How to gain weight healthily?

[Rhyfelwyr]

Recently my brother bought a home gym machine that I use every second day, 3 sets of ten reps each on bench press/butterfly/lateral pull/two different leg exercises/bicep curls. And I also do some push ups, which I'm rubbish at (with 3 sets, I get maybe 25/21/18, but I am improving).

To compelement this, I am eating a lot more so I can build up strength, since I have always been pretty skinny/scrawny. At 5'11, maybe a year ago I was 145lbs/66kg. But I got over some OCD habbits that made me eat poorly, and by a few months ago I was 155lbs/70kg. Then when I really made a conscious effort to put on weight, by December I was 160lbs/73kg, and already I'm 172lbs/78kg just over a month later (having made the biggest effort the past few weeks).

The thing is I don't think that sounds particularly light weight now, but I still seem pretty skinny... I'm not even skinny-fat, no little moobs or anything.

Stuffing your face is a real challenge, makes me want to punch everyone that says losing weight is difficult. For example, yesterday I ate:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

going by somewhat educated guesses below...

Breakfast 9am - bowl of bran cereal (150 calories, it's a fairly big bowl)
Lunch 12am - at work I took 5 boneless bits of chicken (550 cal) with chips (400 cal)
Second Lunch 7pm - 5 chicken thighs (500 cal), 4 slices wholemeal bread (350 cal), biscuits (125 cal)
Dinner 10pm - 2 chicken breasts (300 cal), chips (400 cal), beans (100 cal, no idea?), 4 slices wholemeal bread (350 cal), biscuits (125 cal), apple (50 cal) *usually dying by this point*
Supper 2am - bowl of bran cereal (150 cal), apple (50 cal), cookie (200 cal), 1 litre milk (600 cal)

= 4,400 cal

I don't get the lunch at work everyday so some days it's more around 3,500 calories per day going by my possible way off calculations... otherwise I stick pretty rigidly to the above. Obviously there is plenty of protein and carbohydrates there.

Q1 - Is this a good eating plan?
Q2 - With my exercise above, how much will I gain in a muscle/fat ratio?
Q3 - Is this a good rate to gain weight?

[Moros]

It's not calories you want it's proteins.

Meat, peas, tuna,... That kinda food. Search for high protein diet or something on google. That should do it.

Edit: or wait untill Strike sees this.

[Hosakawa Tito]

You want to add muscle, so as Moros has said, paging Dr. Strike...

[Togakure]

I seem to remember a lot of good information being shared in the Getting Fit with Swordsmaster thread, by quite a few young and active dudes.

[Rhyfelwyr]

It's not calories you want it's proteins.

That's why I eat so much chicken... 2-3 meals of it everyday, plus the litre of milk...

[PershsNhpios]

Riflewire, we are one.

I am 178-180cm in height and I have gained a considerable amount of mass since I started two years ago, and now at 19 years old I am a minimum 76kg with a BMI of about 23.8.
No one who knew me two years ago believes I should put on any more weight, and I am generally considered solid.
I have shoulders wider than the average and a very well balanced frame - which very evenly develops mass as I gain it, so that I never have a chest larger than the thighs or upper arms larger than the calves.

I would love to gain more weight also, and hope to be about 80kg within the next few months. I would not however wish to be any heavier than 85kg as that would be absurd considering my current and intended employment.

I also recommend listening to Strike if he arrives here, because he gave me very good advice when I first started out. I don't have a knowledge in any way as professional as his, all I will do is share my experience and relate, which sort of advice I have always found helpful from others.

I gain weight rapidly and stagnate for very long periods generally. I live remotely and so have access to nothing other than stones in the field. These are advantageous over the gym weights because if you can handle a 100kg rock and benchpress it - with balanced gym equipment I imagine you could manage much more. My problem is that eventually I find that there aren't any rocks the right size! Nothing that compensates for the next level.

What I want to say is that my circumstance has taught me that weight gain = handling larger weights.

I will struggle and curse heaven and hell rolling a 90kg basket on top of me and then wish I was never born as I try to push him up until my elbows almost lock out. But the next day I will come out and do it twice, and more likely than not if I have kept my body comfortably fed I will be a kilo heavier. And it won't be fat!
So long as I have had the energy and a progressively heavier weight, I have gained sometimes two kilos every week. It is amazing.

