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The "problem" with oatmeal isn't that it's oatmeal. It's that most people don't eat oatmeal without SOMETHING else in it to flavor it. Oatmeal, without added anything, tastes not entirely unlike mashed soggy cardboard. So people add sugar. Or in some cultures - gravy. Either way, they're adding SOMETHING - and it's that something that you have to be careful of, not the oatmeal itself.
FYI I enjoy oatmeal too and have it 3-4 times every week. I add a pat of butter - no milk. A tablespoon of brown sugar, raisins, and cinnamon. The sugar might very well create a catalyst with all those starch carbs of the oatmeal to negate any possible benefit the oatmeal had, before the sugar was added. I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. I just love my oatmeal that way, and it fills me up, gives me that morning boost to get me through til lunchtime, is simple to prepare, involves zero cooking (I nuke it in the bowl that I'm eating it in), and has plenty of nutrients.
I agree completely with this. You can add Stevia or something of the sort to keep the "additives" to a minimum, same with buying the low sugar oatmeal packets, they may even have sugar free.
I am in a constant battle to try and gain weight, so the more I can add, the better lol. This morning I had 2/3 cup in my morning shake, then at 9 a.m. I had 3 packets of maple and brown sugar.. Of course, not the ideal oatmeal, but it could still be worse. Yesterday at 9 I replaced my 3 packets of oatmeal with 2000 calories of carb ridden junk from McDonalds, and still at my 8 hard boiled eggs...
The struggle to gain is often as bad as the struggle to lose, force feeding is miserable.
I agree completely with this. You can add Stevia or something of the sort to keep the "additives" to a minimum, same with buying the low sugar oatmeal packets, they may even have sugar free.
I am in a constant battle to try and gain weight, so the more I can add, the better lol. This morning I had 2/3 cup in my morning shake, then at 9 a.m. I had 3 packets of maple and brown sugar.. Of course, not the ideal oatmeal, but it could still be worse. Yesterday at 9 I replaced my 3 packets of oatmeal with 2000 calories of carb ridden junk from McDonalds, and still at my 8 hard boiled eggs...
The struggle to gain is often as bad as the struggle to lose, force feeding is miserable.
Eating junk as a weight-gain method is going to make you gain weight, and ALSO make you gain health problems.
Yes you need more calories, but they don't have to be crap and sugar. How about a big baked potato with shredded cheddar cheese? What about adding walnuts to - pretty much everything you eat? More fresh fruits and fresh-fruit smoothies. Try whole milk instead of low-fat, or full-fat cottage cheese and unsweetened full-fat yogurt with over-ripe banana slices and sliced strawberries in it. More nuts. When you have salads (I hope you're enjoying salads!), add chicken and an olive-oil dressing. Enjoy "meaty" types of fish, like salmon and tuna steaks.
In other words, you want your calories to count. You want them to have a nutritional reason for entering your body. Empty calories will make you fat, or sick, or both. Sure, have a Big Mac once a week if you like them. But don't use them as your weight-gain method. It'll set you up for failure just as surely as someone trying to -lose- weight will fail when they go on a Twinkie diet.
Also, body-building types of exercises, to build muscle. Barbell and free weight lifting, core strength exercises such as pushups and planks and squats. A cubic foot of muscle weighs more than a cubic foot of fat. So building muscle can only improve your weight, and give your body something to transform to, when you burn calories.
Eating junk as a weight-gain method is going to make you gain weight, and ALSO make you gain health problems.
Yes you need more calories, but they don't have to be crap and sugar. How about a big baked potato with shredded cheddar cheese? What about adding walnuts to - pretty much everything you eat? More fresh fruits and fresh-fruit smoothies. Try whole milk instead of low-fat, or full-fat cottage cheese and unsweetened full-fat yogurt with over-ripe banana slices and sliced strawberries in it. More nuts. When you have salads (I hope you're enjoying salads!), add chicken and an olive-oil dressing. Enjoy "meaty" types of fish, like salmon and tuna steaks.
In other words, you want your calories to count. You want them to have a nutritional reason for entering your body. Empty calories will make you fat, or sick, or both. Sure, have a Big Mac once a week if you like them. But don't use them as your weight-gain method. It'll set you up for failure just as surely as someone trying to -lose- weight will fail when they go on a Twinkie diet.
Also, body-building types of exercises, to build muscle. Barbell and free weight lifting, core strength exercises such as pushups and planks and squats. A cubic foot of muscle weighs more than a cubic foot of fat. So building muscle can only improve your weight, and give your body something to transform to, when you burn calories.
I understand what you're saying but I have a feeling you underestimate how much I already eat. Once you eat sooooo much healthy food, it gets hard to keep adding in a LOT more calories of healthy food.
Right now this is what my meals consist of just to maintain my current weight:
Meal 1: 1.5 cups egg whites, 1.5 scoops protein, 3/4 cup oatmeal, 1.5 cups almond milk, 1 banana
Meal 2: 8 hard boiled eggs, 1.5 cups oatmeal (I get the oatmeal packets that have more calories)
Meal 3: 10 oz meat (chicken, turkey, beef) 2 cups carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta)
Meal 4: 10 oz meal (chicken, turkey, beef) 1 cup carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta)
Meal 5: 2 scoops protein (50g protein, 30 g carbs) then some other carb sources that depends
Meal 6: 10 oz meat (chicken, turkey, beef) 1 cup carbs (rice, potatoes, pasta)
Other than the yolks in my hard boiled eggs (I don't eat all the yolks due to cholesterol) I have no added fat sources. I get all my fat from the foods I eat, and to be honest, all fat does is make me fat. I should be able to gain weight off of additional carbs.
As you see from my 6 meals above, I eat a TON of food. I would bet 95% of people could not eat that much food on a daily basis. It has taken me years and years to work on my appetite to get it to the point I can eat as much clean food as I do.
A google search tells me that one potato is roughly 160 calories. You add enough "stuff" to it, and maybe you can get it to 300-400. Eating 1000 calories of McDonalds breakfast is probably easier than eating 300-400 calories of potatoes, and you get 2-3x the calories.
Is it healthy? nope! But to be honest that's just not my greatest concern after a certain point. I eat all my "healthy" food each day, but one person can only stomach soooo much food. I don't have the appetite to add in more "clean" meals every day.
I don't care for McDonalds, however I can eat it and it has a lot of carb loaded calories.
My weight lifting is spot on, my physique is where I want it to be, just more muscle. I'm 5'10, 215lbs and around 10% body fat. I just can't possibly eat enough to gain more fat and more muscle. I'm trying to, but I think I may be genetically limited to 215 or something.
Oh hell stop trying to gain weight. You look PERFECT as-is. Maybe do some more pull-downs or rows for your deltoids and trapezoid muscles, they're not -as- defined (comparatively) as your torso and arms (though there's absolutely nothing "lacking" in your shoulders or traps).
Good freaking grief I thought you were complaining about being like 5'10" and 135 or something. Jeez Louise!
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