Bulking but not gaining weight.. help! (diet included)

[Cortic]

Hey guys.

Ok been bulking for 3 weeks now and i havent gained nothing. Nadda. Zippo.

So heres what a typical day would entail for me in the food and supplement department.

Breakfast:

protein shake in 8oz skim milk (30g p)
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 fish oil tablets
1 multi-v

Meal 2:

Wholemeal Steak sandwich (35-40g p)
(2 slices wholemeal bread, butter, 200gm steak, tomato sauce)

Meal 3: (Pre-WO)

Wholemeal Tuna Sandwich (20g p)
(2 slices wholemeal bread, butter, 1 can tuna, salt)

Meal 4: (Post-WO)

Protein shake in Water (30g p)
1 tsp Creatine Monohydrate
1 tsp Dextrose
1 tsp Maltodextrin

Meal 5:

A combination of meat, veggies/salald with either rice or pasta. (40g p)

Meal 6:

1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 fish oil tabs


Ok so thats what ive been eating last 3 weeks. Its been a big effort for me to get all that food down every day cause usually i'd eat about 1/2 of that.

Anyways i havent gained anything. So whats my diet need?

Im 21, 5'10", 147lb..... Training hard and heavy!

[dp13368]

Total daily macros?

Calories, p/c/f, etc?

[BigNastyD]

I have no idea how many calories that is...do you?

[Cortic]

Hehe no i dont! Cause when i buy heaps of things from the supermarket they dont tell you on the packet what the breakdown is (esp. with the meat).

And i cant use fitday as i live in aus and heaps of the stuff i regularly consume arent on the web site, or they all have different names and confuse me

But from my own calculations (using what i do know):

Id say my 2 sandwich's have roughly 350 cal, my breakfast has rougly 500 cal, dinner is around 500cal, cottage cheese is 120 cal, and post workout is around 200.

Therefore:

500 + 350 + 350 + 200 + 500 + 120 = roughly 2200. Ok ok now i see problem.

Total protein for eah day is around 160 - 200 (depending on what i can get my hands on)

Total carbs is always aboe htis (roughlt 250 - 300)

Fats is around 70 or 80 in total.

How am i going? My carbs and fats intake looks good i htink but i rekon i need more protein and definately more cals. But how can i increase these meals above to have more calories? Im so full after each meal and hungry 2 hours later. I need.... The secrets of adding calories....

Any suggestions?

[Abe the Cop]

I only counted apx. 2500 cals in that diet. You're not gaining because you're not eating enough. For some people, I stress the word 'some', 2500 might be enough. Unfortunately for you, 2500 isn't enough. There is a simple solution to this problem and it is: EAT MORE Actually, it might not be that simple for you since you said you're having a hard time getting all that food down. I know how you feel. I used to have a hard time getting all my cals in during my bulking cycles, but eventually I physically adapted to eating more food by slowing adding more cals to my diet and I learned tips on how to stimulate my appetite (I'm not talking about smoking weed here ). Here's some ideas:

I don't see ANY of the following things in your diet:

cottage cheese, chicken, sweet potatos, yams, apples, pears, whole wheat pasta, pearled barley, white potatos

These are bulking ESSENTIALS! I suggest you make these crucial additions. As for tips on increasing appetite:

1) Drink fruit juice. Drinking juice half an hour before a large meal causes a quick rise is blood sugar followed by a rapid decline. This process triggers appetite.

2) Eat BIG at night. The big bedtime meal dramatically increases the release of insulin, the appetite-stimulating hormone, and stretches your stomach. Elevated insulin levels not only drive most of the food into muscle stores, but they will also increase your metabolic rate. You fall asleep with an expanded stomach and elevated metabolism, which will leave you surprisingly hungry the next morning.

3) Try glucose-clearing supps. Chromium, vanadyl sulfate, ALA and fish oil have all been said to help clear glucose from blood to increase the formation of glycogen. The elimination of glucose helps to boost appetite because the resulting declind in blood sugar typically triggers the appetite center in the brain, increasing the desire and ability to eat more. Try taking 200mcg chromium, 10mg vanadyl, 200mg ALA and 3-6g fish oil each morning with your breakfast.

