Need help eating!

[tertius]

Hey folks.
I've been lurking for a while, and started training about a month ago, and am making decent improvements (gained ten pounds in a month, which is a fuckin' miracle, for me).

A touch of background.
I am your classic 'hardgainer'. I am 6'2", and currently weight about 170#.
When I got out of high school, I weighed 135#, and in college i routinely ate 4000+ calories a day, and never gained weight, while at most walking a couples miles a day with books, thinking like mad, and having sex whenever possible (read: not that often).

Now I'm a 30 year old broke-ass graduate student, and I've been eating like one for a while now. I'm currently doing okay (gained ten pounds!), but am only eating about 4-4.5K calories a day. Drinking between a 1/3 and a 1/2 gallon of milk, on average (how the hell do you drink more?).

I can't seem to eat more! I mean, I'm recovering from a couple of years of only eating 2 meals a day (if that), and it's probably going to take time until I can eat like I used to... but I don't want that to make me stall out on my gains, as I am still way down in the "14 year-olds lift more than you do, dude" category.

So, does anyone have any advice on working up to eating big?

[squatyourface]

drink your milk only after you eat solid food.

ever woken up, drank 1L of milk and felt full well into midday? try having your eggs/whatever for breakfast, then downing the milk.

Also, eat foods you really really like. novice phase is more about quantity of food rather than quality, and that focus will switch the other way when you enter intermediate phase because your body won't be as big of a nutrient sponge as it was when you first started.

Trial my suggestion for 3 days, see how you go. best of luck

[kfreeman]

Couple quick questions that will help us help you:

How do you know you're only getting 4k or so calories?

What, specifically, are you trying to eat?

Now, if you're gaining weight and recovering you're not currently having a problem. I agree that you want to get your diet solid before you develop a problem but unless you're starting to feel "Run through the grinder" you can relax about eating huge starting now. Eating well as a novice, esp. for someone who isn't used to eating, is a process much like getting a big OHP or Squat; It's going to take some time if you're not used to it. That being said getting calories really isn't that hard- Allow me to explain:

6 Tablespoons PB&J - 388 Calories
2 Cups Trail Mix - 1386 Calories
4 Large Eggs - 349 Calories
5 oz broiled steak - 357 Calories
6 cups whole milk - 887 Calories
3 cups broccoli - 308 Calories
3 large pieces of broiled chicken - 697 Calories
Total: 4371 Calories

You should be able to eat that without trying at all! The above is about 255g Protein. If you want to up calories an easy way to do it is with EVOO, PB&J and trail mix...

Work up to it... unfortunately there is little that can be done about cost and the fact that you're going to have to actually eat more than once a day.

McDonalds is a good place to pile on calories for cheap but I prefer Wendy's if I'm going for Calories and don't feel like cooking. One of my favorite meals right now is a box (yes, the whole box) of kraft mac n cheese and a pound of lean ground beef with some peas and broccoli in it, it's about a 2500 Calorie meal. This is how you need to be thinking right now.

You also may have some good luck with preparing meals on a day or two out of the week, packaging them and micorwaving them when it's time to eat... As a student you're probably pressed for time and although it sucks to spend 6 hours or more cooking on a single day it's worth it durring the week if you're busy. Plus it's not like you're cooking all 6 hours... I usually throw a roast, and a few chickens in the oven and BBQ a chicken and some steaks on the grill and call it a day. Then I don't have to cook for 3 days or more.

You'll get there if you want to...

[scoppi]

The trick for completing gomad is to space it out during the day. I found that i could drink 5-700 mL at a time (and space that throughout the day) and it wouldn't fill me up. But if i drank 1L at once, i'd be full for the next four hours or so. Do what you have to in order to complete this. For me, it meant taking a water bottle full of milk to class or work.

Pick the most calorie dense foods you can fine to eat. Chicken breasts are good, but when you look at the number of calories they give you, vs how much they fill you up, they suck. Olive oil, heavy whipping cream, peanut/almond butter, stouffer pot pies, coconut cream or ice cream based shakes, and raw eggs (they dont seem to fill me up as much as scrambled eggs do) are how i went from 150-190.

