# tips and advice on gaining weight



## milo2020 (May 22, 2011)

I have high metabolsim and no matter how much I eat, I dont seem to be getting the weight I want..
I am 22 and I weigh around 8stone is this really skinny? coz I feel really skinny, and I want to gain weight, not just to make me look better but feel better, and I wanna be stronger too....

I 've seen websites like skinnygainmuscle.com, the guy says I must eat till I'm bloated and advices you to eat food that are so expensive here (fish etc.) why are healthy foods so expensive!! he charges 109USD for more excercise tips and advice...probably a catch

I cant go to the gym, I live on a farm which is 20 min. from town, and I feel shy to go there, plus its a rip off! 25GBP!!

and strange, I always do physical work on the farm...even then, sometimes I have to wake up early, eat a crunch bar and banana, as I dont have time to eat a full breakfast, like that website above says I must do...and I dont have much time to rest and do nothing the next day...or my dad will start saying I'm useless  

is there a way I can excercise at home?
I'm using weights using those scaffolding posts and tires and an old metal iron used on a car (dunno what it is but its heavy) tied up in a string to do arm and chest excercise like weights...good or bad idea?
I do it 30min or 1hr 2 or 3 times a week....depending if I have time and energy...coz I'm sometimes tired after work...and I have difficulty sleeping too...maybe a factor?....I did manage to go from 7.5 to 8 stone in 3 weeks, but then nothing happened, as work came in the way and my eating routines, mom complainng I want food which are too expensive,or i just eat too much...especially meat like chicken and rice...and fill myself till I'm bloated, and cant hardly breath or feeling hot and sick ...and theres always something in the way or stopping me..from people to illness like colds and pain grrr....is there a cheap and effective way to gain muscle? and is there free diy excercise sites designed to help skinny guys gain muscle?


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## jayjaythejetplane (May 13, 2011)

I'm in a similar boat. Dropped the pounds off around the time I developed SA, and have been underweight ever since. I'm dead on 9stone now which is super low for my height. I went to a nutritionist, and she basically told me to overeat high protein foods for the foreseeable future. After a while your body both inside and outside adapts, and it will be much easier to gain weight. It's very hard, as I've been doing so for about 2-3 months and haven't gone up on the scales. If you want to accelerate the process, you can buy weight protein's which are pretty cheap. Still I was told to not expect results till about 6-8 months.


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## surrender to nothing (Jun 18, 2011)

What is your daily caloric intake?


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## gomenne (Oct 3, 2009)

How do you make yourself want to eat more ?
How do you gain appetite ? How can you eat when you have no appetite ?????
I keep on losing weight unvoluntarily


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## General Shy Guy (May 12, 2011)

Stray away from the 3 big meals a day. Instead, eat every few hours. I find this allows me to take in more food throughout the day. Snack on things like peanuts, sunflower seeds and pasta. They're high calorie and healthy. Also, learn to eat when you aren't hungry. This was the hardest thing for me. Eating when not hungry is completely foreign to me. Keep a jar of peanuts handy (on your desk or something) and snack on those even when you don't feel hungry.


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## gomenne (Oct 3, 2009)

General Shy Guy said:


> Stray away from the 3 big meals a day. Instead, eat every few hours. I find this allows me to take in more food throughout the day. Snack on things like peanuts, sunflower seeds and pasta. They're high calorie and healthy. Also, learn to eat when you aren't hungry. This was the hardest thing for me. Eating when not hungry is completely foreign to me. Keep a jar of peanuts handy (on your desk or something) and snack on those even when you don't feel hungry.


When I eat in between meals, which is very rare, my appetite decreases and by the end of the day my stomach competely shuts down.
I try to eat sweet things, but still when I do I can't like eat lunch or dinner.
I can't force myself to eat :no


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## General Shy Guy (May 12, 2011)

gomenne said:


> When I eat in between meals, which is very rare, my appetite decreases and by the end of the day my stomach competely shuts down.
> I try to eat sweet things, but still when I do I can't like eat lunch or dinner.
> I can't force myself to eat :no


Maybe try eating smaller portions during meal times? I used to eat 2-3 big meals a day, and struggled to eat between meals. Now I typically have a smaller portion for lunch and dinner, while eating in between. But then again, I'm no nutritionist.

Also, it sounds obvious, but the more tasty the food is the more motivated you'll be to eat. For me it's a lot easier to eat some delicious french toast in the morning than some plain toast. I also add things like pesto sauce to my ham/turkey sandwiches :yes.

