[DrewP]

I'm one of the most extreme natural ectomorphs you could ever imagine. I've been lifting regularly for years and gained fantastic definition but very little size. My arms are still skinny, but my muscles stick out in a way that people seem to have never seen before- once I had a girl point to my tricep and ask "why does that part of your arm stick out like that?" And someone once told me my bicep looks like a giant tumor jutting out of my arm. I'm THAT level of skinny but defined.

Anyway, I'm wondering what people think about rectifying my situation with ultra dense junk food? Just because I'm pretty sure I'm physically incapable of eating enough healthy food to gain weight.

My only reservation is the possibility that it would all go to my gut and I'd end up skinny-fat. Note that I do NOT currently have a six pack unless I flex my ab muscles (and even then it's pretty faint), so my stomach isn't flab-free as is.

So I guess the ultimate question is this: Can you thicken your arms and build muscle via junk food, or does it all end up as gut flab?

[Chaos]

Get a blender and start making some heavy shakes.
Very easy to down a lot of calories that way.
Butter, almonds, nut, peanut butter, whipped cream, bananas and some protein powder etc.

If you have a problem of not eating enough...

[ball dont lie]

I'm not quite to that level but I'm also an extreme ectomorph. I am 5'11" and weigh 160. I'm nursing a serious injury but before lifted as much as possible, 3 days a week, squat, deadlift.

http://bonytobeastly.com/the-tale-of-two-ectomorphs/

Check out what these guys have to say. There is definitely some knowledge in there even though the guys running it seem a bit off looking.

Starting cutting up bananas and freezing them. Get some mass gainer and whey protein. Make huge shakes: 2 bananas, several cups of milk, several scoops of mass gainer, whey protein, plus nuts, flaxseed, cocoa powder. These kinds of shakes, 1 a day on non-lift days, 2 a day on lift days.

I gained 5 lbs of muscle and I was really excited. For some guys that's nothing, but that was one of the hardest 6 months of my life in terms of lifting and eating as much as possible. I was playing basketball at an incredible level, even though I was 32 playing with guys who were in early 20's. Then shoulder injury, lost all the muscle almost immediately.

[RawGod]

Just eat more calories via rice, nut butter, eggs. No need for junk food - it's junk because it's fried in bad oils and has chemical additives, and you don't want those.

[The Reactionary Tree]

I am somewhere between an endomorph & a mesomorph so you can take my word with a grain of salt but I agree with RawGod. Don't eat junk food just because they are high in calories in order to gain weight. They will make you feel like shit. Foggy headed, groggy, tired, low energy, etc.

Just eat more calories of good foods. Eating more carbs & fats should help.

[thedavidgt]

Unpopular Opinion: If you're a young guy with a fast metabolism, then you could probably could get away with eating junk food. Just make sure to also have some fruits and veggies in your diet as well so your health doesn't take a hit. Don't pig out just use the junk food to reach your daily calorie requirements (should be around 3000) consistently. As far as the types of fast food try to hit up places that are relatively healthy and protein based. e.g:

"Good" fast food: Chipotle, subway, kfc, mcnuggets, burgers, ihop
"Bad" fast food: pizza, sugary stuff, mcflurries, candy etc

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All that being said, it would still be better to just eat large amounts of healthy food. I usually eat out every once other day or so because it really is the fastest way to get your calories in.

Take my advice with a grain of salt, but if you go to any university gym, the amount of jacked guys with shit diets is staggering.

[britchard]

^ Just because you're jacked, it doesn't necessarily mean your body is desirable. The 'jacked' guys at univarsity gyms with shitty diets are probably the perma-bulk half-fattys who just fill a shirt.

[Captain Gh]

You already received top notch advice via rice and heavy shake but wanted to get my 2 cents in: Never eat junk food other than in a few instances for cheat meals. Eating a lot of good calories is possible

[alexdagr81]

First, there's really no such thing as an ecto-,meso-, or endomorph. Those are very misused words and can hold oneself back. 2nd of all, if you have less than 15% bodyfat, you can get away with eating junk pretty much every day (or at 5 days) if you do it right.

