I clicked on Forum rules but gave me a 404 not found error, so I don't know the rules on double posting..


Anyways, how do I keep eating when I feel ridiculously full? I've been feeling really full for the past couple of days, and eating is getting hard. I can't take more time between meals as I need my rest. Before you guys say that I should cut down, I remind you I am eating healthy(sort of) and also looking to gain weight.

Just wondering, how long have you been at this? If it's only been a week or two give your body a chance to get used to the load, lift hard and heavy, and the muscle should pile on. You may not need many more calories.

However, if feeling full is your problem, try drinking more of your calories. Drop a couple tablespoons of olive or flax oil (or if you're feeling adventurous, a raw egg) directly into your protein shakes. Take shots of olive oil before dinner (I think it tastes good so it might be easier for me). Also, go for energy-dense foods. You're morning toast is quite porous, so you fill up on a lot of air. If you take that out and add in another egg or three, you'll load up on that much more protein and fat, but without much added food mass.

And don't worry about OD'ing on iron from your vegetables. Believe it or not there are vegan bodybuilders out there and they don't seem to have that problem.

I second Titan's question!

I just sent in an email asking about that feature. I'll post the reply here if I get one.

Newbie trying to GAIN weight
 

I almost feel like I don't belong here because mine is, as far as I've been able to tell, the only post about needing to gain weight. But I am hoping to find some support anyway, since all of us have issues with our weight, whether it's over or under a healthy number.

I have always been underweight, from early childhood on, but by the time I was a freshman in college I had hit a healthy weight for my height (120lbs at 5'7"). Still slim, but healthy enough. Then I became very sick for a year and lost 20lbs, which I have not been able to gain back even after a year of trying.

I know the obvious answer seems to be, "Eat everything in sight!" The problem? I am allergic to corn and all corn products (including HFCS, dextrin, dextrose, malodextrin... etc.). That eliminates most high-calorie foods for me, which makes getting enough calories into my diet hard enough as it is. I am also lactose intolerant, so a lot of dairy products are on my "can't eat" list.

I am at 105 lbs now and would like to gain at least 15 more. I'm hoping that maybe I'm not the only one here looking to gain weight to reach my healthy weight goal rather than lose it, and that maybe someone will have some tips as to how to deal with an allergy-restricted diet and still get enough calories.

Thanks for your help!

- K

I would think that all natural peanut, butter, whole eggs, lean proteins such as chicken and pork, nuts and beans would help, but I would be careful to try and gain the weight in a responsible manner, not just gain XXX pounds. All of those foods are pretty protein rich and have a decent amount of calories without stuffing yourself full of carbs. Best of luck.

Calorie dense food without a lot of volume, like raisins and dried fruit, in addition to nuts, would provide more calories without filling you up.

Cheshire
 

I had a friend in high school that had the same problem. I was always over weight and she was too underweight. She ate all the time and struggled.
Due to you being allergic to things I would definitely consult your doctor or a dietitian- they should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Good Luck To You :)

Ditto. I don't think this is just a handful of people. It seems silly not to have that feature. I had to lie about my starting weight just to have it accept my goal weight which is higher than what I'm at now.

Have you ever had your thyroid checked? Hyperactive thyroid is an issue for many people fortunantely for most of them, they don't have as many allergies as you do to work around.

-Large bananas can have as many as 380 calories.
- Try the Gluten free Issle at the grocery store. ( many of these foods are made more healthy and with less sugar as well as the gluten)
-GNC nutritional supplements.
- If there is something wrong with your thyroid there are different medications that could be helpful to your needing to gain weight.

i would love to know what your reactions are to these alergens. These are some new and unusual ones for me.

Sauteed vegetables in olive oil might be an option. How about avocadoes? That's the main ingredient in guacamole, which you could eat with pita chips if gluten's not an issue. Eggs, nuts and seeds would be good options too. I had a friend in college who was like you, and she did turn out to be hyperthyroid. I also know someone with Crohn's disease that had to have part of her intestine removed, so she now has a hard time maintaining her weight. She's an ER nurse, and gets really sick of "You can't gain weight? I wish I had your problem". And I have a diabetic coworker who has difficulty keeping weight on. So while I don't share your problem personally, you certainly aren't alone.