But I feel your pain. I know just as much as anyone that you can't force yourself to eat. It's hard for some to understand that. But you can trick yourself into eating. If you still can't eat more, and your goal is truly to gain weight, you can try adding things into your meals for more calories. For example, with a regular dinner salad (~120 calories with dressing) you can add 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (110 calories) and a tablespoon of olive oil (120 calories) for a total of 350 calories. Adding small things like this to meals throughout the day will add up.


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## surrender to nothing (Jun 18, 2011)

gomenne said:


> When I eat in between meals, which is very rare, my appetite decreases and by the end of the day my stomach competely shuts down.


Maybe that's because doing so is rare. You have to keep up with it so your stomach can expand, and stay expanded to accommodate more food than it's used to now.



> I can't force myself to eat :no


Why not? 
If this loss of appetite/inability to eat is stress/anxiety induced, well, those issues need addressed first unless you are malnourished.


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## gomenne (Oct 3, 2009)

Why not? 
If this loss of appetite/inability to eat is stress/anxiety induced, well, those issues need addressed first unless you are malnourished.[/QUOTE]

No it isn't because of anxiety or anything, it's more of a habit. A life long awful habit


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## paulyD (Feb 16, 2011)

milo2020 said:


> I have high metabolsim and no matter how much I eat, I dont seem to be getting the weight I want..
> I am 22 and I weigh around 8stone is this really skinny? coz I feel really skinny, and I want to gain weight, not just to make me look better but feel better, and I wanna be stronger too....
> 
> I 've seen websites like skinnygainmuscle.com, the guy says I must eat till I'm bloated and advices you to eat food that are so expensive here (fish etc.) why are healthy foods so expensive!! he charges 109USD for more excercise tips and advice...probably a catch
> ...


yes there is a cheap and effective way to gain muscle. you can work out at home using dumbells and a bench which are fairly cheap. if you cant afford dumbells and a bench then the only thing i can suggest is impovising like you have already been doing, and also do things like sit ups and press ups etc.... (although without the dumbelss i cant really see you getting good results)

you can get the right diet very cheap too if you use the right foods. how about this :

breakfast - oatmeal, banana, whey protein , cottage cheese 
snack - oatmeal, whey , skimmed milk (put ingredients in a shaker )
lunch - brown rice , tuna, frozen veg
snack - oatmeal , whey , skimmed milk 
dinner - brown rice, tuna , frozen veg 
snack - wholegain bread, all natural peanut butter, cottage cheese

whey protein is extremely cheap. you can get a big tub with about 90 servings in it which last quite a while.


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## seafolly (Jun 17, 2010)

The OP already does this but I thought I'd share what works for me. The combination of a benzodiazepine and not eating as much when anxious sent me down to 100 lbs at one point. 

1) Exercise. I focused on strength training and my appetite immediately increased. 

2) Found healthy stuff I love to eat. Peanut butter smoothies? Yup. Quick and easy and so delicious. 

3) I'll watch a movie when trying to eat a meal. With my mind distracted from anxiety-related thoughts, my body is way more receptive to food. I've got a bowl of popcorn right here to pick at while I read. 

Combining all of this got me up to 115 lb which makes my doctor happy. I do have to be conscious of all three factors to keep it on though.


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## LALoner (Dec 3, 2008)

From the scattershot questioning in the OP's post I think he just needs to put some time into researching how muscle growth works.


ps this guy is the only weak farmboy I ever heard of.


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## SMOOZIE (May 26, 2011)

jayjaythejetplane said:


> I'm in a similar boat. Dropped the pounds off around the time I developed SA, and have been underweight ever since. I'm dead on 9stone now which is super low for my height. I went to a nutritionist, and she basically told me to overeat high protein foods for the foreseeable future. After a while your body both inside and outside adapts, and it will be much easier to gain weight. It's very hard, as I've been doing so for about 2-3 months and haven't gone up on the scales. If you want to accelerate the process, you can buy weight protein's which are pretty cheap. Still I was told to not expect results till about 6-8 months.


I've read quite a bit about nutrition and from what I know I would never give such a piece of advice (to ingest high doses of protein to gain weight). Has that nutritionist analyzed your diet? Have you done a 4 day weighed food record? Probably not. The only reason behind eating more protein I see would be exercising the muscles more. That would certainly give you more weight.


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## jayjaythejetplane (May 13, 2011)

Yeah I've been lifting quite a lot recently, and she told me to intake a high amount of protein to gain mass. Still very little improvement. I was 123, I'm now 126.


