Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

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giskard
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Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by giskard »

I'm a skinny nerd fast metabolism ectomorph and have decided to bulk up physically. Any advice on doing this inexpensively but in a healthy way? I'm like super thin now and would like to gain about 20lbs. Obviously I am cooking everything at home.

Here is my routine right now:

Morning:
- eat an egg and some greek yogurt

Lunch:
- eat some bread and soylent OR go out to eat with coworkers and eat tons of crap

Dinner alternating between lots of:
- beans + rice + chicken
- homemade burritos
- some pasta + chicken

Snacks:
- cheese and crackers
- whole wheat bread with butter
- greek yogurt
- various potato things


I would like to change things up like so:

Exercise:
- go to climbing gym everyday or every other day to resistance
- stop doing so much cardio (biking) which is hurting the bulking process

Diet:
- eat more eggs
- start doing protein supplements before gym everyday
- some other dairy - maybe skim milk or add more yogurt
- eat more whole wheat bread more regularly for calories and protein
- more avocados

Idk what do you think?

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C40
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by C40 »

You're on the right track

- Less processed grains unless you have trouble eating enough calories and really want them. Consider replacing the things like pasta with lentils or at least beans and rice. If you're struggling to eat enough, fats are a better way to help than pasta/bread.
- Forget the Soylent. That's quite expensive, right? If you want drinkable protein, you can get plain whey protein powder pretty cheap online
- Eat vegetables. At least some!!
- I don't believe eating protein right before working out matters (someone chime in if it does). If you do any protein timing, spread it out so you're getting a significant amount with each meal. If you're going to have something right before working out, caffeine may be better.
- If you're lifting hard and doing compound movements (ones that use numerous muscle groups, like squats, deadlifts, pullups, and pressing - bench and/or overhead) every other day is plenty. Rule #1 in any kind of exercise or physical work is DON'T HURT YOURSELF!
- Make sure you sleep enough, and that your sleep is of high quality (not waking up many times, sticking to a regular schedule)
- Document your lifting well so you can track progress.
- Weigh yourself regularly (twice a week would be plenty) - right after waking and urinating, track that. Also pay attention to your fat, so you'll notice if you're eating more than you need. (you can get a plastic fat caliper for maybe $5 and just test your skin/fat thickness on the side of your stomach about 1" above the top/front of your pelvis)
- If you are lifting hard doing compound movements, and sleeping/resting well, and you're not getting stronger and heavier, eat more.

edit - oh wait, I just now noticed the 'climbing' before gym. What type of resistance training are you doing?

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I think c40 has good advice.

I am also a hard gainer. For awhile I was interested in lifting and getting bigger. I didn't know what I was doing then but following what my partner did and eating a lot worked. Now I would probably try the Starting Strength program. I like that it is simple.

To add calories try protein shakes or gomad with a gallon of milk a day. I doubt this is very healthy though.

Climbing is great but it won't get you big or strong. Look at Adam Ondra. :)

Kriegsspiel
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by Kriegsspiel »

giskard wrote:
Sun Nov 05, 2017 5:19 pm
I'm a skinny nerd fast metabolism ectomorph and have decided to bulk up physically. Any advice on doing this inexpensively but in a healthy way? I'm like super thin now and would like to gain about 20lbs. Obviously I am cooking everything at home.
For hardgainers, I think the most important thing is actually counting your calories and tallying them up each day so that you ensure you hit your calorie goal. Then find foods you can eat a lot of. Protein is really satiating, usually isn't an issue with people who are eating a lot of calories, and is expensive, so I'd recommend not handicapping yourself by unnecessarily jacking up your protein. Try something that's easier to pound down (fats/carbs, whichever works for you). White rice is easy for a lot of people to digest.

Eggs, avocados, and fibrous bread might be tough to pound down every day (plus, aren't avocados expensive?), but if you can handle it, more power to you. Your poops are going to be incredible.

Scott 2
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by Scott 2 »

Start by eating an actual breakfast and lunch every day.

It's very possible that alone could change your build, with your current activity levels.

