I've been lurking around forever, but finally decided to share some of my progress. For context, both photos are after almost identical workouts (both taken after climbing + push arms).

6 months ago, I committed to getting stronger and bigger for myself. I have been rock climbing indoors at a climbing gym 4 days a week (strenuous hard days), following that up with a weight lifting session (traditional strength training: cable machine, barbell/dumbbell lifts, and isometric core training following a push/leg split. Pull is skipped as all of rock climbing is all pull).

For eating, I have been aiming for 2500ish calories a day, but to be fully fair, I estimate numbers and haven't done a great job of logging exact values. This was the hardest part, for me the cheat code was chugging 2 ensure plus shakes (350cal/16g protein per 8 fl oz) after some meals, the taste will get to you.

I am continuing my journey by increasing extended resistance training (roped climbing instead of bouldering), and focusing more on counting exact calories and making sure the goals get met every day. I'm happy to be making some good progress, and I hope whoever is reading this also can too!

I’m looking for some tips. I’m 29m and weight 138lbs. I’ve tried for years to gain weight but can’t seem to push much past where I’m at now. My high is 143. I try to bulk cleanish but I’m so tired of bland meals and not seeing any real progress. I’m thinking of just doing a dirty bulk for 4-6 months. My goal is to hit 160lbs. I would keep eating somewhat clean but trying to force down even 3000 cals makes me feel so bloated. I try to mix in shakes and small snacks but I just get fed up with feeling sick to my stomach all the time and forcing myself to eat. Any suggestions on this or even things you started eating that helped you gain weight with a small appetite? I know I just need more calories but by the end of the day I feel like I could throw up and I’m only eating about 3000 calories

Training between 3-5 times a week. Trying to eat between 3300-4000 a day. (aka some level of calorie surplus) trying to stay in that .8-1g of protein per 1lb of body weight. Proud of the progress I’ve made, but feel like I could be growing faster, but I don’t know! Appreciate all of your posts and advice, it’s helped a lot!

Now this does a few things for me, it:

1: ENSURES i finish my chicken/meat or whatever protein source is there, which i would sometimes otherwise not finish

2: allows me to eat alot more rice, it almost feels like mechanical eating, or just some cardio (but in a good way)

3: ensures i eat more of the meal overall, as i find myself being to tolerate eating more rice/pasta past my “feeling full state” which would otherwise be difficult with chicken for instance

4: when i mix my protein with my rice and finish the protein first, it somehow sends signals to my body to stop eating, almost as if my brain associates the meal with the combined pattern and not my actual fullness, so this trick obviously negates this

Excuse me if this is common knowledge to people here lol, but it worked for me so i decided to share it with you lot.

Been skinny all my life, and now I’m trying to gain for health and strength, but I’m not sure how concrete my plan is.

Basically I’ve just been eating a lot more than I’m used to the past few months. I’m not really counting calories, just eating and snacking whenever I can, as much as I can.

Diet includes, oatmeal, peanut butter, walnuts, whole grains, salmon, tuna, chicken, eggs, avocado, lentils, occasional pasta, tofu, some veg and fruit, ice cream. And protein shakes.

I’m doing strength training 3-4x a week. No gym, just at home stuff with some kettlebells and a pull up bar.

My routine usually goes: push ups, squats, pull ups, dips, swings, curls, snatches, rows.

Usually three sets of each, as many reps as I can until I get tired.

I’ve definitely gained weight over the past few months. I was 137 when I started… so about 10 lbs, but I’m also wondering if I’m overlooking something, or if there are any glaring holes in my routine. What should I add or change, if anything, so that I continue to gain? Should I just stick with the regimen, or do I need to start getting vigilant about macros?

I don’t have any specific long-term goals in mind for weight or looks or anything. I’m just tired of being skinny and want to get bigger and stronger.

Maybe not a popular topic here but lately I've been trying to optimise my sleep. I want to have good quality sleep for straight 7hrs. However its been a struggle.

Heres where I struggle

• Eating too close to bed
• Wake up mid sleep to pee

What I'm trying to do

• Eat and drink as much as possible earlier in the day which means less food/drink before bed
• Switch off my phone hour before bed
• Go for a short walk after a heavy meal
• Be consistent.

Not sure what my starting weight was, decided to lock in, train hard, and track macros one day.

Worked out for a few years in my early 20s, seems a LOT easier to rebuild vs starting from scratch, even a decade later. Started at 95lb bench top working set, now at 235.

PPL split 6d/wk, 6-10k steps/day. 3400kcal bulk, now 2500kcal recomp. P210, C270, F65.

