Weight Gain vs Exercise

Whatsisname

Okay so I've been ridiculously underweight all my life and I'm well and truly tired of it. I know I need to eat between 2500-3000 calories a day but I struggle with that, due to being a student so I'm poor as it is and a relatively fussy eater, although not as bad as I once was.

I recently started to do a bit of basic exercise (thinking it might help build muscle and so weight) I got given a kettle bell from my brother so I did a few routines with that, about 4 times a week, along with sit ups and chin ups. But I found this backfired completely and I ended up losing a small amount of weight and it frightened the life out of me.

So basically what I'm asking is, should I cut out the basic exercise till I sort out my calorie intake or not?

Also, would buying weight gainer/protein help? I thought cause I'm not getting near the required calorie intake on a daily basis it would help, but I've been advised against it.

(I'm 19, about 6 ft 3 and I weigh between 8 and 8 and a half stone, anytime I gain anything, I get near 9 and it comes back down.)

All help appreciated!

Egass13

Whatsisname wrote: »

Okay so I've been ridiculously underweight all my life and I'm well and truly tired of it. I know I need to eat between 2500-3000 calories a day but I struggle with that, due to being a student so I'm poor as it is and a relatively fussy eater, although not as bad as I once was.

I recently started to do a bit of basic exercise (thinking it might help build muscle and so weight) I got given a kettle bell from my brother so I did a few routines with that, about 4 times a week, along with sit ups and chin ups. But I found this backfired completely and I ended up losing a small amount of weight and it frightened the life out of me.

So basically what I'm asking is, should I cut out the basic exercise till I sort out my calorie intake or not?

Also, would buying weight gainer/protein help? I thought cause I'm not getting near the required calorie intake on a daily basis it would help, but I've been advised against it.

(I'm 19, about 6 ft 3 and I weigh between 8 and 8 and a half stone, anytime I gain anything, I get near 9 and it comes back down.)

All help appreciated!

I was the same as you , close enough stats etc . Only advice I can give you is eat eat eat . Same advice given to me . Don't stop training , just cut down on cardio work but don't neglect it altogether. I always followed the eat big and lift big to get big theory . When I was younger I just ate everything infront of me , didn't take much notice of macros or anything like that , I had no money to be choosey about the food I ate . Also be willing to give up on abs during the weight gain process , you can get them back eventually!when I was 25 I was nearly 15 stone and 11% bf I'm 30 now , 6'3 and 16.5 stone , currently about 15% bf and hopefully have it around 10% by the summer . I don't mind the scales anymore , once I'm happy with what's in the mirror that's good enough for me. On mass gainers , personally I found them very useful to cram in the extra calories during the day

Alf Veedersane

Post up a daily diet so people have an idea what you're taking on board.

Whatsisname

Feel awful putting this up but here it is, (I know its terrible) its not what I'd have everyday but most breakfasts/lunches are in and around the same. Dinner changes quite a bit.

Breakfast:

3 sausage rolls/2 large sausage rolls + 500ml Lucozade sport

Lunch:

2 cold chicken wraps + (500ml sprite/water)

Dinner:

Mashed/roast potatos, steak/ribs/chicken

Snacks:

A few a day, max of 2 packets of crisps and 2 bars of chocolate, maybe a few biscuits. Sometimes cereal, shreddies/cheerios/weetabix.

Egass13

Whatsisname wrote: »

Feel awful putting this up but here it is, (I know its terrible) its not what I'd have everyday but most breakfasts/lunches are in and around the same. Dinner changes quite a bit.

Breakfast:

3 sausage rolls/2 large sausage rolls + 500ml Lucozade sport

Lunch:

2 cold chicken wraps + (500ml sprite/water)

Dinner:

Mashed/roast potatos, steak/ribs/chicken

Snacks:

A few a day, max of 2 packets of crisps and 2 bars of chocolate, maybe a few biscuits. Sometimes cereal, shreddies/cheerios/weetabix.

Apart from not being particularly good food , there's not a lot of it ! Good food isn't always very expensive , eg rice,potatoes, green veg , lean mince , even chicken , if your near a farm shop you can get great deals , I use one in Kildare that regularly has 30 fillets for 20euro . But you definatly need to tidy it up a bit and increase the amount IMO . Especially the sausage rolls!

Alf Veedersane

The breakfast is muck but what quantities would you have in your dinner? And when you say two cold wraps for lunch, is that the pre-packed stuff that has two pieces of wrap?

Whatsisname

Egass13 wrote: »

Apart from not being particularly good food , there's not a lot of it ! Good food isn't always very expensive , eg rice,potatoes, green veg , lean mince , even chicken , if your near a farm shop you can get great deals , I use one in Kildare that regularly has 30 fillets for 20euro . But you definatly need to tidy it up a bit and increase the amount IMO . Especially the sausage rolls!

