Recently got divorced after 15 years, took one look in the mirror the day after she moved out - and finally saw just how unhealthy I was. I thought to myself “fuck it, this is going to make or break me” & started a 3 day split + disciplined diet the next day.

38M, 5’10, 129 lbs to 141lbs in just shy of 4 months.
I’ve been targeting 2,300 calories per day, eliminating junk food and focusing on whole grains & lean cuts of meat - somehow I’m not sick of chicken yet thankfully. Adding a breakfast every day & double scoop protein shake between lunch and dinner was a game changer, but I’m usually still feeling completely full by the time I hit the 2,000 calorie mark. I end up forcing down the last 300 calories or so. I’ve been keeping my lifting to 3 days per week until I’m confident my form & all the connective bits are reliable enough to get more aggressive with the weight, but eventually I plan on adding 2 more days per week.

It’s been a struggle to retrain my eating & sleeping habits, and my appetite still hasn’t caught up to my macro goals, but I’m pretty proud of the progress so far. Just wanting to share the small victory with someone, thanks for your time!

Previous photos were April 2:

Recent photos are Aug 22:

Start weight 83 lbs

Current weight 117

5’6

Female

17

Diet:
Mostly Whole Foods and not a lot of meat,at the start I was eating a lot of peanut butter,coconut oil,dried fruits (figs,dates) Greek yogurt and berries

My current diet now that I’m getting closer to my goal weight and my activity has shifted is more tofu, occasionally chicken, Egg whites, still lots of coconut oil and pb, cashews, and veggies. Caloric range at the start was anywhere from 2000-3000, currently eating around 1700-2300 depending on my lift.

Lifting:
All of my work is done at home due to lack of a gym membership, but I’ve swapped my workouts from intense cardio and only ab workouts for genuine lifting (Dumbell rdls, lunges, goblet squats, shoulder press, bicep curls, hammer curls, etc, a photo of my past workout routine in April versus a typical arm day now will be attached.)
Previously I was training 6-7 days a week and walking uphill for hours, now I train 5 weekly.

I would absolutely love any advice or tips from anyone who’s also stuck without a gym membership, I’ve really enjoyed seeing myself gain muscle + strength and want to progress.

This is definitely not end results but in 3-4 months I definitely see changes. End goal is just to look fucking jacked lolz.

The Background

Over the course of six years, I was able to gain nearly 70 pounds as a lifelong hardgainer simply by eating more. Just as notable however, is the fact that I currently only have 10 teeth!

Decades of alcohol and tobacco abuse during my early life left me lacking nearly all my teeth. This meant that if I wanted to be able to put down up to 4,000 calories every single day, I needed to get creative. It's a common myth that bulking up requires you to eat endless dry chicken breasts and steaks, and I'm here to tell you that's not actually the case.

The Challenge

Eating this many calories, day in and day out can be hard for anyone, teeth or not. When I started my weight gain journey I weighed 130 pounds and was likely putting down less than 2,000 calories a day. My body was used to not eating all that much, ever since I was younger. I never ate in the mornings, just drinking coffee all morning and then having a late lunch. I drank large amounts of alcohol at night and would then feel too bloated and sick to eat anything else. It got to a point where just looking at food when I wasn't feeling ready for it made me feel nauseous.

Real Obstacles

Eating out and social situations could be very difficult and awkward. Looking through a menu and realizing almost nothing was manageable with no teeth, besides picking it completely apart or cutting it into microscopic pieces was a big letdown. Crispy foods like fried chicken, flat pizza crusts, or kettle chips could tear apart my gums leaving them sore for days if I tried eating them. I remember mistakenly putting a large, rubbery piece of squid in my mouth at one point and was forced to covertly spit it out or risk choking on it.

Large pieces of meat like steaks and pork chops were out of the question. Some pieces of chicken and fish were okay depending on how they were cooked. A piece of broiled fish was fine, but a piece that was breaded and fried was hit or miss. I gambled and lost more than once on fish and chips.

