T Nation

Not Gaining - Need Advice for Food

#1

Hello all!

I am Anthon

A Swede that recently took up training again four months ago, as I have had a longer break more then 4 years, due to studys… But we all know that’s not a good reason. I started my journey 174 pounds and now I am at 181 ish pounds, and the thing is I been stuck at this weight for atleast 1.5 mounth. I am using Creatine, PWO proteinpowder BCAA ZMA.
I am currently only using proteinpowder on those days that I am training.

I am guessing it’s my meals that aren’t well planned so I would need your help to get an idea how to change my meals into something more solid.

(I feel stronger, but it dosen’t show.)

With kind regards
Anthon B

#2

It’s pretty telling that you mentioned all of your supplements but not a single food you eat.

Do you really think your supps are more important than your diet?

#3

The suppliments I know. Basicly I don’t know what I eat, my planning sucks with food and my knowledge aswell. I try to eat chicken with rice two times a week.

I’ve started to eat oat meal & Wheat. But else then that I don’t have a plan for the food part of my training :(.

#4

Eat some source of protein, and at least one type of vegetable, with EVERY meal you eat. Drink water. Sleep 8-10 hours every night. Don’t skip workouts.

That’ll get you bigger. And using the protein and veggies guidline, gives you some sort of plan to follow.

Breakfast? Eggs and mushrooms/spinach/tomatos/peppers
Lunch? Meat and cheese sandwiches with some lettuce or spinach on them, and another veggie on the side.
Dinner? Some type of hearty soup, or chili, or a Hispanic dish like quesadillas or fejitas - these often use meat and veggies. Or pasta with chicken and broccoli. Lots of options.

This is a healthier route to take to gaining weight. If you just want to gain weight asap, eat a bunch of fast food and other crap every day. That’s more fun, haha.

#5

so what does a day of eating usually look like for you? Be honest.

#6

How do you know what in your nutrition requires supplementing if you don’t know what you need to eat?

#7

Basicly because when I order suppliments it’s put in categories Weightloss, Musclegain, and simulair categories.

In the end of the day I know what my end goal is gaining mass.

#8

Hey, I can share the meal plan I’m currently following if you like. Calories and macros may not be the ones you need but you can at least take away a few ideas.

#9

This is called marketing. Don’t base what you put inside of your body on it.

A supplement is called a supplement because it’s supposed to supplement your diet. Supplements fill in the cracks of what is missing in your diet.

Example: you enjoy going out on long sea voyages and the only foods you find that can withstand the trip are biscuits and salt beef, and after 60 days at sea you observe your gums bleeding at an unreasonable rate. You realize that you’ve contracted scurvy due to a vitamin C deficiency, so you start supplementing with vitamin C.

However, what you’ve done is take a diet that is lacking in everything and just thrown supplements at it. The holes in your diet are too big to fill with supplements.

Try following this diet WITHOUT supplements, and THEN see what needs

#10

It’s very day to day be.

My breakfast consist of greek youghort with müsli and berries.
And when I have eggs at home I make mainly fried eggs. My lunch is Either a sandwhich or a smoothie. My dinner is the part where I am most terrible at, so my diet consist of a lot of meatballs and pasta, i try to avoid junk food but sometimes it slips into the diet just because lack of time. Working with marketing.

#11

I would appreciate that alot!

#12

Right, so to build muscle you need a lot of calories and a lot of protein. You need to start eating like a bodybuilder. There are a few general guidelines you can follow.

You want to try and eat 1g of protein per lb of your bodyweight every day. So if you weigh 181lbs, then you want to eat 181g of protein. It obviously doesn’t have to be exact, but you want to be eating somewhere betweeen 150g to 200g of protein a day. It isn’t hard to do; 100g of meat has 20g of protein, and most protein shakes are about 30g.

You’ll probably have to eat at a serving of meat with every meal and yes - this includes breakfast. A mimsy little yoghurt and fruit breakfast isn’t going to cut it.

You also need a shitload of carbs, so carbs with every meal too. Doesn’t really matter what kind, can be rice, pasta, bread or whatever. Generally people feel better in terms of their digestion is they stay away from a lot of wheat to get their carbs but if it doesn’t cause you any bloating or whatever then it’s cool.

Fats are important too so cook your foods in butter or some kind of oil (not a vegetable oil - that shit’s poison. Use olive oil).

Now obviously you need to eat fruits and vegetables and all that other healthy shit, so throw some in there, but if you’re really trying to gain weight then your focus is on large quantities of protein and carbs. You need to eat more than your body wants you to, so expect to feel pretty sick a lot of the time. If the thought of your next meal doesn’t scare you a little bit then you’ve not been eating enough.

#13

Thank you for this, this helped me a lot!

#14

Thanks Yogi1 for making it simplified I appreciate that a lot!

#15

Read this post and you’ll find one of the daily menus I’ve been following.

That comes out to about 3,000 calories a day, 40% carbs 40% protein 20% fats. I didn’t list food portions and quantities but that is something you need to figure out for yourself anyway. That should give you some good meal examples to play with though.

#16

Thank you! You’re awesome. And you have all given me new input and things to think about, evolution is key!

#17

You have alot of good comments on diet so I wont touch on that too much.

What I will say is you need more realistic expectations. How much muscle did you expect to gain in 4 months while starting to develop a routine?

Strength takes time. Fat gain/loss can happen quickly if you manage your diet well but to build muscle takes years of work, not months.

If you could gain 0.5 lbs of muscle per month, in 6 years you would have gained over 30lbs of lean muscle.

But in 4 months that equates to 2lbs.

When setting size goals, make them long term goals. Focus your short term goals on hitting new PRs on your big lifts, or smaller achievable weight goals.

Its not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Especially when building muscle. Sometimes it feels like I’m not progressing anymore, but when I look back over the past year I see pretty solid results.

Keep at it, and tracking your progress such as sets and reps for the big lifts helps remind you that you are making progress over time.

Unless of course its been months of no progress at all, then you know you need to change something. Up the intensity or change your diet.

#18

That’s a good very good comment, and when I think back about it, I’ve increased my limits week to week without any big trouble.