Weight Gain Help

[Gator]

Hey guys.

I'm sort of a runt. I'm about 5'7' - 5'8" but I only weigh about 133 pounds. I fluctuate between 130-135, sometimes dipping below 130.

Obviously I look skinny, but I have good muscle tone. My BF % is about 7% so what I have in weight is a good majority muscle.

I want to gain some weight, but not a lot of weight. I'd be very happy around 140-145 with a good solid muscle tone.

My problem is this: I've tried bulking in the past but I have gone down the road of bulking "dirty." It always makes me feel like garbage eating all of that junk. I'm a very healthy eater, which is perhaps part of the reason why I stay so thin. When I get hungry, instead of getting the chips out, I go for a thing of yogurt, or some fruit. I don't know - I've just always enjoyed eating healthy foods as opposed to junk. When I have the unfortunate situation of putting fast food in my mouth, I feel like vomitting for hours afterwards. I pretty much eat the same thing every day - it's usually between 2500 and 3000 calories - but very healthy calories. I drink a lot of milk, eat bread (have a few sandwiches throughout the day), and usually eat something like chicken or another meat for dinner. Breakfast I eat a few bowls of cereal, sometimes oatmeal, and 3 or 4 pieces of toast with natural fruit jelly. I also drink two protein shakes throughout the day. Get a good helping of fruit and veges too. I eat about 3-4 bananas a day!

And by the way, I have readjusted my strength training as well. Lately I have been going with low reps, heavy weight, and compound moves: bench, squat, and deads. I also do a lot of pullups and situps, crunches and pushups.

So, I guess my question is: What do I need to tweak? I absolutely refuse to eat dirty to gain weight. I know it might work, but I'm not willing to put my healthy at risk, to feel like crap, and lose my abs . I'm not interested in getting big - I love being thin (your muscles show better) but a little meat wouldn't hurt. Can anyone give me some pointers on a good, clean, healthy bulking diet? Maybe something that worked for you?

THANKS

 

[boxer]

Lots and lots of protien, eat steak for dinner whenever you can,drink more shakes if you can i used to drink 4 a day with protien bars in between meals. Up your calorie intake aswell, you seem like a prety active guy and you eat well so you probably have a high metabolism, eat more calories try to up it by 500 or so what ever you feel comfortable with and lower your reps and up your wiehgt if you want bulk. There are also lots of high calorie shakes out there but id addvise trying to get bigger on you own befor you resort to these methods. thats pretty much all i can say hope it helped

 

[kingpole]

Haagendass one pint is anywhere between 1500 and 1800 calories. All natural and a good source of fat. Nuts and seeds are calorie/fat and protein dense.

 

[Gator]

Lots and lots of protien, eat steak for dinner whenever you can,drink more shakes if you can i used to drink 4 a day with protien bars in between meals. Up your calorie intake aswell, you seem like a prety active guy and you eat well so you probably have a high metabolism, eat more calories try to up it by 500 or so what ever you feel comfortable with and lower your reps and up your wiehgt if you want bulk. There are also lots of high calorie shakes out there but id addvise trying to get bigger on you own befor you resort to these methods. thats pretty much all i can say hope it helped

Thanks boxer!

Haagendass one pint is anywhere between 1500 and 1800 calories. All natural and a good source of fat. Nuts and seeds are calorie/fat and protein dense.

KP, what is that? Never heard of it...

 

[kingpole]

Thanks boxer!

KP, what is that? Never heard of it...

Only the worlds finest ice cream. You can find it near the Ben and Jerry's.

 

[sammypetter]

Hi,
I don't think you should gain weight you are at a healthy weight so don't worry about it and ignore them. I cant gain weight either, and my ribcage is sticking completly out even if i wear a lot of clothe on top. So don't worry about it a lot of people have the same problem!

 

[RockofFox]

How old are you Gator? I found it almost impossible to put on decent weight until my mid 20's, but now am a respectable 170-175 @ 176cm.

I just kept consistent, much like pe, eating lots of calories, in fact I havent really ever been "hungry" in years, appart from when I first wake up in the morning. I'm just always looking to eat, unfortunately its one of those problems a hard gainer has, do you want the weight, well if so you need to eat the calories.

But calories alone wont do it, you need a compound movement strength program.

If your ever gonna gain weight, it really is that simple, trust me, I've personal trained for years and although I dont anymore, seen it happen/not happen 100 times over

 

[Gator]

I'm 20 rock.

I think what I'm going to do is just up my caloric intake by about 500, like boxer said. I'll throw something in there throughout the day to get it up. Maybe I'll do this for a month and if I still see slow or no progress, I'll up it again by 500. I'm confident that if I keep upping it, eventually I'll find a number that allows me to put some mass on. But, like I said in o.p. - I don't want to get BIG. Just 10-15 pounds, and preferably muscle. I'm keeping to my strength training pretty good. But DOMS is kicking my ass right now. I think I might invest in some recovery supplements - maybe creatine. Who knows...I sorta wanted to keep to being supplement free (except whey protein).

