Stimulating An Ectomorph's Appetite

[Rckastley1122]

Hi guys,
I'm not sure if this is the right section, so forgive me for being a total newbie. I'm searched everywhere I could on Google, talked to as many people as I could and no one really seems to have an answer for me, so I figured that i'd give this forum a try.

Ever since I hit puberty. I was 130 lbs. I would eat nothing but deep-fried food, TV dinners, bags of potato chips, etc and everyone would tell me that they hate me because i'd never put on a pound. Well, when I turned 17, I got mono and dropped 10 lbs. . .so I was 120. After I got better, I noticed just how skinny I was, freaked out and started eating as much as I could without actually throwing up, despite a naturally low appetite and small stomach. Over the past two years, i've gotten very used to eating when i'm not hungry, since I only feel like eating about maybe once a day. People's comments about me being underweight would always really get to me, so i'd force myself to eat out of sheer depression and determination, basically. It's two years later and I currently weigh 140 lbs, but it's getting really exhausting and frustrating because there's nothing wrong with me; My mother and father were both very skinny people well into their 30s. . . i'm just genetically skinny, and I don't WANT to be 20 lbs underweight for the rest of my life; I want to start working out so that I don't have to feel like total crap when I take my shirt off. I want biceps and triceps, since I have stick-figure arms: 12" around, fully-flexed.


To maintain my weight, I need 2,000 calories a day, and to gain I need 2,500-3,000. The problem? I simply don't feel like eating more than maybe 1,500 a day, even if I eat the most fattening foods I can; I'm just not as interested in eating as other people seem to be. I do not smoke, I don't have diabetes or any other disease that I know of. I KNOW I need a lot of healthy fats, carbs, proteins, etc. I KNOW I need weight gain powder, etc. . .but I don't FEEL like eating unless I force myself to! After more than two years of this without making any real progress, i've become incredibly frustrated, because my stomach has definitely stretched, but i'm STILL not able to eat enough to keep up with my metabolism AND bulk up enough to seriously work out.

My questions: Has any other ectomorph who may be reading this ever struggled with a low appetite? Are there any SAFE, LEGAL and AFFORDABLE supplements I can take, or techniques I can use to get myself to want to eat 5 or 6 times a day?

I'm tired of being told "Just keep eating"; It'd be nice to be able to just concentrate on hitting the weights, and my progress with that rather than trying to force myself to take another bite of food.

[-rhino-]

What is your sleep schedule like??

Also sometimes you just HAVE to eat, try breaking it down into 5-6 smaller meals a day. The longer you continue to do this the easier it will be for you. I know when i started working out my appetite increased a lot. Just stick with it, it will get easier.

[Rckastley1122]

What is your sleep schedule like??

Thanks for the quick response.

I get about 6 hours a night. No matter what time I go to sleep, or how exhausted the day's made me, my eyes open 6 hours later and I have to force myself to go back to sleep for another couple of hours if possible.

Also sometimes you just HAVE to eat

Yes, but ALL the time?!

try breaking it down into 5-6 smaller meals a day. The longer you continue to do this the easier it will be for you. I know when i started working out my appetite increased a lot. Just stick with it, it will get easier.

Well, like i've said: It's been a significant amount of time and I don't FEEL like eating more than one dinner a day. To counter this, i've tried to do most of my eating at night, so that the weight'd stick with me. . .this is the ONLY way I was able to get past that 130 plateau.

Remember: With my metabolism/appetite, It takes me 10 months to put on 10 lbs, but I can drop that same amount of weight in a week if I don't try hard enough to keep it on.

[xl Achilles lx]

2k calories/day to maintain =/= ectomorph...sorry to break it to you. You're just skinny because you don't eat.

[-rhino-]

Thanks for the quick response.

I get about 6 hours a night. No matter what time I go to sleep, or how exhausted the day's made me, my eyes open 6 hours later and I have to force myself to go back to sleep for another couple of hours if possible.



Yes, but ALL the time?!




Well, like i've said: It's been a significant amount of time and I don't FEEL like eating more than one dinner a day. To counter this, i've tried to do most of my eating at night, so that the weight'd stick with me. . .this is the ONLY way I was able to get past that 130 plateau.

Remember: With my metabolism/appetite, It takes me 10 months to put on 10 lbs, but I can drop that same amount of weight in a week if I don't try hard enough to keep it on.

