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How To Gain Weight

November 1, 2017 By Victor Pride 40 Comments


From the desk of Victor Pride
Subj: So you want to get big
—

In my early twenties I was poor, boy!

I was so poor that I decided just to not eat. It was an easy decision, I didn't have any damn money for food anyway.

Back then I was 130 lbs at 6'2 (59 kg at 189 cm). I flexed in the mirror one day and my biceps were the same size as my wrists. I was skinny, boy!

When I wanted to gain weight I had to buckle down and start a dedicated eating plan. It takes true dedication for a skinny guy to eat enough food to gain weight.

But I'd had my first taste of the gym and I was hooked from the first minute in the gym. I was going to get big no matter how uncomfortable the eating got (and it did get uncomfortable).

I was skinny but when I buckled down and started getting serious about my eating I was able to gain weight very quickly. I went from 130 lbs to 160 lbs in just a few weeks (59 kg to 72.5 kg).

That was years ago and since then I've reached a peak weight of 210 lbs/95 kg but I now maintain a weight around 195 lbs/88 kg.

(Thought I admit I'm as fired up about the gym as ever and I'm probably going to get gigantic.)

When I want to gain weight there is one thing I have to do… Get serious about my eating.

After so long in the game, the eating is no longer a chore, it is simply a means to an end. I know that my 6 meals a day = J A C K E D.

So when I received this question from a B&D; reader, I knew I had just the answer…

I’m a slim guy naturally. I have a very fast metabolism.I have a busy schedule and I’m looking for a healthy way to gain weight without eating junk. Any advice?”

So you want to gain weight but you're a skinny guy?

Ok, here's what you have to remember…

Eat like it's your job

To gain weight you have to eat like it's your job. It will not be a fun, pleasant experience and you will not want to do it. Do it anyway and do not quit.

The light at the end of the tunnel is worth it, but to get to that light you will have to get through some shit.

Just remember that eating is your job and you are not a quitter, you are a go-getter and when you want to get big you go and get it.

Eating is a job. But you don't get paid until your work is finished. Your payment is a bigger, better body.

Eat 6 meals per day, eat every 3 hours

Every bodybuilder got big the exact same way… by eating 6 meals per day.

There is no other way to get big than to eat small(ish), frequent meals.

You have to get enough daily calories in but you have to make sure to not eat too much at any one meal.

Eating too much at a meal = fat gain, bloat, and general unpleasantness.

The food has to be spread out throughout the day.

You do not want to stuff your face in a feast, you need to be able to function and this is why you divide your meals every 3 hours.

Eating too much at one time will only help you to have diarrhea and a nap.

Eat breakfast

If you want to gain weight you have to start the day the right way, by eating. Eating will consume you and you will do it morning, noon and night.

DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST!

If you skip breakfast you may as well skip living life. Eating is your damn job so do what it takes and it takes eating every 3 hours.

You've got to start in the morning right away so you can get all of your calories in.

Eat real food

Cook most of your meals and eat real food from a farm.

Don't eat food that comes in a box, don't eat food that is ready to eat without cooking it, don't eat food that has more than one ingredient.

Eat meats, rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruits, vegetables etc. Real food! You need to prepare your own food so that you know what is in it.

Avoid eating at restaurants too frequently. Restaurants use enormous amounts of vegetable oils and sugar. If you eat at restaurants 6 times per day you will get fat, guaranteed.

Avoid all vegetable oils, use virgin olive oil or cold pressed coconut oil to cook your food. Oils are your enemy, use the least amount you can.

It is only by eating real, natural food that you will gain good muscular weight instead of gaining fat weight. It's hard to gain weight eating real natural food, that is why it is your job to do so.

Every meal should have a moderate amount of protein, a good amount of carbs and a little fat.

An example would be: 8oz beef and 12-16oz potatoes. The beef has protein and a little fat and the potatoes have the carbohydrate. This is a perfect bodybuilding meal.

Exact measurements of macronutrients do not matter, just get your meals in at approximately a 40/40/20 split (explained below) and gain weight.