Yeah I'd have no problem eating all that bar the veg tbh, I guess its just a matter of increasing the quantity size and how often I eat it, like I love rice and pasta but hardly ever get them whereas I eat chicken nearly everyday of the week. Theres a deal like that in a butchers in town actually, I'll have to try get my hands on it!

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

The breakfast is muck but what quantities would you have in your dinner? And when you say two cold wraps for lunch, is that the pre-packed stuff that has two pieces of wrap?

Yeah I'd hardly even call it a breakfast if I'm honest, just something to have in me before college I guess. No no, we've a sandwich/wrap bar in college and I get mine made at that.

Its large enough I guess, its never skimpy on the portion size really and I usually eat it all if not leave a small amount. If its ribs or steak, its usually two slices (?) of each. Kinda struggling to describe that :pac:

Egass13

Whatsisname wrote: »

Yeah I'd have no problem eating all that bar the veg tbh, I guess its just a matter of increasing the quantity size and how often I eat it, like I love rice and pasta but hardly ever get them whereas I eat chicken nearly everyday of the week. Theres a deal like that in a butchers in town actually, I'll have to try get my hands on it!



Yeah I'd hardly even call it a breakfast if I'm honest, just something to have in me before college I guess. No no, we've a sandwich/wrap bar in college and I get mine made at that.

Its large enough I guess, its never skimpy on the portion size really and I usually eat it all if not leave a small amount. If its ribs or steak, its usually two slices (?) of each. Kinda struggling to describe that :pac:

PhD greens is a good supplement if you really can't handle veg , I left eggs and porridge out of that , again very cheap and extremely beneficial

Alf Veedersane

Ultimately you just need to eat more. It's not expensive...you're probably wasting money buying crap that could be spent if you bought fresh food and made the effort to prepare food to bring with you.

runawaybishop

Whatsisname wrote: »

Feel awful putting this up but here it is, (I know its terrible) its not what I'd have everyday but most breakfasts/lunches are in and around the same. Dinner changes quite a bit.

Breakfast:

3 sausage rolls/2 large sausage rolls + 500ml Lucozade sport

Lunch:

2 cold chicken wraps + (500ml sprite/water)

Dinner:

Mashed/roast potatos, steak/ribs/chicken

Snacks:

A few a day, max of 2 packets of crisps and 2 bars of chocolate, maybe a few biscuits. Sometimes cereal, shreddies/cheerios/weetabix.

Stop drinking lucozade sport, stop drinking sprite. If money is tight these 2 things are of no nutritional benefit. You could buy 2kg of pasta for the price of the lucozade. Drink milk instead, make your own lunch at home as it will be cheaper and you can add good stuff to it.

You can make a mass gainer cheaply using oats, whey, peanut butter and milk at about 1k calories a pop. You do need to work out how much you should be eating though - have you read the stickies?

Whatsisname

runawaybishop wrote: »

Stop drinking lucozade sport, stop drinking sprite. If money is tight these 2 things are of no nutritional benefit. You could buy 2kg of pasta for the price of the lucozade. Drink milk instead, make your own lunch at home as it will be cheaper and you can add good stuff to it.

You can make a mass gainer cheaply using oats, whey, peanut butter and milk at about 1k calories a pop. You do need to work out how much you should be eating though - have you read the stickies?

Did exactly that today, had a lunch ready for college and bought a carton of milk instead of anything fizzy, I'll keep it up.

Sorry yeah, I only noticed the stickies after I posted this thread so I've had a read through some of them. I'll look into making my own gainer, had a look online and it seemed a bit of a rip off, €50 for 8 servings and that so probably better off doing my own thing!

runawaybishop

Whatsisname wrote: »

Did exactly that today, had a lunch ready for college and bought a carton of milk instead of anything fizzy, I'll keep it up.

Sorry yeah, I only noticed the stickies after I posted this thread so I've had a read through some of them. I'll look into making my own gainer, had a look online and it seemed a bit of a rip off, €50 for 8 servings and that so probably better off doing my own thing!

Good start, well done. When you have finished reading post back here with any questions. This site is also very useful.

conzy

Not enough protein, not enough food in general

Get myfitnesspal and hit your calorie goal consistently Its all about long term consistency.

I have gained 10kg since November, and its as much work as losing 10kg and you need to be as regimental about it

Peanut Butter and Whole Milk are your new best friends

Peanut butter + Banana Sandwich and a pint of whole milk is nearly 900cals.

Whatsisname

conzy wrote: »

Not enough protein, not enough food in general

Get myfitnesspal and hit your calorie goal consistently Its all about long term consistency.

I have gained 10kg since November, and its as much work as losing 10kg and you need to be as regimental about it

Peanut Butter and Whole Milk are your new best friends

Peanut butter + Banana Sandwich and a pint of whole milk is nearly 900cals.

Yeah I've downloaded it two days ago and its kinda made me realise I'm not eating near enough, so its no wonder I couldn't ever gain anything.

I'll substitute nearly all fizzy drinks for milk instead I think, it only makes me more thirsty anyway and as moneys a factor, milk is a lot cheaper to get.