I started off at 140 a year ago, im the same way. I have to consume around 3200-3500 cals a day to continue to gain weight.

I know what you mean about never feeling hungry or not having an appetite. I started off in the same position, your body is used to only getting food at a certain time of day, everyday. You need to break that routine.

Its not easy to continue to get your calories in when you feel like that. I found it easier to break my meals up into smaller portions and eat 6 times a day rather than a couple large meals. You can also make some home made weight gainer shakes, high in protein and calorie dense. Sometimes thats easier than eating whole food and you can substitue it for a regular meal.

Have you started a workout routine yet? My appetite increased dramatically when i started lifting. Now i can easily get all my calories in. You just have to sack up and do it.

EAT!!!!!!!!!

[Rckastley1122]

2k calories/day to maintain =/= ectomorph...sorry to break it to you.

I've always understood that a small, narrow frame, a high metabolism and being significantly underweight is what qualifies a person as an ectomorph. Thinking of terms of extremes - 4 or 5,000 calories a day - isn't exactly fair.

I started off at 140 a year ago, im the same way. I have to consume around 3200 cals a day to continue to gain weight.

For about a month, I was eating about 3,200 a day and still hardly seeing results. What honestly scares the crap out of me, is that being active, putting on muscle etc INCREASES metabolism. If i'm already having trouble, how can I possibly maintain an athletic body/lifestyle?

I know what you mean about never feeling hungry or not having an appetite. I started off in the same position, your body is used to only getting food at a certain time of day, everyday. You need to break that routine.

Its not easy to continue to get your calories in when you feel like that. I found it easier to break my meals up into smaller portions and eat 6 times a day rather than a couple large meals. You can also make some home made weight gainer shakes, high in protein and calorie dense. Sometimes thats easier than eating whole food and you can substitue it for a regular meal.

Have you started a workout routine yet? My appetite increased dramatically when i started lifting. A

Squats, bench presses, bicep curls, pushups, crunches, etc. I also take B-vitamins, a liquid multi, and an L-amino stack.

[xl Achilles lx]

I've always understood that a small, narrow frame, a high metabolism and being significantly underweight is what qualifies a person as an ectomorph. Thinking of terms of extremes - 4 or 5,000 calories a day - isn't exactly fair.

You said it yourself, you only need 2k calories/day to maintain and 2500 to gain. People like you may think that they're eating a lot (thus adopting the "I'm an ectomorph/hardgainer" mindset) however in reality you're simply not eating enough food to see a solid weight gain.

[AndrewCa]

eat more food, add Olive oil or flax seed oils to your food, peanut butter, nuts, beef all are good fats and easy calories. IMO your not eating enough to gain weight. If your scale isn't going up weekly or month means you need to add more food into your diet.

[-rhino-]

For about a month, I was eating about 3,200 a day and still hardly seeing results. What honestly scares the crap out of me, is that being active, putting on muscle etc INCREASES metabolism. If i'm already having trouble, how can I possibly maintain an athletic body/lifestyle?

Squats, bench presses, bicep curls, pushups, crunches, etc. I also take B-vitamins, a liquid multi, and an L-amino stack.

Well figure out your maintenance calorie intake. Add 300-500 calories to that, around 1-1.5g's of protein per pound of bodyweight.

If you are working out in a calorie surplus and getting sufficient nutrients you WILL grow. If you arent gaining then add a couple hundred more calories. You should be eating stuff like chicken, eggs, brown rice, whole grains, cottage cheese, Peanut butter, fish, lean red meat, dark green veggies, etc. The possibilities are endless.

As far as lifting goes, look into a set program like rippetoes, thats a great starting program. Heavy compound movements (squats, DL's, bench, rows, etc...)

[bigdan]

breh you will need to up the frequency of your meals as well as the size of them. I would recommend a weight gainer shake like cytogainer... or just your own home made weight gainer shake. If you are currently doing 3 meals a day, then do those meals but also add in 3 weight gainer shakes.

If you want to make your own shakes great ingredients to use include:

whey protein powder
whole milk
cream (or half and half, but cream is great)
peanut butter
fruits (banana, chocolate whey, whole milk and peanut butter will taste great and add the lbs)
ice cream (if you are a really hard gainer try ice cream, why the hell not)
nuts
candy bars (again - this is for the absolute I cannot gain weight person)
oat meal


Assemble your ingredients and throw them into a blender with some ice. Tastes great and will add a shtload of calories to your diet. Do 3 meals and 3 shakes.