Read: this is how NOVICES should eat. once your linear progression starts to die, and you start falling into the intermediate category, this kind of eating wont keep getting you strong, just fat. Thats when a well thought out diet, with plenty of protein becomes essential.

[Tom Campitelli]

3 cups broccoli - 308 Calories

Unless you are covering your broccoli with butter or cheese, 3 cups cooked is about 150 calories. 3 cups raw is about 90.

[tertius]

kfreeman-

I'm not sure I follow your "what am I trying to eat" question...
I'm trying to eat calorie dense foods, leaning towards protein and fat,
and as much of them as possible. My currently limited budget restricts that somewhat, for the present, but I'm working at it.

The calorie count is a ballpark estimate.
I've been drinking a thousandish calorie shake for breakfast, +1/2GOMAD (1600), plus on average three meals a day, one with two eggs and a meat, the rest with a leanish meat (we tend not to keep beef in the house, because my girlfriend doesn't eat red meat) and veggies/grains. Days where I eat a lot of peanut butter is more, days where I eat salads with dinner is less.

I've got the BlueBox in the cabinet, and I've been jazzing that stuff up with meat for years. I just can't eat a whole box AND a pound of meat.

scoppi-
Thanks for the advice. I tend to drink glasses around 700 mL or so.

And Tom, the only way to eat broccoli is covered in delicious dairy products!

[tertius]

squatyerface- I hadn't thought about the milk after food thing. I'll give that a try.

[bob g]

...Drinking between a 1/3 and a 1/2 gallon of milk, on average (how the hell do you drink more?).

So, does anyone have any advice on working up to eating big?

Re: the milk angle, If you drink coffee get used to dumping whole cream in it. Not a splash for color, 2 or 3 tablespoons, every time. Once or twice a day replace your glass of milk (you are drinking whole milk, right?) with a glass of half and half. More calories, more good fat, less carbs and it tastes really good. You end up with about the same volume of milk while boosting your caloric intake and good fats. Bottoms up.

[kfreeman]

Tertius:

You mostly answered my question regarding what you're eating... I wanted a "Normal day in the life of your diet" and it seems you gave us that.

As far as limited budget goes I feel your pain... Eating a lot of food isn't cheap by any means, and the bigger you get/the more/better you eat the more you're going to spend.

As far as your meals go:

The shake sounds legit. Remember you can always add EVOO or other calorie dense items to a shake to up the count. 2 eggs and a meat aren't going to make it as far as a meal goes; Work up to 4 or more. Again, I was/am a small guy as well, so I know it's not easy, but if you commit to doing things like eating 5 eggs and 3 or so sausage patties you'll be able to up your calories.

If you're girlfriend won't leave you I would literally stock all open areas of the fridge and freezer with cow... I'm sure she can handle it AND she'll thank you when you're 240 and can toss her over a goal post and catch her on the other side.

I wasn't able to eat a box of noodles and a pound of ground beef at the start either, but I'd cook it all up and eat it in two sittings. Yes it was incredibly uncomfortable but after about two weeks of feeling like I wasn't going to make it now I just feel a bit stuffed when I'm done.

I won't tell you not to eat things like salads, I do, and I feel like people should, but I keep them relegated to snacks, and I make them dense. I try to get in one salad a day with chopped up steak in it along with pecans, almonds, cranberries, and of course EVOO and Vinegar dressing. Tossing in some cold fruit with the above makes for a good snack between breakfast and lunch. Salads are great for meats you're done eating for the main course of a meal, mix and match... pulled pork salads are cool with rasberry dressing!

I really feel eating big is a process, a lot like eating after the novice phase will be. I have experience with the first, and will probably have nothing to do with the second for a while. My main point is that as you work harder in the gym and get bigger you can learn to eat bigger too. The biggest problem is not making excuses and actually doing it. When I started lifting I thought the lifts would be the hardest thing for me at first and I'd enjoy the eating... Lifting is fun and enjoyable for now, eating to support growth: not so much fun, certainly not easy or cheap.

TomC:
I didn't know vegtables came any other way than with butter and cheese!

[tertius]

Thanks again for the advice.
I did surprise myself the other night be eating a whole box of Mac&CHeese with a couple of hot dogs chopped up and mixed in. So progress appears to be happening!