Easy, Muscle-gaining Strategies for Hard Gainers

When it comes to body composition changes, most people tend to fall in two extremes: have a hard time losing fat or have a hard time putting on muscle and size. If you fall into the latter category, then this article for is for you. If you naturally have a smaller appetite then it can be exhausting to get all the calories and protein in that you need per day. If this sounds like you, then the rest of this article will show you strategies to make putting on muscle a whole lot easier- particularly including ways to get in more calories or get in more protein with very little effort.

Related: Macronutrient Basics: Understanding Protein, Carbs, and Fats

Loaded Smoothies

If you have a blender, it will turn into your best friend on a bulk. If you don’t have one, I recommend looking into getting one. Any type of liquid calories is generally a good bet when trying to put on weight, because liquids are less filling than solids. When you are making a smoothie for the purpose of putting on muscle, you really want to focus on making it high calorie and high protein. Therefore, we likely aren’t going to be loading it up with a ton of spinach.

The first component you want to look to add is the protein. The best choices in a smoothie are generally going to be either protein powder or yogurt. These tend to blend easier and have a high amount of protein for a low amount of volume.

Next up we want to start loading up on calories which essentially means getting it to be high fat and high carbohydrate. Any sort of nut butter, i.e. peanut butter, is always a good bet because they are very calorie dense. Personally, I don’t like to add too much peanut butter though because I feel the flavor is overpowering. However, if you really like peanut butter and are wanting to put on weight, then the more the merrier. You can also try adding certain seeds like hemp seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, etc. These are normally pretty high in fat, very nutrient dense, and take up very little space. To load up the carbs, bananas are generally a pretty good go-to. A medium sized banana will have about ~100 calories and if you chop it up into small bits you can likely fit two. Dried fruit are something that would work even better than a banana, however. For example, two dates will have the same number of calories as a banana but take up a fifth of the space in your blender. Therefore, you can really add the calories with them. Heck, if you really want to get crazy you can even go ahead and throw some ice cream in the blender (as long as you have enough protein there as well).

For the liquid in your smoothie, you generally want to use some type of milk or water. There’s normally going to be a good amount of liquid put into the smoothie, so dairy milk might be a rough idea if you have any sort of intolerance to milk. If you want to use a liquid with more calories in it, some sort of sweetened non-dairy milk (i.e. sweetened almond milk) will do the trick. Although, using just water has its advantages. In my personal opinion, using water makes it easier to drink a larger volume and I end up hungrier earlier on afterwards. If you are wanting to put on weight, this can be a good thing. It basically means you’ll be ready to have another meal earlier on which would help you to get more calories in for the day.

            Let’s take a look at an example smoothie:

1)    Two scoops protein powder (each scoop = 25g pro): 50 grams of protein

2)    2 tbsp. peanut butter: 15 grams fat, 8 grams carb, 7 grams protein

3)    5 dates: 82.5 grams carb, 2.5 grams protein

4)    3 tbsp. hemp seeds: 15 grams fat, 3 grams carb, 9 grams protein

5)    water as the liquid

§  TOTAL: 901 calories, 68.5 grams protein, 30 grams fat, 93.5 grams carb

Related: What’s the Best Type of Protein Powder?

Drink liquid calories throughout the day

As said before, liquid calories are much less filling than solid food. So, if your goal is to get in more calories in a day, they can help you do that without feeling like you ate anymore. Now, I’m not telling you to go out and drink soda all day. However, if you toss in drinks like fruit juices or sweet tea, you’ll be able to get in much more calories per day.

Choose higher calorie protein sources in your meals

This is one area where dieting to put on size is undeniably easier than dieting to lose fat. I say this because protein sources that are higher calorie tend to taste way better than their lower calorie counterparts. For example, in my opinion chicken thighs are exponentially better tasting than chicken breast. This is really because chicken breast is pretty much pure protein where chicken thighs are protein with a good serving of fat as well. Some other ideas include fattier cuts of beef or ground beef, salmon, etc.

Use extra oil in your cooking

Everyone uses oil in their cooking, whether it is a spray version or straight from the bottle. All oils are pure fat, and therefore pure calories. For example, one tablespoon of olive oil has 120 calories. For people who are trying to lose weight but have not been successful, this is a very common culprit. However, when trying to put on weight this can be an advantage. You can easily add another 100-200 calories to all the meals that you cook just by using a little olive oil.

Have a scoop of protein after each meal

Protein tends to be the most satiating of macronutrients as compared carbohydrates and fats. This can pose a problem when the goal is to eat a lot of protein and a lot of calories. One way to add protein to your daily intake is to throw a scoop of protein in a shaker cup with 8 oz. of water and drink that down. You should be able to add 25 grams of protein to each meal without feeling that much fuller. If you want our recommendation on what to look for in a protein powder, you can check that out here.

Related: Creatine: Everything You Need to Know

Have your first meal as early as possible

The idea with this strategy is that the earlier you get your first meal in, the more time in that day you have to get some food in. Many people, like myself, don’t naturally get hungry till about 10:00-11:00 am. However, if I am waking up at 7:00 am that day and decide not to eat until I am hungry, that could eliminate a whole meal from my day. I know getting food in when you first wake up can be a drag, but even if you get something small in you will probably still get hungry around the same time again at 10:00-11:00 am. If you’re like me and hate eating first thing in the morning, this could be a good time to utilize the smoothie method mentioned above.