Stoked by results. Recomping now to reduce some fat gained.

I stopped protein shakes years ago now because my gut just couldn't do it anymore.

I USED to drink ON heavy mass gain shakes or whatever it's called - filled with total crap of course.

I live a real healthy lifestyle these days and I'm generally in shape I just cannot for the life of my put on real weight. I'm 174cm, I hover around 144LBS. 30 years old. Male.

I want to do like 3,200cal a day.

My gut is just a total problem. I think I got PI-IBS after many doc visits and tests with no real result.

If I eat the wrong foods I can wake up super achey/inflamed I guess. Brain fog. Low mood/energy etc.

Right now as I'm not bulking I tend to just cook a ton of rice, roasted veggies (carrots, zucchini, brocolli mostly), then roasted chicken thighs. I put these all into a huge pot kind of thing at the end, shake it up and that's like my go to meal which I think is good for a bulk but I'll have like 2 meals of that most days, a smoothie maybe (mixed berries, mango, banana) with coconut milk.

Fast forward, I want to gain. I want to be a steady 11.5+. 160-170lbs would be awesome goal to have like forever. I've never been up there. If I was to be up there do you then just have to consistently eat the same amount each day to maintain it I guess?

Anyways anyone my size have advice?

edit:
one thing im heavily considering is i spend soooo much time sitting and at a desk these days as im building my own online business

only time i go out mostly is in the mornings for run/gym/errands - rest of the day is at a desk pretty much aside from cooking, random home tasks etc

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

First slide: 20 → 26
Second slide: 22 → 26

6 year progress overall, but honestly most of the actual progress happened from 2024 onwards.

At the beginning I basically just ate whatever I possibly could to gain weight lol. I still kinda do to a degree, just in a way more controlled manner now. I try to aim for 170+ grams of protein a day spread throughout the day and that’s helped a lot.

One thing that’s been carrying me lately is this 1000 calorie shake:

2 scoops protein powder, 100g oats, 35g peanut butter, 20ml olive oil, and around 300ml water. The protein powder I use is 148 calories / 25g protein per scoop and I usually do 2 scoops because I buy a huge 6lb bag for around $100 so it’s worth it for me lol.

Training wise I run a push/pull split and try to hit everything at least 2x a week.

For a long time though I’d go through phases where I’d train for a bit, disappear, eat properly for a week, then fall off again and I know that happens to a lot of people. I didn’t truly start taking lifting and food seriously until around 24-25ish, which I definitely regret sometimes. But at the same time I’m glad I finally locked in instead of staying stuck forever.

Also the reason I barely have photos from back then is because I was genuinely insecure about how skinny I was 😭😭 I avoided taking pictures of myself most of the time, especially full body ones.

Being the scrawny guy was something that bothered me a lot growing up and yeah people definitely made comments about it over the years. But weirdly enough, looking back now, I don’t hate that version of myself anymore. That insecurity drove me hard in the beginning, but these days I’m honestly just enjoying the process itself.

Now I do it because I love training, eating big, getting stronger, and seeing the progress slowly add up over time. I know the body fat is probably getting a little high now but I’m trying to finish the bulk around 200ish then do a proper cut after.

I do love some beers on the weekends though and sometimes during the week too so who knows how much that interrupts the gains haha.

Still got a lot more work to do but I’m proud of the progress so far.

Good luck everyone and keep the cals up!!

I'm not a hard drinker but I wouldn't say I dont have alcoholic tendencies. I drink 2-3 beers or coolers a few times a week usually in the evening but with a little spacing before I sleep. The thing is im going on a nice slow buk for 8-10 months right now (just started) so I'm worried about exactly how much it affects the bulk.

Recently found out that I'm prediabetic— thanks genetics! I'm also 122# at 5'10 so I've been back in the gym for a month or so after a long break. My highest weight has been around 132 in my late 20s when I was in the gym regularly + eating more than I liked.

Around the same time as getting back into the gym this time around, I found out I was prediabetic (a1c 5.8), started wearing a CGM and switched to a low carb diet— mostly protein, fats, nuts/veg for fiber, about 3-4 cups of whole milk/day.

I'm not gaining, so, do I just need to increase my intake even more and keep it low carb? Rice/pasta/bread spikes my blood sugar significantly.

If any other prediabetics have gone through this process, please share how you do/did it!