Eat saturated fat

Milk, butter, eggs, cheese are all necessary to help you gain strength, weight and increase your testosterone. These are the foods that help you gain muscular weight and strength the quickest.

Nobody ever got big on a zero fat diet. You need some fats. You don't have to go crazy on the fats but you do need them.

Of all the meats, beef is the best weight gainer. Lamb is also good to increase your weight gain.

Do not eat pork, there is a reason no bodybuilder eats pork. If you want to be healthy do not eat pork. Pork is a filthy meat full of filthy parasites. Stay away from it.

I personally hate milk but there is no denying that it helps you gain weight. Yogurt is a good weight-gainer too.

Eat carbs!

If you are trying to gain muscle, you need to use carbs to spike your insulin to shuttle nutrients to the muscle to improve your muscular recovery/hypertrophy.

You should never have a bulk diet deficient in carbohydrates. Carbs are where you energy comes from.

Calculate your calories

Calories are not everything, the scale is what counts. Make the scale move up. BUT! to make the scale move up you do have to have an understanding of your calorie needs.

This is how you find out how many calories you need to eat to gain weight…

  • Find your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) using the following calculator: Calorie Calculator
  • Choose the Harris-Benedict Formula for the BMR section and then plug in all the corresponding values for your age, weight, activity level, etc.

After doing this you should have a number under your “Total Daily Energy Expenditure” section showing you exactly how many calories your body requires each day to stay the same weight.

Use this number as your maintenance level of calories, and add 300-500 calories to this to start your bulk diet. By eating more calories than your body expends each day, you can slowly add more lean muscle mass to your frame and get the scale going up.

Eat a 40/40/20 protein, carbohydrate, fat split

A good bulking macro split is the standard 40/40/20 split. This split entails having 40% of your total caloric intake from carbs, 40% from protein, and 20% from fats. This split typically works very well for the vast majority of individuals during their bulk phases.

For example, let’s say your TDEE is calculated to be 2730 calories. Then your calories for starting your bulk up would be 3030 calories (2730 + 300).

Now, we calculate how many grams protein you will need. As we will be following a 40/40/20 split, 40% of your calories will be allocated to protein.

There are 4 calories in each gram of protein, 4 in each gram of carbs, and 9 in each gram of fat approximately.

So we will want 303 grams protein (1212 calories), 303 grams carbs (1212 carbs) and 67 grams fat (606 calories). Divide this by 6 meals per day and this is how you come up with your meal plan.

Do not miss meals!

It is better to eat something rather than nothing. I would rather see you eat 2 chocolate bars than miss a meal.

It is important to not miss a meal. If you want to gain weight you have to eat on a schedule and eating something is better than eating nothing.

You need to keep your metabolism firing and the way that you do that is by regular eating.

Make homemade protein smoothies

For 1-2 meals per day you can substitute whole food for a high calorie protein smoothie.

Use whey protein and include peanut butter, frozen berries, bananas, anything you want to make your smoothie taste good.

Protein smoothies are a great way to get your calories in when you can't stand eating so much food, or don't have time to eat.

Eat one daily cheat meal (if you're very skinny)

If you are trying to gain weight you shout NOT eat 100% clean. Clean food will NEVER help you gain the weight you want to gain.

You have to have some high calorie meals like chicken wings, burgers, pizza etc.

You will never gain weight without high calorie foods like this. Never.

Try to include one cheat meal every single day or every two days.

Lift weights at least 4-5 days per week

If you eat 6 meals per day but don't lift you can expect to get one thing, FAT.

The weight gain has to go into the right places, the muscle, and that is why it is important to lift weights hard and heavy. This is how the food knows where to go. Instead of making you fat, it makes your muscles bigger.

The less you train = the less you gain.

Follow Body of a Spartan for the best bodybuilding/muscle gaining program.

Don't drink water with your meals

Don't drink water 20 minutes before or after eating because water interferes with your digestion.

Digestion is very important, especially when you are eating so much food, and you want to take care to ensure proper digestion.