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## General Shy Guy (May 12, 2011)

Protein is good, but too much of it can be detrimental to your health. I realized I was getting a lot with my normal diet, making whey protein unnecessary. Depending on your daily protein intake, a weight gain powder might be a better choice.


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## milo2020 (May 22, 2011)

paulyD said:


> yes there is a cheap and effective way to gain muscle. you can work out at home using dumbells and a bench which are fairly cheap. if you cant afford dumbells and a bench then the only thing i can suggest is impovising like you have already been doing, and also do things like sit ups and press ups etc.... (although without the dumbelss i cant really see you getting good results)
> 
> you can get the right diet very cheap too if you use the right foods. how about this :
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info I'll give it another go... sometimes I can only do two excercises per week especially after work which is mostly physical..would I still gain weight?


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## milo2020 (May 22, 2011)

ZigZagz said:


> I'm not sure how good and how long substitute weights will last.. but here are a couple suggestions
> -Fill up some milk jugs with water to do curls,shoulder presses,etc and then with sand once you get stronger.
> -Get a really big rock and hold it in your hand for squats,lunges,etc
> -Do pullups and chinups from something strong enough to support your weight, wear a backpack full of rocks as extra resistance.
> ...


yea I'm tryin that out including scaffolding pipes and putting weights on them, and dumbells and those car spring things for chest excercise not sure what you call it...but it does the job...hurts my hands tho...
how would it take for one to see some weight gain?


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## seafolly (Jun 17, 2010)

LALoner said:


> From the scattershot questioning in the OP's post I think he just needs to put some time into researching how muscle growth works.
> 
> ps this guy is the only weak farmboy I ever heard of.


Lil' harsh there. :b I'll admit that was my first reaction too. I only worked on a farm on weekends but even skinny me had some decent muscle tone. I suppose it depends on what the chores are exactly. My tractor related tasks did not require an ounce of muscle, just enough to push a pedal. Repairing fences and planting 20 foot trees, well, yeah you're hauling things around all day!

Some people just have really fast metabolism. Never hurts to get bloodwork done to be sure all's well.


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## milo2020 (May 22, 2011)

LALoner said:


> From the scattershot questioning in the OP's post I think he just needs to put some time into researching how muscle growth works.
> 
> ps this guy is the only weak farmboy I ever heard of.


Actually I have been researching for a very long time since college! just given up..

yea well its not that I'm weak, I can lift heavy loads, and theres not much work u can do with a tractor or machinery, I just look skinny and yea I'm a shamed of it being the only one in the world who lives on a farm that looks skinny and useless..like your tryin to say?
I've noticed slim guys in college who turned from skinny to toned, but they live on flat land farms and mostly work with machinery...


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## wraith (Feb 22, 2010)

Haven't bother reading through any of this, but if you want to gain weight you could ask you doc to get on mianserin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianserin) and say that you need it so you can get to sleep at night. It's used for that in small doses and it has a side effect that increases appetite. I've had a lot of luck with that.


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## TechNet (Jul 1, 2011)

I'm the same Milo.
I'm 8 stone & 20 now. I've been 8 stone for like 5 years, maybe more. I just don't put weight on.
At one point I was eating subways nearly every day, still nothing.
Now, I eat liuke 1 meal per day due to waking up late. I don't do much exercise but I'm naturally fit anyway. But I would like to get to maybe 10 stone, so I can properly build muscle and stop being so skinny.

I've tried nearly everything, from eating more, less, doing MMA circuit training, not doing anything at all, eating healthy, eating crap... pretty much everything, and still weigh 8 stone.
Even now, I don't have breakfast & most days no dinner, yet don't even lose weight.
It's like it's stuck at 8 stone >.>


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## StevenGlansberg (Apr 1, 2009)

Instead of making sandwiches with bread, use pop tarts. Instead of chewing gum, chew bacon.


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## Diacetylmorphine (Mar 9, 2011)

You could brush your teeth with milkshakes!


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## StevenGlansberg (Apr 1, 2009)

^ :yay


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## guppy88 (Nov 12, 2010)

milo2020 said:


> I have high metabolsim and no matter how much I eat, I dont seem to be getting the weight I want..
> I am 22 and I weigh around 8stone is this really skinny? coz I feel really skinny, and I want to gain weight, not just to make me look better but feel better, and I wanna be stronger too....
> 
> I 've seen websites like skinnygainmuscle.com, the guy says I must eat till I'm bloated and advices you to eat food that are so expensive here (fish etc.) why are healthy foods so expensive!! he charges 109USD for more excercise tips and advice...probably a catch
> ...


