Growing up, I was always the skinny kid. My friend’s parents would always force me to eat whenever I showed up at their houses, apparently convinced that my parents did not feed me enough. In middle school many people were envious of my ability to down large portions of food with little to no weight gain… I would actually lose weight a good amount of the time. People considered me lucky, while I thought the opposite. I wanted more than anything to gain weight, and more importantly, muscle, but it seemed impossible! Yet here I am today, 21 years old, 6 foot weighing in at over 200 pounds. I am going to outline how it is possible for someone with an ultra fast metabolism to gain muscle.
Eat More
I am going to start with the most obvious, and by far the most important thing to remember when trying to gain weight. Its really a very simple concept- You need to take in more calories than you are burning off. To do this, you need to eat. A LOT. When I first started working out, I would eat 3000 calories a day, and would still end up losing weight, so what did I do? Upped my consumption to 3500 calories daily. And when that was not enough, I started eating 4000. You need to get rid of the notion in your mind that says you cannot gain weight, and replace it with I need to make more food. You can gain weight, and if you eat enough, you will, without a doubt. If you want to stop reading this post now, go ahead. You have all the basic knowledge you need to gain weight. One more note, although ideally you should be eating high quality, expensive food, most people do not have the money to afford to buy all organic. Instead, just use your best judgment and try to eat as healthy as possible within your budget, the important thing with gaining weight is to eat a massive amount of food, so inadvertently you may be getting some of your calories from fast food or other less than desirable options. If that is what you have to do, do it.
Shakes
Eating 4000+ calories a day would be a daunting task for someone who watched tv all day, let alone a college student with a part time job. Or a single mom. Or essentially anyone who has a life, aka things they have to get done every day. A great way to get a lot of quality calories, in a quick, convenient, and portable manner, is to drink protein or carbohydrate shakes. Meal replacement shakes, like ensure, are also a viable option. Not only can you down a shake in a matter of seconds, you can also bring them with you to work, to school, or anywhere else. I drink about 800 of my calories every day in the form of protein shakes- its a lot easier than cooking a meal, and although I would not recommend shakes over regular food, they are a great supplement to a normal diet that does not give you enough calories.
Weight train
Weight training is another important aspect in the weight gain process. You should be doing low reps with as much weight as you can handle, so that you are not weight training for too long, which would burn calories and fat that you want to convert to muscle.
Minimize cardio
This is another obvious point- stay away from cardio as much as you can until you reach or exceed your ideal weight. Cardio burns a tremendous amount of calories, and you will have to eat all the calories you burn later just to break even. If you are trying to gain weight and do cardio, I question your mental health. But one thing people do not always take into account is amount of calories you burn in your daily activities. For example, if you have a part or full time job that requires you to be on your feet for hours at a time, you are getting a moderate cardio workout for long stretches of time-this burns calories, and you need to eat them back. So make sure your accounting for your daily activities as well as actual cardio workouts when you decide how many calories you need daily.
Conclusion
Despite what you might think, it is not impossible to gain weight, even with an extremely fast metabolism. Everyone must overcome obstacles in order to achieve their fitness goals. A fast metabolism is just another obstacle, that can be overcome with a little determination.
No comments:
Post a Comment