Use a lean gainer with a quality protein and complex carb source, not a cheap mass gainer full of maltodextrin and sugar.
The Sugar Bomb
My first mass gainer was a revelation in a bad way. I bought the cheapest, highest-calorie tub I could find. I drank it every day and the scale shot up. I was thrilled, until I looked in the mirror. I was getting soft and fat. I looked at the ingredients: the number one source of calories was pure maltodextrin—a cheap, simple sugar. I switched to a “lean gainer” made with whey protein and complex carbs from oats and sweet potatoes. The gains were slower, but they were quality muscle, not just fat.
Stop replacing whole food meals with mass gainers. Do use them as a convenient calorie boost between meals.
The Calorie Supplement
I made the classic mistake of trying to live off mass gainer shakes. I’d have one for breakfast and another for lunch. It was easy, but I felt terrible. I had digestive issues, my energy levels were all over the place, and I missed the satisfaction of chewing real food. I learned that gainers are a supplement, not a replacement. I went back to eating my solid meals and used a smaller gainer shake between them to add a quick, convenient 500 calories. That’s when my energy and my gains truly took off.
Stop drinking a 1,200 calorie shake in one sitting. Do split the serving into two or three smaller shakes.
The Calorie Bomb Defusal
The label on my mass gainer said one serving was a whopping 1,200 calories. I tried to chug the entire thick, cement-like shake in one go. I felt sick. It sat in my stomach like a lead weight for hours, and I was so bloated I couldn’t even think about eating another meal. It was counterproductive. Then I got smart. I split the one giant serving into two, more manageable 600-calorie shakes throughout the day. I could actually digest them, I felt better, and I was able to hit my calorie goals without feeling miserable.
The #1 secret for making your own, better mass gainer is blending oats, protein powder, peanut butter, and milk.
The Homemade Gainer
I was tired of spending a fortune on tubs of mass gainer that were full of cheap sugars. I decided to make my own. I took out my blender and combined simple, powerful ingredients: a cup of whole milk, a scoop of my favorite whey protein, a half-cup of raw oats, and two big tablespoons of natural peanut butter. The result was a delicious, thick shake packed with high-quality protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats. It was cheaper, healthier, and far more effective than any commercial gainer I had ever bought.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about mass gainers is that they build “mass.” They build “weight,” much of which will be fat.
The Mass vs. Weight Deception
The marketing promises “mass.” The name on the tub is “mass gainer.” You drink it, and the scale goes up. It feels like you’re succeeding. But you have to be honest with yourself. Are you gaining quality muscle mass, or are you just getting heavier? For most people who don’t train with insane volume and intensity, the massive calorie surplus from these shakes leads primarily to fat gain. They are “weight gainers,” and it’s a critical distinction the industry doesn’t want you to make.
I wish I knew that mass gainers were just a fast track to getting fat if my training wasn’t intense enough to justify the calories.
The Untrained Truth
As a beginner, I thought a mass gainer was a magic potion for muscle. I drank it every day but was only training three times a week with moderate intensity. The scale flew up, but my muscles weren’t growing much. My face got puffy and my stomach got soft. I didn’t understand that my body couldn’t use the tidal wave of 1,200 extra calories for muscle growth because the training stimulus wasn’t there. The gainer wasn’t the problem; my training wasn’t intense enough to earn those calories.
I’m just going to say it: Mass gainers are just a tub of sugar and low-quality protein marketed to naive beginners.
The Beginner’s Trap
Walk down the supplement aisle and look at who mass gainers are marketed to: skinny, insecure teenagers who want a shortcut. The tubs are huge, the calorie numbers are massive, and the promises are even bigger. But when you look at the ingredients, it’s a different story. The primary ingredient is almost always maltodextrin (sugar), followed by a low-quality whey concentrate. It’s the cheapest possible way to create a high-calorie product, and it’s sold at a premium to the people who know the least. It’s a trap.
99% of “hardgainers” make this one mistake: relying on a gainer shake instead of learning to eat more calorie-dense whole foods.
The Hardgainer Myth
I used to call myself a “hardgainer.” I thought I had a fast metabolism and couldn’t gain weight. So I relied on mass gainer shakes. The truth was, I wasn’t a hardgainer; I was just an undereater. I was afraid of fat and was eating low-density foods like chicken breast and broccoli. The day I learned to embrace calorie-dense whole foods—adding olive oil, eating fattier cuts of meat, snacking on nuts and avocados—was the day I realized I could easily hit my calorie goals without a single sip of a sugar-laden shake.
This one habit of adding two tablespoons of olive oil to your regular protein shake will change how easily you can add calories forever.
The Invisible Calories
Struggling to get enough calories, I was tired of trying to eat more bulky food. A friend gave me a tip that sounded gross but was a total game-changer: add two tablespoons of olive oil to my regular whey protein shake. I was hesitant, but I tried it. I couldn’t taste it at all. But those two tablespoons added a quick, healthy, and completely unnoticeable 240 calories to my daily intake. It was the easiest, most effective trick I ever learned for breaking through a weight-gain plateau.
If you’re still drinking mass gainers full of sugar, you’re losing your insulin sensitivity and your abs.
The Sugary Sacrifice
Drinking a mass gainer loaded with maltodextrin and sugar is a devil’s bargain. Yes, the scale will go up. But you are constantly carpet-bombing your system with a massive insulin spike. Over time, this can wreck your insulin sensitivity, making it more likely that the calories you eat will be stored as fat, not muscle. You might be gaining “weight,” but you are sacrificing your metabolic health and any chance of seeing your abs in the process. It’s a short-term gain for a long-term loss.