Archive for category Nutrition
GNC Goldcard Week – October 1 through October 7
Posted by billspaced in Diet & Fitness, Nutrition on October 1, 2009
Quick reminder – it’s GNC Goldcard Week, now through October 7. Get your game on here.
How Many Meals a Day for a Hardgainer?
Posted by billspaced in Bodybuilding, Diet & Fitness, FAQs, Hardgainer, Nutrition, Supplements on September 13, 2009
I often get asked this question — how many meals a day should I eat if I’m a hardgainer?
The answer is an emphatic, “As many as you can, but no less than 5!”
Why? The answer really lies in keeping your muscles bathed in amino acids, the building blocks of proteins and of muscle.
It’s far better to take in 40 grams of protein per meal, 5 times per day, than 3 meals of 70 grams. It’s hard to say, without a lot of testing, how much protein any given individual can digest and assimilate in a single feeding, but I’d error on the low side (20-50) rather than on the high side (50+).
Why? It’s expensive and puts a greater strain on your kidneys.
I often tell people to “graze.” Eat as often as a horse (or cow), which means all day long. Act like you’re in the hospital on a feeding tube, getting a constant drip of nourishment, only with eating, you’re taking in food you like, such as meats of all kind, poultry, fish, nuts, bread, milk, eggs, and potatoes and pastas. All the good stuff!
Gaining weight is hard work! It takes concerted effort to maximize your eating, and you may feel like you’re going to explode. It’s also hard to keep from getting bored with eating the same foods.
This is why I recommend the following practice:
Every 4th day, forget about food. Don’t try to eat 6 or 8 times a day. Eat what you want, when you want, and don’t take any supplements. Let your body detox, let your mind go free.
You don’t know how effective this method is, until you try it.
Here are some articles that mention eating frequency for hardgainers:
- How Many Times Per Day Should A Hardgainer Eat?
- How Many Times Per Day Should A Hardgainer Eat ? | Build Muscle Tone
- Hardgainer Read This
- How Many Times Per Day Should A Hardgainer Eat ?
- How Many Meals A Day Should A Hardgainer Eat?
- How Many Times Per Day Should A Hardgainer Eat?
Obviously, this is a well-covered topic!
Why You Have To Create a Calorie Surplus
Posted by billspaced in Bodybuilding, Diet & Fitness, Hardgainer, Nutrition, Supplements on September 11, 2009
I just posted a page about creating a calorie surplus — Read about it here –
Calorie Supplementation: The Answer for Hardgainers
Hardgainers Celebrate Cutting Your Food Supplement Bill by 90 Percent!
Posted by billspaced in Bodybuilding, Diet & Fitness, Hardgainer, Nutrition, Supplements on June 23, 2009
Fellow hardgainers, you and I both know that you’ve tried every food supplement, powder, pill, capsule, and liquid on the planet that claims to build muscle and pack on the pounds.
I know I have. You know what? Most of them don’t work. I mean, they work on mesomorphs, guys who can put on a pound of solid muscle just by doing a set of chins and eating a steak.
But for us, it’s different. We have very fast metabolisms, and in many cases, we’re built like marathon runners rather than Mixed Martial Artists.
We choke down hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars’s worth of weight-gain powders every year. Mostly to no avail.
I just got a hold of a book called Homemade Supplement Secrets. It shows you the supplements that work and that don’t work for putting muscle on hardgainers. Plus, it shows you how to make the supplements that DO work, right in your own home using readily-available ingredients!
All at a fraction of the store-bought price. How sweet is that?
Read my full review of Homemade Supplement Secrets here.
Forget Expensive Supplements! Here’s A SUPER CHEAP One That Will Blow Your Gains Sky High…
Posted by billspaced in Bodybuilding, Diet & Fitness, Hardgainer, Nutrition, Supplements on May 23, 2009
It’s a fact…skinny ectomorphs have an overabundance of the “stress hormone”, cortisol.
Cortisol actually plays a useful role in our bodies but for hardgainers, its catabolic effects are a real hassle as it inhibits important protein synthesis.
That means less protein available for repair of muscle tissue…less size…and MORE frustration!
Add to this that the digestion of proteins actually burns more calories than any other nutrient and you can see why you CAN’T follow the same “protein plan” as others who can gain muscle more easily.
What’s the solution?
Try adding DIGESTIVE ENZYMES to your meals!
Now you may think that digestive enzymes (that include either pepsin, papain, or papaya) are just for little old ladies with “tummy problems”…but you’d be mistaken!
In fact, digestive enzymes help to break down nutrients from the food you eat into usable energy.
But another finding dug deeper and found that enzymes improved the absorption of amino acids and increased nitrogen retention.
In a recent clinical study, respondents who consumed digestive enzymes with their meals showed an increase in protein synthesis with free amino acid levels up by 100%…branched chain amino acids (BCAA’s) by 250%…and nitrogen retention by 32%!
In short…MUCH better support for muscle repair and growth.
And enzymes can be especially useful for hardgainers in yet one more way…
Since protein uses up more calories in digestion, enzymes can speed up the process, reducing the “thermic effect” of ingested proteins and help you better maintain a caloric surplus for weight gain!