Homemade Weight Gainer Shakes
If you struggle to get in your meals through whole foods or you don’t have the luxury of being able to cook all of your meals you can’t go past liquid nutrition. Easy calories, quick preparation time.
When bulking I regularly make up my own mass gainer shakes. Below is my take on the homemade weight gainer shake and how to do it right.
Bulking Ain't Cheap (And Why Supplements Suck!)
The key to building muscle mass and a successful bulking phase is ensuring your placing your body in a caloric surplus.
You NEED to be consuming more calories than your body is expending on a 24 hour basis.
Chicken, steak, sweet potato, brown rice... these foods when eaten in the quantity required to bulk successfully is expensive and is a chore in itself to eat, I understand that.
This is where the over the counter weight gainer comes in, no need to cook and shovel back meal after meal when you can simply drink a shake.
There's 3 big issues with the over the counter weight gainer shakes that most guys end up buying though...
Price
Here in Australia a 10lb bag of weight gainer powder will set you back anywhere from $85 to $110 depending on the credibility (read: amount of advertising and endorsed professional athletes being paid) they have. 10lbs may seem like a lot of powder, but when we delve into the serving size you’ll soon realise the cost per serve isn’t quite what you’d expect.
Serving Size
This is where the shady supplement industry reveals itself, as you read the label of your newly acquired mass gainer you’ll soon see something along the lines of:
Servings per package: 45 scoops Serving size: 3 scoops
Yes, that’s right – that 10lb bag is good for all of a fortnight. Doesn’t seem like such good as you struggle down 90 grams of powder per shake does it?
This generally equates to anywhere from $5 to $8 per serve..
Macros
Take a look at the nutritional information on the side of the tub or box of an over the counter mass gainer. There’s no doubt that they are loaded full of calories ,generally containing between 800 and 1200 calories per shake.
If you’re familiar with the caloric value of common macronutrients you’ll know that:
1 gram of protein contains 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories
1 gram of fats contains 9 calories
In order to make up this dense caloric number the over the counter mass gainer supplements I used as a beginner and still to this day see on the shelves of most supplement stores have a relatively high fat content, extremely high fat content (as this is an easy and cost effective way of making up the excessive number of calories) along with a moderate dose of protein.
When you’re trying to reach a certain caloric goal and macronutrient breakdown this can be quite difficult to achieve.
If protein were higher and fat content was lower this wouldn’t be a problem, however that would increase the creation cost for the supplement company. As we all know the ultimate goal in business is to minimize costs while maximizing profits.
Energy and the cultivation of muscle mass requires carbohydrates, a lot of them.
Over the counter mass gainers are loaded with carbohydrates however these are SIMPLE carbohydrates.
We can make our own homemade weight gainer shakes with higher quality ingredients that taste better and are still cheaper than those bought over the counter. There's no definitive recipe I recommend you follow, instead choose the ingredients that suit you best below and tailor them to your macronutrient goal.
Homemade Weight Gainer Ingredients...
When making our own weight gainer we'll need ingredients for the protein, carbohydrate and fat macronutrients, I recommend the following:
Protein Sources
The building block of muscle.
1 gram of protein contains 4 calories.
My go-to protein sources for my homemade weight gainer shakes are:
Whey protein powder
whey protein powder, particularly generic branded whey protein concentrate (WPC) is extremely cheap and a fantastic base for making a mass gainer shake.
I generally buy a mixture of flavors in individual 1kg bags so I can then tailor the flavor to the mass gainer shake I'm going to make.
As I've discussed before - forget the brand, forget the hype, forget the advertising. Look for a inexpensive whey protein concentrate powder that has little or no carbohydrates, little or no fat and upwards of 25g of protein per 30g scoop.
Liquid egg whites
Liquid egg whites, a staple in any bodybuilder's fridge or freezer.
Easily used to increase the protein content of a shake or meal without using protein powder, or add both!
Goes well in any bulking shake as once berries and honey etc. have been blended in you won't be able to taste it.
Quinoa
High in protein and loaded with nutrients.
Quinoa is relatively expensive unless bought in bulk, although it's still a great option as another protein source in your homemade weight gainer shakes.
Carbohydrate Sources
Carbohydrates are the key to energy and mass building.
1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories.
My go-to carbohydrate sources for my homemade weight gainer shakes are:
Banana
Great form of fructose carbohydrates, suitable for energy before your workout, or to spike insuline levels after your workout.
The banana is my go-to fruit when it comes to making homemade weight gainer shakes or preparing protein oats.
Berries
Blueberries and raspberries.
Adds great flavor and a good form of carbohydrates to add to any bulking shake - inexpensive when bought in bulk and blueberries are recognized as being loaded with antioxidants (making them an excellent food for cognitive function).
Oats
My staple carbohydrate source.
A great complex carbohydrate that can be purchased in raw form (in which case you'll need to blend it) or already ground - if you're unable to access a blender or want a quick, convenient way to get your homemade weight gainer shakes in while your'e on the go all you'll need is some whey protein concentrate powder and some ground oats! Goes perfect in any regular shaker.
Honey
An easy way to increase the taste and add some calories in the form of simple carbohydrates to any bulking shake.
Fat Sources
The easiest way to increase your caloric intake is to increase your fats!
1 gram of fat contains 9(!!) calories.
My go-to fat sources for my homemade weight gainer shakes are:
Almonds
Almonds are calorically dense, taste great when roasted and provided you've got a good blender (I recommend the Vitamix) will easily process into any homemade weight gainer shake for a quick boost in calories.
Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is one of my favorite foods, and luckily enough adds not only a great addition of healthy fats to any homemade weight gainer shake - but is also relatively high in protein too.
When adding peanut butter to a shake I recommend using chocolate flavored whey protein concentrate for the best tasting combination.
Olive Oil
I haven't done this in years, however for those desperate hardgainers that're struggling to pack on the pounds a tablespoon of olive oil or two is an easy method of increasing your caloric intake without having to process or shovel down any more food! When combined with honey, berries and peanut butter into a shake olive oil is almost tasteless!
Here's The Protein I Highly Recommend You Use...
Legion's Whey+ protein is honestly a breath of fresh air, this is literally the clanest and purest form of whey protein you'll find.
Whey+ is 90% protein by weight, so no carbs or fats here! There's no artificial junk and it's made with milk from small irish dairy farms ensuring you get the highest quality whey possible.
No BS.
Pick up a tub of Whey+ in one of many delicious flavors right here.
My Homemade Weight Gainer Recipes
Bulking Shake Variation 1
2 scoops whey protein
1 cup oats
1 banana
1 tsp. peanut butter
Bulking Shake Variation 2
2 scoops whey
1 cup oats
Handful mixed berries
Bulking Shake Variation 3
2 scoops whey protein
Handful almonds
½ cup oatmeal
Skim milk
Honey
Bulking Shake Variation 4
1 scoop whey protein
1 cup oats
1 cup blueberries
Bulking Shake Variation 5
1 scoop whey protein
1 handful of almonds
1 tbsp. organic honey
Bulking Shake Variation 6
2 scoops whey protein
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup raspberries
1 handful almonds
1 tbsp. honey
Bulking Shake Variation 7
1 scoop whey protein
1 cup liquid egg whites
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
Bulking Shake Variation 8
2 scoops protein
2 tbsp. instant coffee
1/2 coat oats
1 banana