4) Eliminate fiber. Fiber makes you feel full. This is good for cutting, but not so good for bulking.

Here's an example menu taken from my own diet:

1) 2 cups oats, 2 cups 2% Milk, 2 tbsp natural peanut butter
1060 cals

2) 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cup 2% Milk
410 cals

3) Pre w/o supplement...predominantly low GI carbs 1 hour before working out taken with creatine and NO supps
500 cals

4) Post w/o supplement...predominantly high GI carbs and protein (40g protein/80g carbs approximately) taken with creatine supplement and any other post w/o supps
900 cals

5) Chicken alfredo with n/f alfredo sauce OR beef-a-roni (any type of high protein/high low GI carb meal 1-2 hours post w/o) Instead of just drinking milk with this meal, I have another protein shake.
1300

6) 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cup 2% Milk
410

7) Bedtime caseine shake
500

Total calories : apx. 5,000 <<Good amount for hardgainers

Hope I was of some help. You'll need to tweak the menu above to your personal preferences/goals, but it's a sure-fire way to gain mass.

[Cortic]

Thanks Cop for your reply!

I already have 1/2 cup cottage cheese before bed but would u suggest me upping that to a cup or should i buy some casein powder and have that instead?

Maybe i could put 1tbsp of PB into my shakes? would that help calorie uptake?

Hehe with thaa diet i posed it was only for yesterday. Chicken is a big part of my diet which i usually have on bread, but pasta sounds like a good alternative.

I will definately try and eat more! Just hard cause i stay at my girls house 3-4 nights a week and her mum cooks everyhting.. i have no idea what nutritional info is in the suff i have for dinner but usually sweet potato is there too!

Oh one more thing. Post workout i have 1tsp dex + 1 tsp maltodextrin. I dont think this is enough simple carbs, do you? i read somewhere that a tsp has only like 5 gms in it. Not sure if thats true butmaybe i sohuld have like 6 tsp if htis is the case?

[Jim_Gym]

I tried to bulk for almost six months and didn't actually gain weight on the scale, but I did gain some considerable muscle size compared to the way I started. And I was eating a whopping 3700 calories every day and I was only about 150 lbs. That should have been enough food to gain weight. The important thing is I gained msucle though. Now I am cutting and losing a tiny bit of weight (few pounds only) while I drop body fat. I guess this is working again in reverse.

[king1199]

Hey guys, I have the same problem alot of you guys have. I'm 28 years old 6,1 in tall and weight about 197 LB and want to gaing mass.

My problem is that i always been a skinny little kid, eat,eat,eat and don't gaing weight. Now at 28 want to gaing a some mass but it seems like it's not working.

I been trying for about 6 mounths, I don't know if it's the workout that I'm doing of if the diet. But i haven't gaing mass. When i stated i was at 200 LB and I'm still about the same weight. I work out about 4 days a week, This is my workout routine:

Mon: Chest & Triceps
Tues: legs
Wed:Back & Biceps
Thur:Cardio
Fri: Off
Sat:Shoulders, Wrists, & Traps
Sun: off

OK when it come down to the meal this is what it looks like:

Meal #1: (Pre-Work)

Quaker oatmeal 1 cup on skin milk
Orange juice 1/2 cup
2 ON Protein shake on 16 OZ of skin milk
Multivitamin
1 Softgel Flax seed oil
1 Softgel Fish oil
Amino acid

Meal #2 (Post-Work)

3/4 cup of white rice
2 pieces of rosted chicken
small plate of green salad
1 ON Protein shake on 8OZ of skin milk

Meal #3

2 cans of tuna with a spoon of miracle whip.
1 Softgel Flax seed oil
1 Softgel Fish oil

Meal #4

Quaker oatmeal 1 cup on skin milk
Orange juice 1/2 cup
2 ON Protein shake on 16 OZ of skin milk
Amino acid

Meal #5

1 Potato
2 pieces of grill chicken
broccoli

Meal #6(Before bed)
Optimum Pro Complex Gainer
Amino acid

So that's it. I want to know if my meal are the reason that I'm not gaining or is it the workout routine. Another problem i have is, i have a small belly that i always wanted to get rid off, i stated to eat clean, no fast food, no sugar, Etc. but i can't get rid of it! What's going on with my body?

