Category: Diet

Obviously gaining weight involves taking in more calories than you are burning. Some people like eating clean, personally I like eating dirtier, and found that it was far simpler to eat so called “dirty” foods and get big. Every time I’ve bulked it hasn’t involved the cleanest of food sources. Here are some of the foods to use:

15 Foods That Will Get You Jacked

1. Milk- If you can handle it, a gallon of while milk packs 128 grams of protein, a ton of fat, and a ton of carbs, and 2400 calories. Cost $2-3, drink a gallon daily, and you have half your nutrition requirements.
2. Ground Beef- High In Protein and Fat, you’ll get ballpark 1300 calories and 70 grams of protein in the fattiest, cheapest cut per lb. A solid meal is an entire pound mixed with cheese, and rice( if you want the carbs).
3. Eggs- can be consumed in 1000 manners, my favorites being fried in copious amounts or drank raw as part of a shake.
4. Top Ramen- just shy of 2400 calories for $1, lots of carbs, some fat, 60 grams of protein. Quick to make, you may want to toss the flavor packets though.
5. Rice- I prefer white over brown, I stomach it better, similar in cost to ramen, but healthier, and can’t be consumed in as high quantities( less calorically dense). I’ll mix this with cheese, ground beef, eggs, peas. Basically as the carb base for a meal. If I can’t stomach anything a bowl of white rice mixed with Mexican mix cheese is my go to.
6. Chicken- fattier cuts, just as high in protein, are cheaper, and taste better than breast meat. You have no idea how unlikely it is for me to want chicken breast.
7. Frozen Pizza- Lots of calories, generally around 70 grams of protein here. The laziest way to eat 5000 calories, without it being too terrible is a gallon of milk and a frozen pizza.
8. Peanut Butter- by the spoonful, as part of a shake, or as part of a sandwich. Cheap and easy, there’s a reason we grow up eating it.
9. Shakes- Not your lame whey in water shake, but a blended mix of everything but the kitchen sink. Milk and/or eggs as the base, peanut butter, bananas, olive oil(yes I’ve drank it in shakes), oats. Anything that sounds good to you and passes the will it blend test. Have fun here.
10. Soda- Need calories, and have a hard time eating? Drinking them is your friend, like it is with milk or a nutritional shake. While soda is straight sugar, and has no nutritional value, we’re here just for the calories. It’s not hard to drink a 2 liter, and it’s an extra ~800 calories if you do.
11. Oats- Already mentioned as part of shakes, but they can be eaten as oatmeal, or raw mixed in with fried eggs(before you fry it). Very versatile, and a very “Clean” food.
12. Junk Food- Too many options to name one in specific, they are an easy way to get calories in. Often cheap, and somewhat addicting a sweat tooth can make it much easier to pack in calories. For example a 6 pack of Honey Buns is roughly 1200 calories. That can be demolished in a minute.  It’s not hard to eat a bag of Doritos, a dozen donuts, or really any junk food for that matter. If you’re trying to get bigger they can be a godsend. Don’t worry about  the fact you’re eating the whole pack, that’s the goal here.
13. Mozzarella sticks- like the frozen pizza, similar in calories, and slightly higher in protein, they’ve been a staple for me as of late.
14. Any Food You Love/Works For You- If you like it, and it can be eaten in copious quantities have at it.
15. Canned Tuna- due to the vagueness of #14 this makes at least my list. I personally love it. I will eat as much as I can get my hands on to the disgust of most around me. Haven’t died of mercury poisoning yet.

Conclusion

Now you don’t have to treat my list as the be all and end all of bulking food choices. I put #14 Any Food You Love/Works For You there for a reason. You have to find what works for you. Some foods I list may disgust you(tuna), be overpriced ( eggs, they highly vary in cost by locale), or you may not be of European descent and would shit yourself if you drink milk. Do what works for you.

-J

 

 

 

 

It makes me laugh how much mental effort some put into the idea of getting big, bulking up.

The science involved isn’t rocket science. It’s quite simple really. You have to eat more than you’re burning. Yes there are times when you will recomp,but that’s not the topic here.

