Should girls take carbohydrate-protein mixtures?

Gainer

Sergey Sidoruk 02/18/2019 no comments

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Can girls drink gainer?

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The cult of a healthy, toned body among the fair sex is gradually becoming a trend. In the fight for beauty, all methods are good, however, the best results in building a beautiful body and maintaining health are obtained by regular visits to the gym. To improve training results, many biological nutritional supplements have been developed. Their use allows you to additionally obtain microelements necessary for building a proportional figure. One of these complexes containing the full range of required substances is a gainer. Exactly how this mixture works, in what cases a gainer for girls is used to gain weight, as well as the correct selection and use of gainers for thin girls will be discussed below.

What is a gainer and what does it give to girls?

Content

A gainer is essentially an addition to your usual daily diet, allowing you to gain additional body weight. It contains proteins and carbohydrates in high concentration. Some manufacturers add vitamin complexes, which makes nutrition more complete. Athletes often take gainers to gain weight; by using the supplement, you can gain both muscle fiber and fat.

Very often girls suffer from excessive thinness; the problem may lie in too fast a metabolism. Using a gainer allows you to bypass this phenomenon and significantly strengthen the muscle frame.

Gainer is one of the most powerful and effective assistants in weight gain.

Regular consumption of a protein-carbohydrate mixture allows in such cases to achieve the following results:

• increase the daily intake of calories into the human body without putting additional stress on the digestive system. The powder is quickly absorbed and does not require large amounts of enzymes for digestion;
• normalize the metabolic rate, reducing it slightly and returning it to the average;
• increase body weight both through muscles and connective tissue;
• increase the body's energy reserves;
• speed up recovery processes after training;
• increase strength and endurance;
• prevent the phenomena of catabolism in the body.

How does a gainer work?

Regular use of gainer is guaranteed to increase lean muscle mass.

Gainers differ in the speed of absorption into fast and slow formulations.

Fast carbohydrates in cocktails restore the energy expended after training, preventing the body from using muscle protein for recovery.

Slow carbohydrates in the gainer are broken down in the body for a long time, supporting muscle growth.

Training, gainers, proper nutrition and normal sleep lead to the formation of a beautiful figure without the presence of fat.

Why does a girl need a gainer?

The product allows you to significantly increase body weight in a short time by increasing the volume of muscle tissue, as well as the accumulation of fatty tissue. This property of a gainer has recently been increasingly used by women of medium build who want to gain beautiful shapes.

Proper use of a gainer by a girl in combination with regular training in the gym will allow her to round her buttocks and give a beautiful shape to her arms and legs. It is for this purpose that representatives of the fair sex are increasingly resorting to the use of this trick.

But when switching to a gainer, be prepared to gain excess weight

The path to a beautiful body consists of two stages:

1. At the first stage, mass is gained, muscle volume increases at the site of exercise, and fatty tissue is deposited there, ensuring constant maintenance of nutrients in this area - this is what a gainer is used for.
2. In the second stage, you need to get rid of fat deposits through intense cardio training. The output is the desired volumes and shapes, which are the standard of female beauty throughout the world.

Home gainers

You don’t have to buy weight gainers; you can prepare them yourself at home. A homemade cocktail will save you a lot of money.

Homemade gainer is prepared from three groups of products:

• Proteins – cottage cheese, egg whites, whey protein, skimmed milk powder;
• Carbohydrates – oats, jam, honey, dextrose, fructose, bran;
• Base in the form of juice, water, yogurt, kefir, milk.

Below are several recipes for healthy and tasty gainers.

With bran and berries

Ingredients:

• Oat flakes – 50 g;
• Bran – 10 g;
• Berries – 200 g;
• Soy protein – one serving;
• Fructose – up to 10 g
• Milk – 200 ml.

Mix all ingredients in a blender, then add milk.

With cottage cheese and nuts

Ingredients:

• Low-fat cottage cheese – 180 g;
• Bananas – 3 pcs;
• Peanuts or other nuts – 50 g;
• Honey - 3 tbsp. l.;
• Milk or juice – 600 ml.

