Problems Gaining Weight

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’m eating more calories than I was a about a week or two ago, i was at about 2800 calories. I would go into the gym and weigh in at about 148 or 149 lbs. And I wasn’t gaining weight so I upped my calories to 3200. And what i’m really confused about is i go into the gym weighing less now than i did when i was eating 2800 calories, i go in now weighing about 145 or 146 lbs. I felt a lil sluggish this week so i took a down week with half the volume and 2/3’s the intensity and am gonna start hitting it hard again on Sunday. The problem might be is i work out about 12 oclock and i’ve only eaten one meal at about 10:30 cause i dont have class till 11. But i was doing that before too, so i dont understand what he problem is. Help anybody?

P.S. The gym is the only source to a scale i have, maybe i should buy one and weigh myself later in the day, i dunno.

2

We know your weight. How tall are you? and how old are you?
What is your ratio of Carbs, Fat, and Protein?
What time is your last meal before bedtime? And you don’t eat until 10:30 am? You definitely need another earlier breakfast.

Supply some more info.

3

i’m 5’8, 21 years old. I eat my last meal about 12:30 or 1 oclock then go to bed and get up around 9:30 probably actually eat around 10. Then i eat every 2 or 3 hours throughout the day, i eat a food meal then drink a shake, alternate like that. I’ve been getting around 270 grams of protein a day, about 280 grams of carbs, and about 115 grams of fat a day. But i’m eating 400 more calories a day than i was and i’m weighing less when i go into the gym, i still dont think any of this other info would explain that. I"m not saying i should weigh more, but i for sure shouldnt weigh less.

4

hey man,
try this program–i’m not a hardgainer (like the program is geared for), but i still gained 30lbs in 9 wks from this program. (10lbs fat, 20lbs muscle measured…) i found this in a recent issue FLEX.

its a 14-day cycle that considers
carbs(g)/lbs of bodyweight : protein(g)/lbs of bodyweight.
here ya go:

days 1-5, 2:1
days 5-10, 3:1
days 11-12, 1:2
days 13-14, eat as much as possible, bringing carbs up to nearly ‘4’. (don’t worry about fat for these two days, as the other 12 days should be kept reasonably low in non-essential fats).

thats it man; you can also repeat that program for a couple months. the low amount of carbs in the beginning allows your body to reprime, so you may repeat this cycle without days off for solid gains. let us know how it goes.

tim

5

I dont think i’m going to be following to much of anything found in Flex magazine.

6

I crunched some numbers, and if you’re at about 10% bf, 3200 calories should do it.

If I were you, before you do anything drastic, try changing your ratios. You’ve got almost an even split between protein, carbs, and fats. I would up your carbs, drop your fats a little.

I always had trouble gaining weight, until I got really maticulous about what I was eating. Right now I get 50% of my calories from carbs, 30% from protein, and 20% from fat.

Also, one thing I have found to be helpful is feasting after my workout.

http://t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459969

Check out the first section of this Branding Iron for more on what to do.

One last thing. In the very beginning, I figured out exactly what I needed, and when I needed it for an entire day. Then, I followed that menu for about two or three weeks. Yup, ate the same damn thing every day. It was boring as hell, but until I knew whether or not it was working, I didn’t want any variables in there that could screw it up.

Good Luck

7

Eat more food and burn fewer calories. Try 500 kcals more for a few weeks and see what happens. Add more as needed.

Stop doing anything that might be counterproductive. No playing b-ball, riding your bike, etc. Don’t walk when you can drive or stand when you can sit.

Also, get yourself a food diary and keep track of everything you eat. Most people will realize they’re not eating as much or being as consistent as they think with their diets.

8

Thanks alot smallnomore, i woulda thought that 3200 would be atleast gaining a lil bit, but i’m getting nothing right now. I think i might be kind of an easy-hard gainer like Christian outlines. He says they need alot more carbs and not fat. I kept gaining strength but no weight so. I’ll try upping my carbs and lowering my fat. I try to keep my carbs and fat meals seperate from each other, i normally eat fat and protein together in the morning because that allows me to get the most calories. So i’m thinking maybe having a protein plus fat meal in the morning, then again before i go to bed, then the other protein fat meal before i go to bed and we’ll see how that works.

9

Scale weight is not necessarily the best indicator of progress. You may weigh less but your body composition may have improved. You need to track your bf% as well as your weight. Don’t micromanage though, check it every couple of weeks or as is convenient.

10

I do use a food log and i’m already about 8-10% body fat so i doubt i’m losing much more eating 3200 calories and only weighing 148 lbs. So i’m gonna try the post-workout feasting deal see how that goes. Its gonna be hard because i have class during that time, but what i’m probably going to do is mix 4 servings of gatorade mix, with 24 oz of skim milk, and my protein powder which has whey, casein and milk protein. And also eat to boxes of raisens. This would give me about 980 calories, 75 grams of protein, about 160 carbs and pretty much no fat. So i’m gonna sip on that through my class and probably eat my raisens right after, depending on how many notes i have to take.