Do not drink water 20 minutes before a meal, do not drink water during a meal, and wait at least 20 minutes after eating a meal to drink water.

Monitor your weight gain

Weigh yourself daily, weekly and monthly and write down your weights in a notebook. If you are not making weekly gains, up your calories by 300.

You may find that it is uncomfortable to gain weight. Know why? Everything worth getting is hard work.

If you are not gaining weight you have to increase your food intake. Yes, you have to eat more food to gain weight. Even if it makes your tummy feel full, eat more food until the scale is moving up.

Take RED GROWTH

It is only after you have your diet and your training in order that you can start to look at supplements to help you gain weight.

When you do start to look at supplements to gain weight, there is one that works wonder…

There is no other legal supplement on the market that will put weight on you like RED GROWTH will.

Red Growth gives crazy gains and certainly it will be banned by government in the future, they eventually ban everything that actually works.

Red Growth has an ingredient called 1-DHEA which gives you crazy muscle gains. Look out for Red Growth in the very near future.

(When it is finally available, I will tell you all about it.)

If you want to gain muscular weight, Red Growth is an absolute must.

And that, friend, is the basic way you get big…

Eat like it's your job, train like all hell, take muscle building supplements like Red Growth.

Not really so hard is it?

Until next time.

Your man,

-Victor Pride

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Comments

  1. AvatarHozzy says

    November 1, 2017 at 8:32 am

    Awesome, quick-hitting run down of how to bulk up!

    How about teaching people how to meal prep in order to sustain the habit of eating 6 meals a day?

  2. AvatarFlorian says

    November 1, 2017 at 8:48 am

    Oh boy, a new article every single day of November? What a great time to be alive.

  3. AvatarFlorian says

    November 1, 2017 at 8:52 am

    New article: How do we know when its the best time to move places?
    I am thinking about moving out of my current city. I’m 18 years old though and need some advice from the one and only, V.P.

    • AvatarTshepang says

      November 1, 2017 at 11:33 am

      That’s actually a good question.

    • AvatarPJ Pires says

      November 1, 2017 at 3:22 pm

      That’s a good subject mate !

    • AvatarWalt says

      November 1, 2017 at 4:53 pm

      There is no “right time” to move. That time will never arrive. Just move and make the best of it. Just make sure you have a good reason for moving to a particular place. If the attraction is bars or parties, forget it. Fly there a couple of times a year and fly out. That lifestyle wrecks people. Don’t move to chase a woman - young guys do that - once. If the reason is a cheaper lifestyle, that has merit. If you are moving for career opportunities then for sure.

    • AvatarScooter says

      November 7, 2017 at 10:53 pm

      You Will KNOW when you are ready.

  4. AvatarFlorian says

    November 1, 2017 at 8:55 am

    Another one about sleep, didn’t find it on here yet

  5. AvatarMarcello Antonio Dreier says

    November 1, 2017 at 9:07 am

    I got a few notes from it like:

    “To burn bodyfat & stay lean, I have to eat like it’s my job. Eating is my job and I am not a quitter, i am a go-getter and I want to get ripped so I go and get it.”

  6. AvatarLuke says

    November 1, 2017 at 9:09 am

    Next article:

    Is there a right time to launch your first book (followers, blog hits, etc.) or do you just go for it?

    -Luke

  7. AvatarNIRANTHA says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:00 am

    is this a natural product , my life has become tasteless by taking artificial things, any way life is unsure but death is fullsure.

    please say something everyday.

    thanks.

  8. AvatarNyde says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:05 am

    Victor i love your blog and i am a bodybuilder myself. I understand that there’s this retarded idea in these circles that we gotta keep eating and keep sipping fucking water all day from a fucking gallon like a homo and i used to think this was the way to go but this is so wrong on so many levels. I still live in Thailand and i have talked to many people who have a true understanding of the human body. Experts in yoga ayurveda Chinese martial arts dudes etc etc. They all say the same that two three meals max is the best. Anything more puts an unnecessary strain on the entire system. I’ve been on a two meal per day regimen for a year and my energy levels and strength and gains are through the fucking roof.
    Eating less means staying on this planet longer remaining youthful having more energy having a much more efficient system being healthier needing less food to maintain the same weight etc.
    I still eat about 4000cal a day.