Thanks guys.

 

[mountie]

In my opinion you add clean weight very slowly. Do not drastically change your diet. Eat what you are comfortable with since it sounds like you know what you are doing with food. Simply add one extra snack a day until your body adjusts. Then add another one 4 weeks later if you haven't gained a pound or two. GO SLOWLY and allow your body to adjust....do not eat crap!

As for training: I would increase my reps into the 8-12 range, decrease training frequency to three days a week, increase the intensity of each set (not total volume), and train the entrire body on a two day cycle using strictly compound movements. Each training day would be done 3 times over a 2 week period. The biggest mistake guys make is increasing volume to try and gain size/strength/weight. You need to keep your body fresh and wanting more, not beaten and fatigued. Fatigue just leads to injuries.

I would do this cycle for 6 weeks followed by an active recovery phase for one week (An explosive phase would follow that) . After 7 weeks you should have gained strength, size and clean weight.

Just my opinion....

 

[mountie]

......oh and if you are going to add a supplement, creatine would not be the one I would choose.....Greens Plus, or Sea Greens would be my recommendation.

 

[Wempur]

TMUSCLE.com | Carb Cycling Codex

This is all you need to know about eating. It helped me in a very good way so I am speaking from personal experience.

 

[Closed039]

Dude...Gator...we're the same age, I just turned 20 as well. My whole high school life I had a 6-pack, but I was always trying to bulk up for football or whatever. Now I'm like 5'10 185-190 in college and I realize that I shouldn't be this heavy LOL. 6 pack is gone...I don't like it. Just keep lifting the way you've been lifting...high weight low reps is the way to go...and you'll pack on weight. Be sure to eat right after lifting, even if its healthy. A grilled chicken or Tuna sandwich is excellent. And remember you're not gonna increase your weight dramatically from workout to workout...an increase of one rep is still an increase...

 

[hardcore]

Hey guys.

I'm sort of a runt. I'm about 5'7' - 5'8" but I only weigh about 133 pounds. I fluctuate between 130-135, sometimes dipping below 130.

Obviously I look skinny, but I have good muscle tone. My BF % is about 7% so what I have in weight is a good majority muscle.

I want to gain some weight, but not a lot of weight. I'd be very happy around 140-145 with a good solid muscle tone.

My problem is this: I've tried bulking in the past but I have gone down the road of bulking "dirty." It always makes me feel like garbage eating all of that junk. I'm a very healthy eater, which is perhaps part of the reason why I stay so thin. When I get hungry, instead of getting the chips out, I go for a thing of yogurt, or some fruit. I don't know - I've just always enjoyed eating healthy foods as opposed to junk. When I have the unfortunate situation of putting fast food in my mouth, I feel like vomitting for hours afterwards. I pretty much eat the same thing every day - it's usually between 2500 and 3000 calories - but very healthy calories. I drink a lot of milk, eat bread (have a few sandwiches throughout the day), and usually eat something like chicken or another meat for dinner. Breakfast I eat a few bowls of cereal, sometimes oatmeal, and 3 or 4 pieces of toast with natural fruit jelly. I also drink two protein shakes throughout the day. Get a good helping of fruit and veges too. I eat about 3-4 bananas a day!

And by the way, I have readjusted my strength training as well. Lately I have been going with low reps, heavy weight, and compound moves: bench, squat, and deads. I also do a lot of pullups and situps, crunches and pushups.

So, I guess my question is: What do I need to tweak? I absolutely refuse to eat dirty to gain weight. I know it might work, but I'm not willing to put my healthy at risk, to feel like crap, and lose my abs . I'm not interested in getting big - I love being thin (your muscles show better) but a little meat wouldn't hurt. Can anyone give me some pointers on a good, clean, healthy bulking diet? Maybe something that worked for you?

THANKS

gator, when i started weight training seriously about 2 and a bit years ago consistantly (this is after about a year of on off) i was like yourself i could NOT put weight on no matter what i done tho i never stoped eating in i could eat everything on mcdonalds menu in 1 sitting(all burgers in 1 sitting which for my weight was seriously ab normal) was always hungry m8s used to always say where does it go???? high motabloisim probably and other things, so for me gaining weight was a serious issue when it came to adding mass and personaly the way you say your eating when you feel hungry eating"yogurt and fruit" is NOT gonna make you gain in any way shape or form! when bulking do not worry about carbs so much just eat everything you can, beening somone who struggles to gain weight any bad fats can easily disappear,and also remember good fats are essential to mass building!plenty of bread lots n lots of pasta and rice as well as your lean meats steak, chicken etc also oats , dont listen to all the body building diets telling you to eat alot of stuff with absolutely no saturated fats and just eat protein, this is only good when cutting and getting ready for comp and as in the same as pe dont follow pro bodybuilders routines if you are just started follow the begginers programmes there there and called that for a reason as im sure you understand from pe the importance of this,
and for the record since i seriously started weight training iv gained 2 2/3`s stone in weight and dropped my body fat % to 9% so there is hope gator if you find your self stuck dont hesitate to pm me,
for hard gainers like us in weight training in my experiance jst eat everything you can(make sure its not all junk food!) take 2 grammes of protein per pound of your body (more essential for hard gainers for calories) or get weight gainers pretty cheat and effective just eat eat eat 5 litre of water a day, again gator pm me if you want me to go futher into it but follow the basics and you wont go wrong

