How to make gainer at home

Making gainer at home

Using a gainer will help increase the caloric content of your diet when it is difficult to do this only using regular products.

The problem with most weight gainers on the market is that they are loaded with fast sugars as a source of carbohydrates. Not only can this lead to an increase in the fat component in the body, their daily consumption can have a negative impact on health.

Use a commercial product only when necessary. Make a healthy gainer at home in your own kitchen using our recipes.

Low Carb Gainer Recipes

Low-carbohydrate gainers are characterized by the presence of cereals, nuts, bran, grain flour and a reduced content of sugar or its analogues. At the same time, the share of fruits, citruses and berries does not decrease. Therefore, you can mix a cocktail every time to suit your taste and budget.

There is a well-known popular recipe for such a gainer from sports nutrition expert B. Tsatsoulin:

• bran (1 spoon);
• oatmeal (2 spoons);
• fructose (5-10 g) or sweetener;
• berries (handful);
• milk (200 ml);
• dry protein (1 scoop).

On a note! If there is no blender, then the fruits are rubbed, and the grains are ground in a mortar or coffee grinder. Then everything is mixed in a shaker or plastic juice bottle with a wide neck.

What else can you read on this topic:

• Casein
• Side effects of the gainer
• How to combine cardio and strength training?
• L-carnitine
• Whey proteins
• How to remove fat
• Running while drying your body
• Cardio exercises for weight loss at home
• How to take liquid l-carnitine?
• Casein for athletes

Ideal gainer formula

A mass gainer is not a magic product that will build muscle better than a regular protein powder.

It is intended for people who cannot consume enough calories and nutrients from regular food. This is mainly true for athletes aiming to gain muscle mass and people with fast metabolisms.

A commercial mass gainer is a combination of a fast-absorbing protein source, such as whey protein, and a cheap carbohydrate source, maltodextrin.

While whey protein has an excellent amino acid profile, maltodextrin is a fast carbohydrate that has the ability to raise blood glucose and insulin even faster and higher than sugar. Therefore, a gainer prepared at home with the addition of natural products will be more useful.

Gainer can be consumed at breakfast, before, during and after workouts, or before bed.

What is a gainer and why is it needed?

Gainer (from English gain - increase) is considered a basic component for gaining muscle mass. The main task of the supplement is to supply muscles with the substances necessary for growth and accelerate recovery after physical activity.

However, there is one important difference between protein and gainer. Protein is an ordinary protein, most often we are talking about whey concentrate (the pure proportion of protein in it is 70-80%). Gainer includes not only protein, but also carbohydrates, that is, calories, which are also needed for muscle growth. The ratio of protein to carbohydrates depends on the type of supplement:

• High carbohydrate – 1000-1200 calories, 35-40 grams of protein and 170-230 grams of carbohydrates;
• Standard – 25-30 grams of protein and 100 g of carbohydrates;
• Combined – 25-35 grams of protein (contains 2-3 types of protein) and about 80-100 grams of fast and slow carbohydrates.

Multicomponent gainers with slow carbohydrates and several types of protein are considered a niche product. Due to the high cost, which exceeds even top protein supplements, such gainers are not popular. If you prepare a cocktail at home, then you should also forget about high-carbohydrate ones. For most athletes, taking such cocktails will quickly result in rapid fat gain due to an excess of calories in the diet. As a result, in terms of the ratio of calories and nutritional supplements, when preparing a cocktail at home, it is best to strive for regular (standard) gainers

, which contain a standard portion of protein (25-30 grams) and no more than 100 g of carbohydrates. The amount of fat can be 5-10 grams, mainly from nuts.

Gainer recipes

Homemade weight gainer will add a quality source of protein, carbohydrates, fiber, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins to your diet.

The basic recipe can be easily modified to suit your taste preferences and calorie needs. Just mix all the ingredients in a blender.

Products that can be used to prepare gainer:

• The protein component of the shake is provided by the use of whey protein powder. You can use natural cottage cheese and milk.
• As a source of carbohydrates, choose fruits and berries (banana, strawberries, blueberries), oatmeal or honey.
• For a source of healthy fats, you can use natural nut butters from peanuts, almonds, or walnuts, as well as olive, coconut, or flaxseed oils.
• Depending on the calorie content of the gainer you want, use skim or whole milk. You can additionally add yogurt, cream or ice cream to increase the calories.
• For healthy vitamin and mineral supplements, add spinach, lettuce, or other greens to your smoothie.

