Gaining

Planning it out

nmky:
I weigh like 159 pounds and as I said, I'm running this plan through to see what I can do differently before I start, and Ideally, I would like to become obese, but in a way that doesn't put it all in my abdominal area[/quote]


That sounds really impressive! Are you doing anything for appetite, or is that not an issue? I wish I could eat this much but for me appetite is the one thing I’m constantly having problems with.
3 years

Planning it out

nmky:
no, but I'm hoping my doctor can get me on megestrol acetate for appetite enhancement cuz I don't eat that much as is and in order for me to go on this, I need help


Just looked up the side-effects:
Common or very common: Adrenal insufficiency; alopecia; appetite increased; asthenia; carpal tunnel syndrome; constipation; Cushing's syndrome; diabetes mellitus; diarrhoea; dyspnoea; embolism and thrombosis; erectile dysfunction; flatulence; glucose tolerance impaired; heart failure; hot flush; hypercalcaemia; hyperglycaemia; hypertension; lethargy; menorrhagia; mood altered; nausea; oedema; pain; skin reactions; tumour flare; urinary frequency increased; vomiting; weight increased

Are you sure...? It's for treating breast cancer.
3 years

Planning it out

If there's anything I've learned, there's only so much you can really do to plan.

I have several thoughts about your plan, so I hope you read this entire post. It's good to think about it, but I think you may be going about it the wrong way, and not considering some important issues.

The proposed diet you came up with seems very ambitious, as well as lacking variety (if you really do intend to do that every day). You'd likely get bored of it, quickly. Or you might burn out quickly.

Also, I'm sorry but, it also reads more like a dream you've had than something you can keep up day after day. Take that shake for example.

In that shake, you call for a pint of half & half, and two scoops of Serious Mass? I've actually tried that, although the ratio might have been closer to a quart and two scoops. The result was well... not good. The taste isn't bad, but it's extremely thick. The viscosity wasn't as thick as honey, but it was thicker than barbeque or tomato pasta sauce. It was very difficult to suck through a straw. When I figured out how long it took to suck down the small amount that I did drink, it wasn't all that many calories. It was a pretty disagreeable experience, quite unlike a milkshake that melted a bit. I ended up saving it for leftovers, but could never bring myself to drink the rest of it over the next couple days. I didn't even add peanut butter, like you propose to do.

Then you want to make it even thicker and more undrinkable by adding peanut butter to it? I'm sorry, but I don't see how that would work. Aside from the sheer expensive cost of Serious Mass, it would be a terrible deal if it cost a quarter as much.

What's far easier is to use those nutritional shakes, like Ensure Plus, which is 350 calories in 8 fl. oz. Ensure Plus is also costly, but it's a far better deal than Serious Mass and most other gainer powders. Also, Kroger has a store brand (Fortify Plus) and Wal-Mart has a store brand (Equate Plus), both of which have just as many calories, vitamins, etc. but cost far less. There's also something called Boost VHC with 530 calories in 8 fl. oz., but it's very costly for only a few more calories, and this calorie advantage is largely rendered moot with the suggestion in the next paragraph.

Also important is that not only can you drink such nutritional shakes like they're almost nothing (the chocolate flavor tastes almost like chocolate milk), but they also mix very well with half & half, or heavy cream.

If I mix a bottle of Equate Plus with a cup of heavy cream, it tastes a bit like melted milkshake though with perhaps half of the sweetness. Yet it has as many calories as the largest milkshakes at fast food joints with double the volume. And very importantly, is that unlike that rather undrinkable mix with Serious Mass, you can stick a straw in this mix and suck on it almost mindlessly, while playing video games, watching TV, working on the computer, or driving a car. You may even be able to put it into an insulated cup and use it in public while running errands.


Yes, the key thing to do is to ensure it's more calories in, than out. But most importantly, it needs to be consistent. A one off stuffing of 4, 5, or even 10K calories is not going to make a large difference in the big picture, especially if it ruins your appetite the next day which, through the concept of averages, meant all those calories you ate the day before ended up being for 2 days rather than 1.

I also don't see how you could consistently eat 9K+ calories a day. You almost certainly won't be able to the very next day, if your previous diet was around 2K calories a day.

There's an old saying, and it's that Rome wasn't built in a day. I think that's what applies here. Maybe making small, incremental changes is what will help it stick, even if the overall process may be slower. For example, a 1.55 oz. Nestle Crunch bar is around 230 calories. If, in addition to what you're normally eating (assuming it's enough to prevent you from losing weight), you eat three such chocolate bars daily, that's an extra 4,830 calories a week. It takes about 4,000 additional calories to gain a pound. Some say it's 3,600 because of water retention, others say it's 4,083 because that's the calories in 454g of fat. Both are true to a degree, but the human body isn't perfectly efficient so 4,000 seems like a good guideline.

Developing habits that cause weight gain should also make it more likely to stick. This isn't the easiest thing. Hell, even I haven't quite gotten there yet though I'm slowly getting there. But ultimately, you want to develop eating habits you don't even think twice about.

I wish I could give you better advice on how to establish such eating habits.
3 years