It is not a good idea of Increasing intake of junk foods and fatty foods to gain weight. You should be eating calorie dense yet nutritious food. Your calorie intake should come from foods that are healthy for you. The weight gaining diet should include high protein foods, high carbohydrate foods and healthy fats. Include these in your diet. A high-quality multivitamin and mineral supplement is a good idea to make sure you are getting all of the vitamins and minerals you need.

I found a good pdf file, click here --> http://www.snac.ucla.edu/pages/Resou...s/HOWtGain.pdf

You can even download it on your computer.

Nuts can be a great source of calories! And they are monunsaturated fat, so not only are you getting calories, you are getting healthy one.

Seeds can be great calories too, sunflower seeds etc.

Maybe try getting a bag of trail mix or a mixed container of nuts.

Carbohydrates can also be helpful in gaining weight (personal experience). But its usually the bad carbs....not sure if that can be done with your allergies.

A key to losing weight is cutting calories...so the opposite is true. Use fitday to track your calories, and eat MORE than you burn. So if you work out at all, then you have to eat more.

Last thing, muscle weighs more than fat, so working out isn't a bad thing....but you are burning more calories, so it's a toss up.

Good Luck! And welcome to fitday :D

+1

I need to eat a lot more, i see. I only get about 2200 a day :P

For body-building or anorectic people this would be a real help. Gaining weight is not always a bad thing (as long as you eat clean) :)

same here, i'm trying to gain weight while watching the calorie intake, its kinda stupid fd.com won't let you do it, im sure it can be fixed easily....

Weight Gain!
 

I signed up to fitday because I thought I could track my daily caloric instake and get a report each day of my total (fat, carb, protein). Does this site do that?

I also put in my goal to gain weight but the site give me an error that my goal weight is greater then my starting weight and wont save

Can someone help and explain these issues please

Thanks

If you put your food in, you will see a pie chart if you scroll down with fat/carbs/protien.

I don't know about being able to put in a goal to gain weight--you may not be able to.

To your first question, yes, FitDay will track your caloric intake and macro totals. Just follow the "My Fitness Journal" to log your foods. You can either create a list of custom foods from the link on the left side of the screen and manually add the nutritional facts, or search a food from the search bar above the Food Log.

As far as gaining weight I'm not sure. Most people I've seen on here are trying to lose fat so I'm not really sure.

I just figured out the caloric tracking on a daily basis which is just what I needed
However
I am trying to gain weight and it appears that the site does not let you have a goal that is greater than your starting weight. This is a disappointment
Thanks for the feedback

Well, the site IS free :D

And the cals/nutrition is the tough part--dropping your weight goal and weigh-ins into a spreadsheet would be pretty easy.

Im following the workout on StrongLifts 5×5 Beginner Strength Training Program | StrongLifts.com and he has a free spreadsheet that graphs everything too which is very slick! This workout worked great for me, during the 2 months I did it I managed to put on 14lbs. Now Im going to start it again

for natural bodybuilding take a look at this:
Forget Steroids: 5 Full Body Workouts For Serious Gains | Muscle & Strength

I stickied this site too, for when I finish TT.
Bodybuilding.com - The Future Of Bodybuilding! Huge Bodybuilding Site.

Bump. I would also like to see this "feature".

It did allow a higher target weight at one point, but they changed it for some reason. I used it for that a few times and it was great. I want the feature back or disable the warning.

Why not just enter a higher starting weight by, say, 100 and then you'd see if you are gaining weight. You will know that it's minus 100. Just a thought.

Fitday won't record my weight b/c I want to gain...
 

I wanted to use fitday in order to calculate my caloric intake since I'm trying to gain weight. However, it seems that fitday only tailors to those that want to lose weight. Whenever I try to put in my goal weight I keep getting a "Your goal weight is greater than your starting weight" message. Wow, really fitday? I wanted to watch my intake so that it's balanced and not too excessive. I also would like to track how much I would need to gain the pounds by a general date, like those that are trying to do the opposite. This annoys me as much as people who assume that gaining weight is not as hard or important as losing weight. F-

C'mon, guys. It would be so simple to just disable the warning/block against the higher goals.
It's a great site, otherwise.

