Is it possible to gain weight / mass with just US$50 per month?

[Fox]

Learn how to make more money.

There are 100s of hustles on here where you could make that money easy.

Read @SinisterLex upwork threads.

Then go have a steak sandwich.

 

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[LifestyleGem]

Well..... guys... I see a bunch of pictures of beans and such but.....

Is $50 the most you're willing to pay for a better body? Some things require investment, and you usually get what you pay for.

 

[BigRomeDawg]

The cheapest high protein foods are stuff like lentils, beans, quinoa and tofu. Buy in bulk and there are a million things you can do with them recipe wise.

This guy knows what's up. To expand:

You don't need mass gainer. You can load up on all these staples for under $50 and they will last you multiple months.

Grains:
RICE
QUINOA

Protein:
BEANS
LENTILS
TOFU

Carbs:
POTATOS
OATS

Produce:
BANANAS call grocers, preferably smaller local ones, they might sell flats of ripe bananas for huge discounts. Freeze them so they don't go bad, use in smoothies. I've paid $10 for a 30 pound flat before. (that's 0.30/lbs, usually .50-.90/lbs)
Go to costco and get mondo bags of spinach and broccoli. Eat veggies with every meal!!!

 

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[Ascension]

If you want to gain weight protein powder isn't your best option.
Protein is extremely satiating and excess protein will make it hard for you to get the necessary calories in. Plus it's pretty much impossible not to get enough protein, especially in a calory surplus.

Your best budget options would be bulk packages of rice, beans, potatoes, grains etc. They are insanely cheap and you can get entire meals for a couple of cents.
Oh and stay away from the junk food, not only is it not that cheap to begin with, but it's not worth it to ruin your health over a couple pounds of extra bodyweight

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

Chili. Peanut butter.

When I was in college I'd just eat a lot of chili and peanut butter. Seriously. Get a jar of peanut butter. Get a big spoon. Sit down and start plowing. Slowly get used to injecting calories. A tablespoon of peanut butter is about 100 calories. Try to eat like 10 table spoons in a day.

Chili I ate was something like this:

Dirt cheap to buy. You warm it up in the microwave and stuff your face.

Also replace your drinks with calories. Maybe milk. I replaced with weight gainer, but you're on more of a budget.

I bulked 30 pounds in a semester. I got the science down so well that my friends started calling me "tubby" and "lardass".

Another tip: adopt the "see food diet". When you see food, eat it.

 

[GPM]

For the love of God don't eat those "mass gainer" powders! Have you even read the ingredients? It is essentially just powdered high fructose corn syrup. That is NOT what you want to be putting in your body.

Get a crock pot and buy the cheapest cuts of meat you can find. Google some barbacoa or crock pot recipes and simmer that stuff on low for 8 hours and it will be fantastic.

 

[Azure]

Personally I found it nearly impossible when I was trying to hit the recommended 0.75 - 1g per lb body weight recommendation you see everywhere.

I found that at 170 lbs, hitting 170 grams of protein is damn rough.

I'd eat 3 eggs for breakfast, a protein shake after workout, a can of sardines with soba noodles for lunch, some kind of meat for dinner, snack on greek yogurt, and I'd still barely be pushing 100-120 g of protein.

It's just a lot of damn food and while it was okay the first day or so, it gets old really quickly. I felt like I was structuring my entire day around stuffing my face. I'm sure it becomes a habit quickly enough and if getting "huge" was my only goal I'm sure it's not too bad but as someone who was just trying to gain a bit of muscle as one of many aspects of my life it was pretty hard.



Yeah, I have to agree with this the most though. I made $4-500 USD in about 4-5 hours worth of work on a copy job recently on upwork. Do this ONCE per month and you've covered your eating bill.

Its supposed to be 0.75 gr of protein per lb of LEAN body mass, not total weight. Subtract fat and bone weight and you are looking at a significsntly lower number.

 

[The-J]

eat more chicken + rice

 

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[Azure]

I'm surprised he didn't recommend a post meal Trenbolone shot in the video

 

[JAJT]

Plus it's pretty much impossible not to get enough protein, especially in a calory surplus.

Personally I found it nearly impossible when I was trying to hit the recommended 0.75 - 1g per lb body weight recommendation you see everywhere.

I found that at 170 lbs, hitting 170 grams of protein is damn rough.

I'd eat 3 eggs for breakfast, a protein shake after workout, a can of sardines with soba noodles for lunch, some kind of meat for dinner, snack on greek yogurt, and I'd still barely be pushing 100-120 g of protein.

It's just a lot of damn food and while it was okay the first day or so, it gets old really quickly. I felt like I was structuring my entire day around stuffing my face. I'm sure it becomes a habit quickly enough and if getting "huge" was my only goal I'm sure it's not too bad but as someone who was just trying to gain a bit of muscle as one of many aspects of my life it was pretty hard.

Learn how to make more money.

There are 100s of hustles on here where you could make that money easy.

Yeah, I have to agree with this the most though. I made $4-500 USD in about 4-5 hours worth of work on a copy job recently on upwork. Do this ONCE per month and you've covered your eating bill.

