Not everyone is about losing weight so here are some tips for people trying to gain weight.
Start with your main three meals and get a good mix of your protein, carbohydrates and fat. Some fats are great to have, so don’t worry about taking skin off chicken or separating egg whites. Don’t read a muscle magazine and don’t try diets that are for competitive bodybuilders losing weight such as cutting out things like nuts and avocados, or olive oil in your salad dressing.
Coconut oil is a good, heat stable oil for cooking. Use plenty of real butter, put some cheese in your omelette with full fat milk. Eat carbs, like lots of vegies, oats and brown rice. If your legs look like two broomsticks stuck in a pair of shorts, it’s not the time to worry about low carb diets, you’re going to need lots of energy.
Protein is easiest from animal and dairy type foods, and research generally suggests having about a gram of protein per kilogram of bodyweight.
However there are different quality proteins so allow a bit more in your portions, even double it – but overloading with massive protein meals like a protein shake to wash down a 12 egg white omelette and half a kilo of chicken breast won’t make you grow any quicker.
You also need to get some food in your stomach in between the main meals. Have some left-overs or handful of nuts, or have both. Some people find shakes a convenient way to get extra calories in, and you can make your own with whatever you like. You can put anything into shakes such as fruit, eggs, avocado, oats or coconut. You can also try some stranger things like peanut butter or yogurt, or LSA mix from a health shop. If you can eat it, you can put it in a shake.
As for training, you want to get the most growth for least calorie output. So no endurance work. Hit the weights, but keep your workout to less than 60 minutes. Complete big, heavy, compound movements. Keep it under 15 reps per set, 3-5 sets.
If you can get more reps put the weight up again. Get plenty of sleep. Those stick legs will look more like tree trunks in no time!
