Not gaining weight, why?

H

Howieau

0
*EDIT* I am 19 and weigh 65kg. Not sure if its important but my friend was saying that my metabolism is too fast? How can I slow it down?

I go to gym 4 times a week. Each routine is roughly 1.5 to 2 hours.
I do back and biceps on Mon/Thur, and chest and triceps Tue/Fri.

Each day I eat.

Breakfast:
Bowl of all bran in no fat milk

Morning tea:
1 Banana
1 Apricot
2 Toasted cheese sandwiches

Lunch:
1 Skinless chicken breast
1 Banana
1 Apricot

Afternoon tea (after gym):
Cup of low fat yoghurt
Tuna on mon/thur
2 boiled eggs (white only) on tue/wed/fri/sat/sun

Dinner
Usually stir fry, or pasta
Glass of skim milk

Now I have been eating this since I begun gym about 2 months ago. And since, I havent been gaining too much weight. Probably 1 or 2 kgs I think. I was told by a freind ( who is studying to be a personal trainer at TAFE ) that my RDI should be around Carbs - 390grams, Protein - 110grams, Fat - 60 grams. Using the website, I created the above daily intake to meet my RDI (I think I went a tiny bit over on protein and carbs). Still I have trouble gaining weight. I do appear to be getting definition in my muscles, and a bit of size, but not so much weight.

Has anybody had a similar thing happen to them, or can somebody help me out?

Do I need to add more fat or carbs or protein into my diet?

Not sure if its important but my friend was saying that my metabolism is too fast? How can I slow it down?

Any help or personal anecdotes, no matter how small, are much appreciated.

Many thanks.
 
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1) Not doing your legs? That will slow your gains down a lot.
2) How much do you weigh? Unless you are 100 lbs or less, you should be eating more than that to make gains.
3) Your workouts are too long. 45-60 mins max. Especially since you are doing a split routine. It should be more like 30 mins.
 
I agree

You need to hit squats hard as well. Check out the 20 rep squat program aka "Super Squats" or maybe a 5x5 program. Do a google search and you will find some good articles.
 
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mstehle said:
You need to hit squats hard as well. Check out the 20 rep squat program aka "Super Squats" or maybe a 5x5 program. Do a google search and you will find some good articles.
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20 rep? unless its volume ur reffering to, i dont think 20 reps per set is very good for str, thats more for end. 5x5 is good for both strenght and size.
 
Howieau said:
I go to gym 4 times a week. Each routine is roughly 1.5 to 2 hours.
I do back and biceps on Mon/Thur, and chest and triceps Tue/Fri.

Each day I eat.

Breakfast:
Bowl of all bran in no fat milk

Morning tea:
1 Banana
1 Apricot
2 Toasted cheese sandwiches

Lunch:
1 Skinless chicken breast
1 Banana
1 Apricot

Afternoon tea (after gym):
Cup of low fat yoghurt
Tuna on mon/thur
2 boiled eggs (white only) on tue/wed/fri/sat/sun

Dinner
Usually stir fry, or pasta
Glass of skim milk

Now I have been eating this since I begun gym about 2 months ago. And since, I havent been gaining too much weight. Probably 1 or 2 kgs I think. I was told by a freind ( who is studying to be a personal trainer at TAFE ) that my RDI should be around Carbs - 390grams, Protein - 110grams, Fat - 60 grams. Using the website, I created the above daily intake to meet my RDI (I think I went a tiny bit over on protein and carbs). Still I have trouble gaining weight. I do appear to be getting definition in my muscles, and a bit of size, but not so much weight.

Has anybody had a similar thing happen to them, or can somebody help me out?

Do I need to add more fat or carbs or protein into my diet?

Any help or personal anecdotes, no matter how small, are much appreciated.

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Well, just my thoughts, you need more protein in your breakfast and your "morning tea"
 
Edited my first post a little, just with my weight/age.

