Possible to gain weight with No supplements?

salami1212 · 27 Mar 2009 at 12:23

HI, Basically im going to follow this diet:

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/hard-gainers.aspx

But most of the protein intake is from protein shakes.. Can I gain weight without weight gain and protein shakes?WHat would I need to change to that diet?

Also is it 1.5 grams of protein per KG of body weight? Cheers

oddjob62 · 27 Mar 2009 at 12:29

salami1212 said:
Can I gain weight without weight gain and protein shakes?WHat would I need to change to that diet?

Simple. Have other forms of protein instead of a shake.

salami1212 · 27 Mar 2009 at 12:31

But id need a lot of extra food to gain that other forms of protein etc.. 50 grams of proteins like 7 eggs!

dun · 27 Mar 2009 at 12:39

Yup, thats why it says have the shakes

Gustov · 27 Mar 2009 at 12:41

I'm also trying to gain weight at the moment as im 6'1 and just under 10st, not good.

I've been eating much bigger portions and having lots more yoghurts, meats and nuts in my diet.

Freefaller · 27 Mar 2009 at 13:00

The rule I've gone by is 1g of protein but per lb of LEAN BODY MASS. So not your total weight, but your weight minus your bodyfat.

i.e. if you weigh 100kg (220lbs) @ 10% bodyfat (OMG how I wish!!) you LBM would be 90kg (198lbs) - therefore you'd need 198x1=198g of protein.

However I aim for a minimum of 200g per day, because with hard training and even with high levels of protein your nitrogen levels will often be depleated.

Have a read through here:

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/articles-submit/tom-venuto/bodybuildiers-and-protein-2.htm

ethos · 27 Mar 2009 at 13:01

I love blanket diets that specify weights / amounts without taking anything else into consideration.

Weight / height / activity / current diet / goal / age etc...

dun · 27 Mar 2009 at 13:09

ethos said:
I love blanket diets that specify weights / amounts without taking anything else into consideration.

Weight / height / activity / current diet / goal / age etc...

Very very true. But for a beginner who otherwise wouldn't have a clue its better than nothing.

Freefaller · 27 Mar 2009 at 13:09

ethos said:
I love blanket diets that specify weights / amounts without taking anything else into consideration.

Weight / height / activity / current diet / goal / age etc...

Agreed.

I should have stated that it does depend on your MBR, you training style, what you're trying to achieve and so on.

Freefaller · 27 Mar 2009 at 13:22

To answer the title of the OP.

I spent 2 years training without any supplements and put on 10lbs of LBM. So yes it is possible. The supps help add hardness and recovery to your training regime.

blueboy2001 · 27 Mar 2009 at 13:51

I'm on 200g protein a day and I don't think I could maintain that easily without using protein shakes. You would need to eat a lot of meat, fish, cheese etc to get it in. One problem is your fat intake is then quite high, the second is it will cost you a small fortune at the butchers and the time to prepare the food becomes an issue as well - protein shakes are great when you're working because they take no longer to prepare than a brew.

I have 5x meals containing 40g protein per day, but 2 of them are shakes.

Is there any particular reason why you don't want to use shakes? If you stick to a good quality whey protein they aren't full of all sorts of other stuff like the "designer" supplements are.

wupwup · 27 Mar 2009 at 23:11

its possible but hard. theses supliments are for protein and while you can get enough protein from other sources you will get other things too. i ate 2/3 eggs a day untill i realised that they contain 2/3 of your daily allowance of cholesterol each!

dun · 27 Mar 2009 at 23:36

wupwup said:
its possible but hard. theses supliments are for protein and while you can get enough protein from other sources you will get other things too. i ate 2/3 eggs a day untill i realised that they contain 2/3 of your daily allowance of cholesterol each!

:/ hasn't it been pretty much proven that the cholesterol you eat doesn't change your blood cholesterol much?

drunkenmaster · 28 Mar 2009 at 01:33

dun said:
:/ hasn't it been pretty much proven that the cholesterol you eat doesn't change your blood cholesterol much?

plus the fact you need cholesterol, the people who recommend how much of everything you should eat have NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE SAYING at all and should be completely and utterly ignored, and eating good cholesterol brings your "bad" cholesterol levels down and makes you healthier.

Egg's are by and large the best food around.

If you want to know the secret to gaining weight though, its pretty easy, eat some food, check your gains, if there are gains, you're fine, if you lost weight, eat more, if you gained loads but look like a whale, eat less. I really can't understand how any conversation really gets past that stage.

Freefaller · 28 Mar 2009 at 14:14

Oh drunkenmaster I really do feel you are me sometimes!

I'd buy you a pint if I could!

arknor · 28 Mar 2009 at 14:23

10% bodyfat (OMG how I wish!!)

anything under 13% and your body goes into starvation mode i thought? im sure thats what Christian Jessen said the other week on supersize vs super skinny.

starvation mode isnt good unless you like your muscles beeing eaten for energy

ethos · 29 Mar 2009 at 16:12

arknor said:
anything under 13% and your body goes into starvation mode i thought? im sure thats what Christian Jessen said the other week on supersize vs super skinny.

starvation mode isnt good unless you like your muscles beeing eaten for energy

No, under 13% does not put your body into starvation mode.

Freefaller · 29 Mar 2009 at 18:38

arknor said:
anything under 13% and your body goes into starvation mode i thought? im sure thats what Christian Jessen said the other week on supersize vs super skinny.

starvation mode isnt good unless you like your muscles beeing eaten for energy

Nope. You can be perfectly healthy at 10%. I'm hovering around 13.5% at the moment. Would love to drop to 12%.

DominicStar · 29 Mar 2009 at 18:46

arknor said:
anything under 13% and your body goes into starvation mode i thought?

Warwick Dunn had 3% body fat a couple of years ago and he was still smashing through those big fat bad boys in the NFL. They were giving him shakes though it can't have been too healthy!