Note: The Unit of measurments are Pounds (lbs) for Body weight and Grams (g) for Protein, Fat, and Carbohydrates

.

My solution to this problem is to present 3 different meals plans that consist of primarily calorie dense whole foods that are simple and easy to set up. You’ll notice as the number of calories increases, the frequency of meals and snack increases as do the number of calorie dense foods.

All 3 of these meal plans are high in carbohydrates and this is key for Hardgainers because if we do not feed ourselves with adequate amounts of carbohydrate protein will be used to help fuel the body and this takes away from its main job of protein synthesis for muscle repair.

Take a look at these meal plans and see if you find any use for them

3000 Calories

.

4000 calorie

.

5000 calorie

.

Now that you have these meal plan head over to one of my older post (Click Here, or Here) and determine how many calories a day you’d need to put on 1 or 2 pounds and get started!

When it comes down to it, almost any training program will work and almost all reputable supplements will give you a little bit of an edge depending on your goals. What differentiates Hardgainers from Easy Gainers (besides genetics) is how well we can maintain a positive energy balance, or in other words eating enough food to gain weight. 

I’m going to put a little bit more emphasis on nutrition this month but I thought I’d start things off by letting you in on an average day for me as a struggle to do what it takes to gain weight
 

Upon Waking up:

5 grams of Glutamine
5 grams of Creatine

Notes: I was up around 3 in the morning. I have a hard time getting consistent sleep which is starting to become a problem. I needed a way to kill time so I watched the leaked version of the new Wolverine Movie. It was ok I wasn’t overly impressed I’d give it a 2.5 out of 5. It’s worth watching but if you compare it to The Watchmen or The Dark Knight it doesn’t even measure up.

Breakfast

7 Servings of Aunt Jemima’s Pancakes: 910 calories 189 carbs 28 protein 3.5fat

3 strips of Bacon: 220 calories 3 carbs 12 protein 18 fat

Total Calories: 1130 calories 192 carbs 40 protein 21.5 fat

Hidden Calories - I used Margarine to grease the pan for the pancakes and maple syrup as a spread for the cakes

Notes: After breakfast I did my daily hour of rehabilitory exercises and stretching and went about my day.

Lunch

675 grams of Yams: 783 calories 186 carbs 10 protein 0.7 fat

Corn beef Stew

Total – 783 calories 186 carbs 10 protein 0.7 fat

Hidden Calories - I don’t know the caloric profile for the Corn beef stew since it is an African dish but it has some protein which is a good thing. At dinner I’m going to have 2 scoops of protein to compensate for the protein I may have missed in this meal. The dish although small in portion is also very fatty so the real total for this meal is probably in the thousands. 

Dinner

2 bagels: 560 calories 116 carbs 20 protein 3 fat

2 servings of protein: 240 calories 6 carbs 48 protein 2 fat

100 grams of Oats: 346 calories 75 carbs 11 protein 2.7 fat

Total Calories: 1146 calories 197 carbs 70 protein 7.7 fats

Hidden calories: I used a heap load of peanut butter to make up for the 300 to 400 calories I missed during lunch. I don’t like recording peanut butter or similar types of foods because the recording process is difficult. Additionally I usually have a lot more veggies and fruits in my diet but I’ve eaten them all. 

Notes: I usually don’t need to supplement with protein when I’m home all day as I’m able to reach my goals with food alone. Today was a rare exception because were simply out of food.

Before bed:

5 grams of Glutamine

Daily Caloric Tally:

Goal: 3500 calories 569 carbs 127 protein 77 fat

Today: 3059 calories 575 carbs 120 protein 29.9 fat

It may appear that I haven’t reached my goal but with that addition of all of the fruit drinks I’ve had today and the calories I didn’t record (the heap load of peanut butter for instance) I’ve managed to fulfil my protein and fat needs. Its wasn’t pretty but I made it for today. 

Well there you have it. If you want to get big you need to eat big. It’s harder than it looks and doing this every day is a work in progress for me but I’m going to continue working at it. If you think 3 big meals is too much for your split you meals into 6 smaller meals just make sure that you are hitting your daily totals.

The great thing about this book was the fact that not only was it inexpensive but it provided over 150 meals that anyone could use to attain great bodybuilding nutrition.

As Gregg boosts this book is much more than a cookbook, it offers a solid foundation for understanding meal timing and the effects nutrients have on our bodies. I highly recommend and I’ll be writing a full review in the near future.