 If you're wanting to gain wait then there's no way to do it except for eatting dirty. Body builders do it when bulking up.

Here are some things you can do that WILL make you ****ing huge. Promise from my own coaching standpoint. And this is safe as well.

A gallon of whole milk a day. 3,000 k

And olive oil shots. -500 k


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## vvv (Mar 22, 2011)

sertraline!!


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## reck0n3r (Jul 2, 2011)

Lift heavy weights (buy some for home), will make your body crave more food. 

This is when you eat anything and everything in sight. (make sure there's carbs, a lot of them) and of course protein.

Don't worry about getting caught up with the details of what exercises you should do (for now at least) just do the basics that you can do with a barbell/bench/dumbbells, and then as you get into it more you'll be curious about other exercises.

Much of the time, people don't start because they get caught up in the details and never end up lifting a finger.


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

This is a subject close to my heart. I have a fairly large frame and fully clothed I don't look skinny, but I am skin and bone. I see all sorts of special diets for losing weight but never any for gaining it. The Aitkens diet, the no grain diet, the waterfall diet(???). I invisioned the pudding diet. Three square meals consisting of various sweet and savory puddings. That would fatten you up  Anyway why do you want to gain weight? Do you have an inferiority complex? I know I do. I am more concerned with learning how to fight rather than getting bigger. Makes me feel safer. I have a freind who is tiny and he is obsessed with bodybuilding. He takes steroids but never seams to really get that big. Go figure. Also I don't think he realises that he will always be that hight no matter how muscley he is.

In anycase here are my thoughts on the matter;

Milk protein(casein) is the absolute gold standard for weight gain in conjunction with high intensity excercise. High intensity means heavy weight/low reps. However you must build some structural strength first. I know from experience that if there are postural problems(which do tend to accompany low self esteem) then there are certain excercises that will be impossible on high intensity. You may be able to do they same excercise low intensity with ease but up the weight a little and your body will simply not allow you to do it. It is safety mechanism built into your nervous system(specifically the spinal cord). I have dislocated my shoulder trying to fight through this.

Lots of green veg is a must if you want to be healthy. No iceberg lettuce as it is just not green enough. Supplements are a good idea but not entirely necessary(I think I will do a seperate post on that). At the bare minimum; fish oil and some minerals. If you are consuming dairy products, which are high in calcium, it is imporant to take magnesium to balance it. Chromium is also important for insulin sensitivity and is present in most "weight gainer" protein drinks. Whey protein is good before a work out but afterwards you need a more slow digesting protein like casein, and lots of fast releasing carbs. The insulin spike casued by the carbs increases muscle growth.

As far as excercise is concerned there is masses of info on the web(including but not limited to youtube) but my opinion is that you must first begin with structure;


Begin with stretching and postural exercises. There is pilates, yoga, martial arts excercises and static contraction(isometrics). Pay attention to stretching your arms and chest as rounded shoulders will cause problems if you have them. Rounded shoulders are easier to get than they are to deal with. Stance work such as zhan zhaung is good for building structural. Try the 10day plan below.
 




Get yourself a chinning bar. One like this:














it can be used for pushups aswell. I got one for 20 quid. Money well spent. I am not into gadgets and stuff but these are great. You can do 4 different pushups on them isolating the different muscle groups.


Pay attention to working your back muslces for a few months before you bother with shoulders, arms, etc.(your biceps will get exercised when you do chinups anyway) Use light weights to do low intensity back-flies to strengthen your posture and do isometrics on the chinning bar. Don't forget your erectors. There are a few different excercises you can do for them - check online.


Do isometric pushups without using the bar to begin with. Hold positon just off the ground for 20 sec. Rest then do the same at full extension with elbows just slightly bent. Rest then do the same half way down. Keep your head up so you can look straight ahead as you do them, this also helps with posture.
Once you have built up your back muscles then you can go on to do any heavy weight lifting. There are loads of different programs available on line.

Good luck...


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## softshock11 (Jan 9, 2011)

eat carbs, beefy cheesy stuff i guess
and drink milk

*blugh*


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## The Awkward One (Jun 30, 2011)

I wish I could gain weight. I'm 5'4 and 45-47kg.


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## hodson01 (Jul 7, 2011)

HI there,
I think that you eat 4 to 5 meals a day and have the protein foods and 
nutritious food items in this session of gaining weight..... 
That would help you much to gain weight of your own choice....


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

Bump.

I found this


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## proximo20 (Nov 25, 2006)

Garlic breads.


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