Weight Gain

[Tom Semmelbeck]

I have a client who is 16, lean and wants to gain weight (he is also working out 3/wk). In light of this I would like help in answering the following questions:

1. Are there any protein/health food drinks that he should buy to supplement his diet?

2. What kind of food should he eat to gain weight and when should he eat them?

Thanks,

Tom

[Ironman]

Well if you don't know that, I hope he is spending too much money on you. Hopefully his workout is in order too.

1) Whey protein powder. For him the kind with the dextrose and other simple carbs in it. Have it before and after the workout.

2) The post workout meal should contain all the simple carbs. Fruit should be only post workout and breakfast. The rest of the meals should be complex carbs like veggies, whole grain (like oatmeal and such) and nuts. For protein get about 1.5 grams per pound of lean body weight per day. Eat 6 or more meals a day. Get the calories about 500 over maintainance. Don't worry about fat, he needs some red meat and eggs. Get protein from any and every complete source you can. Maybe even have some cheese before bed. Keep the carbs real low at the end of the day though.

While I am at it, no swiss ball, and keep the machines and isolation to a minimum. Stick with dumbbell bench press rather then swiss ball alternating arm, supinated dumbbell press and all that weird stuff.

[OliverFromPerth]

Ironman - That's some good information regarding diet. How did you learn that? I want to learn alot more about nutrition because I have the sneaky suspicious my diet sucks.

Can you recommend a book or something?

[TimD]

I'm not Ironman, and he probably has a favorite, but to get a good head start, just go to the nutrition section here on this site. James got most of the info from Dr. Serrano, who is a noted specialist in the nutrition field.
http://www.exrx.net/Nutrition.html
Tim

[Ironman]

This site is a good source. A lot of it depends on your goals and tastes as to what diet you want. There are lots of bodybuilding sites out there with good info for that kind of diet. Chris Aceto's Championship Bodybuilding book has some good info in it. For low glycemic type diets, I kind of like Jorge Cruz (that guy that does the 8 minutes in the morning thing). His workout is real basic, but good diet advice. The different low carb diets have books that are good. Absorbing all the information in Atkin's Diet Revolution and Eade's Protein Power will give you a lot of knowledge. Reading scientific research on different sites helps. Looking up different biological processes on wikipeida or something like that can help. Looking up the different parts of metabolism like basal metabolic rate and thermogenesis and that sort of thing will help to give you an understanding of how to change body composition. Learning about insulin and what it does is very helpful too. You can just put them in a search engine and find some good pages on that. It is a lot of dry scientific stuff, but it give you a good understanding of how things work. Of course asking questions here and on some of the better bodybuilding forums should give you good results too.

Now that I think about it, being a big nerd probably helps too.

[Keith Rowland]

If you can get it, Gold's Gym Nutrition Bible is excellent, even though it was published some time ago. It does a good job of examining nutrition from a bodybuilder's perspective. Added benefit: My photo is in it.

[nicolecartersfunfitness]

Hi Tom!
"I'm a great believer in keeping it simple! Eat wholesome healthy organic natural unprocessed food and i really believe that takes out a lot of the worry.

ok so you've not got time to cook...watch less tv / play less on the pc / guitar / spend less time on the phone and get your friends round for a dinner party have it on a rota so that you all take turns!

eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs, nuts (unsalted), fresh fruit, dried fruit, fresh veg, cooked veg. meat / fish protein, bean / pulse protein, if you are curious about a foodstuff and it's not too scary, try it! keeping a food, mood and energy diary is a good idea! keep a lunch box with you full of fresh food for breaks and snacks. one of my favourites is smoked mackeral salad!

two fillets of smoked mackeral, cut to bite size.
chickpeas, butter beans, flageolet beans, kidney beans, broad beans (if dried soak overnight in water or top up container they are in with boiling water till ready to cook ) cook for 15 mins till al dente and add to fish with chopped fresh tomato, cucumber and rocket leaves. ( no salt needed )

yum!!


be experimental in the k-word, try new ingredients and have fun! eating is important and one of lifes great pleasures. I seriously worry that society is making us feel guilty for needing to do so!"

nothing beats the taste of full cream organic milk ( buffalo / cow / goat / sheep ).
it's funny how they all taste different, some are an aquired taste but worth trying, cos it might be something you like!


healthy regards

nc :0)

I have a client who is 16, lean and wants to gain weight (he is also working out 3/wk). In light of this I would like help in answering the following questions:

1. Are there any protein/health food drinks that he should buy to supplement his diet?

2. What kind of food should he eat to gain weight and when should he eat them?

Thanks,

Tom

[Ironman]

I have to disagree on the salt thing. There is no evidence to support that.

[nicolecartersfunfitness]

Hi ironman! :0) i suppose if you sweat it out enough things should be ok but i'm not sure what you mean about supporting the claim, which do you mean?

nc x

I have to disagree on the salt thing. There is no evidence to support that.

[Ironman]

There is no evidence to support the need for a low salt/sodium diet.

[hoosegow]

Swiss stability ball?

[Ironman]

It's that big beachball personal trainers use instead of a bench.

[hoosegow]

I know. It was a sorrowful attempt a humor. I didn't realize anyone recommended using them anymore.

[nicolecartersfunfitness]

hi ironman! :0)

I'm sure there is if you look for it! the premier iq pt course i did also included a nutrition module, and in that there is info about why it is not sensible. there is the fact that it also reduces the taste of the actual food you are consuming so that over time tastebuds can become dependant on it to taste appealing, i suggest doing the sodium chloride cold turkey emission for a while and see how your food tates after several days of no added salt at all. makes sense and food actually tastes like food not salt!

please let me know how you get on!

n

There is no evidence to support the need for a low salt/sodium diet.

[nicolecartersfunfitness]

hi hoosegow! :0)

ironman is right, the swiss ball is the gym ball that is excellent for a variety of advanced gym moves, and can also be used to sit at an office desk to increase alertness, concentration and work the core muscles while you type! there is also the togu dynair which seems to be a more subtle alternative! it's an air filled latex disk which is placed on your office chair and has a similar effect to the gym ball. i want to try one because i think they will be extremely useful. if they are i'm going to get some with my brand on to give as corporate gifts, and make some friends in the office world again! i worked for standard life for a year and i know that these products will probably help.

i think that there might be a bit of training to do before you use weights with them because they are wobbly!! theres a few cool moves you can do on them to impress your friends / make a fool of yourself if you fall off (onto a safe surface of course!), how much they are inflated is important. it would make sense to have a friend at hand to spot you at first, it's a good laugh! i did a course to instruct a cardio class with them last year with another instructor that i worked at bannatynes with. bouncing about on one for 45 mins certainly gets a sweat up!

:0)

n :0)

I know. It was a sorrowful attempt a humor. I didn't realize anyone recommended using them anymore.