I just turned 29 and I’ve been a skinny derp my whole life, I am a bit cut from my previous exercise/job but basically I can’t get the right appetite/eat enough to gain weight. Are there any tricks for us skinny gainers out there who are really struggling, especially with appetite?

22 comments

  2. Commenting because I want to come back and see if anyone has any good advice on this also. I’m 31 5′ 10″ and 160lbs, I exercise regularly and I eat more than most people do on a daily basis but can’t seem to put on weight.

  3. You gotta run with what you got. Maybe you’re just gracile.

    Lift heavy with lower reps. legs at least twice a week. Food is medicine. Make yourself eat.

    /r/fitness probably

    I was thin but then I joined the marines. Now I’m always 200 lbs and the only choice I get is whether that goes in my limbs or all in the middle.

  5. No matter how much you think you’re eating, it’s not enough.

    Best advice I ever got about bulking

  6. Here’s all you need to know.

    Find your maintainance caloric level and eat slightly above it. You can do this using a TDEE calculator which will spit out an average value to consume. Eat 100 more than that while taking daily weight measurements. After a couple of weeks if you haven’t gained anything, then bump it up another 100 . If you’re gaining too fast, then dial it back a bit and find your sweet spot that way. Mind you, this will keep shifting as you gain weight and will require you to track your calories to some extent (doesn’t have to be accurate, but does have to be precise).

    In conjunction with that, weight training works very well.

    In terms of nutrients, starting finding stuff that is easy for you to eat and/or has a high caloric density. Sometimes this may require you to eat a bit dirty but if you’re struggling to even gain fat then this can be a starter just for you to get a feel for gaining weight.

    Once you’re more comfortable you can then dive into macros and such but I wouldn’t worry about it for starters. But once you do want to take that step, here are some rough guidelines. Aim for 0.8-1.2g of protein per pound of bodyweight (ideally full spectrum proteins). 20-30% of your total caloric intake gets put towards fats (ideally the ‘healthy” ones). Reminder of your calories can be placed into carbs. We could dive into different types of carbs and timings etc but that’s majoring in the minors at this early stage.

  7. Eat big. Lift big. Compound lifts. Bench. Squat. Deadlift. Military press. Pull ups.

    Put the most effort into squat and deadlift. They literally prompt your body to release hormones that make you bigger.

    Take big breaks so you can put maximum weight and effort into each set. (But then you honestly have to do that.)

    Once you get in the habit of intensly and regulary hitting those big compound movements and eating alot. You’ll grow.

    But you can’t fake effort. And effort is necessary.

    But again. The more muscle you activate at a single time, the more your body I prompted to release hormones. I can’t remember of you create more. But you definitely release more.. to essentially the same effect. That’s why high effort and load under big compound movements make people bigger in general.

  9. Two children and an average of four hours of sleep. All the rest (significantly lazier about cooking; extra sugar to make sure I don’t fall asleep holding the baby, but will still be able to sleep an hour later; no more hikes for the foreseeable future) is all just a consequence of that.

  10. I just eat heavily. I was 170 a couple years ago now I’m 197. It kind of just happened lol.

  12. Eat protein rich food or like me i eat overnight oats with proteins scoops mixed in. Overall find a way to get more protein in your diet.

    If you workout and trying to look bigger, lift and hold with dumbbells

  15. If I were you I’d get a second opinion about the source of your migraines.
    There’s more likely to be some nutrient your lacking than causes them than some specific foods being a trigger.

    As an aside find a good greens powder and take that every morning.

  17. 42 and I’m still struggling to keep at 170lb…..I was 140lb for a very long time and only seem to gain weight when I eat shit fatty red meat a lot, then I struggle to keep it on through normal diet.

  19. Mass gainer protein powder in smoothies, with peanut butter. You just gotta swallow the calories, and it’s much easier to do in liquid form.

  20. I guess I had an easier time. I just hit 25 and my once-ridiculously-fast metabolism hit the wall. Be careful what you wish for, that’s my only advice to you.

  21. Got older, started lifting weights, gained a bunch of muscle just working on legs.

    And as embarrssaging as it sounds, i worked upper body so that I could swing my sword for longer than an hour without getting tired haha. Honestly practice molounaise, false edge cuts and spot / direction slashing works well on building up upper body.

    I can still be considered skinny. Being 5’10 and 155 lbs, but now I want to reduce my weight even more, and work on my core.

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