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11 best weight gainers for skinny guys (Comparison)
By Ire | Supplement Review
By Ire | Supplement Review
11 Best Weight Gainers For Skinny Guys
This is a list of 11 best weight gainers for skinny guys s based on Musclebulkers website research.
Do you feel like you can’t seem to gain any weight even though you are eating all the time? I get you… I am hardgainer myself. My fast metabolism makes it difficult for me to add any kind of weight on my bones.
Because I was obsessed with self development, I always wanted to build my body. Therefore, I had to find out how to work against skinny ectomorph genetics.
Soon after I learned how to count calories, I learned the harsh truth. Even though I thought I was eating a lot it just wasn’t enough to meet my caloric goals.
Because I was always short on time, I just couldn’t fit any other meals. That is when weight gainers came in handy. I soon realized that they were cheaper than buying regular meals and quickly to prepare.
Since then I have gotten more educated in world of exercise and went through relatively big body transformation. One of the things I found out is that not all weight gainers are created equal. Some are good, some are great and some are shit. That is why I developed a formula to rate best weight gainers for skinny guys. Formula takes into account every factor fellow ectomorph readers should consider when purchasing their next weight gainer. Based on all factors combined, each weight gainer got a score.
| PLACE | PRODUCT | PREVIEW | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cytosport Cyto Gainer |   | 227 |
| 2. | Naked Mass Gainer |   | 220 |
| 3. | MHP Up Your Mass |   | 215 |
| 4. | Mass Tech |   | 210 |
| 5. | Dymatize Super Mass Gainer |   | 200 |
| 6. | GNC Pro Preformance AMP Amplified |   | 188 |
| 7. | Real Gains Weight Gainer |   | 180 |
| 8. | Optimum Nutrition PRO Gainer |   | 175 |
| 9. | BSN True Mass 1200 |   | 161 |
| 10. | Muscle Milk Gainer Protein Powder |   | 150 |
| 11. | Optimum Serious Mass |   | 136 |
Weight gainer is a supplement which is supposed to help skinny guys to build muscles. That is done by easily adding large amount of calories into their diet through mixing water or milk with powder. Mass gainers consists of mostly protein powder and carbohydrate powder. Both ingredients together will add more meat on your skinny bones.
By now it should be obvious that weight gainer will help us supplement more calories into our diet. Combined with proper lifting, those calories are going to be building blocks for our muscles as well as higher energy levels.
Weight gainer showed to be more effective at improving recovery than protein powder stand alone. Because of that, your muscle will recover quicker which will leave you with less muscle fatigue and more effective workouts. Long term, skinny guys should see quicker gains.
Some weight gaining supplements also contain additional ingredients like vitamins and minerals, BCAA and even creatine. While we usually don’t buy weight gainer to increase creatine levels, it is nice to know that you do not need to spend more money on buying additional supplements.
Obviously, putting powder and water into a shaker will take way less time than preparing a meal. Combining training, work, school, weighing your food, making laundry, doing dishes… while trying to have a social life sometimes feels like you will need more hours in a day. During those times weight gainer will be precious muscle saver.
Unfortunately, supplement business is not the most clean and honest out there. Food and Drug administration does not regulate supplements, which means that companies are responsible to guarantee honesty. Therefore, whatever is written on the label is what company that produced that supplement claims is in the product. You can imagine that some companies exploit that fact with providing false data, in order increase their sales.
Luckily, there are third-party companies out there that inspect different protein brands and their label cleanliness. Labdoor is one of them and it is the one I relied on for scoring 11 best weight gainer supplements for skinny guys.
We now know that weight gainer is mostly a combination between carbohydrate powder and protein powder. Different brands and product vary within Carb:Protein ratio. While none of them is necessarily better than the other, it is important to know the ratio.
Maybe your diet already consists of enough protein and will therefore benefit more by buying a mass gainer with higher carbohydrate ratio. In that case, look for 1:5 ratio.
On the other hand, maybe protein is what you need mostly. For those cases, look for mass gainers with at least 1:2 ratio, or consider investing in protein powder supplement instead.
We split carbohydrates into simple and complex sugar. Simple sugar is used for quick energy while complex sugar requires more time to digest and therefore release energy through a longer period of time. Simple sugar are commonly linked to diabetes and other health risk factors. That is why it is no surprise that dietitians will mostly recommend us to focus on eating only complex carbohydrates.