The nuts are crushed into small crumbs, placed in a blender along with other products, and mixed.

With egg white

Ingredients:

• Protein, cooked – 1 piece;
• Low-fat cottage cheese – 50 g;
• Honey – 1 tbsp. l.
• Berries – 40 g;
• Milk – 200 ml.

All products are mixed in a blender until smooth.

With quail eggs

Ingredients:

• Eggs – 6 pcs;
• 10% sour cream – 250 g;
• Banana – 2 pcs;
• Rosehip syrup – 2 tbsp. l.;
• Milk – 200 ml.

The banana is mashed and placed in a blender, followed by the rest of the products, including eggs, and everything is mixed.

With cocoa

Ingredients:

• Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp. l.;
• Walnuts – 100 g"
• Berry – 100 g;
• Natural yoghurt – 150 g.

Mash the berries, chop the nuts, mix with other ingredients and blend in a blender.

How does a gainer work and how to choose it?

The principle of operation of this type of sports nutrition is quite simple - its components are carbohydrates, proteins and vitamin complexes. Saturating the body with energy and building material before training allows you to make it as effective and efficient as possible. As a result, muscle tissue grows, body weight and endurance increase.

Increasing your daily calorie intake allows you to achieve results that would not be possible with your usual diet. It is important to remember that a gainer is only an addition to your usual diet; it cannot replace regular meals with this product. The vitamin complexes included in some gainers are a nice addition that ensures faster growth and compensates for the increasing metabolic needs.

You don't always need to drink a gainer

Gainer selection criteria

Sports nutrition stores offer a huge selection of carbohydrate supplements.

To choose a high-quality gainer, you need to carefully study its composition and proportions of ingredients:

• Protein. Ectomorphs are recommended to supplement with a protein content of 25-30%; For people who tend to be overweight, it is better to choose mixtures with a high protein content of 35%. Whey protein is preferable; you can opt for a mixed version: milk and egg. Soy protein is considered a low-quality product and should not be purchased.
• Carbohydrates. For thin people, a gainer with a high carbohydrate content is suitable.
• Sugar. A high sugar content has an adverse effect on the body and leads to a surge in insulin, so a product with a minimum sugar content (no more than 50 g) is suitable.
• Additional components. You can choose food with additional ingredients: amino acids, vitamins, casein, but such brands are more expensive.

European and American manufacturers of food additives have proven themselves well. Gainers from Asia are more suitable for local athletes.

Is there a special gainer for thin people?

Having understood the mechanism of action of this remedy, we can say with confidence that any gainer, in its essence, helps thin people gain extra pounds. To date, there are no special weight gainers for weight loss. On the other hand, if you pay attention to the composition of various types of this supplement, you will find that some of them are more or less high in calories, while others contain a larger amount of mono- or polysaccharides.

From the point of view of weight gain, in the short term, the most suitable means for thin people are mixtures containing fast carbohydrates. So, if you just want to gain weight, use a gainer rich in monosaccharides.

Gainers for weight gain for ectomorphs (thin people)

If you consider yourself to be thin, then weight gainers will help you gain weight. The goal pursued when using a gainer is to increase the caloric content of the diet to such a level that the body begins to gain weight.

1. Which gainer is better to buy for this purpose. Gainers are divided into several types - with high and low protein content, with simple and complex carbohydrates, but if you are thin, then, by and large, you should not pay attention to these nuances, but pay attention to the price. Although, if you are not short on money, take, of course, the best - where there is more protein and less sugar.

Examples of such gainers:

Iron Mass (Arnold Series)

Up Your Mass (MHP)

Pro Complex Gainer (Optimum Nutrition)

And if you don’t have any extra money, take those goods that, in terms of 1 kg, are the cheapest, and, of course, it is desirable that the food be imported. You understand. Example. A 5 kg bucket of one product costs 3500 rubles, and a 7 kg bag of another product costs 4000 rubles. We find that 1 kg of the first product costs 3500/5 = 700 rubles, and 1 kg of the second product costs 4000/7 = 570 rubles. It is more profitable to take a second gainer.