But the weight must be heavier. It must be what I see as a 'breakthrough'. What you describe is exercise more suited to toning than weight-gain in my experience. If I can lift the weight for 5 repetitions, I am not gaining anything from it. I lift it once and nearly die doing it. When recovered, I'll lift it twice. Then I will exercise with it until I am just managing to push a rep out of something 3-6kg heavier, and then I'll move on.

This is frustrating for me because I have run out of good rocks completely, and the ones I have found are too heavy or remote to be transported (PARADOX!), so I have attempted circumventing this problem by making breakthroughs wherever I can. I lift the largest weights (~90-105kg) in a benchpress, but anything like a bicep curl or a military press is reduced to something more like ~50 - 65kg. So whereas before I focused on gain through new benchpressing weights, I am now relying solely on attempting to lift larger weights in variations of a bicep curl and this is very hard and very slow.

Finally, I manage to lift with the arms a neat 60kg rock up to the chin, that's a breakthrough. Now tomorrow I will do the same and then push and hold it above my head. That's a breakthrough, now I'll stand with it, bring it up to the chin, up over the head, and then slowly control it as it comes down to the waist level, then back up to the chin. These are all breakthroughs. Now holding it at the chin, push out from the chest and attempt to hold the weight forward of the body. Further each day, another breakthrough.

I find it extremely difficult to make these new levels, much more so than I did when gain was simply a matter of benchpressing a new weight and then delegating it slowly to the arms, since my arms seem to grow but very casually. But once I get to the stage where the breakthrough is 'do this six times instead of five', to my great frustration, I find that nothing more is being gained from it.

My weight is also very dynamic. Whatever I wake up as in the morning I consider to be my base weight (76.4), after a meal, and when I am comfortable it will generally be 77.4, after strenuous, cardiovascular exercise (Or really just work) it will linger between those two. After intense lifting of weights, if I have been successful, the weight will generally rise to 78 - 78.4 in my experience. If I then eat sufficiently and remain well hydrated and rest, maintaining this weight of 78.4, I will likely awaken the next morning at 77-77.4. This will then slowly stabilise as my new base weight, and the process begins again.

I will repeat - this will sound like nonsense to anyone who has studied and knows PT - but this is how it appears to me, an amateur mostly self taught, as I gain the weight.

Anyway, hopefully you will find something in there that may give you new ideas or help clarify something.
The fact that you have gained 5kg in a month shows that you are doing something right, perhaps you could give me some advice, and I assure you I would welcome it.

I would love to know if there is something I can change in all that which will allow me to grow steadily again.

Good luck with it Rhy, and wait for Dr. Strike.

EDIT: I will easily and hungrily consume 3 litres of milk a day, plenty of fish, pasta, some chicken, bread, peanut butter maybe, a burger and chips. But I don't count calories or protein as I am probably not dedicated to this as you are. I simply check my weight and also find it possible to know whether growth is imminent or not by instinct - the body tells when it is in need of something, and a balanced diet (That's right - everything you can lay your hands on!) is my key to covering all possibilities.

[Moros]

EDIT: I will easily and hungrily consume 3 litres of milk a day, plenty of fish, pasta, some chicken, bread, peanut butter maybe, a burger and chips. But I don't count calories or protein as I am probably not dedicated to this as you are. I simply check my weight and also find it possible to know whether growth is imminent or not by instinct - the body tells when it is in need of something, and a balanced diet (That's right - everything you can lay your hands on!) is my key to covering all possibilities.

and beans, beans are great for proteins.

Also a link I found usefull. This one is specifically for MMA, but has some good info for you as well:
http://www.mmaforum.com/training-nut...ning-help.html

Oh yeah, sleep well. This is where I fail.

[PershsNhpios]

Very helpful, Moros, thank you very much!

Perhaps my problem is really only as simple as not resting enough and focusing too much on protein.

[TosaInu]

Gaining weight can indeed be extremely difficult too. It might be a different story for me now, not sure, but just consuming calories did nothing for me. I need workouts and lots more food.

[LeftEyeNine]

Any protein wouldn't do. Vegetable proteins are not preferable when it comes to building healthy mass. You need to go carnivorous for a bigger body. Soy protein would soften down your body due to the estrogen that comes with it, contrary to what you'd expect from intake of proteins, for example.

