I disagree with this approach completely, especially for this individual. He seems young (the verbiage and diction indicate this) and does not have the discipline to keep a food log. Here's what I do.
Write this down, put it on a piece of paper in your wallet, tape it on your fridge. Before you sit down, check to see your meal has the following.
1. 30 - 50g of a lean protein source. Chicken, fish, lean cuts of beef, egg whites (with a few egg yolks) all fit the bill. For a ball park measurement, think 6oz of steak.
2. A carbohydrate source. Since you seem young, just try to make sure it's a real food, and not twinkies or cereal. Potatoes, rice, pasta, fruits, vegetables (actually very important but I doubt you'll eat them at this time in your life) are all good choices.
3. A serving of fat. Mixed nuts, olive oil (uncooked), peanut butter, avocadoes etc.
Try to eat this 5 times a day. If you can only eat a meal like this once a day, that's fine. But say to yourself "okay, I'm eating a meal that fits this once a day, tomorrow I'll try to make it twice a day" and work your way up. This is the only way to pack on muscle. I could lie to you and say you just need calories (which is true, you need more period) but to gain the sort of healthy mass you are looking for, you need to get away from Skittles and Milky Way as your primary caloric source.
Comment on my own post: Why is it that the skinniest kids are the sugaraholics? The kids who live off 2 snack bags of Lay's, Starburst, Coke, a bowl of Lucky Charms, and pizza are all rail thin? I'm convinced it's pure caloric displacement - they eat junk food in small enough amounts that the metabolism takes care of the lack of nourishment, like many girls I have dated. Speaking of which, it's always a kick to go out on a date and order two chicken breasts and a massive salad, while your date nibbles on some fat cocktail of an appetizer because she's "watching what she eats."
Grady said:
One thing you can do, if you think you have a high metabolic rate, is log everything you eat for a week or two. And I mean, log everything. EVERYTHING. Then, when the two weeksa are up, sit down with a good calculator and add up all the calories you consumed each day. Then average the amount you are eating per day (total calories / days logged).
A lot of people that think they eat a lot and can't gain actually don't eat nearly as much as they think they do.
The inverse often goes for overweight people that think they eat normal amounts of foods.
Once you have the real data, you can adjust you diet from there.
I'm not trashing high or low metabolism, because those can be real factors. But until you know what your true caloric intakes are, you might be making assumptions.
