It basically takes 3500 calories to gain one pound of muscle. I know hard to believe, but this will serve as our general guide to putting on the pounds that we want. It is also important to distinguish between simply gaining fat, and actually building muscle. What we want to do is build muscle so that we look good at the beach. After all we are after good health too. If we use our above number of 3500 calories a week, we can easily see that we need to consume an extra 500 calories to what we are currently consuming. I know that this may seem daunting at first, but I promise you that you can do this. The following is my little guide that I started on to incorporate the needed extra calories.

• Eat Often: You need to make a time to have 3 large meals and at least 2 substantial snacks every single day.

• Eat Bigger: Your normal portions are not big enough, you will have to increase the portions of the meals that you are currently eating.

• Higher Calorie Foods: Dried fruit, starchy vegetables, dense whole grain breads,cereals,nuts

• Bring on the Extras: No more eating things just plain
  • Unsaturated Fats: Olive and canola oil,nuts,seeds,peanut butter,avocados
    Healthy Carbs and proteins: Jam, Honey, dried fruit, wheat germ, protein powder

• Every Beverage Counts: No more soda as a main food source. Milk, juice,water and we all know my love for the Smoothie.

• Resistance Training : You are never going to gain any true meaningful weight that is going to translate into muscle without weight training. I know everyone hates going to the gym in the beginning, but you are going to have to if you really want to build an impressive physique. You are also going to have to find a good program to follow. Failing to plan is a plan for failure.

This is just a quick little guide. If you are like me, you want to keep it simple in the beginning. As you learn more you can vary your routine, but in the beginning the shortest distance between two points is a straight simple line.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM THAT HELPED ME CLICK HERE.

One day when we all live in a perfect world you will be able to go to any convenience store and buy a perfectly balanced meal or snack., good foods can be hard to find on the go. Unfortunately for us that day is not today.  There are so many websites that say you have to eat better, but they don’t ever tell you exactly what is better.  It is frustrating I know, I have been there.

With that in mind I have created a list which is by no means comprehensive, but it will serve as a good starting point for you.  Before you ask, you do not have to eat everything on the list, that is not the idea.  If you pick out a portion of from each list you will have a good balanced meal.  Use your common sense though, some of them are snacks while others are an actual meal.  I am not going to lie to you in the beginning it is going to take a little while to get use too, but to be honest you will succeed if you are sincerely trying.  Without further ado……….the list
THE GOOD FOODS LIST
good lean proteins:

• Chicken Breast
• Turkey Breast
• Lean Ground Beef
• Lean trimmed Beef
• Lean Trimmed lamb
• Ham
• Trimmed Pork
• Trimmed Veal
• Game Birds
• Crab
• Fish of all kinds
• Lobster
• Shrimp
• Shellfish like clams,oysters, and mussels
• Eggs
• Cottage Cheese
• Whey Protein

Good Vegetables

• Artichokes
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Vauliflower
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Eggplant
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Green Beans
• Leafy Salad Greens
• Lentils
• Mushrooms
• Okra
• Onions
• Parsley
• Peas
• Peppers
• Spinach
• Squash
• Zucchini

Good Fruits

• Apples
• Apricots
• Avocados
• Berries of all kinds
• Cantaloupes
• Cherries
• Cucumber
• Figs
• Grapes
• Honeydew melon
• Kiwis
• Lemons
• Limes
• Nectarines
• Oranges
• Peaches
• Pears
• Plums
• Strawberries
• Tangerines
• Tomatoes

Good Beans

• Black Beans
• Chick Peas
• Fava Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Lentils
• Lima Beans
• Navy Beans
• Peas
• Pinto Beans
• Soybeans

Good Rice and Grains

• Brown Rice
• Whole Rice
• Wild Rice
• Barley
• Whole Oats
• Whole Wheat
• Whole Grain Pastas

Good Fat Sources

• Canola Oil
• Flaxseed Oil
• Olive oil, extra virgin
• Peanut Oil
• Fats found in all fish
• Seeds
• Pure butter in small amounts

Please keep in mind that I am not saying you have to choke down every single one of these items.  I assure you that I do not like everything on this list.  This is just to serve as a starting point.  If you picked one thing from each category you would have a balanced meal.

Good nutrition is going to be cornerstone of any worthwhile exercise system.  There really is just no way to get around the fact that to get a washboard style ab, a lot of the work is done in the kitchen.  Again I am not recommending that you only eat what is on this list, but if you look it over carefully you might find that you actually like a lot more on this list than you probably thought at first glance.

Enjoy

When you first start trying to put on weight and build muscle you might become a a bit overwhelmed with all the information available.  Gaining weight is like anything else there seems to be plenty of experts and sometimes their advice seems to contradict each other.  Most people get information overload and end up doing nothing.

In the beginning keep it simple.  You do not have to know every single thing about every protein powder and what serving size you should use for this or that.  If you have been struggling to build muscle or put on mass there is a possibility that you neglecting one of these four steps.

STEP 1:  YOU HAVE TO COMMIT. lifting weights is going to be you fastest and most efficient way of building muscle.  You are going to be lifting weight three to four times per week!  I know that sounds like a lot now, but if you actually schedule the time to do it, and not just squeeze it when you can, it will become like second nature.  You want to stimulate your muscles, in other put them under stress, which will result muscles growing bigger to avoid the stress from reoccurring.  The second part of the equation is you then have let the muscle heal and repair itself through rest and nutrition.  Your muscles will grow bigger and you will repeat this process, but you have to commit.

STEP 2: You gotta eat.  You have to eat five to seven times a day.  I know that is a lot, but hardgainers have to eat more than other people if they are going to gain and build muscle.  Sometimes the universe is unfair, but it does not change the fact that you have got to eat more.  You should try to make half of those meals actually solid whole foods.  In a perfect world all of your meals would be solid whole foods, but let’s be honest that is extremely hard to do.  I absolutely love my smoothie that I drink and it has every proportionally balanced out, and that will serve as one of meals.  You could also use the liquid meal replacement powders,  I just like smoothies, their quick and easy and taste much better to me.

STEP 3: STRETCH!! I see a lot of people so focus on the weight training it is unbelievable.  I honestly think this one of the biggest mistakes people make.  When you constantly training, your muscle tissue will shorten.  They will get bg, but begin to perform slower and have higher chance of getting injured.  If you are working out four hours a week you are going to have stretch at least an additional two hours.  This is one of the biggest reasons that people quit.  You hear it all the time “I use to work out put I injured my arm, my neck, my back, my leg.”  Or whatever other body part.  If you are not stretching at least half of the time you are working out, you are an accident just waiting to happen.  So stretch!

STEP 4: BE SUSPICIOUS OF SUPPLEMENTS.  There is no magic pill, powder or pixie dust that is going to cure all you ills.  They are just what the name says supplements.  Personally I do not use anything that has not been around for three years.  Why do ask?  Because if you get to focused on chasing down the latest ‘dream in a bottle’ you will find yourself wrapped up in the hoopla that surrounds them.  What is touted as a miracle in a pill one month maybe proven grossly ineffective six months down the road.  I keep with the basics, powdered creatine, protein powder, the stuff that everyone has heard of before.  I promise it will alleviate some heartache and disappoint for you, and your bank account will thank you too.

Just remember, you can do this.  You can gain the weight and build the muscle that you want.  Don’t to hard on yourself, Rome was not built in a day.  Follow these above steps and get yourself on a workout program that is going to work.  By now you all know my personal favorite, but you have to do it.  Any fitness program you choose is going to be a change in your lifestyle.  They are going to require you to change you eating habits and workout and consistently.  You can do it!