So I’ve lost a bit of weight, long story short I moved house and we are renovating it, subsequently I’ve been eating shit food and less of it. Is having protein shakes a good way to add mass/weight?
Asking the men here as it took me a while to gain it, and I’d like to get it back sooner than later.
Happy Friday.
16 comments
Get old
You just need to put more food in your mouth. As far as what you eat goes the basic thing is just to manage macros. You want to be eating a mix of fat, carbohydrates, protien, and fiber ever day.
If you aren’t trying to work out a lot then a protien shake is a waste of money and you will just piss out the nitrogen as urea.
The healthiest way to gain weight is to eat more lean meats and protien rich foods that have the ‘good’ fats (omega 3/6) like eggs. Along with a smart diet, lifting weights and strength training will have you build lean and more permanent muscle. This is the type of muscle you want because if for some reason you aren’t able to stick to an exercise schedule, you are less likely to lose your gains vs. taking pills/powders to bulk up.
As an example, I’m late 30s and focused on putting on natural, lean muscle in my mid 20s. All my buddies the same age as me tried different things from GNC or Popeyes and they were all JACKED…until they weren’t. They were huge but now they look sloppy and it’s obvious they *used* to be built. I’ve stayed natural and my definition and muscle don’t really change during long absences from the gym.
EDIT: I should add that when I got serious about lifting/weight training I was 26, weighed 260lbs with no muscle and I’m 5’10”. Now I’m 39, 210lbs and get the good kind of looks at beaches and waterparks.
Protein shakes add a lot of proteins while being relatively low on just about everything else.
They are great if you need extra proteins. They won’t make a “shit food” diet good.
They are not very good for adding quantity. If that is what you’re lacking.
You can mix in some fruits, milk, oats, to make it better.
If you’re male get married. If you’re female get pregnant.
You looking to add muscle, or just get a bit fatter?
You need energy, calories (and other nutrients) too. Yams, potatoes, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, etc.
Eat better food and more of it.
If you have a microwave at the place you are working on you should be able to prepare enough to eat and with halfway decent nutrition.
Use a fork to poke holes in a potato or a yam. Microwave it for about 6 min.
Buy a bag of frozen vegetables, put some on the plate of the food you are warming up.
For healthy weight, not fat, eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables, fats, protein, carbohydrates.
Workout. Lift heavy weights (a barbell programme like starting strength or strong lifts) and do some light cardio to fuel your appetite. You will build muscle. Be sure to sleep and follow a plan.
Cardio obviously burns calories but also spikes your hunger hormones.
When you cant rat any more (it becomes a chore) you can drink calories. Semi-skimmed milk is calorie dense and has a great ratio of carbs, protein, fat.
Protein shakes wont do shit unless you workout.
If you’re not a big eater, fatty cuts of red meat will do it along with a regular weight lifting routine.
get married
Peanutbutter, oatmeal, peanuts, meat, and whole milk. You basically just want nutrient and calorie dense foods. Junk food might not help because some people can just seemingly shovel that shit down and never gain weight (like my asshole brother who stays having a six pack eating cheeseburgers and pizza and only drinking pepsi).
You don’t need to force yourself to eat all day, just have a schedule and make sure you’re putting in atleast 2500 calories a day and your weight will gradually increase. What you *don’t* want is to over eat a bunch of shit food where you just get fat and unhealthy.
Eat more protein, lift weights. Adding muscle will add more weight than gaining pounds via fat
trying not to gain weight seems to work for me.
Calories in > calories out
Eat more and do your best to combine healthy food and high calorie foods if you struggle with eating enough of just clean foods (like me).
Protein shakes is no magic, please treat it as any other food. It’s just a shake rich in protein. It doesn’t even have much calories so it won’t do any magic when it comes to gaining weight.
But don’t bother gaining weight if you’re not working out because it will be all fat you gained and unless you’re anorexic rn it’s prbbly not gonna be an improvment.
If you are working out focus on compound movments and applying some form od progressive overload.
That’s all, there’s no tricks or secret foods. If you’re not gainig weight and strenght you need to eat more. It may be uncomfortable but your body adjusts to it.