Well if I have a problem, it's the opposite; I want to put on weight without eating garbage and without giving up my football and swimming. Any advice?

Well. you can't put on 20lbs of bone.

Oh and please don't say "eat more"! I struggle to make time to eat 3 meals a day as it is.

Whilst playing football and swimming, try to break as many of your bones as possible. With enough repaired breaks, you should be easily able to add 20lbs of bone.

"Big boned"? ... Dinosaurs were "big boned". People who claim they are "big boned" are just fat and fishing for any excuse not to exercise or diet.

(apologies to D. Leary)

Mike:

"Well if I have a problem, it's the opposite; I want to put on weight without eating garbage and without giving up my football and swimming. Any advice?"

I can't tell if your comment is a spoof... Have you thought about eating chips and lots of fried food? Dairy Milk would help, as would deep fried Mars bars. Drink lots of Coke.

I'm serious - didn't I say 'without eating garbage'? I have recently moved to Taiwan, which has very hot weather, and losing weight seems to be an occupational hazard of sorts...

I want to put on weight without eating garbage

Have you thought about eating chips and lots of fried food? Dairy Milk would help, as would deep fried Mars bars. Drink lots of Coke.

I think those things count as garbage Alex.

Actually Mike's problem is not quite as silly as it sounds. There are specialist weight gain drinks supplements high in calories and protein - 'Progain' is the brand name for one. You mix up a shake two to three times a day and you should gain 1 to 2 Kgs a week. You need to keep up the exercise and sport though to ensure that gain is muscle and not fat.

The downside is that all these supplement drinks are very expensive and the best ones have 'creatine' and are the most expensive of all.

"The downside is that all these supplement drinks are very expensive and the best ones have 'creatine' and are the most expensive of all."

Not only that, but I cannot seem to find them here in Taiwan.

For heavens sake Mike the food in Taiwan is magnificent. Try switching from steamed Jiao-szr to
fried jiao-szr or shiao lung pao plus chicken soup and noodles. And I'm just mentioning the food at the cheap (shiao ji-guei) restaurants or food stalls. Move up market to better and have Jiang Cha Ya (tea and camphor wood smoked duck) etc etc not to mention all the sea food.
John

"For heavens sake Mike the food in Taiwan is magnificent. Try switching from steamed Jiao-szr to
fried jiao-szr or shiao lung pao plus chicken soup and noodles."

What makes you think I haven't tried that? In any case I prefer the taste of the steamed food generally. The thing is, I burn energy off so fast it doesn't stick.

Actually I was thinking along the lines of going all out for carbs - a sort of reverse Atkins if you like. So a diet of Mr Marks' german loaves and malty beer then... what do you think?

Mike: Boxers and Wrestlers eat large amounts of meat and pasta to put on weight. Avoid eating meals with rice whenever possible and substitute pasta. Try to increase your meat intake, if you're in Taiwan then that probably means avoiding eating out in favour of buying a steak at the supermarket and eating it at home.

I spent 6 months in Asia this year and lost over 10kg, and I was not overweight to begin with. Hot weather and rice will do that to you.

Mike: How old are you and what are your stats now? (height, weight, etc.)

The Monty Diet

Preparation:
1. Measure the diameter of your dinner plates
2. Break your dinner plates
3. Buy some cheap plates 2 inches smaller

Execution:
Instigate and enforce "single plate, single layer" rule, but eat whichever foods you like.

Enjoy!

Mike is not kidding. My oldest son was trying to move up to the heavyweight 8 boat & had trouble getting enough weight on. When he graduated, he actually lost weight entirely by accident. He was simply not doing enough strength training.

I dropped 20# some years ago without meaning to when the doctor wanted to put me on cholesterol drugs. Instead, I started running and left off having cheeseburgers and rings for lunch. Fortunately, I've since come to my senses.

Er, cheers Marty - not too sure about your 'dinner plate method'!

As for my stats: 25, 5'10 and 10 stone something - down from 11 and half (which is where i want to get back to).

Yobbo: thanks - people keep telling me that! Where did you go in Asia (everybody here eats out and eats either pork or beef)?

I'm not too keen on eating more meat as my weight-gain solution (not because I don't like meat - but for other reasons). I think probably more bread and that special weight-gain shake (if I can find it) will do me.

As the comedienne Kim Coles remarked about the "big boned" excuse:

Yeah, and you got some big meat wrapped 'round them big bones!

Enjoying your blog, Alex - well done! Keeping the weight off is perhaps more difficult than losing in the first place, and I look forward to following your progress in the months to come.

Mike: You're about my weight at that age. Maybe a tad heavier. I'm now 12 stone (170 pounds). at 39 and 5' 10" and 15% body fat.

Most of my weight gain occurred after we had kids and I had to carry them around all the time. Don't think you need to have kids but persistent weight training and concentrating on strength and endurance and eating as much as you need in a healthy balance should enable your body to put on more muscle.

The short is. Be patient and don't focus on the weight.

Mike needs to think outside the box here and consider moving to the Midwestern U.S. About six months of cheese, fried turkey legs, and beer should get him on the right track.

If you're swimming and playing football (I assume you mean "soccer"), you're probably exercising too much to allow your body time to rest, which is when muscle is actually built.

Really, the easiest way to gain weight is to eat good solid food, plenty of meat, and to drink 2-3 litres of milk a day.

(Cheers, Alex, on dropping a stone and a half!)

- Josh

"If you're swimming and playing football (I assume you mean "soccer"), you're probably exercising too much to allow your body time to rest, which is when muscle is actually built."

Of course - the game where you use your feet and a ball (not that misleadingly named thing you lot play over the pond)!

Yeah that might have something to do with it... though just at the moment I'm suffering from tendonitis in my left shoulder (too much swimming) - so maybe the next couple of weeks is a good time to try and pile on the pounds.

I should stop hijacking Alex's thread I think! At least he is seeing success with his diet.

Of course your diet works. All diets work. The problem is to stop the weight returning.

Quoth Yobbo:

Mike: Boxers and Wrestlers eat large amounts of meat and pasta to put on weight. Avoid eating meals with rice whenever possible and substitute pasta.

What makes pasta different from rice with respect to its ability to pack on the pounds? I thought they were interchangeable starches, more or less...

Mike, Nathan - You need a lot of rice to pile on the pounds. Whoever said pasta is right. Certain types of noodles work well too, though of the huge number of varieties available in chinese societies(vermicelli, guo tiao, mian xian, mi fen, etc. I don't know 'em all), some are 'fatter' than others. Don't ask me which ones.

Avoid fish, even though steamed fish is very healthy, and you need protein to repair your body after soccer. Take more duck, which has a higher fat content than chicken. Either roast or braised duck, the food over in Taiwan is great! Maybe with the avian flu, you might want to be more careful though. Mutton is also a good choice, I believe the fat content is higher than even beef.

TWG

TWG - well actually I cook a lot and that usually includes rice and I'm still a stone and a half under my ideal weight.

Fish is very important for the oily fats because they help to keep the blood thin which is important for circulation especially if you do a lot of exercise and are susceptible to muscle and tendon strains in which the blood tends to get concentrated.

Maybe I'll give mutton a shot...

I take it from one of the comments that a "stone" is 15 pounds?

George L: A stone is 14 pounds.