Questioni am a 22 year old slim guy who wants to gain weight and have a pleasant personality .My current weight is 56 kgs .One month ago i joined a gym with the aim to increase weight and i have been provide with a vegetarian diet plan which is as follows :
Morning Breakfast (8.00am):one glass hot milk and two bananas .
Lunch (12.00 noon):one cup of sprouts(50 gms) ,one cup of yogurt(100 gms),one cup rice and cottage cheese(100 gms).
Pre-Work out Diet (3.00pm):two bananas and one boiled potato and three dates .
Post-Work out Diet (5.00pm):two bananas and one boiled potato and three dates and one glass hot milk .
Dinner (9.00pm):one cup of sprouts(50 gms) ,one cup of yogurt(100 gms) and cottage cheese(100 gms).
i go to gym regularly and have the complete diet till Post-Work out diet but i do not feel like having dinner .
i find this diet incomplete
i am in need to increase my weight fast as i want to pursue career in aviation ,thus having a good personality is a must .
can u suggest me a more better vegetarian diet plan were i can increase my weight atleast 2 to 3 kgs every month .
my gym timing is 3.00 pm
i walk to the gym everyday and it takes around 20 minutes to reach gym from my home .
what are the changes i need to do and should i change the gym timings for good results
please help me out .
thank u .
AnswerDear Ajay,
Your question is not really within my expertise. Holistic diets are never about fast results, and seldom about gaining weight. Weight can only be a measure for health in some very specialised cases.
From a holistic point of view (holistic approaches is my expertise, as my profile reveals) there are two things most peculiar to me about your situation.
1) You relate your career plans to your weight.
2) Your diet is most odd.
First off, your diet is very if not extremely low on calories, indeed, for a man in his prime. You will most definitely not have a calorie to spare for "bulking up" with so few calories and so much exercise.
A work-out serves two purposes: cardio-respiratory fitness and muscle training. Both burn fat.
Muscle weighs less than fat, remember.
If you want a more "masculine" form, you may not be in luck. If by 22 you do not have a muscular build (or excess fat which can be converted into muscle) then you are just not of that body type or your energetic system needs an entire overhaul. Some metabolic systems cannot be altered to improve your health, but if your health is fine, then your problem is minimal. Know that "skinnier" people can also live very healthy and long lives. Looking at weight or body type can be a very negative and undermining thing to do. But I well know that society does this in many ways, and you have my sympathies.
You could look at your genetic family for clues as to how likely it is that you have the more "robust" type waiting within you to get out. Genetics do not determine all , but it can give you a realistic prognosis if some elements of your physique seem similar to your ancestors then this is probably fixed (you cannot do much about changing a slim or slender build, but you can become more enduring or determined e.g.).
Bananas are rich in calories, and have some great minerals, but that many bananas regularly is not good at all. I would recommend one banana a day is already on the high side! It could be that these fruits are making your system sluggish and undercooled. I know some athletes swear by them for energy, but energy is not your main problem. Cool systems do not make the right kind of conditions for "body building". You need to think of warming, earthy, substantial foods. Grains, legumes, root vegetables, fibres and fruits that get your gut working. Half the body is built by inner attitude. A varied diet can work on that, bridging inner and outer worlds in productive, interacive manners. Understanding your self as a holistic being a system of body, mind, soul will make you more attuned as a whole being and make your body "listen" more or be more sympathetic to your ideals.
Achieving goals and becoming the best you can be is not such a precise act as one potato here or three dates there. Food is just a tool. Where it does not work, you must also look at the project at hand. A good craftsman never blames his tools, he just learns how to use them in the best way. This means: know your self, separate your needs from your wants, and learn as much as you can about nutrition. Get a book, find a holistic webpage, educate yourself, step by step. What are proteins, what are carbohydrates, fibre, vitamins, fats, etc. Do not link this straight away to performance. First just learn about diet.
