Protein

Try unsalted almonds. They also have quite a few calories, but you can't beat that easy protein. other nuts work too. Make sure they are unsalted though.

 

eat a lot of chicken and meat, dont fill up on food thats not going to do anything for you. for a protien shake depending on how much you weigh goals etc i would find something that has ~24 grams of protein a scoop and just do one of them. Im lactose intolerant and heres my post workout : protein shake: two scoops dymatize elite whey isolate butter toffee flavor(it has lactase in it and almost zero lactose so it doesnt give you problems if LI), 1/3 cup of oatmeal i powderize in my coffee grinder, a tbl spoon of creatine and a nice spoon of penut butter. it tastes awesome and is pretty good for holding me till dinner. then i eat a banana

edit: im a college student w/ no mone and no job too and chicken is cheap llike 1-2 bucks a pound depending on the cut you get and eggs are 240 for 18. I eat a 1/2 dz for breakfast and that still works out to being like 75 cents which is less than a coffee

 

Order protein from Bodybuilding.com, 10lbs for $100. Never buy from stores, I repeat, never. Also, in order to make real gains you have to be eating a surplus. For example, depending on your current weight and health, you should be eating a surplus of 100-400 calories to make gains. Use the link below to find out how much calories you should be eating. Remember, diet is just as important as lifting.

Calorie Counter, Calorie Tracker & Food Journal | MyPlate on LIVESTRONG.COM | LIVESTRONG.COM

 

If you're getting around 100g of protein a day you'll be fine. Any more than that is kinda futile in my opinion.

You'd get better results from working harder in the gym at ~100g, rather than not working as hard and eating lets say 200g. After a certain point, no matter how much protein you eat you won't build anymore size.

 

Ive posted this guide many many times now on this forum. (I studied sport science at university and was a personal trainer for several years). There is a section on supplements however I reckon thats one of the least important, especially if you do not know that much about lifting. Enjoy:

Firstly to gain weight, the single most important thing- above anything else- is nutrion. You should have a calorific surplus- that means that you have to eat more than your what you burn in a day. There are loads of good free websites that you can work this out on. Also if you do a workout out add about 300 cals if its short and 500 cals if its long. You should aim to eat about 500 calories extra a day- however if you do not mind you can always add on a little extra.

Then there are the macronutrients- these are your carbohydrates, protein and fats. If you wish to bulk (gain weight) than you should eat around 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fat. When you are looking to split this up to work out the actual grams you need of each macro, there are 4 calories per gram of carbs or protein and 9 cals in a gram of fat. This means that you actually need to eat a lot less fat in terms of grams than the other two macros. Of course you should play around with this to make it work for you they are just general guidelines. In addition. In addition it is a fucking pain in the ass to work this out and then keep by it and if you dont try and keep it within these general guidelines. Having said this, eating in a strict regime such as this will help to maximise lean muscle gains- you will have the benefit of gaining more weight, looking good, and feeling healthy. Micronutrients are less important (although still important for the full time professional bodybuilders) so dont worry about these yet.

Now to talk about the carbs in detail. There are two types of carbs that you need to worry about- complex carbs and simple carbs (sugary ones). On the whole complex carbs are a lot lot better. This includes many foods but the best way to eat them is to swap any white food for its brown alternative- white bread to brown bread, rice to brown rice and so on and so forth. Other ways are to eat foods such as beans. Beans are a great source of protein believe it or not and of good carbs so eat a lot of them. The complex carbs break down slowly and are therefore a good way to keep your muscles and your ability to recover in good stead over a long period of time. However just after a workout things change. Now you want to eat simple carbs- you want a short burst of energy to boost your recovery. A good way to get these in without compromising any of the other macros is to eat some oranges or clementines- these have simple carbs but are also very healthy. Carbs in general give your muscles energy to lift and to recover so I think that we can all agree that they are vital.

Protein. This one is quite simple and one that most people know about- focus on eating lots of it. Ill come on to supplements later but you may want to consider adding a shake or bars into your diet but dont be scared by it and they are not vital like some people would make your believe. There are different kinds of proteins and ill go into a little more detail later, but eating cassein protein which is found in milk and cottage cheese (not the only two, but the best two) before bed is great because it breaks down much slower- it will feed your muscles for much of the night. However again, this will help maximise gains but many people do not do it and do not believe anyone that says you will not make gains or that you actually lose muscle if you do not do this. Protein actually composes a lot of your muscle- just like you can not build a building without the appropriate materials such as metal, your muscles canot be built without appropriate nutrion.

