Muke's growing journey

So this week I completely failed on my gaining plan. Well, obviously not completely, since somehow I managed to keep my weight level, but I was only going on an estimate of 2171 calories a day when I’d planned for considerably more. Things don’t always work out as planned, but as long as it matters there’s always tomorrow.

I really enjoy these Q & A things. Liontail from #gainerfurs asks:

—What has your diet consisted of, in general, and has it been working for you?

Well, I suppose the first point I should make is that for some reason I’m not really inclined to follow a fixed diet. I’ll usually eat the same thing every day in a week, just because it’s cheaper to buy a week’s worth of four meals than to buy twenty meals once. But I’m not generally fond of anything enough that I can have it every week repeatedly. For concrete examples of what I eat, you can see some previous posts with menus in them from weeks I ended up putting on weight.

For a couple of basic ideas of what my diet comes to: first off, I’m a vegetarian. A lot of people consider that to be kind of prohibitive for a gainer’s diet, but I don’t think it’s really so bad as that: I don’t know too many gainers that list devouring slabs of meat as their major calorie sources; usually they go for carbs or dairy, which just happen to be what I try to gain off of as well. Second, I don’t really have a sweet tooth and most other snack-type food doesn’t appeal to me—too dry, is what my appetite usually says—so I’m generally only eating meal-type food at meals, without desserts.

As for how it’s been working for me, well, I suppose this blog should be enough to show that. Basically: not much result this year so far, but I think things are starting to turn around. Overall, though, I’m up about eighty pounds from my starting weight in the 120s most of a decade ago, which I think is pretty good, but I’ve still got a good ways to go.

Those of you who’ve been with me that long, you rock. Catch you all next week.

The weight’s still going up, slowly. I’ve been in a bit of a funk for the past couple of weeks, which I’m blaming on the fact that the job I was supposed to start fell through (apparently the higher-ups decided that the department that hired me already had enough people and wouldn’t approve any more). Didn’t really stick to my menu at all, but estimated calorie intake averaged 3116 a day.

Asked in #gainerfurs for another question to answer, and got back (from PBJohn):

—What can we do to raise Muke’s motivation to gain?

Hahaha. A good question. I’d say the most difficult part is that much of the time I just don’t want to get up and eat.   When I explain this to people IM, I usually say it’s because I’m too lazy to get up.   Really though it’s less about being lazy and more about being too focused on the things I’m doing—my interests and projects are various and manifold—to take what’s usually an hour-long break to prepare and eat a meal.  (And I still haven’t picked up the snacking instinct.)

Now, when I was employed, that made one meal all the easier: I got a lunch hour and I had to stop what I was doing for it.  And I managed to eat pretty well then as well; better than at other meals, certainly.  Outside of that rigid sort of schedule, though, I’m not good at taking the time, which is why I’ve generally been pretty bad at gaining on weekends and holidays.  I try to stick to a schedule on my free time as well but, being self-imposed, that schedule tends to be considerably more subject to disturbance.

To sum it up, I’d say that what I really need is order from outside.  Just having someone to share mealtimes with would change things massively.  After all—to take an example—I did put on most of the weight I have now shortly after moving in with my last boyfriend and eating with him.

I’m liking how the scale numbers have been going up. 204 was my empty weight yesterday, in the slump I usually hit on weekends; late in the week, running full, I managed to catch myself at 208. Good stuff.

Went for the same menu plan as 5/10–5/16; estimate on actual intake was 3454 calories a day. Skipped a lot, partly due to the food not coming out too well, partly due to the usual skipping of stuff my low appetite causes.

Anyway, so in #gainerfurs some people were asking about protein, and I decided a Q that I A’d would be a good thing to post:

— Is it better to gain off a high-protein diet?
Couldn’t say, but it’d certainly be harder. The thermic effect of food, one of the major components of metabolism, depends largely on what you eat. You can generally expect that the thermic effect on average of 10%. If your intake is chiefly protein though, that number’ll be much higher; the thermic effect is about 30% on protein, compared to 4% for fat and 6% for carbohydrates.

Mind you, a lot of the documentation I’ve run across on the thermic effect is somewhat conflicting.  Some sources say that the thermic effect raises the metabolism by the stated percentage, for example that a basal metabolic rate of 75 calories/hour would increase 10% to 82.5 Cal/hr; others say the thermic effect is a percentage of caloric intake, such that an intake of 75 calories with a 10% thermic effect would lose 7.5 calories, and you’d only get 67.5 Cal out of it. Either way, while protein may be 4 calories a gram just like carbs, when all is said and done you get to ‘keep’ a lot less of that.

Don’t really have much to report this week.

Got a job, starting tomorrow… have to adjust my eating accordingly: less breakfast time, lunches with no prep or that can be made beforehand, and hopefully other meals also being less time-consuming… since I have less free time to work on all my projects and such.

On the upside, I’m better at snacking at work, when I can, than at home. We’ll see how it all works out for me gaining-wise.

Sometimes you can’t really tell what’ll turn a gaining slump around. Me, I’m suspecting what’s kept me from slipping further is learning how to use the deep fryer. Fire it up at every meal, and boom: otherwise tasty things get fattening thanks to being saturated in oil.

Had to buy new pants for an interview I have tomorrow, since all I have that fits me is a pair of jeans and they’re getting a bit tattered around the edges themselves. The jeans are 40″W × 30″L and are a bit loose on me, but not as tight as the 38″s I busted out of.

The store’s 40″ was kind of small, though… I had to buy the 42″s.