[ptflyforatallguy]

a very easy way to increase appetite is to manipulate insulin production and blood sugar thus in turn Ghrelin which "signals" the hunger sensation. the best way to do this is consuming a high amount of carbohydrates (I don't mean excessive) and low amounts of fats. the increase in blood sugar causes a heightened production of insulin which stays elevated long after the carbohydrates have been converted to glucose and then stored. this forces the release of Ghrelin from the anterior pituitary gland and causes the sensation of hunger (it sounds complicated but this is a truly watered down explanation).

[andyfan692011]

Bro you do not always have to EAT... You can make shakes. Try this shake it has a good amount of calories, and you will not feel like you are forcing food down the trap door...

2 scoops of whey protein
1 banana
2 Tbs peanut butter
16oz whole milk

Bro that is roughly 773 calories in a healthy, and declicious tasting shake. You can drink these twice a day and it will help a lot. You can substitute the banana with strawberries, or any fruit you like.

[Ambush347]

Up until a year and half ago, I was 130lbs. I am an ectomorph. I tried to eat way more but also found I didn't have the appetite. Once I started a good workout program though my appetite definitely increased. I had also eaten only 2 or 3 meals a day and then forced myself to break that routine and began eating smaller meals more frequently. A good suggestion might be to first get a good mass/strength program with lots of compound lifts and eat before and after workouts. In terms of nutrition change it gradually over a few weeks so that it won't be such a shock but be DISCIPLINED.

If your goal is important enough then you will find a way to get it, otherwise I guess it doesn't matter enough to you.

[Opies]

Marijuana

[itsaburgerrun]

try eating heavy caloric foods like nutella peanutbutter ? you can also always go to mcdonalds each and every day to make u gain weight in a VERY easy way ?
also what helped me while cutting/bulking is dont think about it 24/7 when bulking i always felt not hungry when cutting i felt like eating all the fckin time

[hankst]

Peanut butter (or nutella, or any other calorie dense bullcrap I am not allowed to eat on top of my bread), nuts, pork (ham, bacon, bbqed - the possibilities are endless), oatmeal, noodles, ...

Liquid calories might work as well. Whole milk with a spoon of oil (if you don't mind the taste), weight gainer shakes. Stuff like that.

You have to force it down!

[Rckastley1122]

a very easy way to increase appetite is to manipulate insulin production and blood sugar thus in turn Ghrelin which "signals" the hunger sensation. the best way to do this is consuming a high amount of carbohydrates (I don't mean excessive) and low amounts of fats. the increase in blood sugar causes a heightened production of insulin which stays elevated long after the carbohydrates have been converted to glucose and then stored. this forces the release of Ghrelin from the anterior pituitary gland and causes the sensation of hunger (it sounds complicated but this is a truly watered down explanation).

Won't this make me diabetic over a long period of time? I'd prefer to safely make myself hungry, rather than **** with my blood sugar by eating nothing but junk to try to keep weight on.

Marijuana

I said "safe and legal". I have absolutely no connections for that, and I live at home. My family would call the police on me if they caught me with that.

try eating heavy caloric foods like nutella peanutbutter ? you can also always go to mcdonalds each and every day to make u gain weight in a VERY easy way ?

I had to eat double cheeseburgers with extra mayonnaise from Burger King EVERY DAY for 10 months to put on 20 lbs, and none of this weight stuck with me.

also what helped me while cutting/bulking is dont think about it 24/7 when bulking i always felt not hungry when cutting i felt like eating all the fckin time

Well, if I don't actually think about it and force myself to eat, I don't really get hungry too often. That's why I made this thread.

[ptflyforatallguy]

Won't this make me diabetic over a long period of time? I'd prefer to safely make myself hungry, rather than **** with my blood sugar by eating nothing but junk to try to keep weight on.

(no flame) I did explicitly state "(not in excess)" and also for you to assume "junk" is what is necessary to gain weight is also a misconception.
there are 2 ways to elicit the onset of Type 2 Diabetes; One is due to a desensitizing of the beta receptor cells which is a very rare form of Type 2 which is caused by a genetic predisposition of the host, Second and more common occurrence is caused by the body's inability to produce enough insulin from the pancreas for the amount of receptor sites available which is in direct relation to excessive adipocytes (fat cells).