2) How much do you weigh? Unless you are 100 lbs or less, you should be eating more than that to make gains.
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As I edited into my first post, I weigh 65kg. 100lbs is about 45kg huh? If I need to eat more, in what department do I need it? More protein? More carbs? And how much more? If you could suggest it in gram form, thatd be great.

3) Your workouts are too long. 45-60 mins max. Especially since you are doing a split routine. It should be more like 30 mins.
Click to expand...

How does the length of your workout impact your gains? Im still learning, so Im very much curious.

If it helps, my workout is:
Mon/Thur
3 x 12 close grip chinups
3 x 12 bent over barbell rows
2 x 12 lying reverse flyes
2 x 12 concentration curls
2 x 12 dumbell curls
2 x 12 preacher curls

Tue/Fri
3 x 12 bench press
3 x 12 incline dumbell bench press
3 x 12 cable tricep extensions
3 x 12 cable flyes
3 x 12 weighted dips

I am getting stronger, as Im constantly moving up weights in all my exercises. Moved up 10kg in 4 weeks for bench press, which was tops because I was pretty weak at the beginning. I just dont seem to be adding weight.

Please keep the suggestions coming.

Thanks to those who have already replied :)
 
2) Answer: add 40% to everything.
3) When you stress yourself out, in this case it is physical stress by means of an extended workout, your body relases cortisol which catabolizes tissues (some of that tissue being muscle) for the energy demand. Besides that, if you are only doing a couple body parts in that time, you are either resting too much, or doing way too much volume for those body parts.
 
You'll be in for a shock from the calories you need to gain weight. For example, I am 145 lbs and need 3,500cals daily to gain.
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That is a shock! My god, I am currently eating approx 2350 calories a day, and I thought that was alot! God knows where id get another 1000 calories from, Ill have to start eating a whole chicken each day lol.
 
Here is another sample: 3,400-3,500 cals.
Meal1 7am P+F
1 serving Muscle Milk
2 tps. Olive oil
1 apple

Meal2 10am P+F
6oz. Chicken/Tuna, nut mix, carrots
3 flax caps.

Meal3 12pm P+C
2 scoop whey protein
Granola Bar + 46g dex (75g-100g total)

Meal4 3pm P+C
1 egg, 4 egg white
1 cup Oats, strawberries, bannana

Meal5 7pm P+C
6 ounces beef, 1/2 cup rice, and green veggies.

Meal6 10pm P+F
1 serving Muscle Milk
2 tbs Natural Peanut Butter
Apple
 
Thank you very much for all help provided.

I have decided to simply include a protein shake into my diet. I am looking for something around 500 - 600 calories worth. This will bring my daily intake up to 3,000. I figure it will simply be trial and error from here. If I begin gaining a good amount of weight, then I'll stick with it. If I am still not taking in enough and not gaining much weight, then Ill add some more food into some of my meals and try a calorie intake of 3,500 each day.

But for now, 3,000 it shall be.

So, can anybody recommend a good protein shake that is effective, and will provide me with approximately 500 - 600 calories per shake. I have been told to check out "Mass Monster" by BSC. Any other recommendations?
 
I'm a hardgainer with a lightning fast metabolism too. This is what worked for me.

If you use tobacco of any kind, stop.

When you think your stuffed (with food), eat more.
When you think your lifting enough, lift more. ( not length of time, but actual weight.)

I stuff myself 5-6 times a day with as much chicken, fish, steak, and protien shakes as I possible can.
I enjoy junk food as well, so I give myself one day a week where I can eat anything I want.

EAT ALOT OF FOOD!!!
LIFT ALOT OF WEIGHT!!
people told me that for years, but until I really listened, I couldnt gain a single pound.
I started at 155lbs, and I'm up to 175lbs. It took me about a year for 20 lbs, but about 7-8lbs came on in the first 3-4 weeks.
 