SFTSFSFASDRTSFSDS is the man around here, when it comes to bodybuilding. And as Togakure pointed out, there's a heap of knowledge in that thread following the initiative and lots of input of Swordsmaster, being another gym-guy examples around here.

If you haven't done this before, your muscles will need an adaption workout of 1-2 months before going wild on them.

Stretching, warming up and cooling down are other VERY important aspects to bodybuilding. Whatever you do, they start and follow.

Now onto a clearer explanation from SFSTSDSFSTSDS (hopefully):

[Strike For The South]

Hi Guys!

Recently my brother bought a home gym machine that I use every second day, 3 sets of ten reps each on bench press/butterfly/lateral pull/two different leg exercises/bicep curls. And I also do some push ups, which I'm rubbish at (with 3 sets, I get maybe 25/21/18, but I am improving).

Are these free weights? This a typical leg extension+plus bench press split which many people follow and which no one gets results from.

-A lack of pulling compared to pushing excersises (they should be at least even)
-Lack of compound movements (Bench press is the least important of the major compund movements to begin with)
-Way to many isolation movements (this will lead to an asymmetrical physiuqe)

Simply lifting weights will not build muscle, you have to know how to utilize these weights properly or you will top out very quickly. Here is a sample of a good beginner plan

http://www.wannabebig.com/training/t...roved-routine/ This is a great easy to follow template tailor made for beginners. I understand if you can't get to all of this equipment/get to gym and I will help you maximize what you have on hand, but I would IMPLORE you to try. There are also great warm ups and vidoes of how to do everything, this a great rescource.

To compelement this, I am eating a lot more so I can build up strength, since I have always been pretty skinny/scrawny. At 5'11, maybe a year e to
ago I was 145lbs/66kg. But I got over some OCD habbits that made me eat poorly, and by a few months ago I was 155lbs/70kg. Then when I really made a conscious effort to put on weight, by December I was 160lbs/73kg, and already I'm 172lbs/78kg just over a month later (having made the biggest effort the past few weeks).

Have you taken pics, Is your body better off?

Breakfast 9am - bowl of bran cereal (150 calories, it's a fairly big bowl)
Lunch 12am - at work I took 5 boneless bits of chicken (550 cal) with chips (400 cal)
Second Lunch 7pm - 5 chicken thighs (500 cal), 4 slices wholemeal bread (350 cal), biscuits (125 cal)
Dinner 10pm - 2 chicken breasts (300 cal), chips (400 cal), beans (100 cal, no idea?), 4 slices wholemeal bread (350 cal), biscuits (125 cal), apple (50 cal) *usually dying by this point*
Supper 2am - bowl of bran cereal (150 cal), apple (50 cal), cookie (200 cal), 1 litre milk (600 cal)

I see allot of grain....way to much grain. Please cut out some of the grain

I see no veggies and only a sprinkiling of fruit, there needs to be more of those. Personally for fruits I use bananas (potassium is a vital and oft overlooked nutrient) blueberries (anti-oxidants!) and oranges (vitman C, I like the way they taste) as my mainstays. For veggies I vary but anything green will do and try to buy them raw (minor point)

The chips are useless, cut those out

How is this chicken prepared?

Add some nuts

I have never been a big fan of caloric beverages I try to drink only water and tea (my perchant for binge drinking aside) and yes this includes things like Milk and OJ. For you the milk is premissible because you are trying to gain weight but soda is not, take all the sodas in your house and throw them away right now.

Now I'm not saying you can't throw in a cheat every now and then (like the cookie) but to many carbs is a nightmare and I try to avoid them unless it's the morning or post workout.

I know carbs make up the bulk of your cals this will have to be countered with tuna, PB, more meat, and nuts

I notice your last meal is at 2 and your first is at 9, how much sleep do you get each night? Another key component that is oft overlooked

Adding good mass is 20% what you do in the gym, 40% eating, and 40% sleep. Plenty of idoits do bicep curls 24/7/365 and nothing ever happens.

One last thing, at my heaviest I was eating this many calories, I know its not easy.