I understand where your belief may be generated in relation to Professional Bodybuilding where people who have used excessive insulin and caused pancreatic down regulation thus becoming diabetic. but i assure you that you body will never produce those super pharmalogical levels of hormones and even so if they could it is caused by a negative feed back loop just like when someone takes testosterone there body stops producing it own to compensate.

I said "safe and legal". I have absolutely no connections for that, and I live at home. My family would call the police on me if they caught me with that.

In regards to Marijuana It is a legally prescribed medication that has been shown to have profound effects in patients with waisting dues to HIV or cancer and many other disorders like anorexia, bulimia, anxiety and others related to eating habits. i understand your disposition to this because of the current social stigma and labeling of this substance, but it is a a very real medication and i personally believe such recourse is not needed unless you have a medical condition warranting it's use and have consulted a medical practitioner.

I had to eat double cheeseburgers with extra mayonnaise from Burger King EVERY DAY for 10 months to put on 20 lbs, and none of this weight stuck with me.

This is a very unhealthy way to accrue mas and hope for your sake it is an exaggeration because you need to go see a doctor if "it's impossible for me to gain weight". I say this because short of having hyperthyroidism (graves disease) or some form of systemic anemia you can gain weight just like any other normally functioning human you just have to find the way that best suits you.

[Nimonis]

Hi guys,
I'm not sure if this is the right section, so forgive me for being a total newbie. I'm searched everywhere I could on Google, talked to as many people as I could and no one really seems to have an answer for me, so I figured that i'd give this forum a try.
I'm tired of being told "Just keep eating"; It'd be nice to be able to just concentrate on hitting the weights, and my progress with that rather than trying to force myself to take another bite of food.

I have the same problem, i really gotta push myself to eat, its not that i don thave the appettite, my stomach just gets to full. way to full. i cant finish. and im full past when im supposed to eat again.

[dt13]

You just have to get into a good routine. Little by little. Increase your daily calorie intake. As mentioned above as well protein shakes are great as well. I have found that seems to work the best. I mean I am in the same boat around the same weight as you. So I would suggest little by little continue to increase your calories little by little 100 here 100 the next day or so. Soon enough your body will get used to it. It may take a while though but it's worth it.

I have a question about Whey protein and the mixes you guys suggested. My question is is it necessary to add those extra things? Cause I've never drank whey protein with extra stuff just the shake itself. Should I be consuming it with other things mixed in?

[rmutalik93]

Hey Rckastley1122, I know I'm nearly 10 years too late lol, and I honestly hope you've made some gains since then, but if not, then I have a couple of tips for you that haven't been mentioned yet.

I'm also an ectomorph around 130 lbs. There was a period where I ate 3000 calories every day for 2 weeks and got up to 140 lbs. If you want to gain weight bad enough, you will find a way to succeed.

1. Go to a GI doctor (digestion system doctor). If you really are eating a lot of calories and still not gaining weight, then your body might not be digesting any of the food that you eat, and that is definitely your #1 issue. I remember when I didn't know I was lactose intolerant, I would try to drink a gallon of milk a day. It never worked, because I never digested that milk. It just came out as a ton of smelly farts.

2. You said you only eat when you FEEL like eating. Your feelings don't matter. As MAKAVELI MOTIVATION put it best (bodybuilding motivation YouTube channel, which I highly recommend you start watching), you don't eat for pleasure; you eat to bulk. Jay Cutler said when he first started bodybuilding, he would set alarms at specific times e.g. 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, 10 pm and when that alarm went off, he would eat a meal. That's how he got big. Like someone said above, you gotta be disciplined if you want to reach your goal of not being underweight.

3. Track your calories. Measure your food. If you don't know how much you are eating, you won't know how many calories you need to eat to gain. You could just eat 4000 calories every day, but then you risk a lot of those calories being turned into fat, not muscle. I use MyFitnessPal app on my phone. It's really useful. It even has a barcode scanner for grocery store items.

To summarize, go to the doctor and see if you have any digestive issues, then discipline yourself to eat your calories. Track your calories, make sure you are working out and getting enough sleep, and you will definitely bulk.

Good luck!

tl;dr If you are looking for one, good luck, because you are missing a lot of the content. There is a lot of good information in this post. Read it.

[ironwill2008]

Ahh, the old, "ectomorph" shtick.


Irrelevant when this thread was first posted, and it hasn't aged well since.