“I wish I had your problem……” The most common line I hear from individuals that would see me savagely plowing through food, without gaining a LBS. Well, their dream metabolism was my curse.

I’ve always been a scrawny dude, since my teenage years I’ve struggled with gaining weight. During my high school years this constant battle with my weight had taken a toll on my confidence. I always felt out of place amongst my peers who effortlessly bulked up to fill out their frames.  

I tried everything from, from spending hours in the gym lifting weights, to eating 5 meals a day with calorie shakes in-between my meals, but the scale refused to budge. I honestly had given up hope on bulking up, I thought it was just not in my genetic makeup to be bulky guy and I was starting to be at peace with that.

After one of my workouts I went for my routine post workout shake in the gym cooler but they didn’t have the flavor I was looking for, Lean Body Salted Caramel. I usually always have one after my workout. So I decided to hit up the store across the street from the gym called ProBody Warehouse.

I grabbed my shake and started some small talk with the sales rep that was working there. I told him that I’ve been having issues gaining weight and that due to my genetic makeup I gave up on bulking.

He said that I should not get discouraged by a few failed attempts to add weight and that I probably needed some more guidance. He said that there are 3 key pieces to the puzzle.

THE 3 KEY PIECES TO THE WEIGHT-GAIN-PUZZLE

1. CONSISTENCY: 1.     no matter what the game-plan, your success will be dictated by the consistency. If you have a set goal of 5,000 calories a day then it means 5,000 calories a day, every day. Not 5,000 calories today and 2500 calories tomorrow. It means these calories need to come in like clockwork every single day.

2. EAT CALORIE DENSE FOODS: 1.     I know this might be stating the obvious, but the common issue is that people either eat calorie poor foods, e.g. chicken, rice & vegetables OR they eat food that lack nutrients (junk food).

3. TRAIN HARD, NOT LONG: 1.     Training hard doesn’t necessarily mean you need to train 3 hours. No, train with intensity! You will not gain size in the gym, but it’ll stimulate muscle and more importantly it’ll stimulate your appetite, with emphasis on appetite, since it’s a key component.

"Your success will be dictate by your consistency"

To my surprise he did not try to sell me a weight gainer or something of that nature, because to be honest......I was ready to buy!!!

He had me pretty fired up when he said that I won't be stuck in this scrawny body forever. So I asked them what the next step would be for me to make some gainzzzz.

 He wrote down “mock” meal plan that covered an example eating regiment for one day, just to give me a general idea of the things I should eat, it looked as follows: 

___________________________________________________

Breakfast:

2 cups oatmeal with milk

3 whole eggs

1 cup Lemon or Orange Juice +

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Meal #1

1 white/yellow potatoes (Mashed)

¼ lbs ground beef (80/20)+ Butter

2 cups veggies with cheese

Meal #2

1 scoop protein + almond milk

1 banana

½ cup oats

Meal #3

1 Oat bread sandwich with butter, cheese & salami

1 Greek Yogurt with granola

Meal #4

¼ lbs ground beef+BBQ sauce

1 white/ yellow potatoes (mashed)

1 Veggies with cheese

Meal #5

1 scoop protein + almond milk

1 tbsp Peanut butter

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EAT UNTIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF

Day one rolls around and I'm fired up to get this party started. But by Meal #2 the party was over 😑.

There was no way in hell I was going to eat all that food, after downing the shake, which took me a good 30 minutes, I was full all day!

So I decided to re-visit the shop and I told him that the eating routine he gave me was impossible to complete.

He said, "nothing is impossible, it's all about the approach." he said he gave me this food regiment so he can get a better understanding of my appetite and the fact that I stopped short after Meal #2 was a good indicator that my appetite is weak AF.

He walked towards the shelve with all the vitamin pills and grabbed a bottle that had the lettering E.M.F, which stood for Eat, More, Food 🤨.

I laughed at him and said

Me: “Nah, those things don’t work!”

Him: “How do you know? Have tried this one?”

Me: “No, but I’ve tried another one and it didn’t do anything for me.”

Him: “Ok, but have you tried this particular one?”

Me: “No, not this particular brand.”

Him: “Ok, not all products are created equal, you need to learn to have an open mind. If it works, great. If not, then come back and we’ll look for something else, but I need you to have a positive mindset.”

Me: “OK, I guess I’ll try it.”

I was really hesitant in buying it, but I figured I'd just return it if it doesn't do anything. 

Eat + Train + Rest + Eat More + Repeat = Making Gains

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

Day 1 rolled around and I took 1 pill before breakfast, which consisted of the 2 cups of oatmeal plus the 3 eggs, basically I did whatever he wrote on the meal plan that he gave me initially. I didn't really know what to expect, I was waiting for something but I wasn't really sure what I was waiting for 😅. 

A few hours later I felt a bit hungry, but I wasn't sure if it was the product or if the placebo effect kicked in and my mind was playing a trick on me.

I warmed up my prepped meal, which consisted of mashed potatoes, ground beef topped with butter and some veggies. At that point, I felt like I had skipped breakfast and I've been fasting for 2 days. I was starving!!!! I plowed through that meal like it was a snack. After that I mixed a shake with 1 scoop of protein, bananas and some peanut butter. Basically I did meal #1 & #2 in one sitting 🤣.

About four hours later I was ready for my next meal and my appetite was on fire 🔥.

WTF! this was day 1 😳.

I honestly can't recall a day where I ate that much food in a day, not even thanksgiving. But all of that didn't really matter, unless I can replicate that day every day.

I remember him telling me "Every Day Is Monday!!" So one good day doesn't count, it's the collective days that make the impact.

"I'd have days where I would eat breakfast and I would literally forget to eat until dinner time.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

 As my caloric intake started going up I definitely noticed the changes in the gym, I was able to work out longer, even though he told me to cut the workouts short, I was able to lift more and I felt an overall better pump.

After about a week I finally hopped on the scale and I could not believe it - I HAD GAINED 5LBS!!!!!

Man, that was a great feeling. I was finally able to break that life long plateau and see how my body was finally making changes. I remember he had told me:

"Once you start seeing your body composition changing, it's game over!!" 

He was right, I was looking forward to my weekly weigh-ins because I knew I'd see more gains every week.

Gone were the days of eating without a routine, I'd have days where I would eat breakfast and I would literally forget to eat until dinner time.

KEY TAKEAWAY FROM MY WEIGHT GAIN JOURNEY

One of the key take-aways from this experience is that everything is possible with the right game-plan. I knew I had to make changes but I honestly didn't know where to start. I think the supplement E.M.F (Eat.More.Food) was very helpful, It allowed me to eat more volume and eat more consistently.

However, the eating on a time schedule helped me set my inner-clock, in order for my body to continually ask for food, I had to put it on an eating schedule and the only way to do that was by creating a habit of eating on-time.

I hope this helps somebody else that is struggling with weight-gain. Don't give up, make a plan, stick to it and always eat more food.