 

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[Kinematic]

Individual needs will vary, and only you can say how many calories you need to gain weight, but I'll go through what I use to bulk and cut and the cost.

Speaking of cost, $50 per month which is ~$1.65 per day. That is no bulking budget, $50 per month is a survival budget!

My diet with costs for a 3000 calorie meal plan:

**If anyone can show me how to post as a table I can insert the individual costs**

Breakfast:

• Greek yogurt, (227g)
  
• Protein powder, (1 scoop)
  
• Oats (old fashioned), (80g)
  
• Water (to soften oats overnight) (100g)

Lunch:

• Baked chicken (5oz)
• Rice (157g uncooked)
• Shredded cheddar cheese (42g)
• Pretzel slider bun (from costco) (1 bun)

Dinner:

• Sweet potato (300g)
• Eggs (4)
• Cheese stick (1)
• Butter (16g)
• Toast (3 slices)
• Raspberry preserves (20g)

This works out to under $7 per day.

For macros this yields:

• Protein: 180g
• Fats: 80g
• Carbs: 397g

I will note that the cost can be lowered with some planning and buying cheaper ingredients, but the costs are from my local grocery store I frequent.

Also, I know some people will comment about the lack of fruits and veggies, I didn't include any veggies since most I consider to be negligible calories. As for fruits, you could lower the rice a little to fit an apple or orange in there.

 

[James Fake]

I had really got serious into body building about a 1.5 years ago; packed on 15 lean pounds and dropped body fat to 10% in a total body comp (170lbs 14bf -> 185lbs 10bf). It took a crazy amount of effort & discipline but I achieved the "impossible" body re-comp of bulking & cutting at the same time.

But oddly enough; my focus on businesses took a hit while doing it.

For me: Grinding & Hustling is directly inverse with body building. One or the other has to go lol. I still workout and sit at about 11-12% but I just watch what I eat and that's all. I don't eat around the clock & chug down shakes, vitamins, meal prepping, cooking, logging macros, etc. etc.. like a freakin' job anymore.

I easily bought $200 worth of groceries or powders/bcaa/etc. every week (just for myself!). And when your body fat goes to a certain level with very little carbs; your brain stays foggy & tired. I couldn't afford to be that anymore... not just money wise, but time & focus-wise was a big opportunity cost expense.

Anyways; just my two cents.

 

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[BD64]

Another option is to buy a crockpot and just throw in 5lb hunks of chuck roast.

Toss the roast in for 8 hours and you end up with almost 3kcal for 20 bucks. Pretty healthy calories and considering its 80% protein this is cheap.

 

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[Azure]

The cheapest high protein foods are stuff like lentils, beans, quinoa and tofu. Buy in bulk and there are a million things you can do with them recipe wise.

 

[Azure]

@AgainstAllOdds

No idea how I forgot peanut butter. Chili is a great choice for bulking as well, but for your kidneys sake I would recommend making a big batch and freezing left overs. Those cans are loaded with sodium.

 

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[Limitless4Life]

(1) Eat a spoon of peanut butter every 30 minutes in addition to your regular meals. If that’s not working, make a shake before bed with whole milk, protein, ice cream, nuts, anything that adds more calories. Don’t worry too much about eating clean.
(2) watch the scale go up

 

[oldirty]

 

[JAJT]

Its supposed to be 0.75 gr of protein per lb of LEAN body mass, not total weight. Subtract fat and bone weight and you are looking at a significsntly lower number.

Huh, somehow this is the first I've heard it described this way. Good to know.

 

[Xeon]

Ok guys, I've managed to put together a list of food that can provide an additional 897 calories on top of my 3 meals.
Here it is:

Total avg cost per month: Less than US$50 (for my country)
If I include the entry fees for the public gym, then it hits around US$50.

I left out the protein powder as its expensive as F*ck.
(I fantasize about having the $$$ to buy a mass gainer, then I can increase the calories to create a 2,187 calorie MONSTER SHAKE)

To minimize the amt of time I workout and spend in the gym, I'll workout only on 2 days Thursday and Saturday.

Thursday will be bodyweight training at the nearby park.
10 mins total traveling time to and fro
25 mins (max) workout
Will be doing pull-ups, chin-ups, triceps dips and incline pull-ups

Saturday will be at the gym.
30 mins traveling time to and fro
35 mins max work-out duration (due to crowded gym, there should be lots of waiting so I'll factor in additional 30 mins waiting time)
(total time in gym : 1 hour max)

For Saturdays, I'll go for low-reps-heavy-weights-2to3-sets. Doing deadlift, squats, dumbell bench presses and shoulder shrugs.

My goal is to pack on ~18 pounds (8 KG) in 4 months, not sure if this is too hard to achieve.

Does this sound wonderful? Any critique is greatly welcome!

 

[masterneme]

If the plates are bigger you need more effort to stabilize them.

You could start doing military presses until you get used to the weight inertias.

Do a conscious effort to squeeze harder and leverage the muscular irradiation effect.

You could also try the "hook grip" and see if it helps, if you have never used it problably won't, but you never know until you do it.

