T Nation

Ugh Food! Eating Enough to Bulk

Beginners
#1

Okay, I feel like I am eating a lot of food. It is like I am force feeding myself. It is to the point where I take a bite of food and go… bleh as I move it around in my mouth. And guess what? I AM NOT GAINING WEIGHT. I am 6’9" 225-230lbs around 12% BF. How many calories do I need to eat?

This is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
Cup of coffee with milk (30 cal)
3gm fish oil (30 Cal)
two servings of oatmeal (400 cal)

Lunch:
3gm fish oil
rice noodles with beef (about 800-900 cal)
salad with oil dressing (200 cal)

2nd lunch:
24oz peanut butter shake with protein powder (800 cal)
3gm fish oil (30 cal)

Dinner:
Ginger ale (150 cal)
Large cup of milk 2% (250 cal)
4 gm fish oil (40 cal)
Pure Energy Bar (300 cal)
Steak Fajitas with chips and salsa (1200 cal)

Total: approx 4300 cal

#2

Ah yeah that is a fair amount of calories already, but, if you’re not gaining weight, apparently it isn’t enough! You could try eating more meals/day, almost as much each meal, can get more calories in that way. Also, calorie-dense foods like almonds, that are high in calories but don’t really fill you up, can also be helpful. Other than that, just keep at it, it should get easier as you go, once you get used to eating so much.

#3

Oh, and could try a weight gainer… Many people here won’t suggest it, because it isn’t the best way to gain weight, but if you’re having trouble gaining anything, it can add a lot of calories pretty easily.

#4

Your breakfast has very little protein. Add some eggs there, or if thats too much to stomach, a protein shake with full milk.

Your 2nd lunch doesn’t have much to it. Add a hamburger there.

Replace all your 2%milk with full milk. Add olive oil to your protein shakes. Have a tbs of peanut butter after each meal. Have a handful of nuts after each meal. There are many ways to add calories.

#5

I have a hard time eating enough too…so I might not have the best answers…but I’ll offer them anyway.

  1. Snacks (ones with healthy fats like nuts should be calorically dense)

  2. I have found that when making sandwiches…don’t put the two pieces of bread together (unless you have to pack them). When at home…if I make a PB&J sandwich…I have a slice of bread with PB&J on it…and then have the same again. It’s not a HUGE difference but I find I use more PB&J overall that way…so it helps (only a little) with eating more calories.

  3. I drink something with at least SOME calories during my workout. Used to be just water…now I try to drink something that has some Calories in it (this does NOT replace my PWO drink).

Anyway…good luck!

#6

[quote]Outkast wrote:
I AM NOT GAINING WEIGHT. I am 6’9" 225-230lbs around 12% BF. How many calories do I need to eat?[/quote]
More. Try adding a meal between breakfast and lunch. Add another one after dinner if needed. Keep peanuts at your desk and munch on them as the day goes by. Drown everything in olive oil.

#7

[quote]Gmoore17 wrote:
Ah yeah that is a fair amount of calories already, but, if you’re not gaining weight, apparently it isn’t enough! You could try eating more meals/day, almost as much each meal, can get more calories in that way. Also, calorie-dense foods like almonds, that are high in calories but don’t really fill you up, can also be helpful. Other than that, just keep at it, it should get easier as you go, once you get used to eating so much.[/quote]
Yup, calorie-dense foods and 8-10 meals a day really help me. Another thing I’d add is if you can’t eat a proper meal at least down a quart of milk or a protein shake. That’s an easy way to get calories and protein in your body more frequently.

#8

Outkast, that looks like the kind of diet I follow when im trying to drop weight and im 10 inches shorter than you. At 6’9 you need more cals and more meals. You’re wasting an opportunity with that puny breakfast. work in a shake there. Load up the blender with fruit, coconut milk, protein powder and some type of additional fats and you’ve got a very healthy weight gainer shake. Mix some flax into the oatmeal instead of the fish oil in the morning. The lunch menu has potential, though I would switch from rice noodle to wheat noodles (pasta). The ginger ale at dinner is just wasted calories. There’s no point to 2% milk. Use whole milk. And add in a fifth and sixth meal in there somewhere. A steak and milkshake wouldn’t hurt either. Gaining weight is fun, ditch the pigeon food, and embrace it

#9

Good ideas, thanks guys. I will buy a bunch of nuts to snack on during the day. 2 tablespoons of PB will make me gag after a big meal. I will also get some whole milk. Olive oil is a good idea, will probably taste good in a shake.

