How to gain weight eating Paleo?

Hi,

I've been following somewhat a Paleo/precision nutriotion eating plan for about a 1 1/2 and doing a gymnastic type workout for the same time. I've went from 5"7 175lbs to 142lbs. My blood pressure has normalized and my strength has increased, and my energy levels are much better then when i was eating everything in site. The problem is even though im happy i can see my abs for the first time in 10 years i look sickly thin in the face. I wanted to stop losing weight at around 155 but i kept dropping weight without even trying. Is it feasible to gain some weight using Paleo principles while continuing to make progress in my GB workouts or is that two opposing goals? Im having trouble figuring out how to add calories without adding starchy carbs back into my eating plan. I was eating more nuts at one point but my stomach started bothering me. Here is a sample meal plan for a day. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Breakfast- 3 eggs with spinach cooked sauted with some olive oil. A piece of fruit and 2 capsules of fish oil.

workout.

PWO- cup of milk,scoop of protein powder, bannana and strawberries blended.

Lunch- 6oz chicken breast, serving of vegetables

snack- 2 low fat string cheese, piece of fruit or carrots. handful of nuts.

dinner- 6oz flank steak, serving of vegetables. 2 capsules of fish oil

snack 6oz of shrimp or can of tuna mixed with avacado.

Eat more food. Also, what's your aversion to potatoes/yams?

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Articles ... spx?ID=329

Worth a check that you're not making any of these mistakes.

Thanks for the link. That's what I was looking for. I am not very carb tolerant, hence my aversion to yams. Being that this is the case I was trying to come up with ways to add calories to my diet without adding all the carbs back in. I made alot of the mistakes the article mentioned last time around when I bulked up and was trying not to do it again. The problem is it seems very difficult to eat 2 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight. I feel full on the amount I eat now. I guess I will just have to force myself to eat more protein at each feeding.

Try 125-150% of what your eating now and see what happens. Switch to fattier foods, and up the protein. Maybe used a whey or hemp based protein powder.

Philip,

Gaining weight on strict Paleo can be tough, especially if you're carb intolerant. I've observed that trainees usually hit a hard ceiling of weight gain.

I'm assuming at full Paleo you're below 10% BF? I would consider keeping your protein where it's at — 1 to 1.5gram/pound of BW, 170-200g depending on training and activity level — but up the CHO intake.

So you might consider increasing PWO carb intake to 50-70g for all your workouts, with a regular P/F/C meal about an hour later.

For additional weight, yams, sweet potatoes (both of which may be out for you) ... or perhaps a controlled phase implementing dairy? This could be milk, or could be organic cottage cheese, which might hit your stomach a lot easier.

best,

jason

Philip,

If yam/sweet potatos/ PWO carbs are totally out, and barring your weekly nutrition is dialed (i.e. you're below 10%), perhaps;

1. Up the coconut milk, nuts, avocado intake; nut butters can be helpful.

2. Check out Poliquin's suggestions for carb intake:

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article.aspx?ID=33

3. Finally, perhaps get your digestion checked. If you're not digesting properly the food you are consuming, eating more won't help.

best of luck with your training,

jason

I'm not a big fan of raising the carb intake for LBM gain, even using paleo sources. It rarely works. Usually, carb intolerant folks are carb intolerant folks are carb intolerant folks. They can handle a yam better than a cookie, but it wont help much with anabolism when glycogen stores are topped.

I much rather see an increase in fats and protein (and no, 1 gr per pound is not high in my book - when your digestion working properly) than in carbs. I would use a carb up/cheat day once in every 4-7 days, but in the day to day will only use high carb density sources after workouts, unless you are very lean in the first place.

In any case check out Poliquin's stuff when it comes to gaining LBM. His strategies work and work well. Read his stuff on 'ectomorphs' - its extreme in some people's eyes, but I can assure you from experience, it works.

Ido.

I'm definitely going to check out poliquins page. Lots of articles to read on there. I'm also going to have to get myself used to just eating more. Its hard to eat the amount of protein I do now cause it fills me up so easily but I will try to add more at a couple of my meals. I also should probably get over my fear of adding too many fats. An avacodo a day probably won't do me any harm. I will also try the suggestion of adding the yams after my workout since that seems to be the time where my body handles it the best without getting that energy crash a couple hours later. Thanks guys for the info. Hopefully I can add some weight without it comprimising my gymnastic stregnth too much

Philip,

If adding an avocado to your daily intake seems like a lot, maybe you're simply not eating enough? A food log would help give you an overview.

Anyways, best of luck in your goals.

jason

Dude, he is so low calorie! No wonder he kept losing weight!

I've had excellent success so far with lots of coconut milk, and not having very many carbs unless it's pre/post workout. I feel WAY better and while I've dropped to 217 or so from 227 that has a lot to do with me taking 2 months of nearly complete rest compared to what I was used to. I have also noticed my waist is a bit thinner, and bodyfat is definitely down somewhat. I've been eating more now that I'm back in workout mode, and I don't know that I'm PURE paleo or anything, but I definitely don't get more than 100g of carbs on non-workout days unless I can tell that I am low on stored glycogen, and even then one higher carb meal in the middle of the day seems to be plenty to top me off.

I am careful about PWO nutrition, having one shake immediately after with 2-3/1 carbs to protein, and one hour later I have a similar shake with some coconut milk added to blunt insulin release somewhat. That's been working beautifully, and I can see muscle growing without a noticeable increase in fat.

What Ido's saying works, man! I've never been a true hardgainer but my body does not just put on muscle or weight in general for fun. I am liking what is happening here. You definitely need more protein and more healthy fat! I was originally against this sort of thing but after personal experience I can tell you it works!