If you want to gain weight, read the advice of Bob Schwartz in Diets Don't Work. He owned a gym and he said that when people came to him and wanted to gain weight, he put them on a diet and they would ALWAYS without fail end up gaining weight.

I'm trying to do that, but thought I could use this EXCELLENT site to help me keep track and stay ON track.

Metabolism
 

I'm not sure if this is a bug or I'm using it wrong or... what.

How do I change my basal metabolic rate in the software to reflect reality?

I just started using the site, so made up a 'standard' day for me. What I eat most often + my usual routine. When I plugged in all the numbers, it says I eat 4300 calories per day (plus my shakes which I JUST started) and burn only 2800. Since my weight has been a steady 125-128 for 8 months, I need to set my baseline metabolism about 1500 calories higher.

When I click 'customize metabolism' and raise it to 3000 with my entire day already filled with activities (like sleeping and computer games and pacing, I'm being honest with myself here) it has no effect at all. However, the estimate for yesterday and tomorrow (no activities) are suddenly 4900

Metabolism is THE issue for me, and the calories I burn through activity are the thing I have to watch when I try to gain weight. (When I eat more I get more energy and just burn it all off if I'm not careful.)

How can I change the basal metabolic rate in a way that effects the activities? (everything from sleeping to calisthenics)





Edit: About an hour later (I think?) everything changed and now it says I burn 3900 cal with the same activities. Something is odd about how the system implements things, but it's working, kinda. :S

Goal of 145 in three months
 

I know this site, like all the rest, is mostly for those trying to lose weight, but I would love some support, or a buddy, or ... anything. I have tried to reach a healthy BMI many times before, and can only keep it up for a couple of months. Then I get distracted and slowly drop again.

I have one issue: metabolism.
I eat and eat and eat and can't gain a pound. I've always been this way, as is my father, and was my grandmother until she turned 60.
Before you get jealous, consider how much you would enjoy food if you HAD to eat 5 meals a day. I would love it if I never had to eat again, but what can you do? Of course, my system needs a lot more nutrients and doesn't absorb them as well, so I have to eat HEALTHY food.

My sedentary metabolism is about 4000/calories per day. I know this because when I was depressed and out of work I pretty much didn't move for 3 months farther than my computer. I worked out the calories from the cans/wrappers I had eaten and it was about 4200/day average of pasta, lentils, split peas, brown rice, quinoa, apples, and oatmeal. Oh, and enough ice cream that I developed an alergy.

When I eat more than 4000 calories a day, I just get more energy and burn it off. (If I resist physical activities I simply pace and drum/tap.) It took a number of futile attempts (5500 calories/day with no gain after 3 weeks) before I theorised that my body only keeps weight in the form of muscle. If I work out AND eat a lot I can put on weight, but that means I have to also eat enough to fuel the exercise itself. I've managed this twice. Once I got my weight from 100 lbs to 125, which fell back to 110. The second time I got up to 138, and have since fallen back to 125.
I was POUNDS from a barely healthy weight, something I haven't seen since my first growth spurt.

My target weight right now is 145, based on BMI. After that I want to target 165 and then maybe even higher, as even at 145-165 I will have a dangerously low level of body fat.

If I eat 5500 calories a day and work out hard for an hour (and compensating for all that extra pacing) I should have about 500 to 1000 calories/day extra, I think. That translates in to one to two pounds gained per week.
145 - 128 = 17lbs 17 / 1.5 = almost 12 weeks, 3 months. Healthy by Christmas, if I can keep up that regimen.



Anyone have the same sort of goals to be my buddy?

Alternately, anyone feel like cheering backward? ("Yeah, good job on those extra 500 calories!")

same here, im trying to gain weight, im 6 feet tall and i weight at 122:( im trying to get my weight to 145 to impress the ladies:D

Did you ever get checked for some conditions that may be impairing the absorption of nutrients? I'm thinking to celiac disease but there may be a ton of others. Do you get sick or get any GI symptoms after you eat certain types of foods?

Can you give us some stats like height, weight, age? I doubt you can add 17lbs of muscle in 3 months unless you are using steriods but that is not to say that your 500 to 1000 calorie surplus is a bad plan. Weight training will be the key to your success. Lift heavy (5 reps to failure) and make sure you are doing compound lifts like squats and deadlifts. Compund lifts build your core muscle group and will add muscle weight faster than doing just isolation moves. If you do cardio only do it for 5-10 minutes as a warm up to lifting.