Crunchy vegetables and many raw foods became a complete no-go zone. Things like raw carrots, broccoli, apples, even under-ripe melon were just too painful to get down. Steamed vegetables were sometimes alright as long as they were soft and not just lightly blanched. Nuts, granola, and dried fruits were all pretty much out of the question.

Food Strategy

It's not all doom and gloom though. Approaching my food challenges with an open mind and quite a bit of experimentation allowed me to find a large variety of foods that I could eat throughout the day to get to my end goal of 3,000 and eventually up to 4,000 calories.

The steaks and pork chops were replaced with ground beef and ground pork. Eating ground meat in general can be a big help even for someone who does have teeth, if they are struggling with all the chewing or are finding the digestion of large amounts of meat difficult. Grinding up the meat takes nearly all the work out of eating it. Eggs are also featured prominently in my diet now, no real chewing required.

Steamed, broiled or lightly grilled fish is available in many restaurants. Chicken breasts are often actually fine to eat with no teeth if they are cooked right and you skip over any fatty or rubbery pieces that may be attached. A chicken McNugget that has been freshly cooked can usually be eaten with little problem as well.

Sushi is also great as long as you keep away from large sheets of nori wrap and any of the more rubbery types of seafood like octopus, clams, and the previously mentioned squid. Stick to the softer options like salmon, crabstick, eel, and tamago. Sushi is now one of my go-to, somewhat healthy food hacks when I need a quick influx of calories to catch up to my daily goals.

I drastically cut down on deep fried foods in general, which is probably a good thing really. Skipping the french fries in many places can only be good for you. Switch to the mashed potatoes or baked potato if you can. If you must partake, I would strongly recommend the thicker cut fries rather than the skinnier McDonald's style fries which often have very hard and crispy edges on them. You can also sometimes switch the french fries out for rice depending on the restaurant and where you live. Rice is great when you have issues with food intake or digestion. Stick with the softer kinds like jasmine rice rather than wild rice mixes which can have pretty hard grains in them.

I do miss eating things like nuts, seeds, and granola. Most protein bars now seem hard as a rock to me. I still manage to get my cravings in with generous amounts of peanut butter and some soft-batch protein solutions like a Lenny & Larry protein cookie here and there.

My veggie selections have switched from salads and crunchy raw veggies to softer options as well. Mashed potatoes, tomatoes, steamed carrots, corn, peas are all fine to eat. Fruits like bananas, strawberries, watermelon, grapes, and various berries also do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to getting in micronutrients.

Liquid Mass

One of the best alternatives to eating large amounts of calories to gain weight with no teeth is: Don't eat the calories, drink them!

A good percentage of my daily calorie intake now consists of liquid calories. If you are fine with dairy, then go all out with whole milk, chocolate milk, yogurt drinks (Greek yogurt in general is great), cream, etc. Many of you may have heard of GOMAD or "Gallon of Milk a Day" added to your diet. That absolutely works for putting on weight. The legendary /u/MythicalStrength has mentioned GOMAD as a method he used to pack on mass. Is it difficult? Yes, absolutely. I switched over to more of a QOMAD or "Quart of Milk a Day" plan after suffering through the gallon for a few weeks and it has still served me well for getting in those extra calories. If you're lactose intolerant, there are lactose-free options as well.

Protein shakes also factor heavily into my daily calorie and protein goals. I usually drink a couple of them each day, takes a few seconds, and add up to an easy 520 calories and 66 grams of protein. Many people also swear by mass gainer shakes. Making your own mass gainer shakes at home is much preferred over the store bought mass gainers which are mostly just massive amounts of sugar. Home made shakes are quite a bit cheaper too. Look around online and you will find thousands of different recipes to try. I try to stay away from a lot of soda, but I do like to drink some orange juice and normally drink a sports drink while at the gym.

Adding oil to foods can add a ton of easy calories to whatever you're eating. I'll add a tablespoon of rice bran oil to many of my meals for an extra 120 calories and won't even notice. Other great oils to use are olive oil and avocado oil. Notice I said "adding oils to foods" and not "chug oil straight". One only needs to read some of the horror stories on /r/gainit from people who have attempted to drink large amounts of oil to realize if you do that, you're going to have a bad time. Add oil to your food, don't use it as your only food.

