I can't gain weight?

[nvictor]

Guys,

I'm in this situation where I want to gain weight. (not bulk up of anything, just stop being skinny.) I have asked there before. I have eaten my 3 eggs a day with plenty pasta, bread, chicken, and rice. I have to admit that I could not respect the 3 meals a day though (being a student...). I'm still the same, nothing is changing

I came, but could find the old post that detailed how nutrition should be done.

Please help.

 

[Maxtro]

Are you working out?

If you are not exercising your body sees no need for you to eat more so you simply don't. You should never force yourself to eat if you're full.

So if you want to gain weight, hit the gym. Your body will naturally want to eat more to recover.

 

[nvictor]

Oh! So that's how it works!

Maxtro, thanks. Do you remember the post that explained the BMI and all those protein stuff? I tried fitday.com today, and fvck them for telling me that their program is tailored for weight loss.

 

[Maxtro]

BMI is actually not that helpful.

For example, around this time last year I was 5'6 and 156lbs with 24% body fat. Even though I had that much fat on my body I was still well within the healthy range for BMI.

Now I'm down to 145lbs with 17% body fat. Say my goal is to be as heavy as I was last year but have only 15% body fat. In essence the BMI is the same but there is a difference of about 14lbs of muscle. That is a big difference. If I can reach 160lbs with about 12% body fat, I'd look freakin amazing. That is a my goal for a couple of years from now.

So forget BMI and focus on gaining muscle. BTW gaining fat is unavoidable so don't stress about it. Just make sure you are working out and eating. You do want to eat more than thrice a day.

I don't know much about protein but there is a lot of information on this site. Hopefully somebody can help you with that.

Read the Where to Start thread at the top of the H & F page.

 

[nvictor]

Maxtro, how does one measure body fat?

 

[Maxtro]

Maxtro, how does one measure body fat?

There are several methods.

1. Do hydrostatic weighing which is the most accurate
2. Having somebody (usually a fitness professional) measure you using calipers.
3. There are handheld devices that can give you a measurement
4. An electronic scale that also gives you your BF %

I have somebody measure me (#2) at least once every 2 weeks and I also have an electronic scale. Surprisingly enough the scale gives me the same BF reading that the calipers do 99% of the time.

The scale was around $50 I don't quite remember because I've had it for years.

 

[mrRuckus]

You should never force yourself to eat if you're full.

Might as well give up now then.

You realize your stomach stretches, right? I can easily eat what used to be a chore these days. You adjust.



I don't get why this is so damn hard. Take protein in the amount of 1.5/g/lb of body weight + fill the rest in with fats and carbs with whatever number of calories makes the scale increase. What the hell is the difficulty? Scale doesn't move? Eat more. Can't eat more? Tough. Eat more anyway. What else do you want to hear? There is no magic.

 

[Maxtro]

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Just from working out your body will want to eat more. There is no need to stuff yourself.

The key is to eat whenever you are hungry and not put it off and wait till the next big meal.

Also if I over stuff myself there's a good chance it's coming up in a little bit. I'm in no rush.

 

[Alle_Gory]

Maxtro, how does one measure body fat?

Does it really matter? You're already skinny.


Eat more. Minimum 3 meals. I like 4 solid meals myself, and sometimes snacks. 3 eggs a day is nothing. Begin drinking milk. It's your beverage of choice from now on. You're also going to need to eat more fat. It's easy calories and very tasty.

I go through about 8L of milk a week usually. Homogenized, 3%.


Here's a tip:

You do more exercise = you need more energy. Eat more energy.

 

[SamMalone]

3 meals + a gallon of milk a day gave me 20+ pounds in a few months, and if you are working out your body fat will only increase slightly if your an skinny guy.

 

[nvictor]

thanks for the tips. i stopped recieving the instant notification.

 

[Quiksilver]

It's fairly simple dude..

Your body burns a certain amount of calories daily, to gain weight all you have to do is eat MORE than that "certain amount".

Lifting weights and working your muscles during this period of weight gain will ensure that a good portion of any weight you gain will be muscle mass, rather than fat mass. As said above, the added activity will also increase appetite, but NOT to the extent where you are eating more calories than you are burning, that's something you'll have to do manually(force-feed yourself).

So you're a skinny bugger are you? That simply means that you have a raging metabolism, I'm guess your RMR(resting metabolic rate) is in the ~3000cal per day range. Meaning you eat roughly that amount each day, and you don't gain/lose weight.

The thing is, when you start working out and increasing your general activity, your metabolism increases even further, bringing you up to a theoretical ~4000cals.

Therefore when you start to exercise and "eat more", you still might not be eating the required amount to gain weight(4000+ calories/day), usually 250-750 calories over what your metabolism can handle.

The truth is that we really don't know YOUR particular RMR, so the best thing for you to do is record everything you ate in 3 random days in a period where your weight is stable. Go to fitday.com and figure out the total calories your eating, BE PRECISE.