This is great to hear! This is exactly the sort of story I want for myself. I’m just a bit shorter (and weigh less due to that) and maybe a bit less lean. But I also want to be 200 lbs at some point in my life! We’ll see where I can get. hopefully on 2030 I can motivate a young guy like you’ve motivated me today! Thanks!
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Good attitude… that will help you at this stage as you eat to help grow and recover from lifting. Just dont go too extreme. side note you and me are the same height.
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What would be considered as too extreme? And roughly how many calories should I shoot for?
In reality I probably shouldnt have said that because I have a feeling that your not going to find yourself getting excessively fat anytime in the foreseeable future. What ever amount of actual bodyfat is up to your own preference . Calorie wise is a individual deal, there are rough guidelines you can follow based on ones bodyweight . Basically once you start training I wouldnt get too worked up starting out on the calories just up your protein uptake along with adding in a little extra food. After a period of time if your not seeing improvement in the gym and not gaining size add a little more food into the mix. ( sorry for being so vague at the moment) just curious do you have a hard time eating allot of food or have a low appetite ?
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Unfortunately, yes. I can’t eat big portions in one go. Also my appetite is really weird. If I’m sitting around doing nothing because college is off or friends are busy due to exams, my appetite goes down to almost zero. I literally can’t eat more than twice on a day like that because I feel so full.
But if college is on and I get to play football with friends, I have better appetite and can eat well (well for me. Even when I’m eating well in my eyes, it’s considered eating nothing by my friends)
I used to envy the guys who can sit around doing nothing and still continue to have a good appetite, thereby gaining weight very easily. Later I gave up on moping over what I can’t have.
I wasn’t worried about bf% until one of my friends pointed it out to me. Even then my thinking is that, if I can get bigger and stronger by gaining fat, that’s better than staying the way I am right now. Honestly, do I look like I’d look much worse if I gained 10 lbs fat? I’m skinny as a twig.
And from what I’ve understood during the last couple hours of reading T-nation articles, 10 lbs fat will probably be accompanied by 10 lbs of muscle. I’ll take whatever. Yes, I’m that desperate.
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You don’t have to eat a bunch of crap to bulk up, but you do have to eat a lot. I was 6’3 165, now I’m 6’3 220, and I was 230 at one point. Honestly I was as skinny as you are in that picture and looked skinnier because I was so tall. Unfortunately, if you listen to your body when it tells you you’re full, you’ll never gain weight. You need to eat until you’re uncomfortably full, and do it 4 times a day at minimum. It’s not going to be fun, and it’ll be harder than being at the gym, but over time you can alter your stomach’s distensibility and as such it will literally take more food to give you a feeling of fullness. Let me repeat that you don’t need to eat Mcdonalds or ice cream all day every day, despite what some people will tell you. Choose a few protein sources - beef, tuna, chicken, and a few carb sources - pasta, rice, potatoes, and mix and match protein and carb sources while adding lots of veggies and whatever oils you want. Don’t worry about tracking calories or anything, just eat lots of good food until you’re uncomfortably full. You know how much is more than what you usually eat.
There’s no need to be desperate because this is going to take a long time if you do it right. You’re on the right track, you have the right attitude, and you’re willing to do what it takes to get there. Make a training log here, start running your program, and write down what you eat each day. Tag a couple of the people in this thread in your log if you’d like some extra advice/encouragement along the way.
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Mad relatable!
Just to share some of my personal story about this:
I’m 5’8 190. I started at 5’8 140ish and used to compete at 132 for Muay Thai. I looked at my old pics recently and I don’t think I looked bad, but I’m definitely bigger and stronger now.
Not gonna lie, but I did get kinda skinny fat in the beginning of my bulk. I got stuck at 160ish for a while, but then I jumped up to 180 in few months. I think this coulda been mitigated with more conditioning work. Since you’re playing football often, this should be good.
I agree with everything @flappinit says: If you don’t know how to cook, you should learn. I’ve heard a dude recommending to learn how to cook 9 meals: 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 3 dinners. And then just rotate what you like. Drinking a lot of water between meals should help your appetite as well, and also keep you hydrated.
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@amit_hasan good luck my man
Youve come here with a great attitude and are prepared to learn
Im definitely in for your training log aswell, wish you the best
The guys are doing a great job, and I want to help if I can, too…so, here are some nutrition tips…If your really ready to gain you must fight not having an appetitet because it sounds like eating maybe harder than lifting.
But you have to eat even if it’s a homemade shake like oats, a banana,nut or seed butter, whole milk, and protein powder. (Listed a cheap smoothie gainer since in college and prolly on a budget). You don’t have an appetite at times…so try what I do…plan ahead. You don’t go to the gym and wonder what to do. Just like you don’t open your fridge and find it empty because you were too lazy to go to store.have meal plans set in place and if cant eat…force calories in your blender like shake above. Regardless, you must consume more calories. It’s a struggle at first but your stomach will stretch as you consume more food. After about a couple of weeks you’ll find it easier. You have to push yourself. If you can’t eat try those smoothies or one you design yourself (have fun depending on budget) because blended food is easier to consume and more frequently you’ll be able to get in your calories. My blender is still my close friend! You can’t make gains at the gym without gains in nutrition. I can go on and on, I’m finding myself. But the bottom line is it can be done…if you plan ahead and… if have to chug…no pain no gain! t Nation is here if you need us. If you need some food porn, lots of us can provide. Best of luck 
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Your appetite will increase with exertion. Eventually as you continue to build it will really take off, but until then, by all means eat as suggested.
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Eat loads of eggs, chicken and beef.
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You said you eat everything with no restrictions, but what country are you in? Maybe your system just doesn’t do well with the local food style, and it makes you not want to eat?
I’ve never in my life had a problem where I didn’t have a big enough appetite. What exactly do you feel like when you have no appetite? I actually don’t know what it feels like to not want to eat more. I always want more but control myself to stop eating before my stomach is so full it hurts.
Were you 120 lbs at the OP’s age? I know what it’s like to not have a big enough appetite. Spent the first 18 years of my life eating next to nothing and being very skinny as a result.
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I meant that I do not have any religious restrictions on diet. In our part of the globe, mainly there are muslims and hindus. Muslims do not eat ham, and hindus don’t eat beef. But I do not have that problem because I do not hold any of those religious views.
Well, bless you then. In that case you have had an easier time starting out, and I’m sure you have had amazing results. As for how it feels to not have an appetite, I don’t know if it is possible to describe it to a person who doesn’t know the feeling. It is beyond my level of expertise, sorry 
Yes, that is my plan. Thanks!
Fortunately I like milk, so I can make the chugging part happen easily. If I’m not eating enough, I’ll add one or two shakes to make up the calories. Thanks @girlgotguns
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Anytime. I was going to go on about calorie dense foods but one step at a time . I really hope it helps because it’s so much easier to digest homemade shakes at first.
When I was lifting in Bangladesh, I used milk powder instead of protein powder. If your usual serving size is 8 oz for 8g protein per scoop, just double or triple up to make it 16-24g
I kept this up when I came back and started grad school, just because we had a lot of milk powder at him (my mom prefers milk powder over the milk we buy at stores here), and I didn’t want to buy protein powder.