  9. AvatarDavid S. says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:18 am

    One big thing is to learn which foods make you feel full and eat less of them.

    I love steak, and I love potatoes, but both those things leave me full for hours. On the other hand, white rice (especially if it’s in some kind of broth or sauce) I can eat over and over again and never feel full. Likewise white fish. It just doesn’t fill me up like red meat.

    This sounds bad, but it’s great if you’re a light eater trying to put on mass.

    • AvatarVictor Pride says

      November 2, 2017 at 4:40 am

      Yes true, my main meal is white fish and white rice. 2-3 hours and it’s fully digested and I’m ready to eat again.

  10. AvatarRoman says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:34 am

    It’s actually pretty simple and easy.

    Vic, I was bulking and lifting 2 years ago. I am naturally 160 pounds and I got to 170 pounds through learning and experience. Then what happened is I started to break out and break out BAD. I was also harnessing my sexual energy and eating, but I was eating real food! Not that fake crap. I felt invincible and like a fucking god. I loved it, and I still remember those days. So my face kept getting bad so I decided to stop for the time being and eventually get back when my hormones aren’t fucked up. Now I have gastritis and can’t even eat much food anyway. My body is so damn weak it upsets me. I want to get back on the path but my skin still breaks out from time to time even if I don’t eat a lot and my stomach is a bitch. I’m eating a gastritis diet now so hopefully I get over it. But I’m 21 and I know I can postpone sometime before I hop on that bulking path. I do fucking miss it and remember the sheer WILL and STRENGTH I had. Guess patience is the game.

    • AvatarVictor Pride says

      November 2, 2017 at 4:39 am

      What were you eating? Sounds like a food allergy, my guess is you were drinking milk. If you eliminate the foods that mess you up you should be good to go again.

      • AvatarRoman says

        November 2, 2017 at 9:43 am

        Thanks Vic

  11. AvatarCameron says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:49 am

    You have multiple articles on Testosterone.

    Is there a way to safely and accurately check levels at home?

    Is there a product you can sell/recommend for this purpose?

    If yes, an article on

    1. How to test
    2. What to do if your levels are low (what to say to a Dr + links to your previous articles)
    3. Benefits of higher test (competitive, higher energy, etc)
    4. Link to the product that can test T levels

  12. AvatarOtávio says

    November 1, 2017 at 10:50 am

    A question for the next article:

    Gaining money from a blog requires you to provide something others want to buy. You provide lots of stuff, but from what I remember most of it came from selling books.
    The thing about books is that once they are sold, people don’t buy them again.

    How do you maintain a steady and ever increasing income by selling books?
    Always be writing more books? Great content will always generate sales?

    Thanks in advance.

  13. AvatarBill says

    November 1, 2017 at 11:22 am

    Why are oils the enemy?

  14. AvatarValentin says

    November 1, 2017 at 11:24 am

    Nice advice about eating “as a job” and eating every 3 hours.

    I’ll do this as a vegan though. It’s much more ethical to get your proteins from plants, and healthier long term.

    Patrick Baboumian is an example.

    For those who are scared about soy and tofu, soy contains phyto-oestrogens which are different from the normal oestrogen hormones. They actully inhibit the action of oestrogens by taking their place.

    Vegans that do sports are usually high in testoteron because there is more oestrogens in milk and fat meats.

    Thanks for the post Victor.

  15. AvatarNaw says

    November 1, 2017 at 11:26 am

    Hey, Vic, do you plan on doing any style guides in the future?
    [https://boldanddeterminedarchive.com/victor-pride-casual-style-guide/](Your casual style guide) was very helpful, could you do like 2017 update or something.

    • AvatarNaw says

      November 1, 2017 at 11:28 am

      Oops, messed up with linking.