BRUTE
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by BRUTE »

giskard wrote:
Sun Nov 05, 2017 5:19 pm
I'm a skinny nerd fast metabolism ectomorph and have decided to bulk up physically.
giskard wrote:
Sun Nov 05, 2017 5:19 pm
- eat an egg and some greek yogurt
giskard wrote:
Sun Nov 05, 2017 5:19 pm
an egg
one. egg.

slowtraveler
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by slowtraveler »

I was a hardgainer in my teens. I worked out my way through this.

Recovery is the most important thing once you are working out well. Train 3-4 times a week for 30-45 minutes with compound lifts. Get stronger every week. Take 1 week off every 8 weeks.

Sleep 8-9 hours a night, meditate, stretch intensely after workouts, warm up well, don't drink alcohol, drink a lot of water.

I used to drink a 2:1 carb:protein sweet kefir after each workout. This helped a lot to feel recovered. You could replicate this cheaply with yogurt and fruit to make a lassi smoothie.

None of this matters without a good, consistent workout regime. The 5x5 program, freely available online, should be good for your first 6-12 months. Keep getting stronger, once you are deadlifting 2 times your body weight and benching 1.5 times, you won't be so skinny.

phil
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by phil »

I have to second Scott and Brute. It looks like you eat way too little for breakfast and lunch. I consider myself a hard gainer as well but on a typical day I eat about 150 grams of oatmeal, 10 slices of bread with cheese or peanut butter, two bananas and 500 grams of quark before dinner. I suggest you start counting your calorie intake.
And you don't have to train every day but when you do, train hard.

Farm_or
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by Farm_or »

Not knowing your age, you may be a late bloomer. It's not a bad thing at all when you get older, but in the mean time?

In my teens, all my buddy's were wrestlers. I would have fit in better with the cross country team. But nonetheless, I was always trying to bulk up and overcompensate. Lifted weights in highschool and all my buddy's were stronger than me. I couldn't make my goal of benching my own body weight and squatting double. I had to really apply myself just to get the "quarter ton club!" T-SHIRT. (Combined weight of squat, bench, and clean).

When I got to college, I kept lifting and scored a good job at the gym. I finally surpassed my body weight lifting goals and maxed at 200# bench and 315# squat, but it took a lot of discipline and adhering to a power lifting routine. A few guys used testosterone and I considered it, but thankfully could not afford it. I could see the negatives to that kind of supplements along with the positive. My strong advice is DON'T go there!

Stay the course of consuming more calories (especially pork aminos), more anearobic activity than aerobic, and be patient. You will finally start gaining muscle when you're metabolism slows and as a bonus, you will appear ten to twenty years younger than most others.

slimicy
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by slimicy »

BRUTE wrote:
Sun Nov 05, 2017 11:21 pm
Seriously. You should be buying eggs in bulk. If you're really serious start with a half dozen per day and work up to a dozen. Also, I see next to no fat in that diet plan. If you're a hard-gainer you need to get a minimum of 15-20% of your calories from fat. I personally would shoot higher, something more like an even 33/33/33 split, as protein is so filling if it's dominating your diet you won't get enough calories. Cook everything in butter for starters, add some bacon and for gods sake, drink whole milk not skim!

Your diet plan looks like someone trying to lose weight, not gain!

wood
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by wood »

I personally would shoot higher, something more like an even 33/33/33 split, as protein is so filling if it's dominating your diet you won't get enough calories. Cook everything in butter for starters, add some bacon and for gods sake, drink whole milk not skim!
I second this.

Also, eating lots of the same stuff everyday and especially eggs, is torture. Focusing on total calorie intake rather than strictly protein will let you have some variation and not kill your motivation.

I would also like to add that lentils and beans are cheap and healthy proteins you could add to your diet.

almostthere
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by almostthere »

What has worked for me.
One, Starting Strength (a big shout out to Spartan Warrior who mentioned it on the forum and got me pointed in the right direction). One thing is just working out another is Starting Strength. I was just 'working out' for year before and frankly nothing happened to my body. Three months of the novice linear progression and the old ladies go out of their way to pat me on the arm and feel my shoulders.
Two, I am a vegetarian. The cheapest non-meat protein in the country I live in is soybeans. I eat three to four cups a day. I put them in soy bean shakes with bananas and milk. I also drink lots of milk, about four cups a day.
I eat like a horse on the workout days. I am an old dude though, so I have to careful of overeating.