The point in my story is, how come I'm not gaining weight(muscle) and losing my stomach, It's getting to expensive and time consuming, all that for nothing. Sometimes i feel like quieting. come on guy help me out here!

[Abe the Cop]

Thanks Cop for your reply!

I already have 1/2 cup cottage cheese before bed but would u suggest me upping that to a cup or should i buy some casein powder and have that instead?

Maybe i could put 1tbsp of PB into my shakes? would that help calorie uptake?

Hehe with thaa diet i posed it was only for yesterday. Chicken is a big part of my diet which i usually have on bread, but pasta sounds like a good alternative.

I will definately try and eat more! Just hard cause i stay at my girls house 3-4 nights a week and her mum cooks everyhting.. i have no idea what nutritional info is in the suff i have for dinner but usually sweet potato is there too!

Oh one more thing. Post workout i have 1tsp dex + 1 tsp maltodextrin. I dont think this is enough simple carbs, do you? i read somewhere that a tsp has only like 5 gms in it. Not sure if thats true butmaybe i sohuld have like 6 tsp if htis is the case?

* I would up the cottage cheese to 1 cup, yes. Why? 1/2 cup of cottage cheese is apx. 12g of protein. Not enough. 1 cup = 24g + 1 1/2 cup 2% Milk = 12g + 2 tbsp natural peanut butter = 9g...Total protein = 45g Whether you decide to have a caseine shake ontop of that is up to you. Personally, I'd rotate days where I have the cottage cheese, milk and npb meal and switch it with a caseine shake mixed with milk.

* Adding 1tbsp of pb to shakes will up the calories by about 100 calories. I would normally suggest 2tbsp of natural pb which is an average serving size.

* You're right about the dextrose. Not enough. NOW sells 2lb bags of dextrose for $2. One bag is apx. 4g I believe and the bag contains 277 servings. 4 x 277 = 1,108g total. You want 80g of dextrose post w/o, so 1108 / 80 = 13.85 days worth of dextrose. Multiply by about 3 and you have over a months worth of dextrose for $6 (3 bags). Now, if you have the money, I might suggest Vitargo. BB.com sells it, but it's not cheap.

[cyburke]

Hey guys, I have the same problem alot of you guys have. I'm 28 years old 6,1 in tall and weight about 197 LB and want to gaing mass.

The point in my story is, how come I'm not gaining weight(muscle) and losing my stomach, It's getting to expensive and time consuming, all that for nothing. Sometimes i feel like quieting. come on guy help me out here!

i too am searching for the solution to a -very- similar problem. however, i'd say i'm in a slightly less adventageous boat as you are due to the fact that you weigh (currently) where i would love to weigh!

i'm 6'2" and 27.. been working out and pushing myself for 6+ months consistently. have all of my workout logs with weights, dates, etc... in november of '05 i was 173 lbs and right now i'm 185 lbs. i've put on some weight but that damn stubborn "skinny-fat" around my belly still resides.

don't give up! just letting you know that others out there are suffering right along with ya...

what is your sleep like? i definitely think that sleep (or lack thereof for me) has been a factor in my success. i average 5-6 hrs per night during the week and that needs to change!

cheers...

[coach Hale]

providing a proper stimulus through resistance training combined with adequate protein and energy intake you should see some muscle protein gains

the ratio of fat to muscle gain varies among individcuals

those with higher pratios and heightened muscle insulin sensitivity seem to be a little better at gaining muscle (appropriate diet and trianing) while minimizing fat gains. Certain substances can also contirbute more the weight gain depending on effects of intracellular and extracellular fluid retention.

coach hale
www.maxcondition.com

[spin360]

To Cyborg and King: Are you guys doing cardio?? If so, that's negating your weight gain goal. Eliminating cardio was one of the hardest things for me to do, but I knew if I wanted to gain weight, that was a must. I still do a 5 minute warmup, though, before my weight lifting.
Shoot for at least 5000 calories per day. I've been averaging 4500-5500 calories per day since Jan. 1st 2006, and have gone from 132lb to now 160lb. I only consume about 60g fat per day so my bodyfat is still very low.