 

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[Dave E RDN]

I did this for a while, and while it did feel great to have my numbers rise so fast in the lifts, it won't be sustainable if you care at all about your body composition. Rippetoe is not one that focuses on aesthetics, so if you do, you should probably find other sources to pull information from.

I agree completely. The OP said he wanted a dad bod. I feel like SS is the perfect program for that haha. Old man strength without the aesthetic physique.

 

[BlindSide]

Milk is very bad for some people's (or most) skin. It causes lots of acne for one thing.
I feel it's better to combine milk with protein powder and peanut butter.



Not a fan of Rippletoe's body shape and aesthetics:

(if you didn't know this is Rippletoe, you would have thought it's some dad who eats fries and burgers and downs ice-cream soda 4 times a day while watching football and never leaves the couch)

Yes, the guy's strong, but I remember Gary Halbert (the king of copywriting) said in one of his letters to his son, that a guy should have a lean body (or something, can't remember), and not a hulky bulky type of body. I assume he means the body of Captain America/Spiderman/Deadpool rather than Hulk or Juggernaut.



Maybe! I kinda wonder if it's a bad decision buying those plates and dumbells to use at home. As I stay in a high-rise apartment, sometimes when I put the dumbells down (very softly btw), the neighbour below me would use a pole to knock up my floor from below to "hint" me to "ssshhhhh....."

Maybe I should have gone to the gym instead. Or I suspect the weights at the gym are probably lighter despite what it states.

Recently, I think I overtrain (2 continuous days of training till failure).
Result: Felt very washed out and ultra lethargic the next day, similar to those feverish feeling. Takes almost 5 full days of rest to recover.

Yep, Rippetoe definitely doesn't care for aesthetics.

I will say that Starting Strength is a well-respected book for understanding how to perform the big lifts. He breaks it down for complete beginners, and it can help them feel more at ease when they perform them (instead of being scared of getting injured).

 

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[Azure]

For the love of God don't eat those "mass gainer" powders! Have you even read the ingredients? It is essentially just powdered high fructose corn syrup. That is NOT what you want to be putting in your body.

Get a crock pot and buy the cheapest cuts of meat you can find. Google some barbacoa or crock pot recipes and simmer that stuff on low for 8 hours and it will be fantastic.

There are mass gainers that are not loaded with artificial sugars, but you won't find them in the clearance aisle.

 

[Azure]

Huh, somehow this is the first I've heard it described this way. Good to know.

This changes if you are taking any special vitamins, in which case the extra protein may be needed.

 

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[Azure]

"Vitamins"

A lot of people underestimate how much extra you need to eat on a bulking cycle. Some anabolics make you VERY hungry

 

[mrarcher]

I do strength training 3-6 days a week (sometimes mix in some bodybuilding stuff) and just eat what I need. I don't bother with powders or any of that noise and have gained 12kg the past year. It's not a lot sure, but my strength has shot way up and to me that's more useful than "big."

 

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[Vincent_Vega]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNctsEFp7Zs

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8pC1l_FegM


Check the Youtube channel of the Animal brand. They always do videos on how to live on a small budget as a bodybuilder.

 

[jlwilliams]

More info please.

You want to gain weight, but it doesn't have to be muscle. What up with that?

$50 per month. Is that your total food budget, or your packing on the flab budget?

What specifically are you trying to accomplish?

 

[Dylan in Africa]

does anyone have experience with protein shake turning sour?
I blend the protein shake in the morning and when I drink the remaining at night (about 14 hrs later), it's sour as hell.

If I leave whey protein mixed with some sort of liquid (water, milk, etc.) out for any prolonged period of time, it will develop a stench. This process seems to accelerate if I leave the blender bottle in a warm area (such as my car in the sun).

The smell is bad enough to keep me from wanting to drink anything, so I can't tell you if it tastes sour (though it sure smells like it would be). I'd recommend mixing, drinking on the spot, and then washing out any containers as soon as possible, but if that's not possible, then I imagine keeping the shake refrigerated would help as well.

 

[LeonardoB]

Do you currently do any form of physical training ?

If you just want to "stuff your face" with anything to put on "size" then you will have more health related concerns than your concerns of looking like a 14 year old girl...

I recommend focus on strength training upto 3x a week (you don't have to go all crazy and get a gym membership or start thinking about squats, deadlifts etc... body weight exercise is enough - pull ups, dips, sit ups, push ups etc..)

I would also incorporate about 2 days of cardio - simple 2-3km jog, just to keep your cardiovascular system in good shape and help with digestion and absorption of all the food you will be consuming.

As for food to put on size all you basically need is to eat more protein (animal and plant sources).

Lots of complex "starchy" carbohydrates - (sweet potato, white potato, all types of beans/lentils.

Good source of fats - nuts, avocados

Try consume all your carbohydrate, protein and fat meals during the times you are most active (most likely during the day)

As your schedule winds down and activity levels minimise, so should your consumption of additional carbs.

Best meals to eat during inactivity would be higher protein portions with mixed vegetables.

OVERALL: if I had $50 dollars to spend to gain size and not just fat by eating all that processed crap.
My selection would be - 1. Peanut butter 2.Beans 3.Potatoes 4.Vegetables of choice 5. Preferred protein source (chicken, beef etc...)