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giskard
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by giskard »

slimicy wrote:
Wed Nov 08, 2017 5:27 pm

Seriously. You should be buying eggs in bulk. If you're really serious start with a half dozen per day and work up to a dozen. Also, I see next to no fat in that diet plan. If you're a hard-gainer you need to get a minimum of 15-20% of your calories from fat. I personally would shoot higher, something more like an even 33/33/33 split, as protein is so filling if it's dominating your diet you won't get enough calories. Cook everything in butter for starters, add some bacon and for gods sake, drink whole milk not skim!

Your diet plan looks like someone trying to lose weight, not gain!
Ok, ok, point taken. I'm not aggressive enough on calorie intake. I'm going to do a lot more eggs in the morning. I'll switch to regular yogurt and eat it more often for the fat. I can probably do 2 meals during the workday too, one regular lunch and a mid-afternoon soylent or something.
Last edited by giskard on Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

SustainableHappiness
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by SustainableHappiness »

Hard gainer here myself. My suggestions that have worked for me for gaining weight.

1) Add 1 high calorie smoothie every single day (oats, olive oil, peanut butter, fruit), meaning if you already have 1 a day, add another 1.
2) Add a tablespoon of olive or coconut oil to all of your shakes/smoothies for more fat in diet (I also was lacking on fat in my diet since I basically ate veggies, beans and rice!)
3) Peanut butter. Just eat a couple giant spoonfuls a day. (again an easy way to add fats)
4) Stop running long distances as a training exercise, instead I do wind sprints if I want to run which are way more fun and take less time to kick my ass.

All of these things are cheap for the caloric content if bought in bulk or frozen.

Good luck!!

black_son_of_gray
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by black_son_of_gray »

I gained about 30 pounds over the course of 2 years or so with a combination of 1) eating a lot and 2) olympic weightlifting 4x per week, squatting lots of volume* and doing lots of pulling movements.

To mirror what others have said, you have to eat a lot. I didn't understand how much a lot was until I actually did it... for me, it meant eating 5 meals a day. Not snacks. Not an egg. Full size meals. I personally didn't care for the macro micromanaging, and did just fine - you don't need to worry obsessively about the precise grams of protein you are eating. Just eat more decently balanced meals. If you are like me, this will not be easy or enjoyable. This means you will be starting to eat a meal and you will still be full from the last one. And you'll do that several times a day. This will be unpleasant probably for a few weeks/months, but eventually you will get used to it - it takes time. Also consider that if you are eating 30-40% more food, your food bills will be annoyingly 30-40% higher. Unfortunately, there aren't great workarounds for that unless you change what you are eating.

The exercising allows you to give the food a place to go. The food will go where it is needed. If it isn't needed (to repair or build muscles that are being well-used), a decent fraction will just go to your belly. As a "super thin" person, a greater fraction of your initial weight gain will be lean bulk.

*If you go the heavy squatting route (certainly not the only way), good luck finding pants that will fit both your thighs and your waist!

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giskard
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by giskard »

SustainableHappiness wrote:
Wed Nov 15, 2017 8:01 pm

1) Add 1 high calorie smoothie every single day (oats, olive oil, peanut butter, fruit), meaning if you already have 1 a day, add another 1.
2) Add a tablespoon of olive or coconut oil to all of your shakes/smoothies for more fat in diet (I also was lacking on fat in my diet since I basically ate veggies, beans and rice!)
3) Peanut butter. Just eat a couple giant spoonfuls a day. (again an easy way to add fats)
4) Stop running long distances as a training exercise, instead I do wind sprints if I want to run which are way more fun and take less time to kick my ass.
OK awesome suggestions. Coconut oil in smoothies sounds easy. Peanut butter is super easy as well. And yep, as a cyclist winter is naturally the time to do this and have lower calorie burn.