  16. AvatarTy says

    November 1, 2017 at 1:02 pm

    Great article, if you could do one on losing body fat I’d greatly appreciate it.

  17. AvatarAdeshina Lawal says

    November 1, 2017 at 1:27 pm

    Mhen

    I think this article is an answer to prayer. Truly law of attraction works. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. I’ve been thinking lately about how to gain weight fast but do not know how to go about it. This is a great way to start and I just learn a lot from the article.

    Thanks so much Mr Victor Pride.

  18. AvatarTom says

    November 1, 2017 at 3:06 pm

    Hey Champ!

    Looking forward to this supplement .
    Man i got a problem , if you can help me out with it .
    Am 34 now . Whenever i take a meal , my tummy gets distended , it just bulges out ..
    At this age if i start hitting weights again , i don’t think in can eat 6 meals a day , when with one meal my abdomen bulges out .
    Is there a solution for that ?
    Thanks

    • AvatarVictor Pride says

      November 2, 2017 at 4:37 am

      Your email indicates you travel a lot so you probably have parasites, might want to take something like albendazole to try and kill them. Either that or fast for several days until they die on their own.

  19. AvatarMarquise says

    November 1, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    Excellent article again Uncle Vic!

    Hoping to see an article explaining resources and info into getting in trades in the future.

  20. AvatarKG says

    November 1, 2017 at 5:22 pm

    Great article, helpful insights.

  21. AvatarVaios says

    November 1, 2017 at 8:42 pm

    I’m currently trying to clean my mind and body. Im slowly cutting social media , porn, and movies to rewire my brain. This makes me want to socialize all the time. Part of the cleansing is to start leaving clean. I threw away my poisonous shampoos and toothpaste.I cook every day. I hit the gym. I read books.

    My question is: What other changes should i make to my daily life to clean my body and mind?

    • AvatarValentin says

      November 3, 2017 at 5:39 am

      Watch the Earthlings film and then watch yourself become compassionate towards nature and animals.

  22. AvatarIgnacio says

    November 2, 2017 at 5:56 am

    I thought you ate 2 times a day. You eat 6 times? Isn’t that contrary to body of a spartan?

  23. AvatarTheHealthRealist says

    November 2, 2017 at 11:05 pm

    This is why I gave up lifting weights for muscle mass in the first place. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but it requires so much dedication that you really can’t have any life outside of it. My best advice for skinny guys would be to just shred what you have and only fill out as much as your body naturally does as a result of eating only as much as your body demands of you. Anything more is just going to take over your life completely.

  24. AvatarDerek says

    November 3, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    I used to be a hard gainer.

    I thought I eat a lot all the time and I still can’t gain weight! I have a fast metabolism!

    Eventually I kept upping my calories and making shakes like you describe above and lo and behold… I started gaining weight!

    The answers we need are usually quite simple.

    All the best,

    D

    • AvatarVictor Pride says

      November 3, 2017 at 9:08 pm

      There is no such thing as a hard gainer, just a slow learner.

      • AvatarDerek says

        November 3, 2017 at 9:09 pm

        Yes, well said.

  25. AvatarMalik says

    November 3, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    Hey Vic excellent post. Yo am a calisthenics dude. I know u said eat 6 meals a day and hit the weights heavy. What about a person doing calisthenics do you think 6 meals a day is needed.

    • AvatarVictor Pride says

      November 3, 2017 at 8:24 pm

      Do you want to gain weight? Eat 6 meals daily. Do you not want to gain weight? Don’t.

  26. Avatarlakshan says

    November 8, 2017 at 4:15 am

    Hii Vic
    I have been lifitng hard and eating big,
    recently I got slightly bigger, but my
    abs have got fat, is it because lack of cardio?
    or too much of fat?
    but I only use 1 table spoon of coconut oil to my protein shake?

    • AvatarVictor Pride says

      November 8, 2017 at 7:44 am

      Abs are always diet related. You’re eating too much, try cutting out the coconut oil and see how the abs look.

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