In weight gainers, we commonly find dextrose, maltodextrose or waxy maze as carbohydrate sources:
Dextrose – fast digesting simple sugar (GI 100)Maltrodextrose –fast digesting simple sugar (GI 105) Waxy Maze – slow digesting carbohydrate (GI 63)
Weight gainer with extremely high quality can be useless if you are not drinking it due to making you feel like you have to puke every time. That is why taste plays a big role as quality in Musclebulker’s formula.
Price of weight gainers can vary a lot. That is due to different Protein:Carbs ratios and quality of carbohydrates and protein. Supplements which mix better and have bunch of extra added ingredients, usually spike the price.
Cytosport is an American sport oriented supplement company that is based in Calofornia.
Cytosport Cyto Gainer offers one of the closes carb:protein ratio out of all gainers. Per serving, we will consume 560 kcal with 54g of protein and 76g of carbs.
Carbohydrate are from maltodextrin and protein is a concentrate, which is a cheaper sort.
Cyto Gainer is great spiking up some calories on skinny guys not only due to calories but also because it contains extra vitamins, minerals and even creatine.
Naked Nutrition is a company that really stands out in the whole supplement world. Their products are usually little bit more expensive, however they always guarantee the quality. Their promise is that they will only sell products with purest ingredients.
That also shows in Naked Mass Gainer. One of the few gainers that actually uses complex carbohydrates.
It is made out of three ingredients which are Naked Whey, Naked Casein and organic maltodextrin. It does not have any artificial sweeteners or colors. It is GH-free, GMO free, Soy free and Gluten free. Maltodextrin is wheat-free, since it is made from gluten free organic tapicoa.
Per serving, you will consume 1250 kcal. Naked Mass Gainer protein quality is higher therefore price per gram of protein is little bit higher. However, in order to not be too expensive, their Carbs: Protein ratio (1:5) is little bit less than the other brands. But again, that does not have to be a bad thing. Just make sure you are eating enough proteins already.
MHP stands for Maximal Human Performance. It is a New Jersey based company that has been around since 1997.
MHP Up Your Mass claims to be the only fully disclosed mass gainer without any hidden ingredients. Their purpose it to really appeal to athletes, which are worried about accidentally taking something they are not supposed to.
Carbohydrate source comes from a mix of simple and complex carbs, while proteins are a mix of concentrate, isolate and hydrolyze. Due to that, ingredients quality surpass most of mass gainers out there.
One serving will offer 660 kcal, with extra vitamins, minerals and even creatine. Protein: Carb ratio is medium.
Buyers found that there are differences in between how different flavors act.
MuscleTech is a company owned by chinese Xiwang Foodstuffs Company. Before 2016, company was owned by Canadian Kerr Holdings.
MuscleTech Mass Tech is made out of mixing complex and simple carbs. Same thing goes for protein source which is a combination of it concentrate, caseinate, egg albumin, isolate and hydrolyzed whey protein).
Per serving, you will get 860kcal with 2:1 split. Supplement has even added creatine.
Dymatize Nutrition is one of the biggest supplement companies in fitness world. It is due to the fact that it consistently provide top notch products for athletes.
Dymatize Super Mass Gainer serving is a whooping 1280 kcal when mixed with water. What is more is that is contains creatine, vitamine (A, B6, 12, C, E) and extra minerals (calcium, phosphorus, iodine, magnesium, sodium, potassium) in order to help you meet your daily requirements.
Skinny guys that bought the product usually find it tasty, however due to its extremely high calorie amount, shake will be hard to mix. It might have to do with the fact that when adding a serving size in the shaker, it does not leave enough space for the actual liquid.
Dymatize Super Mass Gainer is mainly made out of easy sugar maltodextrin. What is more, it has a poor balance between Carbs and Protein. Due to that reason, it is important to not just take a serving scoop, but really make sure how much you actually need in order to meet your needs.
GNC is a usually a first company when you think of fitness supplements. It is a Pittsburgh based company that dates all the way back to 1935.
Even though the company claims that company contains much of complex carbs, ingredient description inform us that it is mostly made of of cheap maltodextrin. Protein sources tend not to be the most qualitative as well.
Price is little bit higher when comparing the supplements with same kind of rank. Mostly because it is the brand we are buying.
One serving will provide us with 990 kcal, nearly 2:1 ratio and creatine.
