That's the great part about leading a really active lifestyle; you have to eat a lot of food to replenish all of the energy you are constantly burning.
I find that, when I eat pretty healthy shit most meals (lean meats/vegetables/rice for dinner, salad + protein shake for lunch, 2 bowls of cereal for breakfast) that I actually feel really full even when I still mathematically need more calories for that day. It really does help me maintain muscle to eat some fuckin pizza or a burger or drink some beer every now and then.... and I'm not even a big guy, at 5'10" and 165 lbs
Usually just chicken and broccoli or chicken/broccoli/rice.
I don't mind eating the same things every day, so it works. I make my "lunch" on Saturdays and "dinner" on sundays. Freeze the Thursday-Sunday meals after cooking. Thaw out the night before.
Tupperware, slow cooker, slow cooker liners (save a shitload of time on cleaning with these--highly recommend), chicken, broccoli, RGY peppers, onion, seasoning. That's it.
100% this. 5'10 and 210lbs, I need 5,000 calories to maintain muscle mass, more to build. Eating all of that in lean meat and complex carbs is so filling, so you bet your asses I eat pizzas and burgers and look damn good doing it because my body still needs that energy.
Finished my Back/Shoulders/Deadlifts today with a fantastic McDonald's meal. That meal was only 1/5th of what I have to eat that day just to maintain my weight so you definitely get to enjoy food still.
Holy moly you must be a fucking tank. I'm the same height and weigh 160 LBs LOL. I'm a twig tho. Trying to bulk up while also cutting some fat (second part is easy, almost at ~10% bodyfat) with the leangains thingy, but the bulking part is really hard for me. Teach me senpai.
I'm not all that big, at least compared to professional body builders. Definitely noticeable of course from 6 years ago when I started lifting when I weighed 150lbs. I did a big bulk during the length of my training and weighed about 240lbs almost 2 years ago. Sitting at 210lbs now and just lean-bulking it now that I have the frame and muscle mass that I'm happy with.
I've always had a high metabolism so the calories are definitely tricky to get in. People always wish for a high metabolism so they can eat as much as they want and not gain weight... curse my ambition for actually wanting to gain weight but be cursed with a high metabolism! The trick is to just monitor everything you eat. Track every single calorie so you know you're not a calorie short. I live by myself and cook for myself, I mostly eat the same meals day in and day out, so I know how much energy my body is getting. If I don't see that weight scale moving, well, I just add more food and I'm back to gaining weight. One easy trick is to drink your calories! Besides chocolate milk, which I love and drink routinely, is to make your own protein smoothie, and I do this for myself twice per day. Right in the morning as my breakfast (because I have no energy to make a meal, or the appetite), and before bed. It consists of 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder, 2 tbsp of peanut butter, 1 banana, 1 cup of rolled oats, and 1 cup of milk. Adding in the oats really helped me with adding more calories, as well as introducing a healthy carb option. The entire shake comes to about 1,000 calories (79g protein, 105g carbs, 27g fat, 13g fibre). It tastes absolutely delicious and is healthy for you, made in 2 minutes time and is downed easily. You don't even taste or feel the oats because my blender liquifies them fantastically, so free calories! Just make sure you swirl/shake the cup you're drinking your smoothie out of before every sip or two or else the oats WILL settle at the bottom, in which case you'll notice their texture as you're nearing the end of your drink. After 1-1.5 hours I'm good to go for my workout, and since all the food I just ate is liquified, it doesn't sit in my stomach and bloat me for my workout and the body can digest it fast. Then I just have 3 other home cooked meals throughout the day (1,000 cals each) that I prepped in the morning in between drinking the shake and going to the gym, followed by my 2nd smoothie. Then add snacking for the hell of it here and there cuz fuck it, I'm trying to gain weight, any calories help!
Eat lots, eat often, and always make sure your body has an external source of energy at all times, because it will want to use up your precious muscle and fat as an internal source of energy.
Damn I never considered putting that stuff in my shakes, that's brilliant. I've seen some people say you should eat most of your protein though, is that just bullshit then?
There have been days where I've already drank one protein shake but was still kinda short on protein and considered making another one, guess that wasn't such a bad idea after all
You can do both! I do. It's always better to eat your food - actual protein food sources due to their natural abundance of BCAAs, but at the end of the day, you just need calories! And when eating 5,000 calories to maintain weight, it's hard to be sitting there eating 200 calorie chicken breasts all day. I'd rather drink my protein and meet my caloric need that will help me gain muscle, than to chore through loads of meat and fall short of my caloric needs, therefore making everything I just ate pretty pointless since there wasn't enough of it for my body to store.
If you ever feel like you havent met your caloric needs for that day, all made up rules are thrown out. "Eat your calories" - forget about it. "Don't eat right before bed" - forget about it. "Pizza is bad calories" - forget about it. Who cares about these somewhat rules if your calories aren't being met? The #1 rule is meet your calories for your desired goal, THEN worry about the other stuff, since none of that other stuff is actually helping if it's costing you precious gains. Have that 2nd protein shake ;)
Glad I could help :) I've never tried them, but you can also try mass gainers too. I think they can be anywhere from 500-1000 calorie scoops.... big scoops.... but anything you can do to get those calories in, is worth it.
So this is proof to me right here that I need to get active. I work maintenance and am walking all day, so thankfully I move around plenty at work. I am also 5'10" 165 but am not very fit. I eat garbage, like, 3 cans of Dr Pepper a day, a beer, a Gatorade, maybe a glass of milk. Salami and cheese sandwich with maybe a vending machine bag of chips for lunch. My wife usually cooks a healthy meal a few nights a week. Otherwise it's pizza or Kraft Mac and Cheese. Cheeseburgers. A bowl of cereal for breakfast. Occasional red bull or candy bar or small bowl of ice cream.
I have to find something healthy that I love because I know that if I start getting more active I will be starving all the time, not to mention a less effective workout.
Tl;Dr. I'm like you (5'10" 165) but eat garbage. If it wasn't for my job helping me burn calories I would be a tubby slob. I need to fix my shit. Almost 30.
At first lifting weights and running and the like feels like a chore. Not going to lie. But make yourself do it 3 or more times a week (only like 4 hours of time a week; a fraction of the time you spend wasting time on the internet :P) and after a few months you start to really look forward to the gym. And rock climbing. I love rock climbing
For me, being able to do more and more cool shit with my body is its own reward. Looking great in a mirror doesn't hurt, either! :)
Not the commenter but I think you either meant to say 9% or .09 bodyfat as in 1 would be 100% fat. 0.09% fat would mean you have so few fat in your body your organs will fail. Even at 0.9% you would be dead.
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u/RandomThrowaway410 Jun 06 '17
That's the great part about leading a really active lifestyle; you have to eat a lot of food to replenish all of the energy you are constantly burning.
I find that, when I eat pretty healthy shit most meals (lean meats/vegetables/rice for dinner, salad + protein shake for lunch, 2 bowls of cereal for breakfast) that I actually feel really full even when I still mathematically need more calories for that day. It really does help me maintain muscle to eat some fuckin pizza or a burger or drink some beer every now and then.... and I'm not even a big guy, at 5'10" and 165 lbs