On a side note- muscle is also made out of water and therefore try and drink about a gallon a day (probably not actually a huge difference in the amount you already drink just drink another glass when you get thirsty). Keeping hydrated is important

Fat. Not all fats where born equally. Saturated fats are not good (but you still need to eat some of them) and unsaturated fats are good. There is more- but you dont really need to worry about it- just do not listen to anyone that tells you to eat as little fat as possible- this is simply wrong.

You should aim to eat every 2-3 hours- that comes to around 6/7 meals a day (no less than six!). This keeps your body in an anabolic state- this is the state when your body builds muscle. Chicken, especially the breasts, are brilliant- they are cheap and you can cook them in loads of different ways. Beef is also awesome. Eggs are very interesting and many people think that these are the best protein you can get- the egg whites are almost all protein and the egg yolks are almost all fat. Because of this it is good if you take some of them out- I make scrambled eggs with 3 whole eggs and then 2 or 3 egg whites. There is still some fat as is important but not as much as protein. Natural peanut butter is also very good (look at the peanut butter on myprotein.com - it is tasty and very good nutritionally unlike a lot of other peanut butter). These are good suggestions however you can eat lots of things as long as they fit in with what I have said before this- the macro split of 40/30/30 and the which type of each macro you should try to avoid.

You are allowed and actually should schedule cheat days- these are days when you do not look at your macros and cals so much and you can eat your favourite foods. You should schedule when they will be (I have one a month) and what your are going to eat. Remember though they are not days when you can eat anything and not feel guilty- they are days when you can eat what your really crave not what you sort of want. Cheat days help you resist the temptation of over eating unhealthy foods because you know when your will be able to eat the foods you are craving next and also keeps us mere mortals sane.

Before I talk about working out I will also mention some supplements. These are not essential. However if you are looking to gain mass they certainly will help. Firstly I would recommend Whey Protein- this is the undisputed best protein out there. It is sold by many companies in many different ways and many of which are confusing. My favourite is Optimum gold standard 100% whey protein however this is expensive so if you are looking for a more budget option true whey or impact whey isolate by myprotein.com is also good. Having said this you can buy cassein protein and you should drink this just before bed (ive already talked about this). Another supplement that is for weight gain and are called weight gainers (who could have guessed?). Again there are a huge number of different types but I would go for Optimum pro complex gainer or Optimum serious mass. There are certainly other good ones out there but I do not know that much about them. If you are looking for some ones cheaper than Optimum then check on myprotein again. There are lots of other supplements- but I'm sure as you are not looking to spend all your money on them I will stop there.

So far I have only really talked about nutrition and this is where the real battle is for me. Once you get into a gym routine (which does not take very long) and know what you are doing (also doesnt take very long) it is hard to keep eating healthy food. However it is very important to destroy the muscle fibers in order that they grow- this is what you do in the gym. In my opinion if it works the muscle and your muscles are sore the next morning you have done a good job but here are some tips.

If you are looking to work out around three times a week- space them out evenly and do a full body workout. Your workouts should be around and hour- its ok to have them a little shorter and a little longer. By workout I mean lifting weights- if you do cardio its ok to go longer. This is because after an hour of high weight low/medium reps which is what you should be doing for gains- your body starts to stop producing testosterone which helps to build muscle. This is not long term and wont completely stop your gains- but try to avoid it.

If your are looking to workout a little more- four times a week then you should split it up into different muscle groups. This really should be when you start to stop being able to work out three times a week because your muscles need more time to recover. Splitting them up means that you work them out harder and give them more time to recover (time which may not be necessary when in the beginner phase). There are lots of ways to do this however I would recommend:
Chest and triceps
Back and Biceps
Shoulders and abs
Legs (calves and thighs)

Abs you can work out a little more than once a week as they recover quickly however just make sure your workouts are not too long. This idea stems from the push pull idea (look it up for more details but this is basically that some of your muscles (shoulders, chest and triceps) are used for pushing and others for pulling (back and biceps) and then you have other muscles that you do not need to divide like this such as legs and abs. Always do the larger group first otherwise you will not be able to do them as you smaller muscles will be too tired to lift).

Compound lifts are very good for gaining mass- these include chest presses, squats and deadlifts.