2. How to use. As practice shows, it is very difficult for ectomorphs to gain weight. Usually the reason lies in nutrition and in fact there are two of them - a) irregular nutrition, skipping meals, b) a person eats little, accordingly, so much energy comes from food, which is only enough to maintain the functioning of the body at the current weight level, and which is not enough for it increase.

Now a very important “but”! Gainers should be consumed in addition to regular food, and not instead of it! If, for example, one meal of everyday food is replaced with a gainer of approximately the same calorie content, then nothing will change!

And one more nuance. To gain weight, thin people need to eat often! Not 3 times a day, but 5-6 times. And in approximately equal portions. And only then will ideal conditions for weight gain be created.

Well, now let’s think about how smartly it will be, how a gainer will help to gain weight for thin people. Let's say you are a student, engaged in bodybuilding, but cannot gain muscle mass. It does not work. In the morning you hastily have breakfast, are late and run to classes, after 5-6 hours you have lunch at the institute, and in the evening you arrive late for dinner. In total, you have 3 meals, well, maybe a snack, but still, with this regimen, the likelihood of “getting heavier” is minimal. What will we do? Let's include one snack between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner - this will be a gainer. Let's start with 50 grams at a time, after 2-3 weeks you can already drink 100 grams. If you can drink more, drink more. The main thing, we repeat, is that the volume of regular food consumed at breakfast/lunch/dinner does not decrease (otherwise regular food will be replaced with a gainer - see the warning above - this cannot be done!)

What have we achieved? We eliminated item (b) (see above), which prevented us from gaining weight. Using the gainer, we simply increased the amount of calories and protein consumed. This will give an impetus to weight gain and muscle growth.

Important! But there was also point (a) - irregular nutrition. Let’s say you had breakfast, then you had a gainer, then it was lunch time, but by coincidence you couldn’t have lunch, you simply skipped this meal. And after the second meal, you now only have an afternoon snack 6 hours later. Guard! During these 6 hours you will only have the first half of the period, and for the next three hours you will lose weight! Moreover, we assure you, from personal experience, an ectomorph loses weight at such a pace that in these 3 hours it can nullify the result of several days of ideal nutrition. You absolutely cannot skip meals! Are there situations when you have to skip meals? Buy yourself some protein bars and carry them with you always. The time has come, but there is no way to eat? We take out a sports chocolate bar and burst it. This will be a worthy replacement for a missed meal. Examples of such chocolates:

GO Protein Bar (BioTech USA) (for men this is, of course, an 80 gram option, you can even eat 1.5-2 chocolate bars, it will only be beneficial! For a fragile girl who eats little, a chocolate bar weighing 40 grams may be suitable as a replacement, although if you can handle an 80-gram one, we will only praise you) - an excellent inexpensive option, and really tasty!

Low Carb 40% High Protein Bar (Weider)

Double Pro Bar (Weider)

Can't eat sports chocolate? At least have something to eat! At least a Snickers, at least a couple of cottage cheeses, at least three pieces of curd cheese, at least half a liter of some drinking yogurt with a cookie. At least something! But you will prevent the process of catabolism and part of your efforts will not be nullified.

So, in this article we talked in some detail about the use of weight gainers for thin people and showed everything with examples. The only thing is that we told all this simply enough to make it easy to understand the essence of the problem, without delving into the abbreviation “used”, which stands for “proteins/fats/carbohydrates”. These terms already lead us to the concept of a balanced diet. Let’s say a piece of lean meat is proteins, and a piece of cake is carbohydrates (and of course, replacing a missed meal with a sports protein chocolate bar is more effective and rational than curd cheese, which contains a lot of sugar and fat and practically no protein), but this in another article.

And in this article we looked at a universal principle that will help both a non-athlete girl add a little fat to her charms, and a novice athlete/student to add five inches to her biceps.

So let's repeat. To gain weight, you need to eat more, regularly and not skip meals (circumstances do not leave the opportunity to eat? Replace meals with... see above), which ideally should be 5-6 per day. And ideally, these meals should be at the same time, although it is quite enough to adhere to the rule of eating every 3-4 hours (preferably 3), be it a regular meal or taking a gainer or some kind of snack from available products . The main thing is to avoid feeling hungry! If you're hungry, eat!

