IV. Nutrition and Supplements
**A. General Questions
**B. Chubbies
**C. Skinnies
**D. Athletes
Nutrition - Skinnies
Question - I'm skinny and I want to get huge, what should I eat?
You are going to need to eat like mad. Unless you eat junk food and drink Coke and Pepsi constantly, you don't eat enough. As Mark Rippetoe said, he tells his kids that they have to drink a gallon of milk each day and get kicked out of an all-you-can-eat buffet at least twice weekly.
Do you have the ability to eat 3500-4000 calories EVERY day without consuming tons of junk food? Nothing wrong with eating pizza and a double cheeseburger (or two!) every day, as long as you keep lifting hard.
Dump the candy, soft drinks, donuts, cookies, etc....stuff that is high in calories with no protein or nutritive value. You want *quality* calories.
Convince Mom to buy seven pounds of the 93% ground beef, and finish off an entire Hamburger Helper box with a pound of ground beef daily, as well as 2 or 3 peanut butter and banana sandwiches and as much milk as you can stomach. Don't like hamburger helper? Go for a box of mac-n-cheese along with your ground beef, but put down 1 lb of beef and 1 box of starch per day at least. Don't like mac-n-cheese? Make a bunch of spaghetti noodles or some rice or corn and peas, baked beans, potatoes. And eat dead animal. Lots of it. Don't want to eat a pound of ground beef? EGGS! Eat them! All of them!
The grocery bill is going to knock mom for a loop. Do your chores, wash the dishes, keep your room clean, etc, and Mom probably wont' freak out too much.
Make no mistake. The best weight training program will make you strong, but it won't make you big. Weight lifting does NOT make you big. It makes you strong. Eating properly is what makes you big. If you eat a ton of calories without the weights, you get fat. Eat a ton of calories WITH your weight/strength training, and you get big, strong muscles.
Follow me here...your bodyweight is determined by diet (how much you eat). The proportion of fat and muscle you have is determined by your training.
Here is a sample 4000(ish) calorie diet, that is quite clean. It is approximately 25/50/25 for calories.
breakfast ~ 820 kcal - 52/103/22
2 egg whites + 2 eggs = 22g pro, 3g CHO, 14g fat = 333 kcal
1.5 cup oatmeal = 15g pro, 78g CHO, 3g fat = 295 kcal
2 cup 1% milk = 16g pro, 22g CHO, 5g fat = 195 kcal
3 fish oil capsules - 0/0/3 = 27
mid-morning snack ~ 525 kcal - 26/58/24
1 banana = 1/30/0 = 125 kcal
2T All Natural Peanut Butter (ANPB) = 9/6/16 = 200 kcal
2 cup 2% milk = 16/22/5 = 195 kcal
3 Fish oil capsules = 0/0/3 = 27 kcal
lunch ~ 640 kcal - 44/54/25
4 oz turkey breast - 30/0/1 = 200 kcal
2 slices whole grain cracked wheat bread - 6/52/3 = 260 kcal
slice whole fat swiss cheese - 8/2/8 = 112 kcal
T olive oil - 0/0/13 = 117 kcal
preworkout - 400 kcal - 25/75/0
3/4c glucose - 0/75/0 = 300 kcal
1 scoops whey - 25/0/0 = 168 kcal
postworkout - 510 kcal - 50/75/1
3/4c glucose - 0/75/0
2 scoops whey - 50/0/1
1 hour postworkout - 642 kcal - 38/91/14
4 oz round steak - 28/0/8 = 276 kcal
3/4c (uncooked) Brown rice - 9/79/3 = 379 kcal
3 fish oil capsules + pile of rabbit food - 1/12/3 - 77 kcal
final meal - 709 kcal - 40/59/32
1/2c cottage cheese - 15/9/0 = 96 kcal
1/2c plain yogurt - 15/19/0 = 136 kcal
2T ANPB - 9/6/16 = 204 kcal
3 fish oil capsules + sliced banana - 1/25/3 = 104
1T olive oil - 0/0/13 = 117 kcal
265 pro, 506 CHO, 102 FAT = 4206 kcal total
26% protein, 51% CHO, 23% fat
As a skinny, you won't really need to eat that clean, but it is to your benefit if you do.
Question - I need help eating that many calories. I don't really like to eat that much "health food", but I want to gain weight. Please help.
Here are a few easy "tricks" that I used back in the day when I was lazy and didn't need to cook for anyone but myself.
1) Brown 1-lb. ground beef and/or George Foreman a pound of chicken
2) Make a box of macaroni and cheese
3) Mix the 2
4) Get a jug of milk
5) Drink milk and eat the chow
6) Makes 2-3 meals
Hamburger Helper - oh hell yeah! Just use 2 lbs of beef, and make 3-5 meals out of it
Peanut butter and banana sandwiches + milk = bulk food extraordinaire
Egg Sandwiches = scrambled eggs + cheese + whole grain bread and salsa = YUM! Turbo charged musclechow.
1) Stick 4-6 eggs into a skillet, cover
2) Let eggs get cooked on one side
3) Flip it over carefully, and cook the other side
4) Throw it on 2 pieces of toast or bread with salsa
Buy some extra virgin olive oil and take a T of it here and there throughout the day. Great antioxidant properties, great nutritive properties, and helps you get in some healthy calories. Oddly enough, it tastes decent as well.
Keep a jar of All-natural peanut butter and a spoon with you. Eat a tablespoon every hour or 2, depending upon how many calories you need to fill in.
You get the message. Be creative. You're a skinny bastard, have some fun gaining weight while us fatties eat green beans and lentils. You need calories more than you need exact super-health-type foods.