What I can tell you up front is how important three meals a day is. If you do not eat proper, hearty, full meals you will not learn to "set". Sitting down to eat and ENJOY a meal with COLOUR, different smells, textures, temperatures, etc, helps settles your mind (nerve-sese system). Then your metabolism can figure out what is best for it. And it will let you know with all sorts of (odorous and loud) feedback if you are doing something challenging or wrong. Learn to listen to your body, without imposing your mind upon it. If your mind is light, or your life-style flighty your metabolic system will act accordingly and treat food as something accidental without using it to fill you and your dreams out. You need to treat your metabolic system like a prince. Spoil it with rich delights. Then it will treat its "parts" richtly. Rich does not mean bad fat or white sugar!! It means wholesome, sunny, ripe, inspiring food, well cooked, lovingly prepared, inventively composed.
Gaining weight is something that should happen naturally as a manifestation of improved health. Otherwise it is pathological (sick). Discipline, change, ambition is all good, but it would be soul-destroying to force a way of life upon the body. Less force, more honest observation, accepting what you cannot change, and changing things over a patient course of time. You have already started with this difficult task, by noting the diet does not feel satisfactory and complete to you. Keep questioning, looking, studying! I commend you highly.
Can I give you an alternative diet?
Greek athletes in the ancient times swore by barley for creating strength. Much of the power in this grain lies on a holistic, sun and earth based level. Milk and yoghurt are nutritious because the cow is a very wholesome animal, and as you know in some places even holy. Sprouts are full of life, they animate your heart and soul and refresh your mind. Seeds and nuts are rich in oils and full of protein, they are classically excellent for invigorating weaker systems. Even 7 hazlenuts a day might give you a new boost.
The point is, you need to think about food in a much more holistic way before you can understand what can give you the best results. There is plenty of informantion out there, on what diets to go on in order to prepare for a marathon or exams or other demanding achievements. They are all different, nobody agrees; they usually focus on making your body an energy burning system. Your peculiar super-light-weight diet is very monotone, and gives clear hints of protein vs carbohydrates which give instant energy/burn very fast (sugars).It is definitely not a body-building type of diet I have ever come across. If you want to use potatos, have three in one sitting, at least! But you need pasta, bread, porridge (or whatever equivalents you can find) to help you out here. But they must be wholwheat and wholesome, not just calorie rich. Same with fruit: not only sugar-rich, like dates/bananas. But think of anti-oxidants, different plant types, etc: fruits that give you a "fizz" because of their colour and taste, or your system a real solar-energy shot. Eat proper platefuls! Take real mouthfuls. Bite into food. This gives your body a luxurious message, not a meagre one, like cottage chees. I cannot think of a more "girly food" funnily enough!Cottage cheese and rye crackers was the favourite way to loose weight for 1970s housewives!
In short: there is not enough soul in your diet. Forget fast resutls for now, learn about slow, soul food.
Is a vegetarian diet best?
As a young man you need protein to build up muscle. There is protein in milk products, but you need to think egg, pulses, nuts. Some men do very poorly on a vegetarian diet and would do better to occasionally use chicken or fish, but whether you go fully vegetarian or not may depend, of course, on many other factors. It is relevant to know though, that for some people a vegetarian diet cannot be considered complete enough. For others, however, a vegetarian diet is extremely complete in a most important, holistic sense. Only then, you might have to accept that your body shape will reflect that too: there could be less of the physical you, but all the more of the spiritual and soulful you! It would be a shame not to recognise this, if this is so.
I am not going to give you an alternative diet, because I am not the kind of expert who can do that (so many factors should be taken into consideration, and a dietician should spend several hours with you in person to work out a personalised diet plan). But I do hope you try to pick up on your own gut instinct that something is not working out for you right now. Perhaps, it is time to let this diet go and start really enjoying food, mealtimes, nature's gifts, your own good health?
Finally, a small consolation, you could bear in mind, pilots are notoriously known to have poor health, taken across the board, because their working hours and odd locations often leave them with few options for following a healthy diet plan. So they might be allowed into aviation as specifically "fit" candidates but the job soon changes all that! Isn't it ironic?
I wish you all the best and for any more specific questions that crop up along your way, don't hestiate to ask.
Take Care!
Evelyn
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