Eating much to gain muscle + sleep quality/energy

[Jordan94]

Hey, basically I have an issue/dilema that I'm carrying for a few years now

I usually want to gain weight/muscle, and that would mean eating a bit less or around 3000 calories daily (i'm pretty skinny now and usually strugling to gain weight), but the problem is that I think it affects my sleep quality and energy levels, and that's something I really don't want

 

How do you guys deal with it ? some particular foods/diet that would be better for energy levels that the milk/pasta/eggs/nuts (+ some fruits and veggies too) that I'm taking now ?

[Commodent]

I was into bodybuilding for a while and I felt like I was eating all the time. I gained a decent amount of muscle, but I felt like shit.

I feel like the better way to gain muscle is a more holistic approach. The things I find important:

• Eat healthy but don't obsess over it
• Get sufficient sleep
• Do the inner work. Resolve stress and inner conflict. If you feel weak and small that will translate into your body. Remove emotional blocks / tensions that are preventing you from breathing properly (the goal is smooth breathing with no holding). Proper breathing, all the time, is incredibly important.
• Listen to your body's signals and only eat when hungry
• Make your body your temple and don't mistreat it. Do exercises that you actually enjoy doing. I do a lot of weird bodyweight exercises mostly just to test the boundaries of what my body is capable of doing. It greatly increases strength and body control, and it's also quite fun because it's creative, challenging and somewhat risky.

[Jordan94]

@laptophaver I feel like it in my personal experience + read that a lot that big meal before sleep is not good, lots of carbs makes you tired, I also feel clearly my energy and focus level go down after some big meal or carbs in general

 

@Commodent I agree, that's why I'm looking for more healthy aliments to eat than pasta (i guess that's the worst) that i'm eating 1 000 calories everyday (+ bread, i heard it's not good too)

Do you have some suggestions on that

How about oats is it okay in that regard ?

[InfinitePotential]

If you wanna funnel calories into your body with healthy ingredients try some nut butters. You can get like 1000 calories in a minute with some almond butter. There are brands that have delicious flavors like cinnamon coconut honey etc. 

And probably best to leave yourself at least a few hours before bed to digest, for better sleep quality. 

 

[Commodent]

@Jordan94 As long as you eat a varied diet with as much clean (unprocessed) food as possible I think you'll be good. Pasta is not bad in and of itself, but once it (or some of its ingredients) starts dominating your diet it can become a problem. We tend to eat a disproportionally large amount of wheat in our Western society, which can be detrimental. Again, oats are okay, just not too much of it.

In general I'd recommend to eat less of foods that make you feel dense and heavy, and more of foods that make you feel light and energized. If I've eaten only oats and vegetables some day, I will often get a real craving for something fatty and protein-rich. It seems like our bodies have an innate ability to mantain balance, as long as you just listen to what it tells you.

[Jordan94]

@InfinitePotential Thanks man that sounds good i'll check it out, do you just it just peanut butter or you put it on some toast or something else btw ?

Same for just raw nuts I guess ? that would be decent and better than funnel lots of calories with pasta bread overall ?

 

 

@Commodent Thanks good advices too, I kinda know it and i'm doing extremly bad on that regards so far, I'm eating close to exactly the same diet/meals everyday (if I don't eat out which is most of the time)

I'll try to diversify a bit and get a few different meals in rotation, but also a challenge is that I want some foods that are good in some criterias (easy to get the calories I need with, easy to cook, if it's cheap that's cool too, if it's good for energy levels better), and also trying to manage it and respect the diet and my calories with just one diet plan is already sometimes a struggle so adding differents rotations will make it harder (and I have to find new foods/meals that correspond to the above criterias)

I guess it's also both, be diverse but also the food and meals itself will obviously play a role, so I'm still checking to improve on that part and to replace more pasta/bread with something else, at least diminish it bellow the 1k/1k5 calories daily that I have of it now

Edited July 2, 2019 by Jordan94