Consider adding Whey Protein shakes or even a weight gain supplement to your diet. These are a great way to add calories without having to consume a massive amount of food. Mix the protein shakes with whole milk to add even more calories.

Check out Bodybuilding.com for more information about training and nutrition for hard gainers like yourself.

If you are a hard gainer it is going to take twice as much work in the kitchen as it will in the gym. Take your bodyweight x20 for a mass building calorie intake. And you need to be eating all good foods just as if you were trying to lose weight. You should be aiming to get like 30-35 grams protein per meal, with 60-70g carbs per meal with your protein. Skip cardio and aerobic exercise altogether, unless you must.

Like Ron said 17 pounds of muscle in 12 weeks is sort of not very realistic for a natural bodybuilder. .8-1 lb of muscle per week is really all the body is capable of adding, so aim for that.

Some tips I have that I use:
1 bottle of gatorade + 1 scoop whey for post workout nutrition, and 1 full meal an hour later.
Cottage cheese before bed. High in protein and slow digesting, perfect before bed.
Work out for 45 mins no more. When lifting naturally your testosterone only will last you for 45 minutes of vigorous exercise, so keep your routines short. The needle pumpers lift for hours at a time, because they are supplementing testosterone. For a natural your intensity will fall off and the extra time spent is useless.

Instead of always eating chicken breasts, try chicken thighs. These cuts are higher in fat, are more flavorful, and will help you increase the calorie intake.

Also when you gain weight, your required calorie intake increases especially when the weight gained in lean muscle. So when you put on a few pounds your maintenance calorie intake will go up, you probably didn't account for this before and that is why you lost the weight that you worked so hard to gain.

And as Ron said check out bodybuilding websites, they are full of articles and forum posts about how hard gainers can pack on muscle. You might not be eating as much calories as you think you are, because if you were eating 5500 calories there is no doubt you'd be gaining weight. If you haven't been recording your intake there is no way to really know how many calories you are eating. 5500 calories would be like ten fairly large meals, so that seems like you are overestimating it.

I'm not a hardgainer, I'm the exact opposite. I seemingly build muscle just looking at a barbell, but I gain fat just as easy. On the opposite end of this spectrum someone like me has to be very careful about what they are eating or my metabolism will punish me. I am about 206 right now, and at 190 I will be close to 12% body fat and that is still 15 lbs above my healthy BMI. Don't worry too much about bmi. Just stick with your routine, get more diligent in the kitchen, avoid cardio, lift as heavy as you can without hurting yourself, and the gains will come.

If you don't have a food scale and measuring cups to help you portion out your meals, you should really invest in them, they are highly valuable for getting accurate measurements.

hi
i to have had a hard time gaining weight consistently. until i found HST hypertrophy specific
training. google it. the forum is filled with people who have gained lots of muscle in a relatively short time.

Goal Weight higher than Current weight
 

Hi there -I am new, and I think this is a great tool so far. Can someone tell me who I can contact to see if they can fix the bug in the software that does not allow a goal weight higher than the current weight of the person. I have the unusal need to gain weight instead of lose.

Thanks so much in advance,

Craig

Trying to gain healthy weight
 

Hi guys, I just started on this site today and I am just looking for some suggestions on how to gain healthy weight. What intake of what foods are best to accomplish this goal?

Unless you are below 12% bodyfat healthy weight would be in the form of muscle. To build muscle (not necessarily size but density) you need to undertake a a weight and resistance training program where you lift heavy. (Use a weight that allows only 5 to 6 repetitions of a movement before you can not perform another movement.)

You will also need to fuel your body for building muscle. This means .5 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body weight. I personally try to keep my protein at 30% of my calories. Check out Bodybuilding.com for more exercise information.

Eat 200 calories over your maintenance level to make sure you have the nutrients for gaining. If you find you are gaining fat, cut back on the calories or include some cardio work into your routine.

If you are a beginner don't try to jump in to weight training too quickly and risk injury. Learn the proper form before attempting a new exercise. Gaining muscle is a long term process but can help you create the body you desire.