11

I also wanted to post my program i’ll be using.

Sunday
front squat-3x3
good morning- 3x3
incline db press- 3x12
pulldown- 3x12
abs and calves

Tuesday
decline bench-3x3
weighted pullup- 3x3
back squat- 3x12
RDL- 3x12
dips- 2x max
inverted row- 2x max

Thursday
A1) bench press- 5x5
A2) barbell row- 5x5
deadlift- 5x5
hack squat- 5x5
abs calves

And on the off days, monday and wednesday i’ll be doing kettlebell circuits and farmers walk.

12

Eat a container of cottage cheese before bedtime. Drink a glass of water with it. If you wake up in the middle of the night drink another protein drink or eat another container of cottage cheese. Be sure to at least vigorously rinse out your mouth for your teeth’s sake.

If you are trying to gain weight then you have to eat and eat and eat every 2 or so hours. It will feel like you are having to stuff yourself. Keep eating.

14

Let me know how it goes trying to seperate your carbs and fat meals. When trying to eat 50% carbs, even with a boatload of them coming from the post-workout feast, I find it real hard to have any more than one meal a day without any carbs.

15

Binford-

I’m training a client right now that is very close to your size that is also struggling to gain weight. He is taller and just a bit heavier, but is around 9% BF and is an ectomorph, just like you.

#1, From what I am reading, you are not eating any where near enough calories!!! Period!!! I think you might be worrying to much about the numbers and/or fat gain. With your metabolism, you can strip off excess fat in a matter of weeks, so that should not be a concern. In fact, getting your BF up a bit would likely help make a better anabolic environment.

#2, Your carbs are WAY too low! I would get 350-400 grams of carbs a day. Minimum!

#3, Your protein is borderline too high! It takes roughly 25-30% of the calories in the protein you are consuming to metabolize it. Therefore, 100 grams of protein is actually closer to about 300+/- calories, not 400 cals like one would think. You are in a sense eating too many “negative” cals from protein. 1.2-1.5 X LBM in grams is usually plenty for bulking. Hence, 200 grams a day is plenty for you, 50-60 grams PWO in a whey hydrolistate/isolate is very important. The rest of the day you want slow digesting proteins from beef, chicken, eggs, and casein.

#4, Carbs should actually be the focus macronutrient when bulking. This is a big mistake many novice trainees make all too often, especially ectomorphs. You have got to get more carbs from whole grains, but even pasta and bagels are fine since you have no fat gain worries.

#5, After slightly decreasing protein and greatly increasing carbs for a few weeks, check your weight. If you are gaining you are doing something correctly. If you are still maintaining, increase your healthy fats ON TOP of the same carbs and protein intake. Eat gobs of peanut butter, cook with 3-4 table spoons of olive oil, and pour on the salad dressings.

#6 and 7, Eat a HUGE breakfast and a rather large slow digesting protein/fat meal before bed.

#8, If you are STILL a skinny dude after doing them for a month, schedule surgery to get that tape-worm removed! LOL! :wink:

TopSirloin

16

And another thing-

I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in the protein + fat meals seperated from the protein + carb meals. If you are trying to gain mass, you need protein all day for growth, but equally vital, you need carbs and fats for energy ALL DAY as well.

TS

17

binford,

    My experience as an ectomorph is that it is all but impossible to gain weight while doing high-intensity kettlebell circuits. If you're just talking about doing some easy ballistics and some very easy strength moves with a light bell to get the blood flowing and relax, that's great. Non-stop running and KB circuits supercharge your metabolism, making it very hard to gain weight.
     If you want to maintain some aerobic capacity while bulking, consider doing some of your weights in EDT format.
18

Top Sirloin has some good tips. I figure that with you at 146 lbs and if you are at 10% bodyfat you should be getting about 3700 cal/day.

19

Hey binford –

Hope the weight thing comes along, but one piece of advice…
come off it, man, when it comes to FLEX.
i gained 30 LBS in 9 WKS from that program. if those aren’t results, then i dont know what is.

if you have problems getting stronger, go with go heavy or somethin, but if you have problems gettin big, go with a bodybuilding source. yea, youre powerliftin buddies might give you shit, but its just like a bodybuilder not askin his little buddies how to prepare for a bench meet; he’d go with a powerlifting program.

i admit the older flex issues arent worth two shits, but the new ones have legit stuff in there; not just for guys who’ve been juicin for 10 yrs.

check it out man; even if you dont tell anyone youre on it. its just a program.

good luck.

20

Hmm, well those do seem like results Big Tim. And you might have a point, but still, I disagree with getting a bodybuilding routine from THAT source. I have been reading T-Nation or Testosterone.net since back in the day (issue 143 of the online mag) and if you want a program geared toward gaining weight I’m sure Mr. Berardi can get you headed in the right direction. I mean come on man, its T-Nation, a company (key word there) naturally opposed to flex, with better info. Dont come on this forum bringing that flex trash with you, shoot.