Possible results from taking

The expected result from using a gainer over a long period of time is a significant increase in body weight due to muscle and fat fiber. In the process of parallel training, an increase in strength indicators will be observed, endurance will increase, and the muscle and ligament corset will be strengthened. Exercising in the gym while taking a gainer allows you to achieve good results both in bodybuilding and simply in the process of strengthening the body.

Don’t think that gainers are only necessary for those involved in bodybuilding.

Who should consume gainer?

The gainer is suitable for athletes with a thin build who have difficulty gaining weight (ectomorphs). The main purpose of taking the supplement is to increase muscle size by increasing calories in the diet.

Also, a high-energy mixture is required for people who undergo intense physical activity during training, since glycogen reserves are depleted during this period.

Gainer is suitable for athletes with a thin physique

A supplement with a higher percentage of carbohydrates is recommended for athletes who need to obtain energy and maintain it: football players, boxers, sprinters.

Important! For endomorphs, the use of carbohydrate mixtures is not recommended, as it threatens to increase the amount of fat.

What to choose and how to take a gainer?

The result of taking sports nutrition depends on many factors, including the composition and quality of the components of the mixture, as well as the selection of the correct mode of its use. We consulted with many specialists, including leading fitness trainers and sports doctors.

Based on the information received, we have developed general recommendations regarding the selection and use of the gainer that is “right for you”:

1. Be sure to pay attention to the protein content in the mixture; it should be between thirty and thirty-five percent.
2. Carefully study the concentration of simple carbohydrates; their amount should not exceed ten percent of the total mass, since they will turn into fat deposits in the shortest possible time after consuming the gainer in the absence of training.
3. Give preference to proven manufacturers in America or Germany.

When it comes to taking sports nutrition, it is very important to know your own metabolic rate and also take into account the goals you are pursuing. Consult a nutritionist or nutritional supplement expert to determine the most appropriate amount of dry formula and frequency of use.

The harm of gainers, or what sports cocktails do and don’t contain

In the understanding of the average person, the harm of gainers is expressed in the fact that they turn a girl into a guy. Without pharmacological support (injections of testosterone derivatives), this effect is not possible.

In fact, neither creatine, nor taurine, nor glutamine, nor other amino acids have such an effect on the body. A good gainer is an analogue, if you like, of a pack of cottage cheese with a spoonful of jam and oatmeal.

However, gainers have objective side effects:

1. Increase in body fat . Any gain in muscle mass means an increase in fat percentage too. This effect is inevitable, and each athlete usually determines for herself exactly how much fat she can gain so as not to lose the aesthetics of her body. The process can be controlled by eating clean and counting calories, but cannot be prevented by taking any drugs or substances;
2. Stomach upsets . Not all, but some mixtures with maltodextrin and sugar cause diarrhea, and quite severe one. If such a reaction occurs, you should think about changing the brand of sports nutrition, and choose a gainer that contains mainly complex carbohydrates;
3. Increased appetite . The reaction means that the body responds strongly to the carbohydrate component of the cocktail, and some cells have lost sensitivity to insulin. In general, attacks of hunger after a cocktail should be a reason to contact an endocrinologist, since insulin resistance requires correction with a special diet

Rules for taking gainer

To gain body weight as quickly as possible, you need to use a gainer two or three times throughout the day.

Increases calorie intake

On training days:

• first dose – immediately before training;
• the second - immediately after it;
• another appointment should be in the morning.

In this way, minimal fat deposits can be accumulated and muscle volume can be maximized while maintaining the required amount of nutrients in the bloodstream. On rest days, you can limit yourself to two doses of the mixture, two hours after breakfast and one and a half hours after lunch.

You can dissolve the gainer in various ways; athletes use water, juices or milk for this. It is very important to increase the amount of clean water entering the body, as it is necessary for the normal digestion of all components of this nutritional mixture.