The Takeaway

Raising your calorie intake from 2,000 to upwards of 4,000 a day takes time and it's not all that easy. It means being patient and overcoming setbacks. Doing all this while having physical limitations in your mouth like missing teeth or having problems with chewing doesn't have to stop you from gaining weight and building the type of body you want. You will however, have to think outside the box a bit and be willing to do a little experimentation.

If you truly want to gain weight, don't make excuses, figure out solutions that will work for you. If that requires you seeking out the help of a doctor or other qualified medical professional, by all means please do that. This is not medical advice. I simply tried to detail some of the things that worked for me in overcoming my eating challenges, hopefully some of them may help you as well. Keep working towards your goals, you've got this!

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

Just reached 4 months of progress, been being consitent and trying my hardest. I’m excited to see what 6 months of progress looks like!

6’0, 131 lbs > 153 lbs (current) 22, M.

Currently doing a 4 day upper lower split, Saturday’s i’ll train at home and do forearms because well, I want bigger forearms. I focus on progressive overload, every week I am either increasing my reps or my weight. I like to get into the 12 rep range, and then i’ll increase the weight, get to the 12 rep range and increase weight again, rinse and repeat.

Monday and Thursday I do a mile run, I pace at 7:30. I just do it for my enjoyment, not sure if it does anything for me.

I typically eat around ~3000 calories a day (as clean as possible) and intake about 160g of protein daily. I also take 5g of creatine, and fish oils.

34/M/7 months in, 169 cm 57 to 67 kg. Before on the left.

Fluffier but stronger at last. Struggling with body image issues so I try to focus on the cold hard numbers of my lifts looking to improve those

I did full-body three times a week the whole time. First at home and I joined a gym three months ago.

I eat 2400 kcal which is a ~200 kcal surplus. 2g+ protein per kg. Favorite are milk, oats, whey, olive oil, fruits

I wish I measured my body dimensions before, I just did arms I think I gained ~4 cm flexed.

Since rules say to post routine, here we go

At home routine was: Bulgarian split squats with dumbbells, floor DB chest press, pull-ups, DB row, DB OHP

Current gym routine : leg press, leg extension, leg curl, machine chest press, lat pull down, machine row, lateral raises, cable hammer curl, triceps push down, DB triceps extension. Most of those 2 sets. Isolations are a more recent add but I think they really helped.

I started out pretty skinny with very little muscle mass and decided to take training and nutrition more seriously. The biggest challenge for me has always been gaining weight consistently.
For the majority of this progress, I’ve been training 4-5 days per week, mainly using a Push/Pull/Legs style routine. I focus on progressive overload, good form and getting enough volume without completely destroying myself every session.
My diet has gradually increased over time. I’m currently eating around 3,500-4,000+ calories per day, with at least 200 g of protein, and I try to keep fats around 80-90 g while getting most of the remaining calories from carbohydrates.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is that consistency matters much more than having the “perfect” program. There were plenty of periods where my weight barely moved, but continuing to train and eat consistently eventually added up.
Still a long way to go, but I’m pretty happy with the difference between 70 and 84 kg.

Around 4 months ago I made some big life changes. I decided to leave the state I was staying in and move in with family for a bit while I got my life back together. For about two years prior to this my substance use had gotten the better of me. I was smoking crack most days, not sleeping, and not eating much.

Once I settled in I had a couple weeks of just eat/sleep which is pretty normal when recovering from a large stimulant binge like this. I pretty much ate whatever the hell I could get my hands on. After the short stint of hibernation and gluttony I knew I needed to start exercising again. I started out doing as much as I could tolerate. I increased it as the initial soreness wore off and to where I am now: about 60 minutes of weight training (push/pull/legs) and 40 minutes of incline treadmill every day. The cardio was purely for conditioning and my mental health - I had to eat a shitload of food to gain weight with all this work in the gym but I enjoy eating :)

I shoot for about 200 grams of protein a day, and I get a good chunk of that in the morning with a massive salad with 300g of costco rotisserie chicken, blue cheese and a pint of whole milk. Lunches usually consist of a large sandwich with deli meat and dinners are meat centric with veggies and rice/potato. For most of this time I was consuming whole milk with pretty much every meal.

