Not gaining weight but trying to...

BigProblem · 10-12-2014 1:27pm #1

Hi all

i have been trying to gain weight the last 6 months but havent managed to put on any weight. im 6ft and weight 11 and a half stone. i have a pretty clean diet but would treat myself once or twice a week. i would go to the gym 5 times a week, mostly working on chest and arms, some core work and one leg day a week.

my daily diet would be porridge for breakfast with some fruit.
lunch would be chicken, vegtables and some carbs not much maybe two scoops of potatoes.
in the afternoon id usually have an apple and a banana and some almonds.

i go to the gym in the evening and afterwards id have a protein shake followed by two chicken fillets with salad and eggs.

can anyone provide any advice for me if i want to put on weight regarding what i am doing wrong? i know people will say log everything you eat on myfitnesspal and see how many calories i am eating and see how many more i need to eat to gain the weight i want. i was wondering what else i could eat in addition to what i am currently eating which will provide me with the additional calories? i have started taking protein shakes the last 3-4 months and havent gained any weight.

thanks for any advice

grames_bond · 10-12-2014 1:28pm

You haven't mentioned dinner at all, if that is all you're eating then no wonder you can't put on weight - no where near enough.

coffee_cake · 10-12-2014 1:30pm

"a protein shake followed by two chicken fillets with salad and eggs. " sounds like a fine dinner to me.
Maybe more potatoes. Or extra fillets or something.

Alf Veedersane · 10-12-2014 1:39pm

If you're not putting on weight, eat more.

Log and see what you're eating. Add 10%. See where that gets you.

Repeat if necessary.

DoYouEvenLift · 10-12-2014 1:42pm

If you're only hitting chest and arms multiple times per week then you're not giving them enough time to recover. Find a decent split that helps you target every muscle on individual days that suit you and eat more.

Others will say it as well, but concentrate more on compound lifts (deadlifts, squats and bench) and getting your strength up and as long as you're eating enough you'll gain weight.

"i go to the gym in the evening and afterwards id have a protein shake followed by two chicken fillets with salad and eggs."

Who needs carbs!

Essien · 10-12-2014 1:45pm

Protein shakes aren't that high in calories, they're obviously great for upping your protein intake but not so much for extra calories.

Blend some peanut butter into your shakes and always use full fat milk, that would be a start.

Lots and lots of eggs too. High calorie, high in protein, high in good fats, you just can't eat enough of them.

I'd recommend tracking your calories just to give you an idea of what's in what, it's always useful to know. Potatoes for example aren't actually that high in calories either, but are quite filling. Stick a lump of kerrygold on them for good measure.

BigProblem · 10-12-2014 2:53pm

grames_bond wrote: »

You haven't mentioned dinner at all, if that is all you're eating then no wonder you can't put on weight - no where near enough.

how? im eating 2 fillets and salad after workout plus a dinner of meat vegtables and potatoes at lunchtime

BigProblem · 10-12-2014 2:56pm

bluewolf wrote: »

"a protein shake followed by two chicken fillets with salad and eggs. " sounds like a fine dinner to me.
Maybe more potatoes. Or extra fillets or something.

should i be eating more carbs? i want to put on muscle rather than fat

BigProblem · 10-12-2014 2:59pm

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

If you're only hitting chest and arms multiple times per week then you're not giving them enough time to recover. Find a decent split that helps you target every muscle on individual days that suit you and eat more.

Others will say it as well, but concentrate more on compound lifts (deadlifts, squats and bench) and getting your strength up and as long as you're eating enough you'll gain weight.

"i go to the gym in the evening and afterwards id have a protein shake followed by two chicken fillets with salad and eggs."

Who needs carbs!

so if i do arms and chest on a monday and then legs on a tuesday and back to arms and chest on a wednesday and so on - is that enough time to recover?

Rojiblancos · 10-12-2014 3:04pm

Track what you're eating using myfitnesspal. Download the app and you'll have it whenever/wherever you're eating. It'll show you the amount of calories per day that you're getting, from that you should be able to work out how much extra you need

NoQuarter · 10-12-2014 3:49pm

Get myfitness pal and religiously log everything you eat in a day. NOT everyday though. Just do it for a week until you know exactly what you're eating, then you will always know in and around where you are.