1. The less processed the junk food, the better: homemade cookies over the chips-ahoy. Five Guys over McDonalds. Freshly made pizza a local shop instead of pizza in the frozen section, etc. Also try Spotted bananas, white rice (like sushi), potatoes, etc.

2. Try to work out in the afternoon like around 5pm, if you can't then either later at night or in the morning first thing

3. Don't eat none of those carb sources until either after you work out (if you train at 5) or at 6pm (if you can't train at 5).

4. try to get at least 20 grams of protein with these carb meals

5. Before the carb splurge eat under 50 grams of carbs (mostly leafy vegetables) and protein.

6. Skip breakfast, only need a cup of coffee.

This is probably the best way to eat junk carbs and get big without getting too fat. Your body will store prioritize glycogen storage over fat. BTW, drink a lot of water

[Hannibal]

A half a gallon of whole milk a day with at least 100 g of extra protein added in with whey powder. A half gallon of whole milk has 64 grams of fat, 102 grams of carbs (in the form of sugar), and 62 grams of protein, weighing in at approximately 1100 calories. If you pick a somewhat low carb protein powder, the macros look pretty damn good.

You should be able to put on some size with that, in addition to your regular meals. I don't like the "GOMAD" approach, people get way too fucking fat with it.

[Sonsowey]

As a skinny guy, junk food has helped me gain a bit of weight.

[Fortis]

Depends on how long you been lifting. Your first year you can eat anything and You'll put on a good amount of size because your body is like "holy shit. What is this trauma? I need to growwwww" but I find that if I eat bad food now (my second year) I pay for it near my belly and such.

I'm also a super ecto guy: 5'8 and 140-144 is where I stablize. I would suggest adding 1-2 shakes to your usual eating regime. It's a lot cleaner than what you're about to do and it has the added benefit of giving you some extra protein as well. What is your carb intake like? I find that ectos like us seem to need a lot of carbs. What sort of carbs? Not sure what your background is. I can eat a lot of rice and potatoes, but I know some guys of Northern European heritage say that potatoes and starchy carbs give them bloat and make them fat.

[H1N1]

You say you have trouble gaining weight. What is a typical day's eating for you? Usually when people say they have trouble getting weight, it turns out they aren't eating as much as they think they are. Not saying that's you necessarily, but I don't often come across many people who have managed to stay skinny eating a whole ton of food. List everything you eat on a typical day, and people might be able to point out some areas where you can easily add some calories.

Personally I don't think junk food is the answer. Usually, increasing calories by a few hundred today, so another cup of rice and a bit of additional protein is all it takes to kickstart growth again. But again, it'll be easier to help if we know what you typically eat.

[Cr33pin]

As much of one of these a day as you can handle (an it better be almost the whole thing) for a month. Lift heavy... Send my thank you payment to my pay-pal account

[Fortis]

Lol, do not drink a gallon a day. Look at the before and after pictures of people who drink a gallon of milk a day. Do you want to look like that? Didn't think so.

I could even see 1/4 of a gallon a day. But an entire gallon a day? You will turn into a fatty.

[alexdagr81]

If you are trying to get big, you can't be afraid of getting fat. Losing fat is also a lot easier than getting bigger muscles

[game_ethic]

Drink a glass of milk with every meal you eat.

[The Beast1]

When I started out, I used to eat a lot of processed food and junk food.

I noticed initially it would help me meet my goals, but soon after the foundational strength was laid down I found that I would get horribly sick from eating processed food and junk food. My stomach would hurt and I could seriously feel the mass of gunk traveling through my gut.

Traveling is the worst since all of the available food is nasty.

You'll be able to use junk food in the beginning, but you're going to reach a point where your body is going to crave whole foods.

[DrewP]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Many are suggesting foods dense in "good calories" rather than junk foods, and some of the "good calorie" foods mentioned thus far are:

-white rice
-nuts
-milk
-bananas
-protein powder
-eggs
-potatoes

Any others to be aware of?

And for what it's worth, I do already eat junk food in moderation; fast food once or twice a week, a few chips and cookies here and there, lots of cheese. The question isn't whether I want to start eating junk food, it's whether I want to up my intake a bit.

