Weight gain: shakes.

[Deleted]

Hey there I'll keep short.

I'm very skinny and have taken on the gym. My current goal is to take in roughly 3500 kcal daily (and 250g of protein) so I really need to supplement my meals with a few homemade shakes throughout the day, mainly because my job does not allow me to have 5-6 meals a day.

Could anyone recommend me any shake recipies I could quikly mix up at work? (eggs are very much too much of a hassle) What kind of whey would you recommend?

[Armatus]

Do you have the ability to keep things cold at your job? Are you going to be mixing the shakes there or taking them from home?

How many calories were you eating before? What does your typical diet consist of?

[Deleted]

Do you have the ability to keep things cold at your job? Are you going to be mixing the shakes there or taking them from home?

How many calories were you eating before? What does your typical diet consist of?

I'm making about 3k calories with 3 heavy meals during the day and my snack at gym, mainly eating a lot of rice/pasta with beef/chicken, I'll have the odd tuna sandwich but I really can't stand the taste of it. I'll have a quick protein shake after workout but the 3 heavy meals makes it difficult to keep the motor running. I feel full when I get to gym and full whenI wake up in the morning. Hopefuly being able to spreadout my intake I can eat smaller meals but more throughout the day with a few quick homemade shakes.

I've got a fridge I can use with two 10 min brakes before and after lunch, so ideally if I could make it at home would be great but anything that could get me 500-800cals with as much protein possible would be great.

[Kreyzor]

If you're really skinny, isn't 250g of protein a day (I think that's what you meant) waaaay too much? I thought it was supposed to be like .5-1 g of protein per pound of weight (1.1-2.2g per kg) if you're trying to gain muscle.

[Projali]

I can list my "gainer" shake recipe that I use on days that I can't get all calories during meals for whatever reason:

ON Gold Standard Whey- 1 scoop
Peanut Butter (not the chemical loaded crap) - 2 tbsp
Whole Milk - 8-12oz
Steel Cut Oats (I like Bob's Red Mill) - 1/4 cup dry
Banana - medium size

Totals: ~750calories, 29g fat, ~90g carb, 48.3g protein

Who told you to get 250g of protein daily? How much do you weigh?

[obiwnblue]

get a mass gainer from bodybuilding.com (cheapest and best site for lifting stuff) i recommed Up your mass by MHP. there trials have people gaining 16lbs of pure muscle in 5 weeks at 2 servings a day of this stuff

[Deleted]

Be careful otherwise you'll put on weight, but end up looking like a fat bastard. If you're skinny I highly doubt you weigh 250lbs. But if you're ectomorphic like myself, you'll find you can abuse food a lot and not gain fatty, just keep your calorie intake high (bearing in mind, however, that it can still fuck with your overall health).

250g of protein is overkill, you only need 1g of protein per pound of weight, e.g. 180lbs = 180 grams. You're body doesn't do anything with the additional protein other than deposit it... and if you aren't drinking enough say hello to kidney stones.

But I think you're generally going overkill. One thing that helped me gain weight was just ignore large numbers such as XXXX calories per day. I just ate four meals a day, replaced breakfast with the equivalent to lunch meals and turned breakfast meals into inbetween meal snacks. If you're consuming more than your body currently needs, your body will adjust to that. By the time you get to the point your body actually needs that in take, you'll be needing to take a much much higher intake than necessary because of what you've conditioned your body to believe if that makes any sense.

[Deleted]

you don't need to add any supplements first 6 month of the training

[moreish]

Here's a list of 20 Weight Gain Shake Recipes you can make yourself.

[Ravock]

Just get your favorite protein shake and add peanut butter to it. You get roughly 200 calories per 2 tablespoons (normal serving size) of peanut butter. Very easy way to get in extra calories.

[Abominator]

1. You don't need 5-6 meals a day, just have bigger meals spread out further
2. Weight gainer shakes aren't necessary, they are just convenient
3. You're getting more protein than you could possibly ever need, especially if you're not weight training, swap it out for some carbs or fats if you're getting hungry
4. This place is full of misinformation, go somewhere else

[Buttfear]

From personal experience, don't do it!

I'm 6'2, weighted 175lbs and wanted to gain weight. I got up to 250lbs and then got a grip on reality and tried to lose weight. I plateaued at 225-230lbs and have been that way for 10 years. I went from a size 32 waist to my current size 38. I can't seem to lose any more weight or shrink my belly.

In retrospect my advice is to get a good exercise plan centered around heavy compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press. Once you have good form and a solid routine only eat enough to support muscle growth DON'T eat extra which will just turn into fat and make your workouts harder thus less productive.

I use to play competitive soccer up to 3 games per day, I even managed to walk onto a a college team for the year I was there. Needless to say I was in amazing shape. But later after I gained weight I joined a local team and had a heat stroke during the warmup for the first practice and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
I still remember begging the coach not to cut my fat ass as I was put in the ambulance...

[Neazy]

Fuck weight gain shakes. Drink a gallon of whole milk a day on top of eating as many meals as your schedule allows.

Most of these weight gain shakes have unnecessary amounts of carbohydrates and the other favored methods of gaining mass (eating peanut butter, for example) are high in fat but low in protein. Whole milk, on the other hand, supplies you with an almost perfect balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats (1 gallon equals 128 grams of protein, 176 grams of carbs and 128 grams of fat for 2400 total calories).

FYI, you should not plan on drinking this much milk for a very long time. After you gain your desired amount of weight, cut out the milk (or cut down to skim milk).

[jbhasban]

Fuck weight gain shakes. Drink a gallon of whole milk a day on top of eating as many meals as your schedule allows.

