How to Bulk Up Fast - Without Gaining Fat

This is the simplest advice you can use to BULK UP FAST without getting fat at the same time! If calorie counting is not your thing then simply monitor the number of cups, scoops and tbsp. I would suggest starting with portion sizes of 1 for everything while the 40-60 grams of protein always is consistent i.e. 1 cup, 1 scoop and 1 tbsp of the above ingredients and than build to two and three where recommended.

I used the same formula when I lived at home with my parents and gained over 50 pounds of muscle mass over the course of a year. My Mom was a tough negotiator and only agreed to shop for my breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Those three meals covered about half of my caloric intake getting me close to 3000 calories each day. My meal plan required a consumption of four to five thousand calories so I was still a few thousand calories short from new muscle growth.

If you are like me and work 8-12 hours a day then it is easy to become apart of the 'Lame Blame Club' that defaults to the most convenient excuses in the book. If you are trying to build more muscle mass than you must have a easy strategy to get in those extra 1000-2000 precious calories that you are missing.




Vince's Transformation: 150 to 190 lbs.


The 'See' Food Diet Is Not The Answer
Too bad it's not as easy as picking up a box of five dollar pizza or four cheeseburgers on your way home from work to make up those extra calories. Actually, it is that easy, if you believe that a calorie is a calorie.

If building muscle was as easy as stuffing 8,000 calories of pizza, fries and burgers then I don't think anybody on this planet would have a problem gaining huge muscles! The extra calories I am going to recommend are based on clean calories. These extra calories are for the guys who want to build slabs of new muscle without a fat gut, love handles and a double chin!

Most mass diets wreak havoc on your health because they are based on unclean calories. Sure you climb the scale quickly but you also run the risk of other health problems associated with poor diet. Will your time in the gym offset these health problems associated with carrying too much fat? A little, but not much, and not in the long run.





Right now your body needs a certain number of calories to grow. Let me ask you a simple question. Are you as muscular as you want to be right now?

Yes. Then keep doing what you are doing!

No. Then most likely your body needs a strategy to ingest an extra 1000-2000 calories per day. How are you going to do that?


Store Bought Weight Gainer Shakes Are Not The Answer


Most guys resort to weight gain shakes. The weight gain shakes at health food stores are usually made with very poor protein quality and loads of sugar.


Not good, but the idea of a weight gainer shake is an excellent one. Liquid-calories are easy to consume and ideal for in between meal feeding. But you got to make your own unless you want to look like a pregnant powerlifter!

Weight Gainer Forum Threads:


Home-Made Gainer Shake!!! - Started By X-Mark-X
Weight Gainer As Meal Replacement? - Started By mikejnger
Homeamde Weight Gainer Recipes - Started By high psi
Complete Meal Solution/Gainer Shake Sub - Started By snatohessnaths


The Home Made Weight Gainer Is The Answer!


Here's what you will need:


Three-four large 1 L water bottles
A blender
Couple bags of frozen berries from Costco
A tub of natural peanut butter
A tub of protein powder
A few bags of low fat milk
10 minutes of your day

No, you are not mixing all these ingredients exactly but you can mix the following:


1-3 cups of low fat milk - 300 calories
1-2 cups of mixed berries - 200 calories
40-60 grams of protein powder - 160-240 calories
1-2 tbsp of natural peanut butter - 200 calories

As you can see, this adds up quickly to over 800 clean calories and they are all healthy foods. You will notice that these shakes have no junk sugars and no 'bad' fats. So for all those whiners who complain that they can't get enough food each day - throw that excuse out the window. You now have a solution.



You Are In Complete Control Of How Big You Get


These shakes are completely flexible and you are in control of how much weight you gain and at which rate. Don't be surprised if the volume of the these shakes make you part with your wash board abs and result in canceling your Calvin Klein photo shoots. Throw a couple of these shakes into your daily meal plan and you'll fill that gap towards new muscle growth. No drive through required!