[Strike For The South]

Vegetable proteins are not preferable when it comes to building healthy mass. You need to go carnivorous for a bigger body. Soy protein would soften down your body due to the estrogen that comes with it

And the pupil becomes the master.

Saying that I am NOT a professional, this is all knoweldge I have gained over my years of training and personal enrichment.

[Rhyfelwyr]

Are these free weights? This a typical leg extension+plus bench press split which many people follow and which no one gets results from.

-A lack of pulling compared to pushing excersises (they should be at least even)
-Lack of compound movements (Bench press is the least important of the major compund movements to begin with)
-Way to many isolation movements (this will lead to an asymmetrical physiuqe)

Simply lifting weights will not build muscle, you have to know how to utilize these weights properly or you will top out very quickly. Here is a sample of a good beginner plan

http://www.wannabebig.com/training/t...roved-routine/ This is a great easy to follow template tailor made for beginners. I understand if you can't get to all of this equipment/get to gym and I will help you maximize what you have on hand, but I would IMPLORE you to try. There are also great warm ups and vidoes of how to do everything, this a great rescource.

Yeah, I realise this home gym isn't great. I already use the bench press at the max level, a measly 110lbs/50kg. The thing is its expensive to go to the local gym, I tried getting a membership in the summer with a student discount, but apparently my student card didn't have all the info they wanted it to, and so I was pretty much stuck. Bah!

I could probably spend some cash on more home gym stuff, but I would have to really keep it to the essentials.

Have you taken pics, Is your body better off?

Well I still don't see any signs of the skinny-fatness. One person just today said I was looking better than I had ever been before, or something to that effect. Even my family members tell me I look a lot healthier... I really looked unhealthily skinny before.

I see allot of grain....way to much grain. Please cut out some of the grain

I see no veggies and only a sprinkiling of fruit, there needs to be more of those. Personally for fruits I use bananas (potassium is a vital and oft overlooked nutrient) blueberries (anti-oxidants!) and oranges (vitman C, I like the way they taste) as my mainstays. For veggies I vary but anything green will do and try to buy them raw (minor point)

I do get some veggies, I often have a big portion of peas instead of beans with my dinner (about 50/50 split between each). Heh, I thought I was doing well with fruit, since I would not be exaggerating to say my family members do not eat 2 pieces a year. I will add more though... a banana at breakfast seems like an obvious start.

The chips are useless, cut those out

How is this chicken prepared?

Add some nuts

Well the chicken at work is KFC stuff, not great I suppose, has the crispy batter. But the stuff at home is plain skinless chicken breast, eaten cold, straight out the packet.

I know carbs make up the bulk of your cals this will have to be countered with tuna, PB, more meat, and nuts

The reason I had the carbs is because I thought they were the best thing for putting on the calories. The way I understood things was that you either vary your diet to lose fat, or to gain muscle and gain fat. Because your muscles need the energy to grow... or something. idk really. The idea of gaining and then cutting I think. I just felt I was too scrawny so I needed some weight on me fast.

My plan was to eat like a monster till I get to 12.5-13 stone/175-182lbs, and not worry about any fat gains until after that.

I notice your last meal is at 2 and your first is at 9, how much sleep do you get each night? Another key component that is oft overlooked

Adding good mass is 20% what you do in the gym, 40% eating, and 40% sleep. Plenty of idoits do bicep curls 24/7/365 and nothing ever happens.

Yeah, I'll admit I'm not great when it comes to sleep. I got just five hours last night.

But, I have consciously improved. Before I was eating well, five hours was standard. Now it fluctuates. I usually get at least six. Generally it's 6-7 about half the days, and about 8 the other days when I get to lie in. Maybe 9 if I'm really lazy and need to catch up on sleep, I get up at noon those days.

It's just difficult to find the time... by the time I've been to work, some days also to Uni, then do my workout every second evening, and it takes forever to eat with all those calories...

[Subotan]

I'm 6ft1 and weigh 8 stone, or 112lb. My BMI is a ridiculous 14.8. I know girls who are a foot smaller than me and weigh the same as me. I don't feel at all unhealthy, but am I too (as in dangerously) skinny?

[Rhyfelwyr]

I'm 6ft1 and weigh 8 stone, or 112lb. My BMI is a ridiculous 14.8. I know girls who are a foot smaller than me and weigh the same as me. I don't feel at all unhealthy, but am I too (as in dangerously) skinny?