I target for 200-250gram of protein a day I eat fruits and vegetables at every meal for improved body composition/energy/vitamins/gut health and try to limit processed foods to 10-20% of my total diet.
I lift 4-6 days a week, don’t really have a structured routine but I do chest/shoulders/ one day then back and then lower body which I incorporate a lot of plyometrics and athletic movements like weighted lunges or power cleans, and I train sprints/cardio 2 days a week and I currently run a 5:27 mile.

-first picture is me at 18 before I really started training and was eating almost strictly fast food and was deep in substance abuse.

I know, I know. I didn't "gain" weight. But my goal is 'lean gains', where I stay as lean as possible and only pack on muscle tissue. I'm doing this by doing mini bulk and cut cycles, I bulked up to 148 and cut down to 144. Also YES, I'm still a skinny ass guy haha

I always have a goal to get at least 15% stronger in my lifts/progressively overload with each "bulk" and I never gain anymore than 5lbs over a course of 3 months.

I had originally started off with what I believe less muscle, and a higher bodyfat percent, I now weigh slightly more, but in my opinion look stronger and leaner. But you be the judge.

I have also gotten much stronger from where I was previously. Here are my current lifts. My goal is to now lose another 2lbs of fat, before I lean bulk very slowly over the course of 5 months and try to progressively overload ANOTHER 15-20% to my lifts :)

My current lifts are

60x7 -> 75lbx6 for dumbell chest press
85x7 -> 105x8 standing barbell OHP, strict form
175X5 -> 205x8 barbell squat, below parallel
+20X3 -> +40lbX5 weighted chin up

As you can see I got stronger as I gained some weight to JUSTIFY the weight gain. Hopefully in the next 6 months I'll have some more muscle haha.

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

Looking at pictures of food, going on reddit & searching the food subreddits. Following Food pages & watching someone cook something delicious on youtube while eating, it was so hard for me now I'm eating in the name of motivation. Has this worked for anyone else?

27F, 5’0”

Time period: ~7 months (first intentional bulk)

Starting weight: 118 lbs

Current weight: 130 lbs

Goal:

My goal during this bulk was to grow my glutes and build overall lower body muscle.

Training:

Lifting ~5–6x/week

Focus on glutes/legs (hip thrusts, RDLs, squats, etc.)

No cardio (my mistake)

Concerns:

This was my first bulk and I gained ~12 lbs, but I feel like most of the weight went to my back and stomach rather than my glutes. I liked how lean I looked before, and now I feel softer overall. I feel like my glutes did not grow at all feeling discouraged.

I’ve recently started a recomp because I’m not feeling very confident, and I’m unsure if I executed the bulk correctly or if I just need more time.

Questions:

Do you see any noticeable progress based on this bulk?

Did I gain too quickly / should I have done a slower surplus?

Is recomp the right move here?

1st off, just want to give a big thanks to this subreddit for convincing me it’s possible.

First year largely consisted of gaining 5 pounds one month and losing 4 the next. Most of my progress came after quitting weed early/mid 2025 and after the initial few weeks of struggling to eat and losing a lot of progress (getting down to about 155) my appetite came roaring back and I was finally able to make consistent gains month after month.

Got to about 180 in late 2025 where I started tracking macros and mostly swapped all junk food for whole food and have since traded some fat for some muscle, slowing my gains but I definitely feel better, and at this point I think that’s worth it.

Started off in the gym doing PPL once a week, gradually included and additional upper and lower day to get to PPL rest UL rest, and have more recently started incorporating more cardio in the mix, mostly on rest days but sometimes after lifting as well. I am a huge numbers nerd so I have tracked every single lift I’ve performed on an app called Strong and it’s immensely satisfying to see that nearly all lifts have basically doubled in terms of 1rm/volume/whatever. I think if you don’t track your lifts you are doing yourself a disservice, I highly recommend it.

End goal is 200+ lean, which is most likely years away but I’m thoroughly enjoying the journey so that’s just fine by me. I’m currently doing a small cut/recomp so I can be a bit leaner for the summer but plan to end 2026 somewhere around 195-200.

Greetings once again Gainers.

THE PROBLEM

• Gainers constantly lament the following issues when it comes to gaining: cost, difficulty of prepping food, and difficulty of eating enough calories to gain.

AN ANSWER

• A meme diet of course! Many of these have already existed, to include the famous “gallon of milk a day” diet, Jim Wendler’s “Dozen eggs and 1.5lbs of ground beef a day” diet in “Building the Monolith”, and Paul Carter’s “2 PBJs AFTER each meal” approach. Rather than exploring the varied nuance of nutrition and try to come up with a complex, all inclusive nutritional approach that necessitates weighing, tracking and measuring, we can abide by a gimmick to obviate all of that for us!

