Hello T-Nation,
I am eating quite a bit of good clean food, generally 2800-3500 calories depending on if it is a workout day or not. Naturally more calories for the days I work out. A nice 700 Calorie shake will do that to you. I eat very well and enough to grow but I am still very hungry throughout the day. I am constantly curbing my appetite by drinking a gallon of water a day. Can I eat? Is my metabolism just that fast? Please let me know soon. Honestly I think I may be at a point where I have to eat every hour. I have to eat a pre workout snack at home and after a 10 minute walk to the gym I need another one and I am hungry during workouts. Please help!
It would be nice if we knew how much you weigh, how tall you are, rough BF estimate, training style, goals, years training, etc.
I guess that’s a moot point, however, because no matter how much it’s asked for beginner’s to do that, I guess it just escapes all of them…
That being said, if you’re that hungry, your body is telling you something, so feed it! Don’t be afraid to eat, unless you are confined to a weight bracket for your particular sport or pursuit. Again, background would be helpful.
Also, look to the foods that you eat. Some foods are associated with increased satiety. I would go more into detail about this but I don’t know enough about your situation… see how this works?
The question on whether you can eat can only be answered by you. What are your goals and are you meeting them?
If you want to grow and aren’t, then eat more. If you want to lose weight and are, then you are probably doing fine. But that last one depends on how hungry you actually are. If it is minor hunger, you are doing well. If it is massive hunger pains, I would say something is not right.
You shouldn’t have to ask for help in determining if you can eat or not. That should be something you can figure out just by asking yourself a few questions.
I read your other post as well.
At 6’1 and 190 you are not eating or just barely eating “enough to grow” at all and most assuredly not “quite a bit”.
Or at least we have vastly different definitions of those terms.
Noting personal, but I am just honestly getting burned out on these kinds of questions.
Where do you see yourself in a few years? What intermediate steps between now and then do you have planned?
Quite frankly a goal of 200 pounds and 8-12% BF is pretty meager. How old are you? Unless you’re under 16 or 17 or over 45 you should be able to gain 10 lean pounds in about 6 months with average genetic potential which leads me to my next question.
What have you been doing for 4 years that has brought you a grand total of a 15 pound lean gain?
Try to eat based on results and goals, and not just hunger.
When I was over-estimating my calories, I was still getting hungry with around 4000 calories a day (when trying to gain weight) and I gained a whole lot more fat than muscle.
Now I’m satisfied with under 2400 calories a day, plus an overloading day once a week (while trying to lose fat), and I’m not losing any more than a pound every 2 weeks and my lifts are all going up.
Try to figure out how many calories it takes for you to not gain or lose any weight, then increase or decrease from there depending on your goals. I’d start with around 300-500 calories-per-day increase for a couple of weeks at a time, then re-evaluate.
If you’re gaining too much fat, you’re either not working out hard enough, or you’re eating too much. If you’re losing a lot of strength and muscle, you’re not eating enough.
Sometimes the mirror, or pictures (in the same pose and same light) can be a better indicator than the scale.
Okay, the rpogram I am doing right now shifts every 8 weeks to a new goal. It goes from correcting muscle imbalance, to hypertrophy, to strength/hypertrophy, to all out power.
My main goal would be a better body, fully defined and a relatively large frame on my 6foot 1 body and able to put up considerable weight maybe 3 plates on bench and 4 on squat. On each side, not total.
So basically after this I want hypertrophy goals, larger muscles, and then ultimately after that just plain strength. I would like to maintain about 8% body fat when I change to strength lifting.
I may be wrong, but I’m guessing you’re pretty young. How old are you?
worms… you have one. eat it.
-chris
If you’re hungry eat. Seems pretty simple to me.
I am 19 years old, but I have done my homework on the subject. I am decently well read up on the subject but I always noticed that the recommended weight gain diets for a clean build never left me satisfied.
It took me a long time to actually be able to see definition and it is hard now that I want more mass so see it off. I guess what I really need to do is get my metabolic rate and go off of that
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
Okay, the rpogram I am doing right now shifts every 8 weeks to a new goal. It goes from correcting muscle imbalance, to hypertrophy, to strength/hypertrophy, to all out power.
My main goal would be a better body, fully defined and a relatively large frame on my 6foot 1 body and able to put up considerable weight maybe 3 plates on bench and 4 on squat. On each side, not total.
