My whole life I’ve always considered myself at a disadvantage in the gym because I could never gain any weight. I’ve tried a lot of supplements and gotten results, but never the mass that I was looking for. I started to do some research to figure out if there was something I was doing wrong. As I suspected, there was.

Despite my hard work in the gym and monotonous eating habits that sometimes left me feeling immobile, I was not getting the results I wanted. Every hardgainer knows that stepping on the scale each week to see that you still weigh the same as you did in high school is depressing.  My first advice is to stop feeling bad for yourselves although it sometimes makes you feel better to think you’re different than everyone else) because everybody, regardless of weight, age, build etc. gains weight the exact same way. The only thing that varies is to what degree.

In this article I will talk about a fool-proof method of gaining weight. First, I will discuss the basic energy expenditure ratio and its effect on weight gain. Then I will talk about macronutrient consumption and how to make sure you can win the battle against the scale every week. Lastly I will give my opinion on the absolute best muscle building stack out there and a few pieces of advice about correct usage.

You Must Eat

In weight gaining, the most important thing is how much you eat. Energy expenditure is the name of the game.  Energy expenditure refers to how many calories your body must burn to carry out bodily and physical activities. People like us who dedicate hours a day to working out are going to burn significantly more calories than people who work desk jobs and lay on their couch all day. We all know that burning calories is good for you. It keeps your heart healthy and your body at a healthy weight.

Although that is positive, I think that calling somebody’s body type a “healthy weight” is just a nice way of saying that they are skinny. If you are reading this article you want to be more than that, solid or even massive. That in mind, somehow we need to combat the ample amount of calories we burn by eating. It isn’t enough to go to the gym every day and take the best supplements. Sure going to the gym will get you in better overall condition and supplements will undoubtedly help you put on some lean muscle and keep you getting the nutrients you need, however what it comes down to is calories. Here is the formula for weight gaining. It may sound simple or even easy but it is harder to achieve than it looks.

First you must think about how many calories you are burning each day. Some of us may be surprised at how many we actually do burn. A few ways you can do this are to type into google “calorie burning estimates” and it will give you a list of activities and tell you about how many calories you burn.  Even better is to ask your trainer or someone at your local gym if they have an accelerometer that can help you be more accurate. The best thing you can do is to get an armband called the Bodybugg that will read how many calories every day. Regardless of what you do, all you need is a rough estimate of your calorie output each day.

Once you know that, the next step is to think about what it will take beat your calorie deficit.  3500 calories represents about 1 single pound of body weight. In other words, if you were to burn 3000 calories and consumed 6500 calories you would gain 1 pound. This of course wouldn’t be very healthy because 6500 calories is a lot and gaining a pound each day is near impossible. What I like to do is devise a mass gaining meal plan based off one from a magazine or your own and figure out how many total calories it contains.  An easy way to do this is to either A, look on the labels and write everything down or B, go to calorieking.com and type in what you ate and see the nutritional breakdown.

This is a great tool because it has almost everything you would eat, even things that don’t have labels like foods at restaurants. Once you have a basic meal plan set up and you know about how many calories you usually burn you are ready to go to work. Instead of trying to cater your meal plan to put you 3500 calories over every day, try eating between 150 to 300 calories over your expenditure each day. That would put you between a ½ pound to 1 pound a week gained in a much more healthy way. If you can stick to this diet and keep your ratio uneven with more calories consumed than burned, then you will inevitably gain weight.

Now that you understand the concept of calorie intake versus calorie expenditure, how and what you eat is important as well. There are 3 classes of what are considered macronutrients. The macronutrients are proteins, carbohydrates and lipids (fats and oils). These nutrients are what make up the bulk of a human diet, but how much and at what time we eat them is what most people, even serious weightlifters and dieters overlook.

Get Enough Protein

Protein, as everybody knows, is what helps repair tissue and build muscle. While this is very true, it is important to know that protein consumption is being put to good use. Protein should be responsible for about 30% of calories consumed in a good gaining diet, however when and what you eat is important too. First, your body can only take so much protein, whether it be in a single day or at a single time. For a mass gaining diet I would recommend consuming about 50 grams of high quality, lean protein every 2 to 3 hours. This will keep your body stocked with the tools to build muscle without overloading it and causing fat storage.

Also, it is important to understand that your body can only utilize a certain amount of protein in a given day. I would recommend consuming between 1.5 and 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight to help pack on the pounds. In regards to timing, protein is the most important thing your body needs when suffering from the effects of an intense workout. Always(literally always) drink a protein shake immediately after your workout. There are many great options for post workout protein which I will discuss later. Also, make sure that you have some sort of protein before you go to bed in order to delay muscle breakdown. An especially good recommendation is Optimum Nutrition 100% Casein or for more calories Cytosport Muscle Milk. Basically, the take home for protein is as follows:

1. Space it out and let your body utilize it instead of storing it.
2. Make sure you have protein on hand for critical points in the day(around your workout and before bed.)
3. Only get about 1.5-2 grams per pound of body weight because your body can’t use anymore and also it is important to get calories from other nutrients.