Howieau said:
That is a shock! My god, I am currently eating approx 2350 calories a day, and I thought that was alot! God knows where id get another 1000 calories from, Ill have to start eating a whole chicken each day lol.
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where and how did you calculate the daily calorie intake? i want to do it too... and i'm in the same situation as you are :)
 
Yeah gaining that weight can be risky though i have friends who take the weight gaining powder, he turned out good, but what about if you cant get it off? Try it if u want though, and try not to slow your metabolism down to much, and if u do, and your done with the weight gaining process your doing, take ThermoPowerRush it speeds up metabolism and increases max bench pres limit...good product
 
Howieau said:
Each day I eat.

Breakfast:
Bowl of all bran in no fat milk

Morning tea:
1 Banana
1 Apricot
2 Toasted cheese sandwiches

Lunch:
1 Skinless chicken breast
1 Banana
1 Apricot

Afternoon tea (after gym):
Cup of low fat yoghurt
Tuna on mon/thur
2 boiled eggs (white only) on tue/wed/fri/sat/sun

Dinner
Usually stir fry, or pasta
Glass of skim milk
Click to expand...

Someone really should have picked up on this. Its the 1st thing I noticed.
The reason your not putting on any weight is because your not getting enough carbs. Your getting only 2 portions of carbs a day. if your trying to add weight you should be eating 1 serving of carbs with every meal.

Plus your not getting any protien untill lunch.

If your working out really hard and your following a good exercises program you should be having carbs, protien, and friut/veg with every meal and keep all the fatty foods away from your last 2 meals (this is to give your body a chance to burn the fat off.)

But as others have said, you need to eat more than that.

Other reasons for you not gaining weight could be that your not putting the effort (corrects effort) into your workout, sleep, rest, and many other factors.
 
Obshobs said:
where and how did you calculate the daily calorie intake? i want to do it too... and i'm in the same situation as you are :)
Click to expand...

Already in this thread, look closely at my other post.
 
With the help of this thread, and some research, I've been able to pick out some things where I need to improve. I think they come down to:

a) Resting too long during workouts. I rested for about 1.5 minutes between sets, close to 2 mins at times, in my last week of working out, and knocked my workout time back to 1 hr. As I go with a good mate of mine, I guess we end up in too much chatter. But we just train now.

b) Not eating properly on weekends. I realise that this is when my body needs to rest, but I haven't been feeding it properly in order to grow/heal. I dont eat junk, but as I sleep in for a long time, I miss a meal or two in my diet.

c) Not working lower body. Am going to integrate this into my routine very soon, just trying to think of how, without over training/spending every day at the gym.

d) Not eating enough/properly. I have been researching and focusing hard on my diet. I've added in BSC Mass Muscle powder three times a day. One full serve during breakfast, a half serve 1 hr before workout, and a full server within 20 minutes of finishing my workout. Im currently sitting on 60g fat, 420 g carbs, 220g protein, per day. Which comes to roughly 3200 calories per day. I have alot of work to do though, and have been sitting down most nights this week trying to replan/edit my diet for optimal gains. When I figure it out, ill post back and let you know where my changes are.

Thanks for all the help.
Keep the replies coming, Im learning with every post.
 
I've done this up, to present a clearer outline of my diet for everyone reading this topic.

diet.jpg


diet2.jpg


I've added in the consumption of BSC Monster Mass protein shake 3 times a day. Not so many other changes. I've upped my calorie intake from 2300 to 3400 per day. I now consume approx 3.2g per lb of my bodyweight, and approx 1.77g of protein per lb of my bodyweight. I feel I am getting a sufficient amount of protein across all meals. One thing I might criticise, is the amount of carbs I'm taking in at lunch and pre-gym, perhaps not enough?.

Should I;
a) Up my carbs at lunch and pre-gym?
b) Up my carbs at lunch and not pre-gym?
c) Have less carbs at morning tea, up carbs at lunch, but not pre-gym?
d) Have an equal amount of carbs with every meal?

As my pre-gym shake is just an hour before I go to gym, I thought that if I ate with it, I'd be bloated for gym. Is being bloated a bad thing when working out?

Please point out any other areas where my diet may be lacking.

P.S. I have veggies with my chicken at lunch, and with dinner. Forgot to add them in.

Thanks again!
 
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