[king1199]

To Cyborg and King: Are you guys doing cardio?? If so, that's negating your weight gain goal. Eliminating cardio was one of the hardest things for me to do, but I knew if I wanted to gain weight, that was a must. I still do a 5 minute warmup, though, before my weight lifting.
Shoot for at least 5000 calories per day. I've been averaging 4500-5500 calories per day since Jan. 1st 2006, and have gone from 132lb to now 160lb. I only consume about 60g fat per day so my bodyfat is still very low.

To Cyborg: I do sleep very good, I get like 8 hours of sleep.

That's why this gaining things is confusing, Some people say that i should do some cardio to lose my gut. Now you are saying to Eliminante cardio.

Is it good or bad??

[spin360]

you can't expect to "lose you gut" and bulk at the same time. unless you're on roids just worry about bulking "clean" (read: low saturated fat/high protein) then "cut" once you've reached you're ideal weight.

[jiggaman2815]

Hey guys.

Ok been bulking for 3 weeks now and i havent gained nothing. Nadda. Zippo.

So heres what a typical day would entail for me in the food and supplement department.

Breakfast:

protein shake in 8oz skim milk (30g p)
3/4 cup rolled oats
2 fish oil tablets
1 multi-v

Meal 2:

Wholemeal Steak sandwich (35-40g p)
(2 slices wholemeal bread, butter, 200gm steak, tomato sauce)

Meal 3: (Pre-WO)

Wholemeal Tuna Sandwich (20g p)
(2 slices wholemeal bread, butter, 1 can tuna, salt)

Meal 4: (Post-WO)

Protein shake in Water (30g p)
1 tsp Creatine Monohydrate
1 tsp Dextrose
1 tsp Maltodextrin

Meal 5:

A combination of meat, veggies/salald with either rice or pasta. (40g p)

Meal 6:

1/2 cup cottage cheese
2 fish oil tabs


Ok so thats what ive been eating last 3 weeks. Its been a big effort for me to get all that food down every day cause usually i'd eat about 1/2 of that.

Anyways i havent gained anything. So whats my diet need?

Im 21, 5'10", 147lb..... Training hard and heavy!

this looks like my cutting diet....actually its what im doing now, looks pretty similar.

[Cortic]

this looks like my cutting diet....actually its what im doing now, looks pretty similar.

Jiggaman how would you personally change my diet into a bulking one?

Damnit i just wanna get big!

[king1199]

I feel better that i'm not the only one with this problem!! Please help us!

[cyburke]

To Cyborg and King: Are you guys doing cardio?? If so, that's negating your weight gain goal. Eliminating cardio was one of the hardest things for me to do, but I knew if I wanted to gain weight, that was a must. I still do a 5 minute warmup, though, before my weight lifting.
Shoot for at least 5000 calories per day. I've been averaging 4500-5500 calories per day since Jan. 1st 2006, and have gone from 132lb to now 160lb. I only consume about 60g fat per day so my bodyfat is still very low.

holy crapazoid... how do you consume 4500+ cals / day with only 60g of fat??

[JayKid]

More calories...

I'd say go for 3,000 calories and see how it works out after 2 weeks, if you don't gain at least 1-2 pounds, up it to 3,250 and try to find where you need to be to gain weight.

And no, you don't need more protein.

I don't get why people think protein is what you need to assume in gigantic amounts. It's not true. Protein is needed to grow and rebuild muscle, HOWEVER, not effin 2x your body in grams of protein! That's just ridiculous. If you are 150 pounds you should not taking in 300-400g of protein, that's FAR FAR too much, so don't up protein because your 160-200g you said you had is perfect!

I'd suggest most of your extra calories come from carbs. A good balanced bulking diet is roughly 20-30% fat, 1.25 - 1 ratio of protein to body weight, and the rest carbs.

