Trouble gaining weight - Please advise

ralph-saggi

Hi All,
Looking for advice on my diet as apparently I am not eating the correct sort of foods and I am also not gaining weight . Here are some stats
about me...I'm 5'11 and weigh 10 and half stone, which is about 147lbs...So yes I am skinny.

what do I want?
I want to bulk up especially in the upper body region. I don't mind gaining some fat as long as I also get some muscle in the process. I mostly want to get away from the skinny person look.

What supplements will I take?
Critical Mass: http://www.fitnessireland.ie/applied-nutrition-critical-mass-4-4kg.html

BCAA's

Creatine

When will I workout?
Twice a week initially. I find after lifting weigths in the gym I can be very sore for a number of days afterwards.
Therefore, I will restrict lifting to just twice a week until I can recover better and faster. I need to start off really light, i have learned this the hard way. Any time I went lifting in the gym I always am sore for at least 3 days afterwards.

My routine:
For a while, im just going to stick to squats, deadlifts and bench press.

What can I eat - Please fill in the gaps as this is where I need the help and advice?
Here goes:
7.30 am - I am usually rushing out the door to work so don't really have time for any cooking or anything.
A critical mass shake around 800 cals is what I would have here.

10am - breakfast - I can get breakfast at work which basically has a huge array of nearly everything...
This includes cereals, fruit, fry (sausages, bacon, eggs), etc. What would you advise me to eat at this point?

1pm - Lunch - Again a lot of options. I usually get a carvery dinner sort of thing which is usually breast of chicken,
chips and veg with gravy over. Washed down with cup of milk.

3pm - Snack - Usually a Peanut bar or nutri grain bar with a cup of milk again.

6pm - Dinner at home - Can be anything really...What would you recommend here?
I' m usually not very hungry at this point and often skip this meal due to laziness
and lack of hunger.

9pm - Before bed - Snack - Crackers with peanut butter and cup of milk?

Would love to hear some advice on what I should be eating lads.
Also remember I am going to fit in a trip to the gym somewhere in my day as well, which will be followed with a
mass shake (Critical Mass) immediately after which has about 900 cals in it.

Any more advice I could do with and all feedback is greatly appreciated...

sharky86

Lift more and look at your warm up and cool down periods more. Look after your flexability and you shouldn't hurt as much. If you are still sore this normally goes after you warm up the muscles again. so head back to the gym after 1 day of rest

No real point in eating like a tank if your not doing anything major to increase mucsle mass also. IMHO

I'm by far from an expert, no douth someone else will be on to advise better

chadmustang

ralph-saggi wrote: »

Hi All,
Looking for advice on my diet as apparently I am not eating the correct sort of foods and I am also not gaining weight . Here are some stats
about me...I'm 5'11 and weigh 10 and half stone, which is about 147lbs...So yes I am skinny.

what do I want?
I want to bulk up especially in the upper body region. I don't mind gaining some fat as long as I also get some muscle in the process. I mostly want to get away from the skinny person look.

What supplements will I take?
Critical Mass: http://www.fitnessireland.ie/applied-nutrition-critical-mass-4-4kg.html

BCAA's

Creatine

When will I workout?
Twice a week initially. I find after lifting weigths in the gym I can be very sore for a number of days afterwards.
Therefore, I will restrict lifting to just twice a week until I can recover better and faster. I need to start off really light, i have learned this the hard way. Any time I went lifting in the gym I always am sore for at least 3 days afterwards.

My routine:
For a while, im just going to stick to squats, deadlifts and bench press.

What can I eat - Please fill in the gaps as this is where I need the help and advice?
Here goes:
7.30 am - I am usually rushing out the door to work so don't really have time for any cooking or anything.
A critical mass shake around 800 cals is what I would have here.

10am - breakfast - I can get breakfast at work which basically has a huge array of nearly everything...
This includes cereals, fruit, fry (sausages, bacon, eggs), etc. What would you advise me to eat at this point?

1pm - Lunch - Again a lot of options. I usually get a carvery dinner sort of thing which is usually breast of chicken,
chips and veg with gravy over. Washed down with cup of milk.

3pm - Snack - Usually a Peanut bar or nutri grain bar with a cup of milk again.

6pm - Dinner at home - Can be anything really...What would you recommend here?
I' m usually not very hungry at this point and often skip this meal due to laziness
and lack of hunger.

9pm - Before bed - Snack - Crackers with peanut butter and cup of milk?

Would love to hear some advice on what I should be eating lads.
Also remember I am going to fit in a trip to the gym somewhere in my day as well, which will be followed with a
mass shake (Critical Mass) immediately after which has about 900 cals in it.

Any more advice I could do with and all feedback is greatly appreciated...

The soreness could also be from incorrect technique!
3 days should be grand on the lifting side of things, but you should really add military presses, chins and some form of horizontal rowing to that list of exercises!

ralph-saggi

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Was really looking for some advice on the diet aspect of this as I'm sure I will figure out the routine
Thks

Tico

you need to sit down Ralph and figure everything out, some people gain weight from as little as 3000 calories and others might take 5000 calories to see anything, you're classified as a hard gainer and its very frustrating to try gain weight for your body type.

Theres no point listing things that you have on a carvery or anything like that, you need to sit down calculate how many calories you take in and if its 3000 and nothings happening you need to up it to 3500 and so on till you find the right balance. Also you need to be very strict on when you eat and make sure you have a routine, ideally eating every three hours is best. If these things still dont work you might look into the types of protein you are taking in and when you are taking them in, for a hardgainer id advise having casein protein before going to bed as it stays in the system longer and a whey during the day and also before aswell as after training.

Bottom line your fighting an ongoing battle with your body to try put on weight so its up to you to fine tune your diet, Paul O Connell is also a hardgainer believe it or not and usually loses weight in the off season as opposed to most who put it on, some people take weeks to realise what works and some take years. Sitting down and actually looking at the figures and then planning what you need to eat that day or week is the best option and will see you achieving your goal faster. Golden Rule really is to try have protein in every meal during the day, your body prob wont store fat but if your training hard enough it will pack muscle, it just needs the necessary nutrition. being 147 lbs you should start off trying to eat 147 grams of protein daily as a rule and work from there

Doug Cartel

ralph-saggi wrote: »

6pm - Dinner at home - Can be anything really...What would you recommend here?
I' m usually not very hungry at this point and often skip this meal due to laziness
and lack of hunger.

This is a big problem if you're trying to put on weight. As someone who went from being very skinny to merely a bit skinny, I didn't see any progress until I started making sure I ate every meal without fail.

It's no use going for mass gaining shakes and extra snack meals, if it just means you're going to skip your dinner.