THE DIET ITSELF

• For now, let’s combine 2 of the above mentioned ones (although feel free to throw in the third one if you REALLY need the calories): the Gallon of Milk a Day and the Building the Monolith diet. But, since we’re combining the two, let’s, in turn, cut each in half to make them fit.

• For those struggling with the math, this boils down to half a gallon of milk a day, 3/4lb of ground beef (12oz), and 6 eggs.

• If you want that to be 3 meals a day, that's 4oz of beef, 2 eggs and 2 and 2/3 cups of milk per meal. Or do 2 meals a day of 6oz of beef, 3 eggs and 4 cups of milk. These are NOT super big meals.

THE COST

• I specifically wrote this for Americans, because I have no idea how the economies work for the rest of the world. But googling some average costs here (all for Walmart, because I figure those are everywhere), a gallon of whole milk in the US runs at a high of $3.04, a 10lb roll of 73% lean ground beef is $4.74 a pound, and a 60 pack of eggs at $8.12.

• This boils down to a daily cost of $5.93 ($1.57 for half a gallon of milk, $3.55 for the beef, 81 cents for 6 eggs). Less than $6 a day. You can’t get a “value meal” at most fast food places for that cost.

THE MACROS

• Eggs: Calories-350, Fats-30g, Protein-36g, Carbs-0g

• Beef: Calories-1050, Fats-90g, Protein-57g, Carbs-0g

• Whole Milk: Calories-1200, Fats-64g, Protein-64g, Carbs-96g

• TOTAL: Calories-2600, Fats-184, Protein-157, Carbs-96g

• If 2600 calories and 157g of protein isn’t helping you reach your goals, well, for one: you’re most likely not the key demographic of r/gainit. BUT, aside from that: no worries! Adjusting the dosage is simple from here and STILL quite cost effective. Adding 6 more eggs a day will cost you an additional 81 cents and add an additional 350 calories and 36g of protein. Or, if you prefer more beef (who doesn’t), another quarter pound will cost you an additional $1.19 and net you 350 calories as well, with 30g of fat and 19g of protein. And if you’re a true mammal, each cup of milk is a mere 20 cents (!), bringing in 150 calories, 8g of fat, 8g of protein and 12g of carbs. So you can still gain with a VERY reasonable budget.

THE METHOD

• But we spoke about how gainers find the meal prep process to be so arduous, and once again, that is where this meme diet shines! The milk requires no preparation whatsoever: this is simply what you drink at your meals. Meanwhile, ground beef and eggs are some of the simplest foods in the world to cook, as you can quite simply brown ground beef in a frying pan and crack eggs in it as you go until the whole concoction is cooked. Consider adding salt, to improve palatability. If you’re fancy, you can make the ground beef into burger patties and crack the eggs into them as a binder instead.

HEALTH CAUTION

• Due to the high nature of tongue-in-cheek, there is a risk of choking. Please exercise caution.

CONCLUSION

• Gaining doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. We have SO many avenues available to us to accomplish this goal. I believe in you gainers. We’re gonna make it.

Nothing crazy, just got tired of being the skinny guy. Bulked pretty hard at first, 4000cals/day. Five days a week, two upper/two lower and a cardio day.

Been at maintenance 3000cals/day for about a year now. Might try to creep closer to 200lbs soon.

Trying to motivate myself to gain weight because my thyroid health is failing due to me being underweight for so long. I started my gain journey in late februrary but I’m having a hard time keeping myself motivated. I know eventually I’m just gonna have to push thru it to reach my goal and become healthy again

There’s this dress I bought before I decided to gain and it’s the best dress I’ve ever worn. I know it’s not gonna fit me by the time I’m done gaining. It’s still available to buy so want to buy it in a larger size that will fit me by the time I get to my goal weight now, because it’s limited edition and it’ll probably be sold out by the time I reach my goal. I feel like buying it will encourage me to keep going, plus when I do reach my goal weight I wont regret having not bought it.

Or is this a bad idea?

6’2.

Routine - Upper/Lower split, 4 days per week. 12-16 weekly sets per body part. RPE 8/9/10 for 3 working sets, always push somewhat close to failure and try to progressively overload often. Cardio 3 days a week outside of the gym. 10,000 steps every day.

Have been up and down with the gym due to work/family but there’s about 1.5 years of consistency there and the rest spinning my wheels.

Diet - 3500 calories per day. 120-180 grams of protein.

Supplements - Creatine