I think frame has a lot to do with it. I don't really have a small frame, not sure what it counts as exactly, but that is why I can look so unhealthy at a not particularly low weight.

Even if you do have a very small frame, I still don't know how you're alive...

[Subotan]

I feel fine. I eat loads, I cycle two miles a day and yet I'm skinny as hell. I just don't get it. It should be noted that I have a lot of muscle in my legs; I'm built as a runner.

[Rhyfelwyr]

You probably don't eat loads. I used to think I ate a lot and wondered why I was skinny... I just needed a dose of reality. When I was in school people used to joke about how I could not be fat, because all I ate was rubbish. For about two years literally all I ate wa fast food and sweets/crisps. But then when I think about it... all I ate in an entire day was a bag of crisps at lunch and one takeaway at dinner... that's not a lot of food.

[Subotan]

Well I'm not starving myself if that's what you're thinking.

Breakfast will usually be:

Porridge, two slices of toast with nutella, tea

Lunch is either two cheese sandwiches or a proper meal like pasta.

Dinner will be a main meal. Usually a rice/potatoes/chips with two veg and something meaty.

I eat a lot of biscuits, usually without chocolate, and will generally have an additional two cups of tea and maybe a little can of tonic water as a treat, or for when I'm working.

[Moros]

Well I'm not starving myself if that's what you're thinking.

Breakfast will usually be:

Porridge, two slices of toast with nutella, tea

Lunch is either two cheese sandwiches or a proper meal like pasta.

Dinner will be a main meal. Usually a rice/potatoes/chips with two veg and something meaty.

I eat a lot of biscuits, usually without chocolate, and will generally have an additional two cups of tea and maybe a little can of tonic water as a treat, or for when I'm working.

Well two cheese sandwiches at noon and two slices of toast at breakfast really is not enough. Breakfast is a very important meal. While I may eat overly much at times, 2 sandwiches is barely enough for a kiddo. Also chocolatebars doesn't really count as food.

[a completely inoffensive name]

SQUATZ N OATZ!

[Subotan]

Well two cheese sandwiches at noon and two slices of toast at breakfast really is not enough. Breakfast is a very important meal. While I may eat overly much at times, 2 sandwiches is barely enough for a kiddo. Also chocolatebars doesn't really count as food.

Oh no I'm not interested about putting on weight, I'm just wondering If I'm closer to death than I think I am. And I don't eat much chocolate.

SQUATZ N OATZ!

BIKEZ N OATZ!

[Moros]

Oh no I'm not interested about putting on weight, I'm just wondering If I'm closer to death than I think I am. And I don't eat much chocolate.

BIKEZ N OATZ!

Well at least eat some fruit, just for your health. Also I'm not talking about bulking up in your case, you won't be dying from eating this, but eating some more couldn't hurt your body or health though.

[Subotan]

I eat a lot of veggies, but yeah I should eat more fruit. It's such an inconvenient food-stuff for a freshman though.

[Strike For The South]

You need a power rack, bench, and platform. Along with weights, farily cheap on Ebay

Jesus, KFC? C'mon man

Subotan is to thin.

[Subotan]

I could always wait for the Freshman Fifteen I guess, but that would all be fat and anyway I haven't put on any weight since I went to uni back in October.

[Strike For The South]

I could always wait for the Freshman Fifteen I guess, but that would all be fat and anyway I haven't put on any weight since I went to uni back in October.

By biscuits do you mean cookies? Or do you mean biscuits?

Speak English please

[Subotan]

Cookies, but usually without chocolate, because those ones are cheaper. Things like Ginger Snaps.

[Strike For The South]

Cookies, but usually without chocolate, because those ones are cheaper. Things like Ginger Snaps.

So choclate is the deciding factor in the English Cookie-Bisicut schism?

[Ice]

Jesus, KFC? C'mon man

I think KFC actually has skinless chicken now.

Subotan is to thin.

Meh. He sounds like a typical runner to me. When I ran cross country in high school, the top runners on our team (in some cases the state) had a build and diet just like him.

[Strike For The South]

112 pounds at 6 feet is to thin. It is a healthy weight for a 5 foot female