So basically after this I want hypertrophy goals, larger muscles, and then ultimately after that just plain strength. I would like to maintain about 8% body fat when I change to strength lifting.[/quote]
A few things.
The program you’re following is exactly not what a 6’1 190 pound guy needs. It looks like it’s for somebody far advanced from where you (or I) are.
What muscle imbalance of any real concern could you have at this point?
How are you going to change goals every 8 weeks when you’re at the low end of even average weight for someone your height?
How do you put a large “frame” on your “body”? I think you’re grasping for something like large build on your frame.
What would you say if I told you that you could most likely wind up at 230 or even bigger with very good definition if you were willing to work, wait and EAT a while longer, but you may have to not be “ripped” in the meantime?
What if I further told you that having done this your strength goals will probably have taken of themselves and then some?
I would have to say that sounds great. To tell you the truth after reading the advice on this post and the other post I put up I think I’m going to go for 220 pounds. I have my whole life to get cut, so I think I will just gain for a while. Thanks for the help. As long as I don’t lose the 6 pack (which I wont it just may be hidden under very little fat) I will be set.
Heres my only probelm I generally get concerned half way through a gain and cut my weight out of fear of being heavy. I then lose all my prgress which is why in 3-4 years I have only 15lbs of lean muscle. Any ideas? Or should I just accept I will be heavier and can cut once I am 5-10 lbs over my projected weight of 220. Any better ideas or did I hit the nail on the hammer. I’d hate to gain alot of strength and then be forced to let some of it go. Is that just how it goes?
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
I’d hate to gain alot of strength and then be forced to let some of it go. Is that just how it goes?[/quote]
That isn’t necessarily so. The genetic gifts for some allow for non-catabolic fat-loss. If you’re particularly worried about this, you can pick up some Carbolin 19 here to prevent just that.
But if you don’t start to seriously amp up your chowing down there won’t be a hell of a lot of muskels for you to worry about losing. I weigh forty pounds less than you do and I take in 3-4 thousand cals/day, just to give you an idea.
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
I would have to say that sounds great. To tell you the truth after reading the advice on this post and the other post I put up I think I’m going to go for 220 pounds. I have my whole life to get cut, so I think I will just gain for a while. Thanks for the help. As long as I don’t lose the 6 pack (which I wont it just may be hidden under very little fat) I will be set.
Heres my only probelm I generally get concerned half way through a gain and cut my weight out of fear of being heavy. I then lose all my prgress which is why in 3-4 years I have only 15lbs of lean muscle. Any ideas? Or should I just accept I will be heavier and can cut once I am 5-10 lbs over my projected weight of 220. Any better ideas or did I hit the nail on the hammer. I’d hate to gain alot of strength and then be forced to let some of it go. Is that just how it goes?[/quote]
You sir are alright you know that? I almost fell off my chair when I read this post. I figured you had pouted off mumbling something about abs like just about everybody else does.
Listen, the old saying about how you are what you eat is correct. You cannot get bigger than you eat no mater how you train. Yes you will have to accept being softer for a while, but that does not mean you have to become a waddling, jiggling pig.
You’re gonna have to overshoot on calories and that means you’re going to get blurry, but it also means your body will have all the fuel and building materials for maximum muscle growth.
Now think about this. You will get softer as this happens, but one day you’ll notice you’re starting to lean up a little even on the same amount of food you’ve been eating for quite a while. Why? Because what was once a fairly steep surplus is now inching closer to maintenance because there is now more of you to feed than there was before.
Trust me man, if you just worry about growing for now by the time you’re ready to cut you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to do and you don’t have to lose too much of your gains to do it.
I really think a gross misunderstanding of the role of steroids has a whole lotta people underestimating what they can do. “only those juicers can REALLY get big”. You may shock yourself at what you can do. There is no reason beyond yourself why you cannot put on a truly impressive amount of muscle after which, especially at your age, the fat will come off with practical ease.
Well thanks everybody, I think I got exactly what I needed out of this. Man, this website can sure as hell straighten you out quick. Thanks alot
[quote]T-man21 wrote:
Well thanks everybody, I think I got exactly what I needed out of this. Man, this website can sure as hell straighten you out quick. Thanks alot[/quote]
Make Mama proud =]