Cardio. It will help you get fitter however it may hinder the building of muscle. It burns a huge amount of calories and these calories need to be added on to your diet if you want to maintain that calorie surplus. It is also hard to estimate that amount of cals that cardio burns. In addition to this (im not going to go into the crazy details) but cardio produces certain chemicals that counteract with those that help to build muscle. It is still possible to build muscle with cardio but it will be harder. The best way to do cardio (which reduces the negative effects of cardio) if you want to, is high intensity training like interval training.

You may be very bored of reading this now but im almost done:

This is a lifestyle choice- it is hard to make serious gains- especially if you want to keep the fat down. It may seem like a lot to process and at first it may seem like its taking over. However it does not need to take over you life, once you are in a routine it becomes a lot lot easier and you learn to structure it around your existing life. Just make sure you are going to the gym regularly, working hard there, and eating (and sleeping) right.

You can find motivation anywhere- it is simple as searching that into google. Arnie's 'Pumping Iron' always motivates me to lift. When I used to be skinny (and I used to be very skinny) I would look at Bodybuilding.com - Male Transformation Articles! .

People have paid me for my opinion before, however this is a place of weed smokers- of love and brothership, not profit.

Good luck- keep building and keep blazing!

 

1g-1.5g of protein per bodyweight.

More is obviously better. You don't really need a protein shake if you're hitting the number well, but it's kind of hard to at times.

Optimum Nutrition has good whey protein that many people recommend.

Casein protein is a thicker protein that takes longer to digest, whey protein doesn't take long.

Amazon.com has good deals.

 

The above post is pretty good but for the majority of people with busy lives, following all that advice isn't too practical. It can be done but likely won't be maintained in the long run. I used to be religious about following all the different rules until I realized I could just feel what I needed and get better results.

After 6 years of researching and experimenting with diet, nutrition, and bodybuilding, I've come to the conclusion that good nutrition and "intuitive" eating are the best practices. Good nutrition comes from eating a variety of colorful foods with a lot of "stuff" in them. Things likes spinach, beans, onions, blueberries, greek yogurt, and so on as you want. A lot of people in the bodybuilding/fitness world like to use the acronym IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros). And that's true to an extent but not good advice in the long run.

In the long run you need to experiment with different styles of eating and gain an intuitive sense of how different foods will affect you. Play around with low-carb high-fat diets, Zone diet, low-fat, and so on, and over time you'll develop very good instincts about what you need to get what you really want.

A lot of people will say to only eat real food and avoid supplements. That's more bad advice. Protein shakes, food, etc.. are all just tools and once you gain a feel for how they affect you you'll find that every tool comes in handy at different times. And remember this, if you're not having a good time, you're doing something wrong.

 

cant put on weight without eating consuming more calories than you burn.

eat a shit ton of healthy food and take your protein pre and post workout. Have a good post workout meal also, I usually scramble up 3-4 eggs.

like said before me, stock up on chicken, lean beef and fish.

 

Putting on weight and changing body composition are two different things. People need to keep that mind.

 

Impact Whey Protein from Myprotein £14 a kilo just use a 50g scoop after you hit gym , it's on par with maximuscle without the £60 a kg pricetag - also Creatine Monohydrate from Myprotein creatine under £5 a kilo and serious my bench press and deadlift have been insane since I started taking it

 

I apologise if I came across as offensive, because thats not my aim and thats not who I am, however anyone can follow this advice, no matter how busy their lives and because I'm going to go on a bit of a rant.

Firstly I can be your case study. Although I was a personal trainer, I moved on and got a job at a large property firm. I have to be on call 24/7 in case of a client emergency, I work 6 days a week and the number of hours is a little over the legal amount in Europe. In addition to this I have a long-term girlfriend how I see as much as I can plus I often need to do a 3.5 hour round trip so that I can help my mother out when she needs it. Short of having kids, I pretty much have the full house. You may argue that its different because I'm so used to it and that its a way if life for me however when I was a personal trainer I met lots of inspiring people that had much busier lives than I do currently and still managed to fit all the advice I could give them in. Once your in a routine- it just fits. The only thing that can hold you back is money issues- eat a health calorie surplus can be expensive and certain supplements are also pretty high in cost. In addition there is the cost of a gym membership. Unless your THE most busy person I have ever met than there is time for anything, whether it means getting up earlier or going to sleep later.

All it takes is dedication and commitment which are two principles that are crucial to succeeding in anything.

Good day!

Having said that I do agree with a lot of what your saying especially about IIFYM- its total BS.