Started from the bottom...

shine86

Okay so I'm starting this thread to show and track my progress. I have always been a skinny guy and I don't seem to have a problem working out, the problem occurs when I try to put on weight. I am totally committing myself to put on as much mass as I can to fill out, while going to the gym. Any advice or tips are always welcome.


This is me as of 16th of October 2013. Don't mind the bemused look on my face. :rolleyes:
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aaakev

Whats your weight now and what are you trying to get to? Whats your training like and most important whats your diet like? Take today for example, what have you eaten since you woke up?

shine86

I'm 27, 5'5" and 7st 10lb; and I have never been able to put on weight no matter how much I eat. I would ideally like to get up to 11st, but I know this is going to be a long way to go.

My training has been all over the place for a while now. Not getting proper sleep at night, training whenever I want for as long as I want. I have not gone to the gym regularly in a few years, although this is all going to change as of tomorrow. I am going to be looking at a gym tomorrow so I will post up pictures of it. This thread is designed to show every step of my progress, my achievements and failures, also any advice I receive along the way.

Worse than my training is my diet. I eat anything I want and don't think about calorie intake or the quality of the food going into my body. I almost never have breakfast and indulge as much as I want from the afternoon till I fall asleep. I have never had any interest in a diet plan before, this is another thing that will change as of tomorrow. So today was the last day that I didn't have to stick to any sort of routine in my diet.

This thread is also to keep me motivated and more importantly to show other skinny guys that if I can do it so can they.:pac:

Christy92

The key is consistency. You're clearly an ectomorph so you burn a lot more calories than the average lad. I'd reccommend establishing a weightlifting routine 3-4 days a week that you can follow, constantly try and push yourself to lift a heavier weight each time and as for eating goes, calculate your total daily energy expenditure (google it). add 300 to whatever number you get to get your daily calories needed to put on some decent muscle mass and seeing as you've a hard time gaining I'd invest in a weight gaining supplement aswell. If you stick to it and don't give up, you'll see results. Trust me!

shine86

That's the plan anyway. I have been putting this off way too long and I want to start seeing some real results when I train. I will be getting a supplement on Friday Christy, I was up getting some advice on supplements earlier. I never knew what an ectomorph was though. I took a look on google and I found some great literature about it.

For anyone looking for a little more information on what the ectomorph body type is:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/178685/ectomorph .

Christy92

You definitely have the determination anyways, don't be put off if you're not seein results straight away. Like weight loss, weight gain takes time particularly muscle gain. But believe me it's worth it

As a rule of thumb - 3 weeks for you to notice, 6 weeks for others to notice, 12 weeks for some serious results! Best of luck with it lad

shine86

My birthday is just over 12 weeks away so I am hoping to see some good results by then. I know it is going to take time, there are going to be days when I just don't want to move but I have made a promise to myself to do it, and whatever it takes i'm going to achieve my goal. Thanks for the words of encouragement Christy.

Detest

Find out your current one rep maxes for bench, squat and deadlift and I'll do you up a program and basic diet plan.

shine86

Detest wrote: »

Find out your current one rep maxes for bench, squat and deadlift and I'll do you up a program and basic diet plan.

Thanks man, I will post those up tomorrow night. Can I ask you though, do you have any qualifications to do up a program and diet plan for me? You see the reason that I am asking is that I want the information on here to be from people who know what they are talking about. I am not trying to say you don't, but you do get a lot of people thinking they know everything and not a shred of experience to back it up. I'm sure you do since you asked me in the first place, but it would be good to know for people viewing this thread to know that the source I am getting my information from is credible.

Mellor

shine86 wrote: »

I'm 27, 5'5" and 7st 10lb; and I have never been able to put on weight no matter how much I eat.

Some people are naturally skinny and find it harder to put on weight, but at less than 8 stone there is no way you eat much food at all.
You need to eat a lot more than you have been eating.

Post a typical day's diet.

My training has been all over the place for a while now. Not getting proper sleep at night, training whenever I want for as long as I want. I have not gone to the gym regularly in a few years, although this is all going to change as of tomorrow. I am going to be looking at a gym tomorrow so I will post up pictures of it. This thread is designed to show every step of my progress, my achievements and failures, also any advice I receive along the way.