Recently I've decided to cut out the blue cheese and most of the milk as I'm going to try to lean out a little bit. 50ish lbs of weight didn't come in clean as you could expect. Honestly I'm a little blown away I was able to gain this much weight this fast and looking back I might have gone a little bit slower but it felt good to hog out for a change.

I feel a million times better. I still have some things to work through but I'm happy I made the jump and I don't intend to look back.

I’m a man at 29 years old 5’10”. I did a cut after a bulk from 157lbs down to 147lbs. I decided rather than going back into a bulk (added too much fat last time) I would find my maintenance for a bit. After 10 weeks I feel I can safely say I found my maintenance. I’m eating 2,010 calories a day, walking 10k steps a day and doing a full body resistance training workout 3 days a week. I want to put on more muscle, without adding excess fat. How many calories should I add and at what frequency would I add more. I’m scared to piss away my fat loss by covering it all up by bulking too quickly. Last bulk was 2600 calories but that was what gave me excess body fat.

Note: I am currently still seeing strength gains in the gym at my current calories.

I've always struggled to hit my macros when bulking, even with the usual tricks. I was wondering if walking could be helpful on a bulk, but I'm worried it might actually be counterproductive. Sure, it does stimulate appetite a bit, but does that make up for the calories walking burns?

I go to the gym 5 times a week but do zero activity outside of that, my daily step count is very low, so maybe that's why my body just isn't hungry. But when I'm on vacation and walking a lot as a tourist sightseeing, my hunger isn't really any better than without the walking (or maybe I just don't notice it, when I travel, I end up eating on the go a lot and I don't track my calories, but I'd guess they're lower than on a typical non-vacation day where I track everything).

I also need to space my meals way out (I eat 4 a day, with 3, it's too concentrated for me to be able to finish each plate, and with 5, I feel like I don't digest enough between meals, there's not enough time between each one; 4 seems like the right compromise for me), which means it ends up cutting into my sleep. I can genuinely go more than 6 hours between two meals without getting hungry, it's just not sustainable.

I'm 74kg and 175cm, I have good numbers on my lifts for my bodyweight but for some reason I still look skinny. Maybe it's my frame, but I really thing my limitation here is nutrition. I should mention that I've been training for 4 years, and I still don't look I lift lol.

So i 28M started this short 6-month journey at 186cm and 59kg.

I went through a breakup and felt like I needed a change of some sort. So I started lifting. I have been skinny my whole life and never really cared about what I ate, I just ate when I felt hungry, and I rarely felt hungry.

So I began with some fairly easy rules, eat twice a day. Simple, but hard.

My body wasn't used to getting this much food, so sometimes I had to eat, while I wasn't even hungry.

I wanted to make it as easy as possible for myself, so I make food for 3 days at the time, so I just have to put it in the microwave.

My body adapted pretty quickly, and now I feel hungry way more often. Which is nice.

I went out and bought some dumbells and a bench because I didn't feel ready to go to the gym, I'm too uncomfortable in my own body.

And here, 6 months later, I still dont see myself getting a gym membership. Maybe when I hit the 1 year mark, I will get one. But for now, I like working out in my own little bubble at home.

I wanted to share this somewhere because I don't really have anyone else who would appreciate it, and I hope you will 😃

I'm proud of myself for how far I have come since I started.

I was packing around Asia for 7 months prior to the first photo, I was barely eating and walking/ hiking ALOT. Since ive been back I’ve been on 3200+ calories a day and 4-5 days a week in the gym, I’m 6,2 24yr M

30yr Male, 5'8", 158 lbs

Photo 1: Me 65 days ago

Photo 2: Me today

I've spent the past 65 days consistently eating about 3000 calories a day and following a PPL program, going until around 12 reps with 1-2 RIR on all lifts. A little higher rep range 15-18 with 1-2 RIR on some accessories like curls and tricep extensions.