It's all about diet. When I opened your post I expected to see you say "my maintenance calories are xxxx and I am currently eating xxxx
+500 calories a day". The fact that you didn't say that means you have more to learn and haven't got your nutrition in check yet.

Remember, you wont have to log calories forever, just do it until you know exactly what you're eating per day.

El_Dangeroso · 10-12-2014 5:49pm

Drinking two litres of milk a day on top of your normal diet is a good place to start. Just drink milk instead of water.

manu2009 · 10-12-2014 10:57pm

More carbs for a start, for extra calories i'd recommend either a weight gainer based on oats or just make your own gainer shakes, 100g myprotein instant oats, 1-2 scoops of protein, 500ml milk and 2 spoons of peanut or almond butter.

Add two of those a day on top of what you already eat and you should be good. I'd also add some eggs to your breakfast.

DipStick McSwindler · 17-12-2014 1:32pm

This post has been deleted.

Paddy_PT · 04-01-2015 7:34pm

First of all I would establish a new workout routine. Training chest and arms multiple times sounds great but you will soon realise that in order to improve your bench press you will need to strenghten your upper back.

My current routine is -

Day 1. Legs
Day 2. Chest and Biceps
Day 3. Back and Triceps
Day 4. Delts
Day 5. Rest day
Repeat all over again!

My programme is set up so that I hit every muscle group yet you will see that I also give each muscle group time to recover (not training shoulders after chest etc)

Find a programme to suit your personal goals and from there you can start working out how many calories you need to consume in order to start gaining weight.

What do you work as? If your on the go all day you could find that your burning more calories than your eating.
Any hobbie? Running, Soccer, Gaelic? Again these all burn calories!
Do you do cardio in the gym?

Mass gainers are a good way to add in exrtra calories or as said make your own. Just dont be going over board on fats.

Just remember you have to eat big to get big my friend

BigProblem · 06-01-2015 3:19pm

Paddy_PT wrote: »

First of all I would establish a new workout routine. Training chest and arms multiple times sounds great but you will soon realise that in order to improve your bench press you will need to strenghten your upper back.

My current routine is -

Day 1. Legs
Day 2. Chest and Biceps
Day 3. Back and Triceps
Day 4. Delts
Day 5. Rest day
Repeat all over again!

My programme is set up so that I hit every muscle group yet you will see that I also give each muscle group time to recover (not training shoulders after chest etc)

Find a programme to suit your personal goals and from there you can start working out how many calories you need to consume in order to start gaining weight.

What do you work as? If your on the go all day you could find that your burning more calories than your eating.
Any hobbie? Running, Soccer, Gaelic? Again these all burn calories!
Do you do cardio in the gym?

Mass gainers are a good way to add in exrtra calories or as said make your own. Just dont be going over board on fats.

Just remember you have to eat big to get big my friend

work in an office so sitting at a desk all.

the only cardio i do is in the gym, 12-14 mins on bike before workout.

should i include carbs into my evening meal after gym? im trying to put on muscle rather than fat.

Alf Veedersane · 06-01-2015 3:42pm

Paddy_PT wrote: »

My current routine is -

Day 1. Legs
Day 2. Chest and Biceps
Day 3. Back and Triceps
Day 4. Delts
Day 5. Rest day
Repeat all over again!

What does a whole workout on shoulders entail?

DipStick McSwindler · 06-01-2015 5:24pm

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Alf Veedersane · 06-01-2015 5:28pm

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

Hitting all 3 heads of the shoulder(Deltoid) and the Traps

The anterior deltoid

The posterior deltoid

The lateral deltoid

I cant speak for Paddy_PT

But heres what I do when training shoulders

Clean + Press - Compound
Seated DB Press
Front Raises
Side Raises
Upright Row
Shrugs

Probably Overkill but Ive found it works great and I can defenitley notice the results

I get that but I'm just curious as to why they get a whole workout to themselves but back doesn't but that's just in the context of having the same time constraints for every workout, I suppose.