Regular training is important, I think tracking it with a log thread is a good idea. Maybe once you have gotten your advice, you should that your thread in this forum, or the mods can move this one.

Worse than my training is my diet. I eat anything I want and don't think about calorie intake or the quality of the food going into my body. I almost never have breakfast and indulge as much as I want from the afternoon till I fall asleep.

A lot of people who are skinny do this, they don't eat until the afternoon, when they have a big dinner and more rubbish, they think they eat a lof as there loads on the plate but they've missed whole meals.

FWIW, your maintenance calories is prob 1800, from now on you should be aiming for 2500 a day. And 150 grams of protein.
(That's probably too much right now on both counts, but that's what you should aim for as you'll prob fall short most days)

shine86 wrote: »

Can I ask you though, do you have any qualifications to do up a program and diet plan for me? You see the reason that I am asking is that I want the information on here to be from people who know what they are talking about.

There are lots and lots of tried and tested programs out there, you're best bet is to simply follow one of them.
A qualification doesn't mean somebody knows what they are talking about tbh. The majority of poor programs I've seen people following came from people who had some sort of qualification and decide to try reinvent lifting weights.

Detest

shine86 wrote: »

Thanks man, I will post those up tomorrow night. Can I ask you though, do you have any qualifications to do up a program and diet plan for me? You see the reason that I am asking is that I want the information on here to be from people who know what they are talking about. I am not trying to say you don't, but you do get a lot of people thinking they know everything and not a shred of experience to back it up. I'm sure you do since you asked me in the first place, but it would be good to know for people viewing this thread to know that the source I am getting my information from is credible.

I'm not overly strong or anything but I've went from 11 stone up to 14.5 stone with visible abbs. i can deadlift and squat double my bodyweight, bench 1.5 of my bodyweight. Any program id draw up would be very simple.

Putting on muscle isn't rocket science.. You stimulate mucle growth and feed it.

aaakev

Shine86, How did you get on at the gym yesterday? What did you do?

Still waiting for you to tell us what you eat, this is VERY important!!!

shine86

Hi All,

There was a bit of a setback yesterday and I won't be going to the gym until tomorrow. Unforeseeable circumstances and all that good stuff that comes with life. :rolleyes:

On the plus side I got my weight gain today.

Hyper Gain
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Nutritional Information
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Okay so my diet for yesterday was fairly bad if I am being honest, and I want to be honest otherwise I'm lying to myself. I had breakfast which consisted of ready break and a cup of tea. I didn't have anything then until about 6pm which was tea, biscuits and stew. Then later on at about 12am I had more tea, toast and a few packets of crisps. Also about a litre of water throughout the day.

Today so far I have had breakfast which was ready break and tea. A hot chocolate, and now for lunch I am having tea and a rasher sandwich. I will also be taking the weight gain after lunch.

Update:
The weight gain didn't taste that bad at all. I really thought it was going to be disgusting when I was mixing it but it went down really good. I actually could drink another one right now.:pac: Although I'm not sure if this would be the best idea. Saying that I really don't know, so could anybody tell me if it would actually be okay?

Detest

My granny literally eats more protein than you haha Its no wonder your 7.5 stone man.

It'll take more than a bag of weight gain to bulk up aswell.

Breakfast: large can of tuna and some carbs.

Mid morning: 1 scoop weight gain or something with a bit of protein in it.

Lunch: chicken breast or large ham sandwich plus some carbs pre training: 1.5 scoops powder plus 2 scoops oats.

Post training: 1.5 scoops powder.

Dinner: protein feast

Evening snack: protein.

its all about the protein haha.

aaakev

Your missin fats from that lad! Throw in peanut butter and mixed nuts, lots of nuts!!!

Seriously tho your problem is your diet lad, you dont eat enough for starters to ever put on weight and you certainly dont eat the right stuff! Get the diet in check and you will start seeing the results you want.

Putting on or loosing weight more often than not diet is the biggest obstical for anyone!

wilkie2006

shine86 wrote: »

Hi All,

There was a bit of a setback yesterday and I won't be going to the gym until tomorrow. Unforeseeable circumstances and all that good stuff that comes with life. :rolleyes:

On the plus side I got my weight gain today.