Italiano
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by Italiano »

I miss the days of having to try and gain weight! :D I lifted/competed pretty steadily for over 18 years before a neck injury in the squat rack. Old school so we did lift differently then I see people today but I was a skinny 165lbs and got up to 245 and it wasnt easy. The only supplements I would take when I could afford them was whey protein and amino acids but as others said I wouldnt waste my $ on that with all you need to eat. Also as others said your breakfast is really lacking. I'd hammer down 6 eggs, Couple slices of bread and a large bowl of extra thick oatmeal loaded with raisins, granola etc.. plus a greek yougurt which we didnt have then. Gaining Weight is kinda the same way as losing weight. You have to eat 6-8 meals a day but different then losing weight in that you eat a hell of a lot more. You dont have to break the bank either if your young and as your income/finances change then change to better options. I am not saying go buy a jar of lard and eat it but I would hammer a box of Macaroni and Cheese and a large bowl of rice every night before I went to bed. Put the minute rice in a bowl , add water till rice floats , add some butter and micro for 4 minutes. Bananas are cheap so carry bunches around with you and whenever you can wolf one down. I would do a 50/50 yam/regular potato mix and make mashed. Again inexpensive. As others mentioned I to did a 2-1 Ratio Carbs protein. People try to keep reinventing lifting all for the money. Magazines are just full of adds to sell stuff. Just becareful you dont do what I did and blast out your joints. My body is a mess because I lifted so heavy for so many years. Fortunately now I am back to lifting steadily but it was hard to go from pyramid lifting maxing out all the time to lighter higher rep lifting though now that I found my pace it feels pretty good. The only thing I was different in then all my fellow lifters/competitors even though I was super skinny at 6'3 165 was I did do cardio 45 minutes 5 days a week and did 3k sets of abs everyday. But i did do two a days. So read some of the old school and mix with the new, and you will learn the most about lifting and weight gain by asking folks around the gym you workout at. Just dont take or do any "quick fixes" because no matter what anyone tells you there will be health consequences. Good Luck and share your adventure!

thrifty++
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by thrifty++ »

Italiano wrote:
Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:26 am
I miss the days of having to try and gain weight! :D I lifted/competed pretty steadily for over 18 years before a neck injury in the squat rack.
Doing squats with a bar is such a horrible injury prone exercise. I just chose to stop doing them as it seems so hard to get a safe and perfect form. Most common thing seems to be the butt wink. I watch people do it and almost no one gets it right. Everyone curves their butt back down each time curling their lower spine and putting lots of pressure on it. I did the same and couldnt manage to get it right. I do lunges instead which I think are a pretty good substitute.

enigmaT120
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by enigmaT120 »

Or jump squats.

Italiano
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Re: Bulking up healthy but innexpensively

Post by Italiano »

thrifty++ wrote:
Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:26 pm
Italiano wrote:
Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:26 am
I miss the days of having to try and gain weight! :D I lifted/competed pretty steadily for over 18 years before a neck injury in the squat rack.
Doing squats with a bar is such a horrible injury prone exercise. I just chose to stop doing them as it seems so hard to get a safe and perfect form. Most common thing seems to be the butt wink. I watch people do it and almost no one gets it right. Everyone curves their butt back down each time curling their lower spine and putting lots of pressure on it. I did the same and couldnt manage to get it right. I do lunges instead which I think are a pretty good substitute.
Your exactly right! I was stepping back in the rack to put my heals on the nickel plates and my ankle was turning so i kinda went down and up to save my ankle with a ton of weight that bounced onto my spine. 6 months my right arm was paralyzed and headaches everyday. Fortunately no long term effects other than i never was able to get the "eye of the tiger back" and for ten years lost 60lbs 4x's over. Finally now I have kept it off for over years and its a non-issue. My 18 year old son is 6'9 and he has to lift for college sports and the other day we went to the gym and he said he had to do squats. I said dont do them exspecially being 6''9 . Coach said he has to so I went over form and stuff with him and basically just told him do as little weight as you can get away with. No different then people arching there back on the bench or swinging when doing biceps. Form is everything! The heavier weight will eventually come.

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