Don’t wait until your stomach starts to growl to eat. Plan out five meals so you never have time to get hungry. Eating this much can take a lot of effort, since you need to stock up on enough food to feed yourself more often. Pack calorie-rich snacks you can eat on the go, like bananas and peanut butter or dense granola bars.
A large enough breakfast might consist of a three-egg omelet, two slices of bacon or sausage, a cup of roasted breakfast potatoes and a glass of orange juice. For lunch, try a fully dressed turkey club on whole wheat bread, two bananas, and a salad. Dinner could be a grilled steak, loaded baked potato and a few cups of grilled veggies.
Look for foods that are relatively unprocessed. For example, choose old-fashioned oatmeal instead of instant, and go for fresh chicken as opposed to processed lunch meat. Cook as many meals from scratch as you can. Avoid getting frozen dinners, fast food and snack foods, which contain a lot of salt, sugar and other fillers that aren’t nutritious.
Proteins: eggs, salmon, tuna, and other fish; pork roast, pork chops, and ham; chicken breasts and thighs; lean beef burgers and steaks; and bison. Fats: olive oil, safflower oil, canola oil, coconut oil, and grapeseed oil; avocados, walnuts, almonds, flaxseeds. Carbohydrates: fruits and vegetables; beans, lentils, peas; brown rice, whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, and other whole-grain products; and honey.
You can also drink unsweetened tea, 4 to 8 ounces of fruit juice, flavored water, and other healthy beverages. Avoid drinking Gatorade and other sports drinks in excessive amounts, since they contain a lot of sugar.
If you don’t want to pay to join a gym, see if you can obtain a barbell and a set of weights so you can work out at home. You can also try resistance exercises, which work your muscles without using weights. Push-ups are an easy way to get started right away. You can also install a pull-up bar in a doorway so you can work out your arms and chest.
Plan out your week so you’re able to target each muscle group evenly. For example, you might want to work out your arms and chest one day, focus on your legs and abs the next day, then do your back and chest the third day. Work with a personal trainer to come up with a schedule and exercise plan that meets your needs.
Compound exercises are your friend. Concentrate on complex, compound exercises that recruit as many muscles as possible: bench presses, dumbbell presses, squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips. It doesn’t matter if you can only bench press 10 lb dumbbells right now. Wherever you’re starting out, concentrate on being stronger each and every time you exercise. Push yourself, get stronger, lift more, and before you know it you’ll be ripped. When exercising, keep your rest between sets to a minute or less, and don’t do more than 12 reps in a set.
You can include shakes at other times during the day as well. For example, you could have a Boost or Ensure meal replacement shake along with your breakfast. Or, you can make yourself a protein smoothie with some whole milk, a banana, and a scoop of protein powder. Fortifying meals in other ways may also help you to gain weight. For example, you can include high fat, high calorie, or high protein add-ins in your diet, like cheese, whole milk, full-fat sour cream, and avocado.
In addition, it’s important to get eight to nine hours of sleep every night for maximum gains. If you are only getting six hours or less, you’re not going to get all the benefits of your exercising and diet.
Consider hiring a personal trainer. Within a few sessions, you’ll have a great idea of scheduling, form, intensity, and duration of workouts and excellent insight into tweaking your diet. Ask your physician before taking any supplements, and see a doctor right away if you experience an injury during a workout.
