is more important than "high calories". There's a difference between eating big and eating smart. If your appetite sucks, then don't try eating like a body builder. Try eating foods that are the same cubic volume but provide substantially higher calories.


Could you give me some examples? I do have a bad appetite and I almost always retch after eating certain amounts of food even though my stomach is not even near full.



> 4. Meal types: anything caloric dense. Here's a basic list:
> 
> 
> peanut butter
> ...


It seems to be focused only on fat even if it's a healthy kind.



> 4. Plan. Every. Single. Meal. Us skinny guys have a tendency to put off eating. If I don't remind myself I can go a whole day without eating. So schedule a time on a piece of paper to eat every single meal.
> 
> 5. Get on a consistent sleep schedule. Exercise + nutrition + sleep = results. Minus any one of those and you lose.
> 
> There's a lot more I can say but this should get you started. If there's one key skill I'd encourage you to develop it'd be looking at nutritional labels. Learn what's caloric dense and what's not. If you see two loafs of bread with slices that are the same size, and one is 100 cal per slice and the other is 150 cal, then it's a no brainer. Always pick the higher calorie item when shopping.


That helps. Thank you.


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## STKinTHEmud (Jun 21, 2009)

I would disagree about the mayo and butter as a good source of calories (very bad calories), but the rest listed there are good. Also, get a good mass-gain protein shake. They cost a bit, but they're great for those of us that are lazy (you can get them with 650+ cals pretty easy).

You can kick up that peanut butter sandwich a notch by chopping up a banana and dropping it in there.


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

Maybe my first post was misleading. I wasn't aiming for a body builder diet.

When I wake up in the morning all I can think of eating is a bowl of cereal, an egg, a toast, and a fruit because I can't cook ****. It doesn't sound unhealthy at all imo, but I feel it lacks in calories. Plus, I'm sick of having the same stuff everyday, yet I do not want to touch frozen food/meat, especially in the morning.


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## pita (Jan 17, 2004)

How do you feel about yogurt? Those 10% fat yogurts are pretty high in calories and honestly a thousand times tastier than that low fat crap. You can throw in some ground flaxseed/hempseed/chia/whatever to boost the nutritional value and add more calories. I also like eating plain fatty yogurt with about a gallon of maple syrup, but perhaps that's not so healthy.


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## brokenlight (Mar 10, 2004)

STKinTHEmud said:


> You can kick up that peanut butter sandwich a notch by chopping up a banana and dropping it in there.


This is what I have been doing. Actually, I slice banana and place it between two pieces of peanut butter bread (have been using brown rice bread) and grill it. I sprinkle cinnamon on the outside. It is a good opportunity to drink a glass of milk, because if you are like me you will be thirsty eating this.


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## kelvin89 (Jan 15, 2010)

To gain weight, it is also helpful to supplement your diet with protein products. Take protein shakes and powders that can provide extra calories and the protein required for muscle growth. Soy products such as milk are another healthy way to gain weight.


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