Real Gains is a product designed by Universal Nutrition, which is a New Jersey company that has been operating for 25 years.
Product is made of out Maltodextrin and protein complex which is unique to Real Gains (ultra filtrated whey concentrate, micellar casein, whey protein isolate).
Real Gains Weigh Gainer has one of the closest ratio in between protein and carbs (34:54). Per serving, you will be ingesting total of around 600 kcal. Their protein price is extremely cheap compared to all others. ($0.03 per gram of protein)
Product is known for fantastic taste and purity.
Optimum Nutrition is yet another Jersey supplement company. Mostly they are known for Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Protein.
Just like many other weight gainers, it consists mostly of maltodextrin and protein blend.
It is a mass gainer which comes with many different flavors. Even though it contains no creatine, its excellent protein:carbs ratio makes up for all of it (36:51).
Per serving we will get 650 kcal. It is cheaper compared to other product due to how cheap protein per gram is ($0.04)
Its taste is fantastic and consistency is thinner than most of mass gainers.
BSN is one of the youngest companies on the list. Founded in 2001 in FLorida, BSN is labeled as a growing giant.
BSN True Mass 1200 is a product that contains carbohydrate blend of maltrodextrin and whole oat flour. Just as carbohydrate blend, protein sources also vary.
One serving of BSN True Mass will give us 1210 kcal. However, we need to account that the ratio is pretty poor (1:4.25). Vanilla Ice Cream flavor has gotten quite a lot of attention due to its taste.
MuscleMilk is a product designed by already mentioned company CytoSport. In US, we all know it since we can purchase muscle milk drink pretty much anywhere.
While carbohydrate sources are just maltodextrin, its protein is little bit more qualitative (isolate).
A serving of Muscle Milk Gainer Protein Powder will result in 650 Kcal. Ratio between carbs:protein is little bit lower (1:3.5).
Vanilla Creme has proven to be extremely tasty with less sugar added than average weight gainer products.
Optimum Serious Mass scored the least of all weight gainers.
Mainly due to the fact is hasn’t impressed with anything but large caloric content per serving (1250kcal). Its carbohydrate source consists of maltodextrose and protein quality is low. Unfortunately, all those factors also lead to poor mixability and poor taste.
Optimum Serious Mass is often found to be too sweet, which is due to containing whooping 20g of sugar per serving. Protein:Carb ratio is one of the lowest (1:5).
| P/ 100g | OH/ 100g | Kcal/ 100g | kcal/ serving | serving/ container | Price/ g protein | Flavor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cytosport Cyto Gainer | 36 | 51 | 373 | 560 | 18 | 0.04 | chocolate vanilla vanilla shake |
| Naked Mass Gainer | 15 | 78 | 389 | 1250 | 11 | 0.11 | chocolate, vanilla, unflavored |
| MHP Up Your Mass | 28 | 70 | 370 | 660 | 12 | 0.14 | Chocolate Vanilla Cookie Fudge |
| Mass Tech | 27 | 57 | 374 | 860 | 14 | 0.05 | birthday cake chocolate cookies and cream |
| Dymatize Super Mass Gainer | 15 | 72 | 375 | 1280 | 16 | 0.05 | gourmet vanilla |
| GNC Pro Preformance AMP Amplified | 24 | 60 | 482 | 990 | 13 | 0.08 | cookies & cream |
| Real Gains Weight Gainer | 34 | 54 | 388 | 602 | 31 | 0.03 | banana Chocolate ice cream |
| Optimum Nutrition PRO Gainer | 36 | 51 | 394 | 650 | 28 | 0.04 | Banana Cream Pie Double Rich Chocolate Strawberry cream Vanilla Custard |
| BSN True Mass 1200 | 16 | 69 | 390 | 1210 | 15 | 0.07 | vanilla ice cream |
| Muscle Milk Gainer Protein Powder | 20 | 67 | 401 | 650 | 14 | 0.06 | vanilla crème |
| Optimum Serious Mass | 15 | 75 | 374 | 1252 | 16 | 0.05 | Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter |
Taste is considered one of the most important factors when purchasing a weight gainer. Therefore, each Protein powder was rated from 1-100 based on our opinion & reviewing verified purchases off Amazon.
Weight gainers are naturally going to be more thicker in consistency. That is due to the fact it contains a lot of calories. However, some supplements happened to mix better than others. Rating from 1-100 was given based on our experience and reviewing amazon verified purchases reviews.