Anyway lets get to todays Hardgainer Meal Replacement Shake

Name: Malted Muscles

Ingredients:

1 cup of milk
1 cup cold water
4 tablespoons Ovaltine Malt
2 level scoops chocolate or vanilla whey protein powder
1 tablespoon Lecithin Granules
1 teaspoon L-glutamine powder

How to make it

Step 1 – In a 16 ounce bottle, combine all the ingredients

Step 2 – Shake well

Per serving: 430 calories, 50 g protein, 36 g carbohydrates, 4 g total fat

I really like this shake. Its easy to make and tastes great. I generally have this once a day as a snack or as a quick meal to go. Try it out and let me know how you liked it.

Eating several small meals per day seems to be the generally accepted method when bulking up but are there meals that are more important than others? If so what are they and why is this so?

There are in fact 3 important meals we must consume each and every day to give ourselves the best chance at building lean muscle mass.

Breakfast – The most important meal of the day

You’ve been sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours and during that time our bodies have not received any nourishment. While we sleep our body are actually doing a lot of dirty work including repairing the muscle you destroyed the day before. Cell repair uses any available fuel left in our bodies to function. Obviously since we are sleeping we cannot refuel the energy used by all the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies until we wake up.

Not eating for 8 hours is similar to fasting that is why we need to Break-the-Fast with Breakfast.

When we wake up we are in a catabolic state. What this means is since our bodies have not been “fueled” for 8 hours it starts to break down nutrients within the body to create energy.

What does this mean?

Due to insufficient amounts of energy our body essentially eats its self up to sustain resting functions and our muscles are not spared at all.

Eating a balanced breakfast with a sufficient amount of carbs, protein and fat is the most effective way to help keep the effects of catabolism at the minimum (unless you’re a keener and you wake up at night to have a protein shake). Additionally eating breakfast helps replenish our muscle glycogen stores and delivers protein to our starving muscles.

Eating our breakfast not only keeps us from going catabolic but its also:

• Keeps us energized for the rest of the day
• Helps with our ability to concentrate
• Helps decrease fatigue

Bulking up is VERY grueling and it requires that our body be constantly fueled. The energy needed during a bulk is extreme because we are not only eating a lot but we are also working hard in the gym trying to build muscle mass. Having breakfast gives us the energy boost in the morning and prepares our bodies for the worst.

Pre-workout Meal – The forgotten Meal

What you eat an hour and a half to two hours before you workout will determine how efficient you’ll be in the gym. Without fuel (food) in the tank our bodies will not perform at optimal levels no matter what your fitness level.

Eating a meal high in Carbohydrates and Protein will effectively prepare your body for the workout ahead. This is so because the carbohydrates you ingest will help refill your muscle glycogen stores giving you a full tank before you workout and having Proteins in your system will jump start muscle protein synthesis.

Post-workout Meal – Critical to Growth and Recovery

This meal is probably the most hyped up meal in the world of bodybuilding and deservingly so. The reason why such an emphasis is put on post workout nutrition is because after resistance exercise the muscles that were worked intake glucose anywhere from 7-20 times faster than at rest.

What does this mean?

After a workout we have the ability to feed nutrients into our muscles almost directly.

Resistance exercise usually results in several micro tears in the muscle that will be repaired by our bodies at a slow rate, having a post work meal/shake 0-30 minutes after a workout helps to feed that muscles which will in turn aid in recovery and repair. Additionally, glycogen is the main fuel used during resistance exercise. It is usually depleted after a workout. Having a post workout meal restores the glycogen that was used up.

9 out of 10 times we workout hard enough and we sleep well enough but that is still not enough to grow. What separates big guys from the skinny guys is attention to nutrition. Having a great diet is key to gaining muscle mass but keying in on the 3 most important meals of the day can very much be the deciding factor as to whether you’ll end up scrawny or brawny.

First picture provided by: ex.libris

In our journey to complete the Top 200 Muscle Building Foods we’ve touched some of the best Meat and Egg, Seafood and Dairy selections. Today we’ll touch on a specific group of foods that tend to be taboo in most bodybuilding diets.

Most Hardgainers acknowledge the crucial role that fruits and vegetables play in a weight gain diet, yet, for a variety of reasons, many of those same Hardgainers don’t eat enough of these nutritious foods.

Personally I think we get so focused on protein consumption that everything else takes a back seat.

If you want to make the most of your health and bodybuilding gains try to aim for at least two cups of any of the sources below.  They will help contribute to a:

1. Stronger immune system
2. Improved absorption rate
3. Stable energy levels

HINT: Those 3 factors play a big role in recovery and growth

.