Remember, the title of this article was how to bulk up fast, not how to stay lean all year. I believe that bulking up is the most effective way to gain mass muscle. Taking the stay lean all year approach might help you build 5 pounds of muscle a year if you're lucky but taking the bulk up like you mean it will help you skyrocket 20-30 pound or more and actually make you look like someone who lifts weights! Which one do you want?

Taken from Bodybuilding.com

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How to Lose Weight

The healthiest way to lose weight is neither crash diets nor bursts of exercise. The body likes slow changes in terms of food and exercise.
For example, someone who hasn't exercised for years shouldn't rush into running miles a day or pounding the treadmill. Not only will the struggle to do so leave you feeling disheartened and demotivated, you're also far more likely to injure yourself and set your fitness levels back further.
The same goes for people who suddenly start starving themselves. Diets that severely restrict calories or the types of food 'allowed' can lead you to be deficient in the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs.
So, if you need to lose weight, what should you do?

Energy needs and weight loss

Your body uses food for energy. It stores any excess energy as fat. This means if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities and cell maintenance, you'll gain weight.
To lose weight, you need to get your body to use up these stores of fat. The most effective way to do this is to:

• reduce the amount of calories you eat
• increase your levels of activity.

This is why experts talk about weight loss in terms of diet and exercise.

Introduce changes gradually

Small changes can make a big difference. One extra biscuit a week can lead you to gain 5lb a year – cut that biscuit out of your diet and you'll lose the same amount.
You're also more likely to stick to, say, swapping full-fat milk for semi-skimmed or making time for breakfast each morning than a diet that sets rules for all foods.
You should think of weight loss in terms of permanently changing your eating habits. While weight-loss goals are usually set in term of weeks, the end game is to sustain these changes over months and years, ie lifestyle change for life.

Increase your activity levels

Someone who increases the amount they exercise, but maintains the same diet and calorie intake, will almost certainly lose weight.
No matter if you hate gyms – even light exercise, such as a short 20 minute walk, will be beneficial if done most days of the week.
Every single time you exercise more than usual, you burn calories and fat.
There are lots of ways to increase the amount of activity you do. Team sports, racket sports, aerobics classes, running, walking, swimming and cycling will all improve your fitness levels.
Find something you enjoy that's easy for you to do in terms of location and cost. You're then more likely to build it into your routine and continue to exercise, despite inevitably missing the odd session through holidays, family commitments, etc.

• Get out and about at the weekend. Leave your car on the drive and walk to the shops. Try to incorporate longer walks into outings to the park, coast or countryside and take a picnic, so you're in control of what you are going to eat that day.
• Every extra step you take helps. Always use the stairs instead of the lift, or get off the bus a stop before the usual one and walk the rest of the way.
• Use commercial breaks between TV-programmes to stand up and do exercise, or consider using an exercise bicycle in the living room while watching your favourite programme.

Reduce your calorie intake

What is overweight?

Doctors use BMI to assess weight.
A BMI of 18.5 to 25 is healthy.
If you have a BMI of more than 25, you're overweight.
Over 30 is obese.
Over 40 is morbidly obese.
To calculate your BMI, you'll need to know your weight in kilos and your height in metres, then follow the example below.
1. Multiply your height by itself, eg 1.7x1.7= 2.89.
2. Divide your weight (eg 80kg) by this figure.
3. 80 ÷ 2.89= 27.7.
27.7 is the BMI.

If you're overweight, you can't continue with your current eating habits if you really want to lose weight.
It's not possible to reduce body fat while eating lots of food, cakes and sweets. This doesn't mean you can never have any treats, but you need to learn how to limit these foods to small quantities – say, for special occasions.
In terms of weight-loss, you can get your body to use up existing stores of fat by eating less and making healthier choices.
This doesn't mean crash diet (anything less than 1500 calories), which usually ends up with you either getting weaker or giving up in desperation. Quick-fix diets can lead to a yo-yoing effect of drastic weight loss followed by weight gain, resulting in a vicious cycle.
There are no shortcuts to losing weight in a healthy and reasonable way.
Eating 300 to 500 calories less per day should lead to a loss of between one and two pounds per week. This is a realistic target. It may seem slow, but it would add up to a weight loss of more than three stone in a year.
Fat contains the most amount of calories out of all the food types (protein, carbohydrates), so a good way to achieve this is to cut down on fatty foods and eat more wholegrain bread, fruit and vegetables.
Below are ways to reduce calorie intake without having to alter your diet significantly.