Understand Your Carbs!

Carbohydrates are without a doubt the most misunderstood nutrient. For some people, carbs are feared because they want to lose weight and burn fat because they hear it on TV and read it in books. For a hardgainer, carbs are what make it possible. Carbohydrates should make up between 45-60% of your diet, but be careful which ones you eat and which ones you fear. Carbohydrates can be categorized into simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates. These terms refer to the structure of the actual carbohydrate.

Simple carbs are things like sugar or white flour, where as complex carbohydrates are found in whole grains and fibrous foods like whole grain bread and vegetables. In general, your body can handle about 50 grams of carbohydrates at a time(80 grams right after a workout). The thing to be careful about is where your carbohydrates are coming from. If you get most of your carbohydrates from whole grains and vegetables then you are doing great and will keep body fat off and still gain weight. If you get most of your carbs from sugary things like juice then think about trying to even out the intake ratio.  Simple carbs, although not providing the same nutrient value, do still serve a purpose. After your workout, it is important to consume simple carbohydrates, because your body is essentially starving for nourishment and these break down the fastest.

Consider trying a product with between 15 and 20 grams of sugar after your workout along with your protein shake.  Another timing related issue is carbohydrates before your workout. Try consuming something with carbohydrates before your workout because it will not only give you energy but also delay muscle breakdown. Some suggestions are Clif Bars and Energy Bars. The take home for carbohydrates is as follows:

1. Whole grain or vegetables are better than sugar and white flour products
2. Simple carbohydrates help your body after a workout
3. Don’t be scared to put down the carbs if you want to gain, it’ll only help

Love Your Fats

Fats are the nutrient that everyone loves to hate. Instead of hating fat, embrace it for all its good qualities and simply be smarter about what kind of fats you are consuming. Fats are generally feared because they yield more calories per gram than protein and carbohydrates. For a hardgainer, that’s good!  Here are some things that some people don’t know though. Vitamins like D and Vitamin K are “fat soluble” which means they need fat to break down. Also, fat helps promote regularity in many bodily functions.

Fat, above all provides a sense of satiety as well, causing people to feel more full than they would without fat. Also, omega 3 and omega 6 which are essential fatty acids can only be found in fats. Now that you don’t feel so intimidated by fat, here are some recommendations for consumption. Fats should make up only about 10-20% of your diet. When reading food labels, try to avoid saturated fat and especially trans fat, because they are the types of fat that have propensity for body storage. Try to get “good fats” like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. These are commonly found in nuts and oils among other things. Most protein will be accompanied by fat, so don’t necessarily go out of your way to get fat into your diet, usually it finds its own way into it. The take home for fats is as follows:

1. Don’t be afraid of all fats
2. Limit saturated fat and eliminate trans fat
3. Get monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to get things like Omega 3 and Omega 6

Take Your Supplements

Now that we’ve covered some basic nutritional tips, I thought I’d give you my suggestion for the best supplement stack I’ve ever tried. The first thing I bought myself was Optimum Nutrition Gold Whey.  First of all it taste great and is perfect for when you need a protein fix at any point in the day. I basically used it as a filler when I was low on protein or needed something extra. Next I got some Optimum Nutrition 100% Casein Protein to drink right before I go to bed.

It is the best there is for a slow-digesting protein to get you through the night. You really can’t go wrong with the optimum nutrition protein products. Next I tried what I call the “Full BSN Mass Stack.” First I got the 360 tab bottle of Nitrix . This stuff is great because it keeps your nitric oxide levels up all day. Make sure you follow the labels though and take it 2 hours after eating and 30 minutes before eating 3 times a day. It gets kind of complicated spacing your meals but the results are worth it. Next is BSN NO XPlode which is probably the most popular of the BSN products and for good reason. I started off taking one scoop before my workout on an empty stomach(again give yourself at least 2 hours for best results) and then I went to 2 and then to 3. The energy you get and the muscle pumps are unmatched by any products I’ve tried.

This stuff is the real deal, now I swear by it. Immediately after my workout I would down Cellmass, which is more of a post-workout creatine. Since you don’t eat during your workout the empty stomach shouldn’t be a problem. After the Cellmass I’d wait between 15 and 20 minutes and down a True Mass.  This is perfect because it has all the nutrients and calories a weight gainer should get. Make sure that you drink the Cellmass before the True Mass because the creatine will absorb fast whereas the protein will take a bit longer. After that I would drink another Cellmass about 2 hours after dinner before I went to bed. 15-20 minutes later I would down the ON Casein and be ready for bed. This stack gave me the best results I’ve ever had. I gained 8 lean pounds in about a month and half. Another supplement that I used was Universal Nutrition’s Animal Pak just to get the vitamins and amino acids I needed. Trust me, all this stuff works.

In conclusion, if I can gain weight, so can you. The smarter and more particular you are, the better your results will be. My advice is don’t just estimate with timing and amounts, be as accurate as possible, then you can’t lose. Good luck to all you fellow hardgainers. Keep working and you’ll get there.

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