Planned on writing an ebook sometime for hardgainers, being that I started at
6'3" 150 lbs. I was one of those "I can eat whatever I want and not gain a
pound" people. Now I laugh because I know those guys are usually shooting
themselves in the foot in several ways.
As Elvia said everyone is different. A one size fits all approach does not work.
You need to know your metabolism. Mine is and was extremely high. I thought
the answer was simply push 5k+ cal and I would grow. Maybe that works for
some guys but for me eating pizza and mcdonalds all the time didn't put on
much muscle. I really started seeing a difference when I got serious about my
protein intake and ate more home cooked meals.
Research shows 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight should be efficient
(Brad Schoenfeld), but it is also noted that dietary programming needs to be
individualized. Hopefully most of you are familiar with the proposed "as close to
500g per day" rule. I do think that is a bit excessive (depending on body
weight). Still, going somewhat against the research I saw much greater
progress pushing my protein intake beyond the 1g/lb threshold. So to me that
is step 1. I recommend experimenting on your own by bumping intake up by
20-40g and keeping it there for a solid month to see how you react. I ended up
doing about 1.2g/lb starting off and have since progressed and pushed it a bit
higher.
The second part is "cleaning up" the diet. Sure caloric surplus = mass but if you
aren't seeking a whole lot of fat GAINZ along with your muscle, not to mention
potential negative side effects from an unhealthy diet, I would suggest taking a
different approach than the SEEFOOD diet. Again everyone is different but for
me eating fast food every day did not yield nearly the results that I had hoped.
Once I realized this, bumped up the protein, and then starting eating the
"boring" meals; chicken rice broccoli, beef rice broccoli, salmon rice broccoli,
body composition improved and I put on more muscle.
Furthermore research HAS shown that multiple meals especially including
protein spread throughout the day IS superior in combination with weight
training for putting on more muscle VS other methods such as eating less than
4 meals or intermittent fasting. That's right if you want to put on muscle
intermittent fasting is NOT optimal. But if that's what it takes for you to stick to
your diet then by all means do it.
I started with 4 meals per day. Then 5. Then 6. Now sometimes I make it to 7.
I do what I have to to hit 6 meals whether that means getting up during my
sleep cycle to have a meal, or making a double shake to get all my cals in.
Currently debating to keep it a solid 7 or just bumping up my calories for 6
meals once I start "bulking" again. Keep in mind I am counting shakes as
meals. Right now I work 50+ hours a week between two jobs, not including
drive time. Theoretically I probably COULD eat all of those meals if I really
wanted to but it's not only convenient but fairly cheap the way I do my shakes.
I did used to do pre-made mass gainers such as Elvia mentioned. Mutant Mass
is actually one of my favorites that shit is delicious, and I would actually
consider buying it again. I'm not a fan of Optimum's flavors AT ALL I really
don't know how anyone can drink that brand. If I remember their mass gainer
does taste a bit better than their whey for some reason. Last time I bought
their protein I actually returned it because it is that bad to me. If you've tried
15-20 other brands like I have you know ON isn't that great.
I like my shakes thick, but I'm cutting so I don't want to use milk. My little hack
which has a two-fold benefit is to use egg whites. Not only does it make it
thicker but that's about another 26g of protein without the fat or carbs you
would get from milk. So right now, 8oz egg whites, 1 scoop of isolate, and
1tbsp peanut butter is my usual shake right now. Want to make it a mass
gainer shake? Simple. Blend up some oats, add some fruit, more peanut butter,
some milk, whatever you want to bump up the carbs and caloires. People
always point out how real food is better than shakes but I think if you are
making your shakes with egg whites and oats it's pretty real.
I know some people are on the go all day, their meals or shakes aren't going to
stay cold. Six pack bags suck by the way. One tip I will throw out there for
those people is if you must eat out make sure you get something lean that will
be worth your money. If you go to Chipotle just grab a double chicken and rice
bowl. Or at a burger joint go for the grilled chicken sandwich. Have it lettuce
wrapped or skip the fries. Stick to water or diet soda. If you are getting
everything full flavor full carbs full toppings you are not going to be hungry for
hours and it will make it difficult to hit higher protein and number of meals.
Last thing I would throw in and this probably isn't a problem for most people.
But once I started eating all my prepped meals and shakes I would actually
FORGET to ever have any kind of cheat meal. Might sound weird but I could go
weeks just eating clean. If you are a true "hardgainer"/have a high metabolism
I would suggest once a week having a meal that is very calorie dense. I would
still try to keep the protein high but don't worry about the carbs and fats.
Really this is all about experimenting and finding what works for you. You might
have a somewhat high metabolism but find you lose your abs when you do
certain things with your diet. You might gain muscle on 180g protein and you
might need more.
I also think that training style plays a big part but that's a whole different
debatable topic to get in to so I'll leave it at that for now.
TLDR Hardgainer Tips:
1. Increase Protein
2. Clean up the diet
3. Eat 4-6 meals
4. Use egg whites or even whole eggs and oats and/or fruit to make your own
mass gainers.
5. Eat lean on the go keep protein high
6. Have one cheat meal a week
.gif "IP Gear")
I am up to 32mg tren (other factor in my high carb intake) and it's working 