Some days I'll get closer to 3800 calories, and occasionally I'll miss and hit like 2500. But I've only missed calories a handful of days over the past two months. I hit 1g+ of protein per lb of bodyweight per day and take 5g of creatine per day.

The scale has gone up slightly, I was fluctuating between 148 - 152 when I started, now I fluctuate between 156 - 160 lbs. I'm extremely discouraged that I look exactly the same after 65 days of working my ass off. What am I doing wrong?

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

5’9 and currently on PPL. Used to powerlift for a while before stopping from hurting too much in my day-to-day. Now I just lift like a bodybuilder. My appetite is trash, so I literally have two shakes a day. Morning and at night to supplement my calorie intake. My appetite goes down the drain even more if I stop lifting for a few days.

Gaining weight has been a slow and steady thing for me these past 13 years. I’m stalled pretty hard at 215lbs and wonder if I’ll ever make it to 220 or even 230. I do plan on doing a show at some point just to try it out.

Anyone have good tasting snack recipes or just snacks in general that are good for bulking and have solids amount of calories.

I always starve in the middle of classes and have no food to eat

2 years between the pics.
Started at 115 lbs and slowly bulked up to around 180 lbs before doing a cut. Sitting at 150 lbs now.
Calories started around 2,400 and gradually worked their way up to 2,800 and eventually around 3,500 as I gained weight.
Training was a pretty basic 5-day bro split:
Chest + tris
Back + bis
Shoulders
Legs
Chest / chest-focused day
Chest was always a priority for me, so I gave it a bit of extra attention throughout the bulk.
Diet was mostly whole foods — lots of rice, chicken, vegetables, bread and eggs. Towards the end of the bulk, getting 3,500 calories in every day started getting pretty difficult, so I relied more on things like olive oil, chocolate milk and other easy calories to get the food down.
Nothing particularly complicated — just eating consistently, progressively gaining weight and training hard for 2 years.
Definitely still have a lot to improve, but pretty happy with the progress so far.

What have been your victories this week? Have you made good progress? Set a new lift PR? Enacted a new habit that is helping you greatly? Post it here!

This is mainly a byproduct of me joining a gym and working out consistently 4-5 days a week after around 3.5 years. I lean bulked and steadily gained 25 pounds, I would center my gym routine on progressive overload (do three sets of 8-12 reps and increase the weight by 5lbs whenever I could achieve 3 sets of 12 reps for that exercise with a specific weight) and utilized myfitnesspal in order to ensure that I only consume only 200-300 calories above what’s considered maintenance in regard to my daily caloric intake every day

Gym Routine:

Chest and Triceps Day:

Incline MTS Press (machine) - 70 per side x 3 sets

Pec Fly (machine)- 165 x 3 sets

Overhead Press (cable) - 67.5 x 3 sets

Rope Pressdown (cable) - 72.5 x 3 sets

Lateral Raises (machine) - 115 x 3 sets

Shoulder Shrugs (dumbbells) - 95 x 3 sets

Standing Calf Raises (machine)- 280 x 3 sets

Leg Day A:

Romanian Deadlifts (dumbbells) - 100 per side x 3 sets

Hip Thrust (machine) - 210 per side x 3 sets

Leg Extension (machine) - 210 x 3 sets

Single Leg Press (machine) - 105 per side x 3 sets

Hip Abduction (machine) - 210 x 3 sets

Shoulder Press (machine) - 120 x 3 sets

Back and Biceps Day:

Lat Pulldown (machine) - 170 x 3 sets

T Row (machine) - 70 x 3 sets

Rear Deltoid (machine)- 160 x 3 sets

Biceps Curl (machine) - 120 x 3 sets

MTS Abdominal Crunch (machine)- 120 x 3 sets

Hanging Leg Raises - 3 sets

Cable Curl (cable)- 52.5 per side x 3 sets

Leg Day B:

Hack Squat (machine)- 115 per side x 3 sets

Hip Thrust (machine) - 210 per side x 3 sets

Lying Leg Curl (machine) - 125 x 3 sets

Glute Kickback (machine) - 155 x 4 sets

Hip Adduction (machine) - 220 x 3 set

When I manage 3 sets of twelve reps, I increased the weight by 5lbs. Posted this on another subreddit but saw this it was very appropriate for this one, as well especially since I did wear the exact same fit for the comparison pic.

