Putting on weight

I'm always suspicious of somebody with one post... but...

If you are looking to gain weight via MUSCLE (which I don't think you are, based on your post) then the lifting weights is required.

But the easiest way to gain some quick size/weight is starchy carbs plus drinking lots of water. So rice pudding, brown rice, oatmeal... plus lots of water. The carbs will help you store water and you will very quickly gain "water weight".

Agree with the previous post saying GOMAD and 20 rep squats. Follow that diet and you WILL put on weight. When you're done with that, spend the next month building up conditioning and losing the small amount of body fat you have put on. If you still want more size, rinse and repeat.

Originally Posted by TrH

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You, sir, are in need of some quality Afghan kush.

QFT

Foods high in calories, such as avocados, bananas, peanut butter and milk should help you gain weight. Proteins (lean meats, dairy products, nuts and beans) and foods high in carbohydrates (unrefined bread, rice, potatoes, pasta), fruits and vegetables and unsaturated fats also help.

You really have to learn to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables - otherwise you really struggle.

Eating disorders are so common in America that 1 or 2 out of every 100 students will struggle with one. Eating disorders are very complex, and despite scientific research to understand them, the biological, behavioral and social underpinnings of these illnesses remain elusive.

Originally Posted by JLay87

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GOMAD diet.
Efects are very good, but it looks a bit suicidal to me.

Originally Posted by Dean Keaton

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Efects are very good, but it looks a bit suicidal to me.
Don't take any article seriously that says "25lbs of weight gain is common within 1 month". It's impossible for the human body to build 25 lean pounds in 4 weeks. The average weight gain (at the high end) for an individual on their first cycle of anabolic steroids is about 25-30lbs, in 10 weeks - and that's NOT all muscle. There will be water weight and fat. Attempting to gain 25lbs in a month is a sure fire way of putting on a ton of body fat. There are infinitely better ways of getting your calories than drinking a gallon of milk a day.

Originally Posted by suited

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Don't take any article seriously that says "25lbs of weight gain is common within 1 month".

It's impossible for the human body to build 25 lean pounds in 4 weeks. The average weight gain (at the high end) for an individual on their first cycle of anabolic steroids is about 25-30lbs, in 10 weeks - and that's NOT all muscle. There will be water weight and fat.

Attempting to gain 25lbs in a month is a sure fire way of putting on a ton of body fat. There are infinitely better ways of getting your calories than drinking a gallon of milk a day.

Yes, but:

It is not claimed that those 25lbs are lean muscle. Nor does it have to be, because this program is advocated to be used by people both new to lifting and relatively underweight - so a little extra fat doesn't matter. Also, the program is to be used in conjunction with a progressive loading excercise program, for which you will need all the extra calories you can get.

Is it a good idea for everyone? No, but many people have gotten stronger on GOMAD.

Also, there is more to LBM than muscle - odds are that a severely undertrained person putting on 25 pounds in a month would include bone mass, connective tissue, etc. that they sorely need.

Originally Posted by Kas

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Yes, but: It is not claimed that those 25lbs are lean muscle. Nor does it have to be, because this program is advocated to be used by people both new to lifting and relatively underweight - so a little extra fat doesn't matter
It does matter when there are non-gimmicky methods that allow you to gain weight without putting on copious amounts of unwanted body fat. Unfortunately, the fitness world is plagued by countless (equally stupid) methods of gaining/losing weight that nobody will listen to you unless you have some sort of angle. I've seen that logic used countless times before, and it almost always ends with regret. "I'm skinny, I can afford to put on some fat". This person then goes out and eats like ****, often eating 1,000 calories more than they need to. They gain a bunch of weight and, often times, they looked better before they started. Now they're in a position where they have to lose this fat. Had they harbored a little patience, not followed this ****** diet, they would have remained much leaner during the process.

Originally Posted by suited

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It does matter when there are non-gimmicky methods that allow you to gain weight without putting on copious amounts of unwanted body fat. Unfortunately, the fitness world is plagued by countless (equally stupid) methods of gaining/losing weight that nobody will listen to you unless you have some sort of angle.

I've seen that logic used countless times before, and it almost always ends with regret. "I'm skinny, I can afford to put on some fat". This person then goes out and eats like ****, often eating 1,000 calories more than they need to. They gain a bunch of weight and, often times, they looked better before they started. Now they're in a position where they have to lose this fat. Had they harbored a little patience, not followed this ****** diet, they would have remained much leaner during the process.

Not only do you quote me selectively, you also just refused to get my point.
The program is not just for people who are skinny, it's for people who are weak and skinny. Thus, they need to get on a progressive loading protocol which will require lots of calories to uphold - to get stronger and bigger.

Both sides of the argument have merit.

One thing I don't see people talking about- A person does not need copious amounts of calories to work their way up to a bodyweight squat for reps. If I were training a rank novice, I would have them eating at maintenance or just above for the first few weeks or so. At this stage, I really think "neural" adaptations are driving most of the progress.

Once they're repping bodyweight on their squats, eating an excess will definitely help to keep the progress going.

After that, when a person is starting to hit the end limits of where a linear progression will take them, stuffing their face really pays off. For a lot of people it would be worth gaining 2 lbs a week for a while if their squats keeps going up 10lbs.


But really, GOMAD through the entire progression is probably the right way to go for high school football players (the target demographic for this diet.) Most coming into freshman year are twigs, and any bodyweight, fat or lean, will be useful on the gridiron. But really someone that young is producing so much testosterone that a lot of that weight will be lean.

I see what both of you are saying, but it still just comes down to the fact that there will always be better alternatives out there.

Not only are there far easier (and probably cheaper) ways of consuming calories rather than drinking an entire gallon of milk, those other ways won't make you want to vomit every time you look at a glass of milk.