Basic Gainer Recipe Using Protein Powder

• 2 scoops of protein of any flavor;
• 100 g oatmeal;
• 1 tablespoon of nut or vegetable oil;
• 1 banana;
• 200 ml milk (3.2% fat);
• water/ice to achieve the desired consistency of the cocktail.

Grind the oatmeal to a fine powder and blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

The finished cocktail can be stored in the refrigerator, consumed immediately, or divided into smaller portions to be taken at different meals.

Orange gainer

• A glass of milk (3.2% fat);
• 100 g heavy cream (20% fat);
• a glass of orange juice;
• 2 scoops of orange or vanilla flavored protein.

Gainer with mint and ice cream

• A glass of milk (3.2% fat);
• a glass of cream or chocolate ice cream;
• 2 scoops vanilla or chocolate protein;
• a few fresh mint leaves or a quarter spoon of mint extract.

Gainer based on natural products

• 400 ml milk with reduced fat content (1.5% fat);
• 250 g low-fat cottage cheese (less than 1% fat);
• 1 banana;
• 100 g oatmeal.

Milk and cottage cheese will provide the cocktail with a fairly high percentage of protein. Bananas will add sweetness and valuable nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6, serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine.

If you don't like the taste of banana, choose another fruit. Oatmeal contains many complex carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fatty acids, dietary fiber, vitamins, calcium and iron.

Gainer "high-calorie"

This gainer is suitable for those who have difficulty gaining weight. Even fat. That is, for people who are naturally thin. It contains a large amount of fat and calories. This is perhaps the most expensive gainer. It contains the most calories due to fats, and the ratio of protein to carbohydrates is 1/2.7.

Compositions and types

The gainer includes:

• base - milk, yogurt or juice;
• proteins - cottage cheese, whey protein or skim milk powder;
• carbohydrates - honey, jam, oats, fructose, maltodextrin or dextrose.

Depending on the types of carbohydrates, there are 2 types of gainers:

• with a high glycemic (carbohydrate) index (GI) with fast (simple) carbohydrates;
• with medium or low GI with slow (complex) carbohydrates.

Slow carbohydrates have a low rate of glucose entering the blood. For this reason, when they are consumed, pronounced hyperglycemia does not occur.

It is recommended to take gainers correctly in between meals and immediately after training, 2-3 servings of 250-300 ml each for people with an asthenic physique (thin people or ectomorphs) and 1-2 servings for endo- and mesomorphs. Proper use will help you gain muscle mass.

You can prepare the gainer yourself. The following recipes will help you make your own high-calorie cocktail at home.

Recipes

The preparation method is simple - mix all the indicated products and beat with a blender.

Low calorie gainers

The process of assimilation of nutritional cocktails is individual and depends on the characteristics of lipid metabolism.

Women are advised to use protein-carbon mixtures with extreme caution, starting with small portions.

Here are a few recipes with dietary products and minimal fat:

For 500 kilocalories:

• 250 ml skim milk, 3 tablespoons of cereal flakes, 100 g of low-fat cottage cheese, 1 banana, 2 tablespoons of honey;
• 250 ml skim milk, 50 g ice cream, 3 tablespoons oatmeal or cereal flakes, 2 raw eggs.
• Light version - 250 kilocalories: 200 ml of skim milk, 50 g of low-fat cottage cheese, white from a hard-boiled egg, a handful of berries and 1 tablespoon of honey.

Recipe from Boris Tsatsouline with slow carbohydrates

• 50 g oatmeal;
• 10 g bran (after 10 minutes of soaking it becomes completely soluble);
• 5-10 g fructose;
• protein scoop;
• 200 ml milk;
• berries (for aroma and taste).

The products are mixed in a blender or shaker.

The prepared gainer contains 40 g of slow carbohydrates. It costs much less than store-bought analogues.