 

[Gator]

Thanks for the post hardcore. But like I said, I'm not going to just eat everything and anything I can. It doesn't make me feel good. I think eating healthy with a good selection of protein and carbs is what I need to do. I'm not going to sacrifice my well-being and health just to pack on a dirty 15 pounds. Like PEskeptic said, I like my defined abs, so packing on a gut is NOT something I am prepared to do. Dirty bulks do that. I'm going to look into a weight gainer shake though.

I'm interested in buying that stuff called "Serious Mass." A serving of it is about 1800 calories and I can put some good stuff in it as well (bananas, peanut butter, and use milk). I was reading on bodybuilding.com that a guy similar to my size and age drank one of those shakes a day (with everything, his totaled to about 2300 calories and 75 grams of protein) and he gained 10 pounds in 3 months while eating a healhy diet. His body remained thin but he packed on a lot of muscle to his arms, chest, and legs. This is something I want to accomplish.

Thanks to everyone for their posts.

 

[hardcore]

Thanks for the post hardcore. But like I said, I'm not going to just eat everything and anything I can. It doesn't make me feel good. I think eating healthy with a good selection of protein and carbs is what I need to do. I'm not going to sacrifice my well-being and health just to pack on a dirty 15 pounds. Like PEskeptic said, I like my defined abs, so packing on a gut is NOT something I am prepared to do. Dirty bulks do that. I'm going to look into a weight gainer shake though.

I'm interested in buying that stuff called "Serious Mass." A serving of it is about 1800 calories and I can put some good stuff in it as well (bananas, peanut butter, and use milk). I was reading on bodybuilding.com that a guy similar to my size and age drank one of those shakes a day (with everything, his totaled to about 2300 calories and 75 grams of protein) and he gained 10 pounds in 3 months while eating a healhy diet. His body remained thin but he packed on a lot of muscle to his arms, chest, and legs. This is something I want to accomplish.

Thanks to everyone for their posts.

first thing from your last post 4 banannas a day is too much mabye 1 in morning 1 post workout is great for a quick energy boost which your body should be in need of.and again gator as i said healthy eating is not going to gain you anything while bulking you will effectively but cutting and losing more weight over time, when gaining mass you can NOT perminatly keep your 6 pack the way that it normaly is. the diet you are steering towards is 1 for a guy that has alot of excess weight trying to lose fat and gain muscle, gator i wasted 6-7 month realising this diet is so important i can not express how important it is! to gain weight you must eat eat eat eat eat and take in to consideration how much you burn off each day to how much you consume iv seen in your previous threads you really like researching things mabye spend a few months looking in to your diet for gaining weight.... the reason i tell you this gator is the simple fact im gonna save you the 6-7 month i lost figuring this out i truly hope you take my advice on this and good luck bud!

 

[RockofFox]

If your always sore gator then your wasting your time you need to cut back your training frequency. 4 days is ample but even now I never train consecutive days, that way you can be assured you are recovering effectively. But you will work it out over time. Like pe, with weights less is often best

 

[HitTheSpot]

I'm too a hard gainer

When i left high school i was 55kgs and 178cm tall. I'm 23 now and a very healthy weight of 74kgs and 181cm tall

my advice to you is:

To get in and out of the gym in under an hour.
Train no more than 4 times per week. 3 if possible.
Eat double or close to triple the amount of carbs that you do protein. Oats, muesli's, low GI foods
Bananas are awesome but 4 a day is way too many. Have one before and one with your protein after your workout.
As long as you are eating 1.5 - 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight that is plenty. Your body can only process so much.
Definitely checkout a creatine product. I'm personally using Muscletech Creakic Hardcore and I'm seeing good results.
Sleep as much as possible.

If you have any questions, I'm more than willing to help.

Spot.

 

[Pegasus]

I don't see what is wrong with 4 bananas when you are trying to gain weight. Drink a pint of milk each time you eat one and see what happens.
Limit unnecessary physical activity to lower calories going out. Keep a calm attitude.
Have you got your workout sorted yet? You are probably doing too much volume.

 

[kingpole]

Gator you may gain but at a slow rate. Believe it or not i want to be skinny all my life like my step brothers. So i always starved myself to death. Keep the six pack they are hard to come by. Your just fine the way you are.

 

[Wempur]

^That's true, but you can be built and have a 6 pack again. Don't get paranoid about it, kingzor.