So just up calories in general, but I'd say mainly in carbs really, so just double some oat intake, up some stuff in your pre and post WO shakes, etc. It's easy calories.

Once you get consistent with 3,000 or so, see if you gian, if not, time to move up on the calorie scale once again.

Anyways GL... hope I could help.

[spin360]

holy crapazoid... how do you consume 4500+ cals / day with only 60g of fat??

4 cytogainer shakes a day. I know there's a lot of "weight gainer shake haters" out there so that's why I didn't mention it in that post. But, I get more calories thru shakes than actual solid food. That's THE only way I can get that level of calories with such low fat intake. All I know is that I've gained 28 pounds since Jan 1st and I still have a six pack and awesome muscle definition.

[king1199]

Does it matter how much food you take in one meal! Somebody told me that it's not good to take alot of food in one meal! Why? What i mean is, Like rice how much can you take? Some people say it's not good some say it's not bad!

[ChrisSpade]

Ill give you my first Bulking diet, that I used five months ago when I was 169lbs and as of now I am 183lbs.

Meal 1 - 2 Cups Skim Milk, 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats, 1 serving whey protein, 1 whole egg, 5 egg whites, apple, and multi-vitamins, bottle water.

Meal 2 - 1 Baked Potatoe, green onions, 1 can of Tuna, 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, Salad, flax seed oil, bottle water.

Meal 3 - (PREWO) 2 Cups Skim Milk, 1 serving whey protein, 1 bannana, bottle water.

Meal 4 - (POSTWO) 2 Cups Skim Milk, 2 serving whey protein, 1 bannana, 1 cup oats, bottle water.

Meal 5 - Chicken Breast, whole wheat spaghetti, assorted vegtables of your choice, fish oil pills, bottle water.

Meal 6 - 2 cups Plain Fat free yogurt, 2 serving whey protein, and berries (strawberries, raspberries, etc) Mixed into a shake. Handful of almonds, and bottle of water.

Meal 7 - 1 cup cottage cheese, celery sticks, 2-3 Tbsp Natural Peanut butter, Green Tea, bottle water.

[cyburke]

4 cytogainer shakes a day. I know there's a lot of "weight gainer shake haters" out there so that's why I didn't mention it in that post. But, I get more calories thru shakes than actual solid food. That's THE only way I can get that level of calories with such low fat intake. All I know is that I've gained 28 pounds since Jan 1st and I still have a six pack and awesome muscle definition.

that's awesome but also crazy at the same time.. lol...

serious question here... 4 cytogainer shakes / day.. you must fart something fierce from when you wake to when you sleep right?

[spin360]

yeah. i try to stay away from anything flammable!

[king1199]

Does it matter how much food you take in one meal! Somebody told me that it's not good to take alot of food in one meal! Why? What i mean is, Like rice how much can you take? Some people say it's not good some say it's not bad!

[PattyMcFatty]

Does it matter how much food you take in one meal! Somebody told me that it's not good to take alot of food in one meal! Why? What i mean is, Like rice how much can you take? Some people say it's not good some say it's not bad!

I think your over-analyzing this a little too much. If you want to bulk, concentrate completely on bulking, and do not try cardio during it, especially if it is your first real bulking phase (cardio however is actually good for bulking if its not intense and only once or twice per week). Secondly, if your having THAT much trouble gaining, dont be so worried about what you eat, but rather your caloric intake. Im not suggesting you constantly eat the same thing (that is in fact not a good idea) or that you eat fast food or candy (dont do that), but there are TONS of foods suitable for someone just trying to bulk. Most of what should be you new diet was included in the many reply posts in this thread, but dont forget about training and proper form. I think many think that goes without saying on this forum, but it cant be stressed enough IMO. Finally, I know EXACTLY what its like to not be able to put on weight easily. I was 5'9 128 and now im 5'10 177. Its still really hard for me to gain weight on pace with most others, but I have the advantage of pretty much never having to cut seriously. Bulking can be very hard on first time ectomorphs- it can be extremely hard to get the food down, especially consistently for months. Just stay determined and you will pick up on everything and grow, good luck

[king1199]

Thank you PattyMcFatty i'm going to try!