Gainers contain different amounts of calories depending on the composition: from 380-510 kcal per 100 g.

Home gainer: preparing an “energy bomb” yourself

Gainers have long been firmly established in the sports nutrition arsenal of many athletes. This product is a high-calorie nutritional mixture based on proteins and carbohydrates, the latter usually two to three times more. By supplying large amounts of energy, it helps to quickly gain muscle mass and increase endurance levels.

The modern sports nutrition market offers a huge variety of such protein-carbohydrate supplements, but not all of them really work, and in order to choose a truly high-quality and correct product, you need to be well-versed in this matter. That is why many athletes began to make home gainers, which have many advantages over store-bought analogues. In this article we will look at how to prepare a homemade gainer using various recipes and how to use it correctly.

General information about the gainer

Any gainer is a high-calorie supplement with a carbohydrate to protein ratio, usually 3:1. There are two types of this product, which differ in the rate of release of glucose into the blood:

• The first type (G No. 1) - contains fast carbohydrates, the glycemic index of which has indicators like sugar, so they quickly enter the blood;
• The second type (G No. 2) includes slow carbohydrates, which have a low or medium glycemic index and enter the circulatory system slowly, without a sharp jump in sugar.

Basically, the first type of additives predominate on the sports nutrition market.

For muscle growth to occur, you need to maintain a positive balance of calories, that is, consume more than you burn. Therefore, to gain weight, it is necessary to increase the calorie content of the diet by about 25-30%. In words, this is quite simple, but in reality, “stuffing” an additional 700-800 calories of solid food into the body is quite problematic. This is where high-calorie protein-carbohydrate mixtures come to the rescue.

Gainer is the best option for such athletes:

• Ectomorphs;
• People with a high metabolic rate;
• Athletes whose exercise is predominantly aerobic in nature;
• Having difficulty eating large amounts of food or not being able to eat fully 5-6 times a day;
• Lovers of natural remedies in sports.

When to take a gainer?

It all depends on your regime, body type and ability to eat often. If you work out physically, then of course you need to take 200-300 ml of gainer every 2-3 hours between meals and about an hour before and after training. This way you will constantly fuel your muscles and will not feel hungry.

Gainers should be taken with caution by people who are prone to obesity and have a slow metabolism. If you are one of them, it is best to take the gainer only before and after your workout. If you consume a carbohydrate-protein mixture frequently, you will develop a layer of subcutaneous fat. You will not have time to burn the calories received.

Do not forget that even a homemade natural gainer cannot replace nutritious food. Don’t think that if you drink a gainer 5 times a day, you won’t have to eat anything. The gainer serves exclusively to provide additional nutrition and saturate the body with carbohydrates and protein.

It is not recommended to take a gainer if you are losing weight or are cutting. In this case, it is better for you to replace the gainer with a protein shake and take it in the same way.

Gainer at home: main differences

Many athletes wonder: what is better – a homemade or purchased gainer. The benefits of homemade supplements include:

• Savings - a do-it-yourself gainer is often much cheaper than its canned counterparts from the store, because it can include not too expensive products;
• Natural – only natural ingredients are used without any chemicals;
• Benefit and taste - this point follows from the previous one, thanks to “live” ingredients.

But there is one significant drawback - insufficient accuracy of the composition, in which the optimal balance of the mixture may be disrupted. To avoid this, you will have to separately highlight the nutritional value of each component and calculate the overall result. This takes time, which is why most athletes choose ready-made products.

A home gainer must contain the following products:

• Rich in protein. These include: milk, cottage cheese, eggs, yogurt, kefir, nuts;
• With a fast carbohydrate component: honey, jam, sweet fruits, sugar. These components are recommended for those who do not have problems with excess weight;
• With slow carbohydrates. Suitable for those who are prone to obesity. This includes: muesli, oats, bran and other grains;
• It is also worth including sports nutrition elements such as amino acids, protein and creatine.

Variations of these basic components can produce mixtures with different flavors and nutritional properties.

Taking gainer according to the rules

It is best to take the supplement before and after physical activity, as well as during the day. It is strictly not recommended to use it before bedtime. This option is possible only in the case of ultra-fast metabolism, when there is a pronounced deficit in mass, and there is no way to replenish it.

