BEST EATING TIPS FOR HARD GAINERS

If you are a hard gainer or someone who has a freaking hard time putting on quality muscle, or any weight at all... KEEP READING!

Putting on weight for someone like you, and myself can be freaking hard! Back in the day, I was 135 pounds at 6'3...... Literally if the wind blew to hard it could of took me with it... Lmao 🤣

It seemed like no matter what I did, or what supplements I tried... I was never able to gain weight. FML.... My issue was I didn't really know how to workout properly thanks to all the "Gym-Bro" advice.. and even more importantly at the time, there was no-one educating on how to actually eat properly to build quality muscle mass. Everything I read, was to simply "eat more", which was stupid because I was already eating SO MUCH!

I was like a blind dog, chasing a chicken.... 😒

I am telling you this because, I know first hand the struggle you may be going through. Just like my last email in regards to calorie cycling for building mass, then one is going to be another nutrition based email!

You may already be eating a lot compared to some of the people you know, but if you are not putting on weight... odds are you are not eating enough of the right foods...Granted your workouts are on point..

So here is what you need to know... 

Let's talk about Protein:

As you already know, protein is a macronutrient that builds muscle. For a hard gainer, you are going to need a lot of it, but not as much as most supplement companies who sell protein tell you that you need lol..

Almost every single non-biased study you will find on the internet will tell you that consuming just under 1g of protein per pound of body weight is the max you will gain any benefit from **Naturally**.... Over consumption of protein for natural guys, based per study will tell you that you will not gain any more muscle... One thing is true, is that protein is very satiating.. meaning it will give you a sense of fullness and suppress your appetite. Which can be counter production to your goal of eating more calories to build mass.

Some of the best sources of protein that truly helped me build muscle as a hard gainer all came from animal sources like: Beef, eggs, turkey, chicken, and fish.. However I always noticed myself responding the best to Eggs & Beef. Come to find out that there are numerous studies now showing that whole eggs actually trigger lean muscle growth than just eating the egg whites. Largely due to the cholesterol from the eggs! 

Personally I never did good with protein powders, they always seemed to just hurt my stomach & never really actually help build muscle. Some of you may benefit from them, but I found when I focused on quality whole foods... It made the world of a difference for me!

CARBS, CARBS, AND MORE CARBS:

Let's get real.... carbs are the best 🌭🍕🥞🍜🍔. Just about everywhere you will go and read, you will see that carbs have a huge roll into your bodies ability to build lean muscle mass and grow! 

With that being said... Do NOT go and eat every carb in the world just because you can... The quality of your carbs is going to play a huge roll into the quality of mass you put on, your performance in the gym, and how you feel overall!

Remember carbs are our main source of energy, it is what our bodies run off of. So don't treat your body wrong and put crappy fuel sources in your body.. it will only kill your performance in the gym, which can lead to less muscle growth.

Some of the carbs that truly helped me go from 135lbs to 210lbs were, sweet potatoes, white rice, oatmeal, and fruits! Now days, my go to energy source before working out is 1 cup of fruit, its very easy on the stomach and gives me a nice clean energy source for my workouts!

General rule of thumb is, you are going to want 2-3.5g of carbs per pound of body weight for you hard gainers with a fast metabolism.

FATS - Don't Make You Fat

Here is the deal, fat is an essential macronutrient... Meaning you body must have them to survive. Having a healthy intake of fats will help keep your hormone levels stable and keep testosterone levels up. Really good sources of fat are; avocados, full fat dairy, nuts, coconut oil, and peanut-butter!  Remember this, just like protein. Fats are very satiating and can suppress your appetite. A good number of fats for daily intake should somewhere around .5 - 1g of fat per pound of body weight daily.

Soooo, if you are a hardgainer.. Give this a go, and remember everyone is different. What may work for some, may not work for others. The best thing you can do at this moment is to track how many calories you are taking in daily, before you try a new mass diet. I usually use My Fitness Pal, and once you start tracking your nutrition, you can get your base line caloric intake and add 500 calories a day to your base line and slowly track your results. I would say if you can put on 3-4 pounds of muscle a month (not fat) then you are freaking killing it... That over the course of a year can be 36+ pounds of lean muscle that is sustainable! 🔥🤯

I hope this helped give you a little more clarity in your journey to building muscle!