If your goal is some kind of mass gain and/or you are not overly concerned about Bikini season (think Greg Everett) you may need or want to do some BIG eating. Although liquid food is a good option in this regard, you CAN get in some serious cals by constructing your meal in a smart way. One method that is effective is dramatically increasing fat intake due to it’s caloric content…fortunately or unfortunately, it’s tough to just up-end a bottle of olive oil and really go to town! Well, here is a sneaky way to get in a load of protein, cals and nutrition all in one go.
Take 3 -4 pieces of applewood smoked bacon, dice it and begin cooking it in a pan. While the bacon is cooking get a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen broccoli out and scramble 6 eggs in a bowl. When the bacon is almost done add the bag of broccoli and 4-6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Let this mess cook until the broccoli is almost done, then add your eggs. If you turn the heat down and cover the whole thing you can finish out with a frittata (openfaced omelet) or you can keep the heat up and simply scramble it. In the picture you cannot see that there are two avacados diced in the plate, atop which the frittata sits.
You can construct this omelet in any way you want but just a back of the envelope calculation shows we have about 40-45g of protein, 100g of fat and about 10g of carbs from the broccoli. That’s over a thousand calories and when garnished with hot sauce or salsa it’s not too hard to pack one away. This is a pretty good way to get you towards the 4-6 thousand cals you might need to gain muscle or simply perform at your best.
Good Gracious!!! That looks and sounds delicious and easy to make. And it would be easy to sub different veggies to diversify it, some. One could even sub ham, ground grass-fed beef, or something similar. Oh the variety of options!
On another note, does it take 4-6k calories a day to add muscle? I’m trying to do that, but my caloric intake is more around the 2500 mark, doing 5-6 CrossFit WODs a week.
Ed-
THANK YOU for picking up on the variety piece. People just go fetal on this stuff and quit thinking…there are a million ways to alter that omelet.
As to required cals…no one really knows. Some folks need a truck-load of cals, some folks just a little extra. Some of this is dependent on how much muscle one has already gained…just have to tinker and see. One key point is to lift progressively heavier weight. Met-con is NOT the place to look for gaining muscle. Properly structured it met-con-ish stuff can play a supportive roll, but it’s not the first place to look for mass gains.
Back in the ’70’s I worked in a mexican restaurant where we sauteed all the vegetables in Ghee (clarified butter). We went out of business because we were stupid humans, but the food was unreal. People could NOT stop eating our stuff, I think, because we used all real food and plenty, plenty animal fat. I’m gonna make this omelet ASAPl.
Robb,
Great to see some info/visuals for “CFFB nutrition”. I’ve been following it for a few weeks now and it’s awesome, now I’ve just got to get the calories in to add some weight. Hope to see some more hefty meals up on the site!
-Ben
P.S. Loved your “Mass Gain Experience” article from a few months ago. You mentioned posting your meal plan(s) or your general calorie/macro-nutrient intakes. Would love to see that up on the blog or just hear what you did to make the gains you saw/how you eat to keep them.
Ben-
I will throw something together on that but it really amounted to “Eat until it hurts…as soon as it does not hurt, eat again”. Hunger NEVER occured, just a lack of discomfort. Not so much fun!
Was there any content in the article after the mention of bikini and Everett?
Chris-
None.
Wow, that looks great!
Looking forward to your seminar in Boston.
Great tip on adding avocados in the scramble. I’ve always kept them on the side. I also add salsa as a carb block (or two) to my omelets, probably not as good as using broccoli but certainly quicker.
Now, what about options like the above for people who hate eggs? I mean, I don’t even like the smell of an omelette at the next table when I go somewhere for Brunch.
Am I basically just going to be looking towards olive oil+chicken/beef, ala a Steak Pepperonatta, or a seared chicken and broccolli?
Adam-
you can hide a lot of olive oil in a marinara sauce…ground beef or finely sliced chicken is a good option here.
“Hot Omelette taken in= even hotter ring on way out”.
Taken from “Lesser known sayings of the historical Buddhha; the Digha Nikaya..the uncensored bits”
Am slightly concerned to read in “Eggs Quarterly” that someone who goes by the very similar monicker of Robbert Serge Wolf has just been co-opted to be the spokesperson for the Egg Marketing Board.
Shurely Shum MIstake ?
Rod-
No shit! Do you have a link or PDF? that sounds like a nice alter ego!
Robb somewhat of a silly question. does one need to count for cooking oils towards there fat blocks for that meal, if rolling w/coconut oil???
Purely amazing stuff u put down on the zone chronicles just awesome
thank you
Jeremy
Jeremy-
yes, sir! 5-6 tablespoons represents a prety big caloric whack. thanks for the props on the Zone Chronicles!
Robb,
What sort of olive oil would you use – EVOO or light?
Johny-
Always go with a virgin!
You just posted the breakfast that I eat about 5 days a week. . .
Substitutions I enjoy: spinach, steamed cauliflower for veggies, chicken sausage, browned grass fed beef, instead of bacon, org plain yogurt, or homemade tzatziki instead of hot sauce. . .
My wife and I (mostly me) go through at least 5 dozen eggs a week.
When people say that they are sick of eggs, I tell them they are not eating eggs all the time, they are eating the other ingredients and the eggs are just holding it all together.
-jj
Squire it was a joke.Canny tell if that was obvious
What about sunflower seeds? I still can’t get over the fact that they’re the most concentrated fat source — I mean 1 block=1/4 tsp? Come on!
“it’s tough to just up-end a bottle of olive oil and really go to town!”
Once you acquire the taste, you actually can do this! 😀
I think they are great! They ARE super heavy in n-6 fats so jsut balance that out with fish oil.
Robb,
Is there anyway to make yourself more able to digest fat? I cant have more than 10 fat blocks over a couple days or my insides get all messed up for the rest of the week, but I need to be eating more, and its hard to get down 60 blocks of carbs a day, not to mention its not the healthiest choice.
Hunter-
Gluten free paleo gig to improve gut health. NowFoods: Super Enzymes. 1-2 with all fat/protein meals should also help.
I think I am making this tomorrow morning…
Looks like a great recipe and I will likely give a try. Here is a tip on cooking a good frittata. Set your oven to broil to low broil (broil works just fine if all you have). Add the eggs to your pan. Once the edges eggs start to set at the edges slide the pan into the oven. Your frittata will be done in 3-4 minutes.
Gives you just enough time to chop your avocados and it gives the top of the frittata a nice crisp. It’s my favorite method for making eggs.
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1gVRN-cUcwYtR-ZwFmYdmeeXSSeynmTL4eKDnnEcJ0Bk&pli=1