Bulking : How To Do It , The Pluses And The Minuses:

How:

Eat more. You’ll want to get more protein in, but carbs will be how you really up the calories. They can cost pennies and are easy to eat in copious amounts.

After wrestling season ended my junior year of high school in ten days I went from 195 to 215. How you ask? I ate everything I could get my hands on, and wasn’t running 3-5 miles near daily.

During spring track I was between 225 and 235.

Over that summer I force fed up to a little over 250 (253lbs), again eating everything I could get my hands on, and in large quantities. I’d drink a gallon + of whole milk daily,often eat ground beef mixed with cheese by the pound, eat every available home cooked meal, and lots of junk food. Yes I got fat, but after dropping down to 225 I looked fine. I honestly feel at the time this was the only way I’d get bigger.

Pluses:

You can radically change your homeostasis point for size.

You can become far larger than nature sans force feeding and weights would have you. For me to get past 185 at 6′ I had to force feed. 185 to 195 , was olive oil mixed into chocolate milk/protein shakes. 195 to 215, everything, 215 to 250 even more so, 225 to 245 slower,with conditioning, but with the same diet approach.

Minuses:

Doing it dirty/Sumo wrestler style , you will get more fat. This isn’t the end of the world. If you keep in conditioning work this can be mitigated, and give it time and you will lean out at a new bigger bodyweight set point.

Foods:

I know some who eat only “clean” foods. That’s not me. I got bigger with milk as my staple. Often when I want size or faster strength gains I add in more dirtier sources such as frozen pizza, mozzarella sticks, or straight up junk food like soda,honey buns, Doritos etc.

I don’t believe you really need gram+ of protein per pound of bodweight. You can make do with far less. The more important part of the game is calories. Hit a minimal amount of protein say 150 grams day and then get to 4-6k calories daily. This guarantees that you’ll be big. If you train hard enough, and condition hard you won’t be fat, you may have a normal level ie not particularly lean level of bodyfat,but not fat either. Train long enough and as you get stronger you’ll slowly recomp.

Recap:

Dirty bulking and big compound lifts are how I was able to get far past 200lbs, and stay there.

Keep in calisthenics and conditioning with this though. This keeps you from getting sloppy. A minimum level of performance in each is very useful to maintain.

Get It.

-J

Now according to gym rules this may be dirty as hell, and leads most to say I couldn’t possibly be functional on such a diet. But just like my lack of a training program, I fly in spite of the circumstance. My food intake is not even IIFYM(If It Fits Your Macros), at best it could be defined as a near disregard to what I eat.Here it is.

To Be A Vulture

Firstly I eat what’s available. I’m like a vulture, or maybe a goat. Probably some combination of both to be honest. I will eat anything. Don’t want to finish your meal, I got this. Oh you’re giving me that food, ok I’ll eat it. (I was once given  6 dozen + donuts, I ate most that weekend, 48 hrs of donuts, almost nothing else, and 1000+ pushups a day, jump rope, and swimming)

Honestly I always had the mentality that I’d just out train my diet. I can remember saying  this after one too many days of cutting weight. I’d rather add 1000 calories of activity than not eat the food. Plus I do lots of calisthenics and random work outside of the gym.

But to the meat of things.

How To Grocery Shop For A Broke Bulk

When I’m grocery shopping, and I learned this while broke as fuck, I separated food into the two simple categories

1. Protein Source
2. Calorie Source

I paid no heed to the carb vs fat content of the calories sources, I just looked for low cost items that i enjoy.

Cost efficient was defined in 2 ways:

1. Grams Protein/$
2. Calories/$

I looked for 40 + grams protein per dollar, but would occasionally let this slide to 30-35( pork/beef)

For calories I tried to get 1000+ per dollar. White rice, and top ramen max this at 2000-2500cals per dollar. Dollar store generic cookies hit 1200.

Generic soda is in this ballpark, as are generic pop tarts.

I was ok letting it slide as low as 500 calories per dollar though.