Energy and nutritional value of gainers

Very often, manufacturers indicate the energy value of the entire recommended single serving. It can be very large and amount to, for example, 300 g. Accordingly, the energy value will look very impressive and confidence-inspiring compared to other gainers and amount to, for example, 1200 kcal. This is a lot, and not everyone can absorb such a portion at one time. Therefore, in order to assess the real energy value of the mixture , you need to find information on the calorie content of 100 g of product on the label. The analysis showed that on average the calorie content of gainers from different manufacturers per 100 g is approximately the same, and on average is 400 kcal, which can be more than enough for one cocktail. If there is no such data on the label, then this can be easily calculated: you need to multiply the number of kcal of the entire serving by 100 g, and then divide by the number of grams of the entire serving. For example, 1200 kcal*100 g/300 g = 400 kcal.

Nutritional value is the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat in one serving of gainer in grams. Again, it is better to find nutritional information for 100 g of the product. The optimal indicator would be 20 g of protein and 80 g of carbohydrates for this amount of gainer.

Contraindications and side effects

To identify contraindications to the use of this type of sports nutrition, be sure to consult a specialist.

The most common conditions in which its use is prohibited are:

• presence of an allergy to the components of the gainer;
• hereditary enzymopathies;
• insufficiency of hepatic and renal filtration;
• nutritional obesity.

As for the side effects of taking a gainer, they are associated with the individual characteristics of the body.

May occur if you take a low-quality product. Undesirable manifestations include:

• significant fat deposits;
• the appearance of various rashes on the skin;
• digestive tract disorders;
• increased load on the liver and kidney filter.

Overview of the modern gainer market

The modern gainer market is rich in various offers. The ratio of protein to carbohydrates in supplements ranges from 1/1 to 1/3. If you are subjecting yourself to intense training or using a mass gainer, then the more carbohydrates, the better. But besides dry numbers, it is difficult for a beginner to understand anything when choosing. To make your choice easier, we have compiled a rating of the most popular gainers based on reviews from athletes.

"Gain fast 3100" Universal Nutrition

According to reviews, this gainer allows you to gain an average of up to 5 kg in the first month. But among the minuses there is an excess of sweetness.

"Hyper Mass 5000" Biotech

This gainer is ideal for those who are looking to gain lean mass. Despite the rather specific taste of Nesquik, it is very effective. Among the reviews there are figures of both 7 and 10 kg with intensive training and a balanced diet.

"Serious Mass" Optimum Nutrition

This is practically a standard product on the gainer market, allowing you to gain up to 6 kg in the first month. Requires strict adherence to the instructions for use. Perhaps this is why some do not get the desired result and accuse the manufacturer of dishonesty.

Ultimate Nutrition Muscle Juice Revolution

Reviews vary depending on nutrition and training regimen. For some it is only 3 kg in a whole month, and for others it is 8 kg in just 3 weeks. Which once again reminds us that the approach to gaining weight should be comprehensive.

"King Mass XL Ronnie Coleman"

This gainer is especially loved by bodybuilders. It has a pleasant taste and does not irritate the digestive system even for beginners. It occupies a leading position among gainers that promote rapid recovery of the body.

"Pro Complex Gainer" Optimum nutrition

Despite some athletes complaining of stomach problems after taking it, most consumers praise Pro Complex. Moreover, they claim that taking one package gives a weight gain of about 4-5 kg.

"Elit Mass Hi-Protein Anabolic Gainer" Dymatize nutrition

Gainer mobilizes the body's strength, stimulates endurance and muscle growth. Read the instructions carefully and take clearly stated doses so as not to cause gastrointestinal upset.

"True Mass 1200" BSN

According to reviews, it is enough to take it twice a day. But weight gain is different for everyone and ranges from 3 to 7 kg in one month. But no one complains about nausea or other problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

"100% Premium Mass Gainer Muscletech"

Not everyone is satisfied with the taste characteristics of 100% Premium Mass. Some respondents are forced to add sweeteners and flavors, while others are absolutely delighted. But everyone is unanimous in their high assessment of its properties: the return is 7-10 kg per month.