DipStick McSwindler · 06-01-2015 5:33pm

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DipStick McSwindler · 06-01-2015 5:36pm

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DoYouEvenLift · 06-01-2015 8:08pm

BigProblem wrote: »

work in an office so sitting at a desk all.

the only cardio i do is in the gym, 12-14 mins on bike before workout.

should i include carbs into my evening meal after gym? im trying to put on muscle rather than fat.

Smh, you need to do some more research. To gain muscle, gaining at least a bit of fat is basically inevitable. The only people who can gain muscle while burning fat are those with either incredible genetics through an absolutely perfect diet (and even this is pretty unbelievable) or those cycling steroids. You should aim to only get healthy fats and eat clean carbs to keep fat gain to a minimum but you will gain fat if you want to gain a decent amount of muscle. Learn about bulking and cutting, you can easily go on a calorie deficit for a few weeks if you feel your BF % is getting a bit too high.

Also, consider HIIT for your cardio.

Paddy_PT · 08-01-2015 8:40pm

Some really good advice here from IrishFeeney92

DipStick McSwindler · 09-01-2015 10:55am

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Paddy_PT · 09-01-2015 10:29pm

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

Cheers Paddy.I'm a newly qualified PT

Congrats

My advice is to never stop reading, no matter how much you know .. someone will always come along that knows 10 times more.

cabla · 12-01-2015 3:08pm

BigProblem wrote: »

work in an office so sitting at a desk all.

the only cardio i do is in the gym, 12-14 mins on bike before workout.

should i include carbs into my evening meal after gym? im trying to put on muscle rather than fat.

This is the way I see it. First of all make sure you're eating a 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight, see how that works for muscle gain.

I for one have to put on some extra unwanted mass to get the results. I need to bulk up and due to my bulking can lift heavier and therefore gain more muscle. Then when you eventually cut back a bit it will result in more muscle.

Esentially you aren't eating enough in my opinion. There's barely any carbs which you'll need. Just because you're eating carbs doesn't mean it'll turn to fat. Complex carbs like whole meal products will be good for energy in the gym and help with lifting more and gaining some muscle gain. It just depends how far you want to go.

I'm 80kg, Ideally I want to get to about 87-88kg, maintain for a while and then cut back (usually through sports) and have a solid maybe 82-83kg of muscle mass. I find that works for me. I suggest first just in general up the protein and carbs for now and see how that goes initially.

cabla · 12-01-2015 3:15pm

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

Cardio after the resistance training is better. Your body has used its initial energy systems during weight training(There are 4 systems listed below) and thus it resorts to using fatty acid sooner.

1. ATP/CP (Phosphate System)
Lasts 2 – 10 seconds
Example – 100m Sprint System = Anaerobic

2. Anaerobic glycolysis
Up to 3 Mins
Example: 400 m sprint
Anaerobic system

3. Aerobic glycoloysis
Up to 15 mins
Example = 15 mins run

4. Fatty Acid Oxidation
Example – marathon runner

As regards to your carbs question, you should defenitley eat carbs + protein after your workout. Good carbs are our friends and are the building blocks of healthy nutrition

Examples - Brown Pasta, Bastmati Rice, Sweet potato

Hope this helps - Anymore questions gimme a shout.

There's some evidence to suggest that eating carbs after a workout destroys any Growth Hormone working. The GH should be fueled with as pure protein as possible. I got some Hydro Whey from ON actually and this is meant to be pure enough to release into the muscle as quickly as possibly and give that 20 minute post workout GH the best results. Could be all just marketing but I tend to try stick with the protein for the first while anyway just incase

DipStick McSwindler · 26-01-2015 4:13pm

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Paddy_PT · 26-01-2015 8:10pm

That sounds like complete B.S to me however id be really keen to read any evidence that backs it up

DipStick McSwindler · 26-01-2015 11:28pm

This post has been deleted.

cabla · 27-01-2015 7:00am

IrishFeeney92 wrote: »

I took a nice guy approach, paddy went straight in for the kill :D

My mother told me! Better than any science!

I'll check it out - It was actually a video I saw of Kai Green at a seminar with a body building nutritionist. Not sure of his name but he was involved with developing the Hydro Whey from ON.

Not gaining weight but trying to...

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