How do I EAT more?!

You need to lift heavy weights and gorge yourself on meats, whole grain breads, and some veggies. take a muti vitamin just for good measure.

Dont go overboard with the weight lifting as that can be counter productive and actually destroy muscle fiber.

Creatine only increases the amount of water that your muscles retain. It'll make you look bigger, but itll go away when you stop taking it. Its pretty much useless if you take in a lot of diuretics like caffeine and alcohol.

Re: How do I EAT more?!


I'm 29 right now, 5'11. When I graduated high school at your age, I weighed 135lbs. Now I'm around 185, and was up to 192 at one point, and it's mostly muscle.

For one, don't waste your money on creatine. Alone, it's not going to pack weight on. You have to cocentrate on your diet.

The reason you're never hungry is because you've slowed your metabolism down by eating only a couple times a day.

This is exactly what I did when I started gaining weight. And I packed on about 30 lbs just within the first two years.

Sit down, and write out a diet plan. You have to set a daily meal and calorie goal. I started out eating roughly 3000-3500 calories daily. You have to be consistent.

Example, and you can use a Meal Replacement shake in place of a meal, but you can't just live off of those.

This is pretty much my diet, or what I shoot for:

Meal 1/breakfast, 9am: MetRx with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter blended with skim milk. And nutrition bar.

Lunch, 12am: A real meal. If I'm on the road, a couple of grilled chicken sandwiches, diet coke. If home, pasta & turkey meatballs, or chicken or beef stir-fry.

Snack, 3pm: MetRx mixed with skim milk.

5pm: Gym. Lift weights.

7pm: Dinner. Same as lunch.

Later in the night, a snack. Reduced fat chips, nutrition bar, popcorn, frozen yogurt, whatever. Not too picky.

What's going to happen is, when you start eating 5-6 meals a day, you may feel like you're force feeding yourself, however in a couple weeks or so you're metabolism will catch up. If you miss a meal, you're going to be hungry.

Another benefit, other than just gaining weight, is your energy levels will be steadier. When you're only eating a couple times a day, your blood sugar really drops and spikes. Eating consistently will help you there too.

Drink a lot of water as well.

So the shakes are easy meals, and I also eat a lot of Skillet Sensations. High in sodium, but it's an easy meal. Frozen vegetables you can just microwave. Boil in a bag rice. Turkey deli meat. Buy a George Foreman grill, and make steak, chicken, cooks it really fast.

Eat as many nuts as you want, and peanut butter.

Other high calorie healthy foods that don't need to be cooked

avacado
add powered to to a regular glass of milk or to anything you do cook to add calories, protein and calories.
dried fruit

There are also bulk up protein powders for weight gain, but, frankly I think you get better results with real food.

Gaining weight if you need is a whole lot harder than using it. My husband is just shy of 6' and weighted 165 pounds all his life.

Then, (long story why) he lost a lot of weight, and it was a struggle that took years to get it back.

Now he weighs 160 and I'd like to see him put on an extra 5 or 10 lbs.

What caught my eye with your story was saying you aren't really hungry. As strange as it sounds, that's because you're not eating.

For awhile my husband had no internal incentive to even try to gain weight back, and he dropped down to 130 (or maybe even less)

Like you, he would say "I'm just not hungry", he could go all day without eating, and then eat a huge meal at night.

But that doesn't cut it. You've GOT to eat on a regular basis to get your metabolism in order.

So.....from personal experience with watching someone be way too thin for a long time, and then seeing that person put on 30 pounds in a relatively short period of time, once he became commited to gaining, is this.

You MUST eat breakfast, even if it seems very unappealing. After a week or so, you will actually become hungry, or have an appetite for breakfast.

Follow up with 2 more meals during the day.

Then before bed, a snack, again, even if you don't want it, just a couple of bites of something.

Good luck

What's your workout routine look like?

You are not abnormally thin. The Armed Forces would admit you at your weight and start building your muscles.

Noddy, 6 foot and 130lbs is pretty thin. I looked like a damn skeleton, and I'm not even 6'.

Yeah, hubby is ~6'1" and he looks scary-skinny if he gets below 140 or so.

wow slappy, deja vue all over again.

oh, and on rereading my post, I meant to say add powered MILK to beverages or meals.


One thing slappy and I both left out.