Unlike most I can thrive on “crap” foods, and happen to enjoy food combinations that no one else does.

I happened to just eat a bowl consisting of 2 packs ramen w chicken flavor packs, 1/2 cup oats, a bunch of mexican 4 cheese mix, and a decent amount of pepperoni thrown together. I almost added peanut butter, or tuna, but wasn’t feeling either at the time.( I have mixed all of the above in the past though)

Now that I’ve mentioned that run the cost and macros. Easily 1500 calories, prep/cooking 5 minutes, and the cost ~$1.50.  60+ grams protein, fuck ton of carbs and fat. Honestly I’m probably low balling all the numbers but cost. It’s probably close to 2k calories. The ramen and oats alone hit 1k.

$30-50 wk

If you have the time to train a shit ton, and not much cash you could still bulk on less than $30 week. Hell with $50 you could buy far more than you could possibly eat.

Check this:

Round here we have eggs for 75¢ or less per dozen ( Walmart by the 60ct, or grocery store sales), milk is $1.99-2.60 gallon (depends on store) rice 2olbs for $11, Ramen 12 packs cost $1.99. Chicken leg quarters cost $7 for 10lb bags. Hell ground beef costs a bit under $2lb in 5 or 10lb rolls.

For calories, you can get generic junk food cheap. Cookies, pop tarts, soda. The cream soda doesn’t taste any different, root beer depends on the store. Hell sometimes the dollar stores carry canned fish, mackerel, or salmon where you can  open, drain and get 40-60grams protein ready made for a dollar. Others may hate you for the smell though. And shit I forgot pork rinds, dollar store carries those too ,50 grams protein a dollar there in snack form.

So say $30 week, thats $4 daily, with $2 left over.

First off the calories need to be high. So ramen.

For protein we’re looking at cheap meat or eggs, milk can be an option too.

Eating Plan

An example of each days food:

• 6 packs Ramen. $1, 2400 cals, 60g protein
• 2 lbs chicken leg quarter, $1.40,  1200 cals, 70g  protein
• 1 dozen eggs, 75¢, 840 cals, 72 g protein
• 1/3 gallon of milk, 67¢,  800 cals,  42 g protein

That’s roughly 5000 calories and ~245 grams protein day at a cost of $3.82 day.

Technically I came in at $26.74 week. Theres a little left over for more.

Hell $50 wk can involve better foods, but imagine that is just too much for you right now. Off the top of my head 3 lbs ground beef, 6 packs ramen a day, similar cals, similar protein. That’s the no thinking version but put some thought into it, you can do much better here, and rotate in awesome stuff like steak or bacon.

At either price point you could cycle the meats a bit more, or lose the milk and sub with meat or eggs.

Eggs are essentially the SUPERFOOD.

$30 wk, broke but bulked.

Make sure you move a lot though.

How Many Meals + The Trick To Pigging Out

Now that plan could be 2 meals daily for the ravenous, or those who don’t like eating frequently. 3  squares for just about anyone. If you cant eat big, or like the frequency sit down 4 times. A dozen eggs isnt that huge, nor a lb of leg quarter. Milk is easy to drink whenever.

The secret to eating copious amounts is to eat as much as you can in a roughly 20 minute period from the first bite to end.

Split that plan into 2-4 meals it’ll fit easily in the time frame.

Cook the chicken bulk, and reheat a lb per meal, let the chicken cool, and microwave the ramen. Sit a large glass and the milk container at the table. Wait till the chicken is cool enough to use your hands, and start. The eggs can be fried , or for the lazy microwaved into the ramen. Raw eggs are fine. Salmonella has been way overblown.

Mind you I consider this dirty eating, and I eat very dirty.

It may not be the healthiest. So as I said move a LOT.

I wouldn’t cut conditioning here. Bad shit happens when you do.

But this will support strength and mass.

I’d consider healthy eating organic keto. I personally never buy organic though.(Still broke)

Healthy with in reason to me is steak and mashed potatoes.(Not organic)

Do what you gotta do. Any circumstance can be worked with.

-J