[Hannibal]

I don't know what your meal plan is, but if it is what many consider to be a well balanced meal - a serving of meat, vegetables, and maybe grains - then simply eat more frequent similarly sized meals.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to get bigger. If 1/3 of Americans can get fat (aka larger than normal) than so can you. Just eat cleaner and make protein a priority at every meal. It's no secret that if you binge carbs at every meal, you'll get fatter. Carbs are easier to fill up on and due to the spike in insulin, you will get hungry in a couple of hours no matter how many carbs you eat, calorie counting be damned.

Yeah, you have to eat at a caloric surplus to get fatter, but it's hard to get fatter from eating a caloric surplus of fat because fat is more filling and it's disgusting to eat by itself (sticks of butter and crisco by the spoonful).

[Bushido]

(02-28-2015 11:29 AM)Fortis Wrote:  

Lol, do not drink a gallon a day. Look at the before and after pictures of people who drink a gallon of milk a day. Do you want to look like that? Didn't think so.

I could even see 1/4 of a gallon a day. But an entire gallon a day? You will turn into a fatty.

OP stated that he is an "extreme natural ectomorph" so I think a gallon of milk is fine for a limited period such as 4-6 weeks. This is assuming he lifts HEAVY with all the compound exercises. This has proven to be the best way to put weight on skinny motherfuckers. It worked for me and it has worked for countless others too. Yes he will gain some fat, but an extreme ectomorph is not going to turn obese overnight. Doesn't work that way.

[Fortis]

Bro, that's 2000+ calories on top of what he's eating. That is NOT good advice for a natural bodybuilder. He's going to not just gain a tiny bit of fat. He's going to look like shit. That's being irresponsible with his health.

Look at how the people who do the GOMAD look at the end. They looked better before they started.

We can all agree that OP isn't eating enough. He is probably just a chronic undereater. He should start counting his calories and seeing where he is clocking in. After that, he can begin to add calories based on what he's doing. Adding 2000 calories to some random number of calories is not smart.

Sorry for the constant edits, but my overall advice for OP: add another 500 calories to what you're doing. See if that helps. If not try another 250-500 calories on top of that. That point of this stuff is to maximize muscle gain and minimize fat gain. Yes, you'll gain a little fat, but no reason to put yourself at 20% body fat if you don't have to. You can't speed up muscle growth beyond a certain point by adding unnecessary calories. Muscle gain is a slow process, but that's not reason to be sloppy about it. Buy yourself a food scale and calculate what you eat in a given day. If you're serious about not being a super skinny bastard you'll take the advice offered to you in this thread, but I would implore you to avoid drinking an entire gallon of milk a day. You will get fat.

[Bushido]

(02-28-2015 03:07 PM)Fortis Wrote:  

Bro, that's 2000+ calories on top of what he's eating. That is NOT good advice for a natural bodybuilder. He's going to not just gain a tiny bit of fat. He's going to look like shit. That's being irresponsible with his health.

Look at how the people who do the GOMAD look at the end. They looked better before they started.

Have you ever tried out GOMAD yourself?

We are talking about an "extreme ectomorph" here. 2000 more calories won't make him fat in 4 weeks.

[Fortis]

I used to be lactose intolerant, so I have not. The most I can drink is 1/4 a gallon a day. I still dont' see the point of adding 2000 calories to what he's eating if he doesn't count his calories first. If he's only eating 1000 calories a day, then adding another 2,000 probably is fine, but if he's eating nearly 2,000 calories a day, then adding another 2,000 does not sound that smart.

I am also ectomorphic, so I'm not pulling shit out of my ass.

[Bushido]

Sometimes what a super skinny guy needs is to know that he CAN actually gain mass.

Drinking a ton of milk will show him that it's possible.

There are too many hard gainers who believe they are somehow special in their inability to put on weight. They piss me off because I was one of them. I was one of them until I tried GOMAD and packed on a lot of mass in a short time period.

It's not always about the most efficient or healthiest solution, but a method that works for even the skinniest motherfucker. 4 weeks of GOMAD is not going to ruin your health. 6-12 months? That's a different story.