Most of these weight gain shakes have unnecessary amounts of carbohydrates and the other favored methods of gaining mass (eating peanut butter, for example) are high in fat but low in protein. Whole milk, on the other hand, supplies you with an almost perfect balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats (1 gallon equals 128 grams of protein, 176 grams of carbs and 128 grams of fat for 2400 total calories).

FYI, you should not plan on drinking this much milk for a very long time. After you gain your desired amount of weight, cut out the milk (or cut down to skim milk).

The most retarded bunch of bullshit I ever read. Weight gainers are good because they are cheap and convenient. Carrying around a gallon of milk to work is in no way convenient. As for ratios, even if such things were important, you can reach your goals through your real meals. Not every meal needs your "zone perfect" ratio.

[Neazy]

The most retarded bunch of bullshit I ever read. Weight gainers are good because they are cheap and convenient. Carrying around a gallon of milk to work is in no way convenient. As for ratios, even if such things were important, you can reach your goals through your real meals. Not every meal needs your "zone perfect" ratio.

Weight gainers are NOT cheaper than milk. A gallon of milk will cost you 5 bucks for 2400 calories. A cheap weight gainer will cost you 20~ bucks for 10 servings with each serving giving you around 850 calories. Even if you use this weight gainer (the cheapest I found), that means the cost is almost exactly the same when it comes to calories, with milk being slightly cheaper (5 bucks for 2400 calories vs. 6 bucks for 2550 calories).

As for convenience, the OP said he had a fridge at work, and you can drink milk right out of the gallon; that's pretty convenient. I'll give you that making a shake at home and bringing it in to work is slightly more convenient, however.

Next let's look at nutrition. We'll compare 3 servings of this weight gainer to 1 gallon of whole milk because they're almost equal in calories. Three servings of weight gainer gives you 105 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat and 513 grams of carbohydrates. That insane amount of carbohydrates includes 214 grams of simple sugars, which will cause your insulin to spike every time you eat a shake. While you want an insulin spike for your post-workout, you don't want your insulin to spike 3 times a day when you're NOT working out. Milk, on the other hand, has its carbs coming from lactose sugar, which has a medium glycemic index (48).

http://www.vitacost.com/universal-nu...FQdN4AodNTIAvQ

The weight gainer I used for comparison.

And while yes, you can get your calories through meals, this post is specifically about shakes and other easy methods for weight gain because the OP can't make full meals while he's at work.

[moreish]

1. You don't need 5-6 meals a day, just have bigger meals spread out further

Well it's much easier eating lots of smaller meals then it is eating fewer larger meals to meet your caloric requirements. By eating smaller meals you'll also absorb and utilize the calories and nutrients more efficiently. It's also really important having a post workout meal with protein so having 3 bigger meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) becomes a moot point.

Most of these weight gain shakes have unnecessary amounts of carbohydrates and the other favored methods of gaining mass (eating peanut butter, for example) are high in fat but low in protein. Whole milk, on the other hand, supplies you with an almost perfect balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats (1 gallon equals 128 grams of protein, 176 grams of carbs and 128 grams of fat for 2400 total calories).

Why either/or? Drink whole milk with the peanut butter! It's calorie dense, high in protein, and good for you. Healthy fats are a great compliment to any weight gain diet. Who cares that peanut butter is low in protein? You're getting plenty of protein from other sources in your diet.

[Neazy]

There's nothing wrong with eating peanut butter if you're trying to add an extra couple hundred calories. But eating 2400 calories a day in peanut butter is gonna turn you into a bloated mess. You can drink a lot more whole milk than peanut butter and gain less bloat.

[hythos]

One thing most people don't realize, is that the digestion rate of a humans' stomach is about 40g protein/hour. Limitting one's diet to approximately that is efficient.

• 1 can of 12oz Solid White Albacore tuna ~$3 for ~85-90g
  Split this into two servings of 40-45g protein per.
• 1 helping of protein powder (2 scoops, or an amount equalling ~40-50g protein) ~$1
• 1 solid meal (30-50g protein) $4-$10+ (depending on source).

Without getting too deep into suppliments, one can easily get ~180g protein on under $10/day.
Schedule which you have, and when, based on when it would be most suitable.

[jbhasban]

One thing most people don't realize, is that the digestion rate of a humans' stomach is about 40g protein/hour. Limitting one's diet to approximately that is efficient.

• 1 can of 12oz Solid White Albacore tuna ~$3 for ~85-90g
  Split this into two servings of 40-45g protein per.
• 1 helping of protein powder (2 scoops, or an amount equalling ~40-50g protein) ~$1
• 1 solid meal (30-50g protein) $4-$10+ (depending on source).

Without getting too deep into suppliments, one can easily get ~180g protein on under $10/day.
Schedule which you have, and when, based on when it would be most suitable.

Nice broscience. The digestion rate of protein varies on the type of protein (casein can take up to 6 hours). Even if it were 40 grams an hour, that does not mean, ipso facto, that it is efficient to only eat 40 grams an hour. Your body stores amino acids till they need to be used. Yes, it expels excess in the urine but that takes awhile.

As for your discussion on weight gainers vs milk being cheap or not: you forgot to factor in the cost of gas and storage of a gallon of milk every single day. I don't know about you, but it is a hell of a lot easier for me to store a dry container of powder at work than it is to store 5 gallons of milk in my work fridge. Unless you are suggesting I should go to the store every single day to pick up a gallon of milk or keep 4 gallons in my home fridge? Or pick it up at the convenience store or gas station for an excessive cost? Either way, drinking a gallon of milk a day is simply impractical. Not to mention nauseating.

[Projali]

GOMAD is not feasible for everyone. Refrigeration, lactose intolerance, and other things play into it as well. Even a half gallon a day provides over 1000 calories with solid macros and is much more doable for people not used to drinking that much milk in a day.

But to say a gallon of whole milk is not cheaper than the pre-made weight gainer mixes is simply false.