Hyper Gain
photo0006.jpg

Nutritional Information
photo0008.jpg

Okay so my diet for yesterday was fairly bad if I am being honest, and I want to be honest otherwise I'm lying to myself. I had breakfast which consisted of ready break and a cup of tea. I didn't have anything then until about 6pm which was tea, biscuits and stew. Then later on at about 12am I had more tea, toast and a few packets of crisps. Also about a litre of water throughout the day.

Today so far I have had breakfast which was ready break and tea. A hot chocolate, and now for lunch I am having tea and a rasher sandwich. I will also be taking the weight gain after lunch.

Update:
The weight gain didn't taste that bad at all. I really thought it was going to be disgusting when I was mixing it but it went down really good. I actually could drink another one right now.:pac: Although I'm not sure if this would be the best idea. Saying that I really don't know, so could anybody tell me if it would actually be okay?

Hey man, fair play on the decision to change your lifestyle. It'll be tough but you'll enjoy it.

First of all, there's no point in taking any supplements with that kind of diet - honestly, you're wasting your money.

Who suggested that protein supplement? There's only 15g of protein per 100g serving (ie 15%): that's less than a chicken breast. For your aims, you need to be looking at 90+% protein content in a shake (with as little sugar as possible). I assume you're looking to add lean muscle, not fat? What you should be taking is a combination of whey (quick release/ post-workout) and casein (slow release/ night time) protein, along with creatine.

Honestly, your best bet is to pay a personal trainer to make up a 4 day programme (e.g. day 1 chest, day 2 arms, day 3 back and shoulders, day 4 legs etc) along with a diet plan. I'm not being mean, but you just don't have enough base knowledge to go this alone, and asking on boards won't give you an overall strategy (this forum is grand for hints and tips but only if you know the basics).

Muscle gain is as much about technique and nutrition as it is about heavy weights and you need to start with professional direction.

Best of luck, fella.

W

shine86

Hi All,

Okay so today was the first day in the gym. I forgot to take pictures unfortunately, although I will be going on Monday again so I will post up some pictures then. I was just saying it to one of the lads today that it does feel like a big lifestyle change. wilkie2006 said it earlier also, and to tell you the truth I can't wait to go back to the gym. I know I will be sore tomorrow and I'm sort of looking forward to it, no pain no gain, right!?! This is the last photo I'm going to post until next week, so this is officially day 1:> photo0013.jpg

Okay so today I did:

Chest
Bench Press:
40kg x 3 sets

Incline Press:
30kg x 3 sets

Decline Press:
24kg (dumbbells) x 3 sets

Around the World:
20kg (dumbbells) x 3 sets

Fly Machine:
20kg x 3 sets

Also I did 10min warm up - treadmill.

I know my diet is absolutely atrocious, but I am going to be eating a lot more protein and healthier foods. However, I am not going to be able to put on the kind of weight I want if I am just eating clean. :pac: If I dirty bulk for a little while, i.e. 3 or 4 weeks, I will get to the weight I want. You see I want lean muscle but I would like to have a bit of fat also. I am not going to be going for any competitions for the foreseeable future and would like to have the body I want rather than train for a competitive advantage. Saying this though my diet is going to be changing from tomorrow as I am going to get some professional dietary advice, geared towards gaining as much protein and overall body mass as possible.

I understand most of your concerns about who I am getting advice off. To quell your doubts I am not going this alone. I also have someone training with me who has a lot more knowledge than I do in this area. My nutritional information about the weight gain I got was given to me by someone who knows far more than I and who more importantly knows me personally, if I did not trust the advice I was given I would not have gone with it.

I am just asking for tips and advice of people who know what they are talking about, as to give other skinny lads who view this post a chance to see all types of input, and to make an informed decisions on their own. I am getting advice off people who know me as a person. They know my body type, how far I can push myself, my lifestyle and other factors that makes it sound advice for me and the goal I want to achieve. I would never be so naive as to just go off of what advice people give to me on the internet.

Still and all this is how my Saturday night has been spent. Sitting here eating my weight in wheelies and posting. This is actually keeping me more motivated than I thought it would.

Have a good one.....