• Replace fizzy drinks and fruit cordials with water.
• Swap whole milk for semi-skimmed, or semi-skimmed for skimmed.
• Eat less lunch than usual. For example, make your own sandwich and limit the use of margarine or butter and full-fat mayonnaise (store-bought sandwiches often contain both).
• Stop taking sugar in tea and coffee.
• Have smaller portions of the food you enjoy.
• Avoid having a second helping at dinner.
• Cut out unhealthy treats – such as confectionary, sugary biscuits and crisps between meals.
• Cut down on alcohol intake.

All these things will influence your health in a positive way.
Finally, don't be tempted to skip breakfast – or any meal to lose weight. While skipping a meal will reduce your calorie intake for that hour, it will leave you much hungrier later on.
Not only are you likely to overeat to compensate, but you'll often make bad choices to fill the gap: a cereal bar is not as healthy as a bowl of cereal or as filling, leading you to 'need' something extra for lunch.
Irregular eating habits also disrupt your body's metabolism, which makes it harder to lose weight in the first place.

Write down your plan

Food diary

If you're not sure what's wrong with your diet, try keeping a daily diary of everything you eat and drink.
You can use a notebook or an online diary.
At the end of the week, review your entries for problem areas.
Look out for processed foods, alcohol, fast food, roasts, creamy sauces and fried foods.
If your diet seems largely healthy, look at portion sizes.
If you're not sure what's meant by 'healthy diet', read our series on nutrition.

Once you've decided on what changes you're going to make, write them down. For example:

Week 1

• Exercise: one 20 minute walk every lunch hour.
• Alcohol: none in the week, two small glasses of wine on Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
• Food: no chocolate or biscuits in the week, choose healthy snacks such as fruit, trim all fat from meat, eat no fried or fast food.
• For each week list your targets concerning alcohol, exercise and your food plan.
• Each day should then be listed in a simple chart and items you have had should be written down. It is also important to make a note of your mood and any comments you would like to get off your chest for each day.

Be patient and persevere

It might take a week or two before you notice any changes, but they will steadily appear. After the first month you'll be able to see the results and measure them in terms of looser fitting clothes.
Keeping your motivation up is one of the most difficult aspects of dieting. There will be days when healthy eating goes out the window, and there will be weeks where you may not lose any weight – or put a little back on.
This is normal for everyone – dieters or not – so don't let it undo your plans for a slimmer you. You're not doing anything 'wrong', but you may need to look at your plan. Do you need to increase your activity levels? Make a few more changes to your diet? Put more effort into sticking to your current plan?
The other side of this is to make sure you celebrate your goals. While there's joy enough in stepping on the scales and seeing them dip lower, be sure to mark long-term progress with a reward – such as new clothes or time off from domestic chores.
Celebrating is also a way to involve your nearest and dearest – it's up to you whether you want their encouragement in the form of gentle reminders not to eat certain foods. But support from other people can get you through the bumpy patches.

Health benefits of weight loss

Studies show that overweight women who lose between 10lb and 20lb halve their risk of developing diabetes. For men, the risk of heart problems reduces considerably.
Generally, we gain weight as we age. A few pounds over the years are not a problem, but people who gain more than 20lb compared to their weight as an 18-year-old will rapidly increase their risk of health problems due to that extra weight. In particular, women increase their risk of heart attack and double their risk of dying from cancer.
It may seem like these are problems to worry about in the future, but time flies by and tomorrow becomes today. By keeping your weight in the healthy range, you're less likely to be troubled by illnesses in your later years.

Read more: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/loseweight.htm#ixzz2EVSjzwZl
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