We usually do not buy weight gainer for creatine benefits. However, it is a nice addition that added 20 points to our rating in case it contained it. That way we do not need to waste more money of purchasing it separately.
Be aware that many companies will falsely label maltodextrin as complex carbs. Purely having maltodextrin as carb source received a rating of 0. Some powders showed more variability which gave them a higher rating, highest being Natural Mass Gainer.
Clean label plays a huge role when evaluating supplement brands. There have been many cases of supplements containing hidden contents like banned substances or even dangerous metals. We used ratings from Labdoor, which is a third-party evaluating company. Since they have already rated product pureness from 1-100, I just added their ratings into our formula.
Unfortunately, they did not inspect all our weight gainers. For those cases, I simply added an average of all others evaluated products which happened to be exactly 50.
Number of scoops will vary from supplement to supplement. That is due to different size of scoops and different caloric amount within weight gainers.
While many supplements will have recommended servings, I always suggest to go with more mathematical approach. Firstly, figure out how many calories you still need in order to meet your daily caloric intake. Calculate how many scoops will be needed in order for that to happen. Make sure to not just calculate pure calories, but macro nutrients as well. If you don’t know how to do that, invest next 5 minutes to learn it.
Weight gainer is not the same as protein powder. While both are designed for muscle growth purpose, they use different formula. Protein Powder mainly consists of protein while weight gainer is a combination of carbohydrate sources and protein powder.
If you are a typical skinny guy (ectomorph) with faster metabolism than new Tesla model, you most likely need to add calories into your diet that are beyond of just protein. Carbohydrates are a great and cheap way to do so. Therefore, mass gainer is a great way to go for skinny guys.
Weight gainer is ideal for anybody who is struggling to eat enough calories with just a food based diet.
No matter if that is due to lack of time, financial issues or fast metabolism, mass gainer will be the quickest, cheapest way to do so. Skinny guys tend to belong into at least one of those categories, therefore mass gainer is a great supplement they take advantage of.
However, if you cannot afford to gain any amount of fat whatsoever, purchasing mass gainer might not be for you. Unless, you count your calories.
Purely based on what effect that will leave on muscle growth, timing is usually not as relevant. No matter if you consume it before or after workout, assuming everything else is the same, your muscle will grow equally big.
However, if you have ever taken a weight gainer before, you know that feeling little bit heavy on the stomach is normal. While carbohydrates will give you energy, feeling bloated will counter it.
Therefore, I recommend taking only about a third recommended dosage before working out, and drink the rest later. That way you will still get some energy for the workout itself and avoid unnecessary stomach problems.
If you are a skinny guy and your goal is to gain weight, you should calculate your targeted daily caloric intake. Find out how many grams of protein, carbohydrates and fat you should be consuming daily and make sure you meet your goal every day. Whether that is the day you worked out or not. Therefore, the answer to the question is yes.
Two most common things to mix weight gainer with are water and milk. I have heard of some people using juice, however IMO just the thought of it makes me want to puke.
Use milk if you want to make the shake tastier and bulkier. However, make sure to account for calories you get from milk as well.
Mixing mass gainer with water will leave “empty” taste during drinking, however at least you do not need to struggle with calculations.
Bulking is a term which describes gaining weight through eating enough calories. Combine that with proper lifting and enough protein intake, you will gain more muscle mass as well.
However, whenever we bulk, it is very uncommon to gain purely lean muscle mass. We will always be gaining some fat alongside. How much fat depends on how much excessive calories we consume. Recommended intake is around 300 kcal over TDEE to maximize muscle mass. Anything more that that will just heighten the odds of you gaining fat on top of that.
Therefore, weight gainer will most likely add some fat on your body. However, how much depends on accuracy of your calorie counting process.
Depending on your goals. If you aim to gain muscle mass, answer is absolutely yes. Muscle gaining process starts with you creating micro tears within your muscle tissue. Through proper nutrition and sleep, that tissue will be restored and little bigger. Therefore, if you are not lifting and not creating muscle micro tears, all that consumed food will not be used to recover your muscles. Therefore, protein will create fat by turning into glucose.
As long as your daily macronutrient intake is completed, you can do pretty much anything. However, you should know that real food usually provides more benefits when compared to supplements. Those benefits include better quality as well as higher intakes of vitamins, minerals and fibers.
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