Olive oil

If you are cooking, and the receipe calls for 2 tablespoons of oil, I use 3 or 4.

Me, I'm not fussy about particular types of oil, corn, sunflower, olive....it's all got the same amount of fat, and I can't tell enough difference in flavor to make a difference....I add olive oil whenever preparation calls for oil OR butter.

Yeah, the quick and easy route, like Skillet sensations. You put the stuff in a pan and walk away for 10 minutes.

When it's done, pour a few dollops of oil into it and mix it up. That's putting in some good calories.

If you're eating a salad add some oil before you put on the dressing.

oh god yes, when wolverine dropped to 130, he looked like he was in a concentration camp.

The year I started lifting weights I went from 135 to 150 over the summer. Then I hurt my finger and couldn't lift.

When I got back to school(college), my friends kept pointing out how skinny I looked. I hated it. I wore sweatshirts constantly.

Few months later after writing out a diet and not skipping workouts, when a couple friends came to visit, they swore I was on steroids. I went from being back down to 135 up to about 160, and cut.

But yes, olive oil is definitely a good call. It's the "good fat."

whoa thanks everyone for the help.. i never thought of adding peanut butter to my protein shake and i'll definitely add olive oil when i cook..

my biggest problem is fitting things around my schedule:

06.00am to 12.15pm - school
3.00pm to 7.00pm - work

As of monday, my friend and I (big in the weight-lifting scene), are planning on going to the gym from around 12.30 to 2.45. So, I would have to go straight to work from the gym without having a chance to have a protein shake after the workout.

Should I only work out from, say, 12.30 to 2.00 and spend that extra 45 minutes making a meal - or would it be better to workout more instead?

And lastly, for breakfast, I'm planning on having a protein shake and maybe 2 granola bars... I was thinking it might be a good idea if I ate something quick between classes during school so that I would have alot of energy for the gym, but I'd probably throw up if I had to eat another dry granola bar! Is there anything else you can think of, or are granola bars my best bet for a quick bite? Maybe a banana in the morning and granola bars during class or vice versa?

Why are you going to the gym for so long???

If you're just lifting weights, you should be in there for an hour, hour and a half tops. Post up your routine too.

Instead of granola bars, there's some good tasting nutrition bars on the market. Now I'm eating Clif Builder Bars, peanut butter. Very good.

The powerbar protien bars taste pretty good. Promax chocolate mint is pretty good as well.

And you have to make it a point to eat something within 45 minutes or so of lifting weights. Preferrably some simple sugars, like Gatorade, and a fast-digesting protein, like a whey protien shake. Your body after working out is in an "anti-catabolic" state, which basically means it's starving for nutrients and not in a state where your muscles can properly recover.

Mini muffins and beefjerky come to mind. You can also get little meal kits with a can of tuna, mayo and some crackers. Go to a supermarket and spend some time lookin around.

Yeah, you really don't need to be the gym that long unless you're socializing.

Some great ideas so far. A few more:

* Pre-cook meals once a week and stick 'em in the freezer. That way, you will have no excuse for not eating.
* Don't forget to stretch before and after working out. Lots of guys skimp on this and stretching can honestly increase your muscle gains. Plus, you'll be able to work out harder.
*Eat something right after your workout - something like Slap. suggested. I usually suck down a Gatorade and a banana.
Then after an hour or two, eat a meal.

You simply have got to eat more. Eat the entire day long. You get used to it.

Maybe you need a girlfriend who likes to feed people.

eat more nuts during your breaks.

I don't think granola bars are all there're cracked up to be.

To me, they're a subsitute for candy.

Also, you definitely need more vegetables.

Remember mycdplayerisbroke is 17 years old. He's spent the last three years growing bone and he's due to start filling out.

Fully fleshed 17 year olds are an anomaly. Ripeness is all.

Sorry noddy, but when I was about 16 my best friend, a guy was 6'1" and 125- 130 pounds...

he looked half dead.

that's just not enough weight to stretch over 6 feet.

fully fleshed as in muscle is one thing. I don't think there's enough flesh as in fat and reserves on his bones.

Four of my six stepsons went through a super-skinny stage: six feet, 128 pounds. Their father (and uncle) did the same thing.

They all grew out of it.

I was the same way. At 16 I was 6'0" and weighed 135 lbs. I looked like a string bean. Nature has a way of taking care of a fast metabolism - for females anyway.