Photo by EDWARD DULLARD

You’d be surprised at the amounts of muscle building benefits you get from dairies.  I personally love the fact that you can get a whopping 28 grams of protein from just 8 oz. of cottage cheese.  Bellow I’ve listed 17 of the best muscle building dairy foods.  Enjoy

Seafood’s are a great source of muscle building protein.  As well as being a great source of protein they are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids.  I’m not going to delve to deep into all the benefits but one you might be interested in is that face that these fats reduce muscle inflammation.  The reduction of muscle inflammation encourages muscle repair and control cortisol levels.  As cortisol levels drop there testosterone levels soar promoting mass gains.  There are a lot more muscle building benefits associated with omega-3 fatty acids but I’ll leave that for another day.  In the mean time enjoy the list below.

I can guarantee you that 50-55% of the protein you’ll ingest in your diet will come from some type of Meat or Egg source (unless you’re a vegetarian).  It is important to ingest protein due to the fact that every tissue of our bodies is made up of protein.  For our specific purpose it is the building block for producing lean muscle as well as burning fat.  Due to its thermogenic effect protein helps increase our metabolism every time we digest it and it releases carbohydrates slowly throughout the day resulting in high energy levels.

Below I’ve listed 46 of the top 200 Muscle building foods from Meats and Eggs.

Before you read on further note that the caloric information for all these items is not 100% accurate.  Depending on where you buy your groceries and the specific brand these readings might be off by a little bit.  But for the most part this list is pretty accurate and should be a good reference.

I hope you enjoyed the first 46 of the top 200 Muslce Building Foods.  Next time I plan on covering high quality Seafood.  If you’ve liked what you’ve seen so far be sure to subscribe to the Hardgainer Transformation RSS feed or to our email updates.

Additionally if you think I’ve left somthing out and would like me to add it to the list let me know by posting below

Stay away from store bought weight gainer and meal replacement shakes.  Trust me you’ll thank me later on.  When I first started my mass gain journey several years ago one of the first supplements I bought was something called Mammoth 2500.  This weight gainer was designed to help supplement my diet by adding an extra 2500 calories.  The sales representative did a good job of pitching this product and like a jackass I gave him $50 dollars and ran home with a big smile on my face.  After taking one normal severing I immediately felt sick and spent the rest of the afternoon shitting my spleen out (Trust me that was the nicest way I could put it).  To say the least it was not a positive experience.

My bad experience isn’t the real reason why I don’t recommend you take them.  The real reason why I think you should stay away from Meal Replacement and Weight Gainer shakes are

• They are costly (most of us don’t have the cash to be forking out another 50 -70 dollars)
• Several Brands of Meal Replacements and Weight Gainers have low quality protein concentrate
• The majority of them are high in glycemic carbohydrates

I’ve scowered the web, local gyms, and every nutritional book ever made looking for a solid homemade Meal Replacement/Weight Gainer.  Luckily for you I’ve finally found it.  The guys over at Scivation have put together quite an effective recipe for Meal replacement shakes.  It’s great because

• It’s cheap
• Easy to make
• Somewhat affordable
• Easy to Adjust to meet you caloric needs

The Ingredients you’ll need are:

• Whey Protien Powder
• Oatmeal
• Skim Milk
• Peanut butter
• Honey or a Banana

The Macronutrient ratio is roughly 50% carbohydrates 30% proteins and 20% fats.  If you have a busy life style or just don’t have time to eat a whole meal I would highly suggest that you look into using the Meal Replacement.

You can add the shakes to your daily hardgainer diet plan. An example meal schedule could be

Meal 1 – Solid food
Meal 2 – Meal Replacement
Meal 3 – Sold food Meal
Meal 4 – Pre/Post Workout Meal
Meal 5 – Solid food
Meal 6 – Meal Replacement

Note: Caloric properties maybe differ from the one stated here due to the fact that the ingredients I used may be different from yours.

500 Calorie Shake

600 Calorie Shake

700 Calorie Shake

800 Calorie Shake

900 Calorie Shake

1000 Calorie Shake

Before you jump on the bandwagon and start shunning all Meal Replacements and Weight Gainers I think it’s important for you to that there ARE some great Meal Replacements and Weight Gainers out there but you’ve got to do your research before purchasing them.  They will cost you a pretty penny so I would suggest sticking to making your own.

If you’ve tried making one of these shakes or have a better recipe that you’d like to share and enjoyed let me know by posting below