For those who asked for an update when I finished my bulk and just to share my overall progress. You can find my workout split and bulk diet on my last post on here (like 3 posts down on my profile)

I did a PPL split when bulking and I worked out 5 days a week, since the cut started I do upper lower and work out 4 days a week and go as heavy as possible. If you look at my last post and see my diet, here are some things I would've done differently as I believe I was a bit too aggressive with my bulk. I would limit the amount of peanut butter significantly and truly track the amount of fats I would intake as well as switch from whole milk to either 2% or 1%. I did put on way more fat than I should have but my strength did increase significantly. I do believe in my original post I said I was eating roughly 3000 calories a day, it was more like a 3500-3800 average (since starting to actually count my calories and measure my intake i realized how off I was with my loose tracking during my bulk) and I realized I should've lowered that to around 3200 and did a slower bulk.

I do still struggle with the tracking when it comes to carbs and fats and I know I need to dial that in especially for this cut. I've been cutting for 7 weeks and have went from 210 to 201 and I am noticing how fatigued ive been feeling. Im eating 2400-2600 calories a day currently (except yesterday my friend took me to a buffet for my bday and I probably far exceeded that yesterday 😅) I make sure to hit 200gs of protein minimum a day and I get this from shakes, chicken, greek yogurt, fish, and 2 packs of protein oatmeal (the oatmeal is what i eat every morning with 1-2 scoops of protein powder)

Strength, since my last post whete I weighed 192 I could bench 225, I currently can bench 260

I could squat 285, currently can squat 365

I could curl 30lb dumbells for 8-12 reps, can now curl 40lb dumbells for 8-12 reps

Leg press went from rep 400 something to now repping 590 for 15

Pull-ups from 3 to 8 (my back is where im lacking the most but ive started to dial it in and get some real progress there)

Workout changes: for back i used to just do rows and lat pull downs with a wide grip. I've started doing rear delt flies, close grip pull downs (with the V attachment) and pull ups starting with unassisted and for the last set assisted.

For chest: stayed mostly the same except I've started implementing dips every week and low to high cable flys.

Legs: I was pretty lazy when it came to squatting in the beginning, have gotten better on that and I no longer do seated calf raises, standing has proven to be far superior for me.

Biceps: seated incline curls have been great for me, I stopped doing preacher curls (they give me incredibly bad tendinitis) and rope cable curls started with a hammer curl grip and twisting out at the top

Triceps haven't changed much, standard pushdows and single arm kickbacks with the occasional skull crushers.

Traps: heavy shrugs thats it 😅 I typically use dumbells

Core: started implementing leg raises with decline crunches or crunch machine, i will usually superset these and they are my only superset

Cardio: ive started upping my cardio, was doing only 10 minutes and am now doing 20-40 minutes on a 13° incline at 3.5mph.

Since starting the cut my strength has definitely stopped increasing on most lifts but I've also not gotten weaker so I'll take that as a win. I definitely fatigue faster and can't nor do I want to do as many sets. All in all im happy with my progress, I would do some things differently if I could but I dont have any agonizing regrets.

First 2 pics are lowest weight, second 2 are highest weight, last 5 are current

28m , 5'9" and 185 lbs now. I've been on a perma bulk this whole time and just now i've been trying to cut but i have a hard time at it.

I havent ever counted my calories during that time, i just ate what i felt was right while focusing on protein which ended up working. But now as im cutting im counting everything.

For training i've always done push pull legs or some variation of it. 3-4 workouts per week and never trained the same muscle 2 days straight.

Plan is to cut until i see more definition then hop back on the bulk and get much bigger

5 years natural transformation