• Before training, the cocktail is best consumed half an hour before training. This will give you a boost of strength and energy. It is advisable to time each serving of the supplement by counting the number of calories expended for each exercise and workout as a whole. To do this, you can use special tables to calculate energy costs for a certain type of physical activity;
• Consuming the mixture after exercise will help the athlete regain strength and replenish the amount of protein spent on muscle building. If you have already taken the supplement before the start of the training, then you should not take it again immediately after the end of the training process. You need to wait at least half an hour, and to “dull” the feeling of hunger a little, you can drink water;
• You can use the cocktail 1-2 times a day between meals, or replace one of your meals with it.

When is the best time to use the mixture?

The gainer is recommended to be used before and after physical training, as well as during the day:

How to prepare gainer at home

Preparing gainer at home is not particularly difficult and does not require any exotic products. All recipes are quite simple and differ in the same cooking principle: all ingredients are crushed if necessary, placed in a blender and mixed into a cocktail.

First, let's look at the recipe for a homemade gainer of the second type (G No. 2). This cocktail will supply the body with energy gradually, so it is better to take it about an hour before training.

• Milk – 250 ml;
• A handful of berries;
• Fructose – 5-10 g;
• Bran – 10 g;
• Oatmeal – 50 g;
• Whey protein – 1 scoop (optional).

Now let's look at how to make a home gainer for gaining weight and muscle mass. According to all presented recipes, a mixture of the first type is made (G No. 1).

Banana-honey version

• 2 bananas;
• Low-fat cottage cheese – 200 g;
• Milk – 200 ml;
• Honey – 3 tablespoons;
• Peanuts – 60 g.

Raspberry-grape recipe

• Oatmeal – 60 g;
• Egg whites – 4 pcs;
• Raspberry jam – 2 tablespoons;
• Milk – 250 ml;
• Grapes – 150 g.

"Quail"

• Sour cream with 10% fat content - a glass;
• 2 bananas;
• Rosehip syrup – 2 tablespoons;
• Milk – 200 ml;
• Quail eggs – 6 pcs.

Yoghurt-vanilla option

• Vanilla and cocoa powder - 2 large spoons each;
• Yogurt – 150 ml;
• Walnuts and berries - one handful each.

Recipe with raisins and dried apricots

• Skim milk – 200 ml;
• Dried apricots and raisins - one handful each;
• 2 egg whites;
• Peanut oil – 2 tablespoons.

Curd and banana cocktail

• Low-fat cottage cheese – 100 g;
• Half a banana;
• A tablespoon of jam;
• Juice from half a lemon;
• Freshly squeezed orange juice – 150 ml.

And this is not a complete list of home gainer recipes. The ingredients can be varied at your discretion, creating new combinations to suit your taste. You just need to remember to calculate the energy value of foods so as not to disturb the optimal carbohydrate-protein balance of the mixture. Try and practice, and then you can create your own “energy bomb” that will not only taste good, but will also help you build muscle mass and achieve results in the sports field.

Cocktail characteristics

The name of the drink is translated from English as “gain”. This sports supplement is a protein-carbon cocktail that increases muscle growth. The drink contains:

1. Carbohydrates (maltodextrin). Carbohydrates form the basis of a sports supplement.
2. Squirrels. Proteins are the main element the body needs to gain muscle mass.
3. Protein, mainly soy, whey and casein protein are used.
4. Fats.
5. Vitamins.
6. Amino acids.
7. Microelements.

You can achieve this composition by preparing a drink from milk, cottage cheese, fruits and eggs.

Due to the high content of proteins, carbohydrates and proteins, the cocktail allows you to quickly build muscle mass and strengthen the body. However, not all supplements sold in stores have a natural composition. Some products can even cause harm. Therefore, you need to purchase sports supplements either at a pharmacy or prepare them at home. Otherwise, there will be no benefit from a sports lifestyle and proper nutrition.

About the properties of gainer and protein >>

When preparing gainer and other cocktails at home, some types of proteins, carbohydrates and fats can be replaced with tasty and healthy foods: milk, eggs, cottage cheese. At the same time, homemade supplements are no worse than store-bought ones.