For breakfast I had a cup of whole yogurt, 4gm of fish oil, a bagel with cream cheese and tomato, and a pure protein bar… took me about 1.5 hours to eat it all and I feel stuffed. I am not a big breakfast person it takes very little to fill me up in the morning. I will try to eat huge breakfasts!

Great suggestions all, I will take them into consideration. Feels like I always need to be eating SOMETHING to gain weight. This gets very frustrating… and expensive. Maybe I should just get an IV?

#10

Ok your diet SUCKS Bigtime very poor food chioces there what are you even thinking drinking ginger ale? Its ok tho everyone starts somewhere!

Your a big guy so your gona need alot of calories to gain wheight id say in the balpark of 5000+

Keep in mind your gona need at least 300 grams of protein and Lots of good carbs and good fats!

Ok try this

Meal 1 - 2 servings of oatmeal with 2 scooms of whey mixed in! Then take some fish oil! 600ish calories

Meal 2 - Maby 2 Tuna sanwhiches (2 tins of tuna 4 pieces ezeikeil bread with mayo) and 1/3 cup of almounds 750ish calories

Meal 3 - Make a big shake so you dont have to eat a whole meal! 2 cups of full fat milk, 2 scoops of protein 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter 700ish calories

Meal 4 - 2 Chicken breasts 1.5 cups of whole grain rice and 2 tbsp of EVOO 650ish calories

Meal 5 - Make a smothie 1 cup of berries 2 scoops of vanila protein powder and 1 cup of coconut milk! 600ish calories

Meal 6 - 1 cup of cottage cheese with 1 scoop of protein powder and 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter 500ish calories

Then throughout the day snack on almounds, and dates and stuff like that! Be creative and get those GOOD Calories into you!

Remeber to lift heavy or all the food in the world wont help you! Good luck man

#11

Nice input! I just bought a bunch of nuts to snack on while at work.

For lunch I am eating two tuna sandwichs, 3 peaches, a quart of milk and a handful of pumpkin seeds.

#12

Ugh, I have to spread this lunch out into two meals I think.

#13

Add whole milk to your shakes and oats. And then drink extra milk on top of that at your other meals. Liquid calories are the easiest to get down. Chocolate milk is good too if you get tired of white :smiley:

Good luck!

#14

ONe really cheap simple way of adding kcal/protein/fat/carbs is to aim to drink one gallon of whole milk a day…

#15

You aren’t eating all that often man. Including my pre/post workout shakes I do 9-10 meals a day.

As people have said, shakes can help big time - add olive oil or heavy whipping cream to them for extra calories. Your breakfast sucks big-time, it should be the biggest meal of the day…which will help increase metabolism throughout the rest of the day.

Try to get in around 1000 calories in your breakfast, my typical breakfast is: 4 whole eggs, 10-12oz whole milk w/ 30g protein scoop, 3 pieces of WW toast w/ butter. Its easy to get down and very calorically dense. Believe its around 900-1000 calories last time I checked.

Snack on almonds, cashews, etc throughout the day, they are very calorie dense and taste good. Replace all your 2% milk with whole milk as alreayd mentioned.

Do you eat right before bed? If not you should be. Try downing some cottage cheese and some peanut butter right before bed.

Its really not that complicated. If you aren’t gaining weight, you need to eat more - its literally that simple. If you really can’t gain weight, eat some fuckin fast food. Almost anything fast food is extremely calorie dense.

Oh and an easy way to get anything down is put it in the blender first. It can be gross depending on what you do, but things like adding raw oats to protein shakes in a blender you will hardly notice.

Try 12oz of whole milk, a scoop of protein powder, and some raw oats in the blender, down that along with 4 eggs and you have a solid breakfast that wont feel like you just ate a horse.

#16

Alright you have to account how many calories that you take in and how many calories that you burn. In order to gain weight you need to take in more calories then you burn. Do you do alot of cardio?

Also there is a huge problem with you diet. Your not getting nearly enough protein that you need your also not eating as often as you should. Here is a sample diet.

Breakfast:
4-6 Eggs
Cup of Yogurt
Serving of Fruit

Snack:
40 Gram Whey Protein shake

Lunch:
12 oz Chicken Breast
Serving of Rice

Pre-Workout Snack:
30g Protein Bar
Serving of Fruit

Post-Workout:
40 Gram Whey Protein Shake

Dinner:
12 oz Steak
Side Salad

Before Bed:
Casein Protein Shake (This is a slow digesting protein that will feed your muscles while you sleep and prevent them from breaking down)

#17

It just looks like you are overestimating calories. For instance, coffee should not even be counted at all. haha