Skinny guy muscle gain

SkinnyGuy7

Hi guys,

I'm 24 years old 6 foot and weigh about 9 stone (57kg). I'd really like to improve my physique nothing drastic, I just want to loose the skeleton like appearance Ive had for most of my life. I know this will require a lot of perseverance in the gym but I also wanted to know what protein powder/supplement if any would ye recommend?? Thanks!

dango

At 6' and 57kg? Food and lots of it.

Dtp1979

SkinnyGuy7 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm 24 years old 6 foot and weigh about 9 stone (57kg). I'd really like to improve my physique nothing drastic, I just want to loose the skeleton like appearance Ive had for most of my life. I know this will require a lot of perseverance in the gym but I also wanted to know what protein powder/supplement if any would ye recommend?? Thanks!

Protein powder is not the magic cure you think it is. It's simply a convienient way to get protein into your diet no matter what the fancy adverts say.
If you want to build muscle and put on mass then no amount of gym training will help unless you're eating a calorie surplus.
I wish somebody told me this when I was your age. I was too busy reading men's health and other crap thinking that if I lifted weights and took whey protein then I'd pack on muscle in 6-8 weeks or something similar. Get yourself a good pt and training program and start eating. Eat clean ideally.

Zillah

I recommend a slow, steady gorging process. Drink milk all the time.

Mellor

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Eat clean ideally.

I agree with everything else you said, but with his stats I wouldn't be overly concerned with eating clean.

At 9 stone and 6 foot. OP is underweight, which means intake has been low for at lest a few years. Trying to now eat a significantly more food is going to be difficult. It will be harder to get in 3000calories per day.


@SkinnyGuy7, putting in the perseverance in the gym is important but you also need to eat all around you. 3000 calories everyday, even rest days. Splitting this into 6 meals will be easier, but if you'd rather 3 bigger meals thats fine too

Nervous Wreck

Gotta disagree with the above. The OPs weight gain shouldn't be a sprint; there's no reason to advocate eating anything but clean tbh. What'll happen is he'll eat like **** to put on weight, he'll put on weight but plenty of it will be fat. Then he'll want to lose some weight but will have cemented bad eating habits, which he'll need to change to lose the fat. Start off with good habits and skip the fat stage. It's a marathon, not a snickers.

freemenfitness

As someone who has always been skinny but less so now. You can change your appearance but the most important things are do some strength training and stick to it and do it regularly. Lift weights or your body whatever you enjoy most. Then eat plenty and try to eat clean as it will make things easier in the long run.

If your naturally thin your body might be forgiving but not forever. Also being tall and lean you wont look like Arnold but you will gain muscle set out a year long plan and stick to it. Even divide it up into 3 months blocks and set some small goals and stick to it. Plenty of good strength programs in the stickies.

As was said above protein powders etc wont do much other than get some extra protein in your diet and help you recover. If your unsure about diet ask away here I am sure people will help. But for me it was plenty of meat and veg and calorie dense foods but most of all it was consistency.

Mellor

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

Gotta disagree with the above. The OPs weight gain shouldn't be a sprint; there's no reason to advocate eating anything but clean tbh. What'll happen is he'll eat like **** to put on weight, he'll put on weight but plenty of it will be fat.

A clean bulk is better than a dirty bulk but only when calories are high enough. My suggestion was specifically based on the assumption that OP might struggle with intake - maybe that assumption is wrong.

It's not uncommon for people who tend to be skinny to struggle with intake. If OP thinks he can hit 3000 cleanly, then go for it. But if the end outcome is no surplus, then dirty would have been better.

Also, a clean bulk will make you gain weight/fat just as fast as the same amount of dirty calories.

New Goat

Mellor wrote: »

A clean bulk is better than a dirty bulk but only when calories are high enough. My suggestion was specifically based on the assumption that OP might struggle with intake - maybe that assumption is wrong.

It's not uncommon for people who tend to be skinny to struggle with intake. If OP thinks he can hit 3000 cleanly, then go for it. But if the end outcome is no surplus, then dirty would have been better.

Also, a clean bulk will make you gain weight/fat just as fast as the same amount of dirty calories.

How would dirty eating be better when not in a surplus?

Alf Veedersane

New Goat wrote: »

How would dirty eating be better when not in a surplus?

He meant that if clean eating ends up in little/no surplus then some 'dirty' eating would have been better as it would have resulted in a (bigger) surplus.

The ultimate aim is being in a surplus. 'Dirty' food makes that easier but it also makes it easier to have a much bigger surplus than you can use

TimeToShine

Nervous Wreck wrote: »

Gotta disagree with the above. The OPs weight gain shouldn't be a sprint; there's no reason to advocate eating anything but clean tbh. What'll happen is he'll eat like **** to put on weight, he'll put on weight but plenty of it will be fat. Then he'll want to lose some weight but will have cemented bad eating habits, which he'll need to change to lose the fat. Start off with good habits and skip the fat stage. It's a marathon, not a snickers.

At 6' 57kg there is absolutely no hope in hell of him putting on weight by eating clean. It would take a monumental effort on his behalf and his body would be screaming at him to stop the merciless torture.

I dont generally advocate eating dirty but the OP could do with a few extra burgers to get him in the weight gain groove.

BrokenArrows

SkinnyGuy7 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm 24 years old 6 foot and weigh about 9 stone (57kg). I'd really like to improve my physique nothing drastic, I just want to loose the skeleton like appearance Ive had for most of my life. I know this will require a lot of perseverance in the gym but I also wanted to know what protein powder/supplement if any would ye recommend?? Thanks!

You're going to have to eat an insane amount of food in comparison to what you probably normally eat. Its likely you are going to have to more than double your daily intake of food.

Focus on the food first then you can start to worry about the gym routine.

The food for you will be tough. And its unlikely you are going to be able to squeeze it into 3 meals per day. Try and break your food intake into 5 or 6 meals a day.

A quick google shows this diet of 3k calories which will give you an idea of how to break it up.
http://www.themuscleprogram.com/meal-plans/3000-calorie-meal-plan/

New Goat

TimeToShine wrote: »

At 6' 57kg there is absolutely no hope in hell of him putting on weight by eating clean. It would take a monumental effort on his behalf and his body would be screaming at him to stop the merciless torture.

I dont generally advocate eating dirty but the OP could do with a few extra burgers to get him in the weight gain groove.

Mmmm burgers, pizzas and ben and jerrys, washed down with coke and none of that diet or zero sugar nonsense :pac:

Brian?

I'm twice the OPs weight. 90% of my diet is from clean whole food sources and has been for years. I don't see why the OP can't put on weight eating clean.

It's about choosing calorie dense foods. When I was purposely gaining weight I had a couple of shots of olive oil a day to add some calories in. Milk, nuts, avocado, fish, meat, sweet potatoes etc are all great.

New Goat

TimeToShine wrote: »

At 6' 57kg there is absolutely no hope in hell of him putting on weight by eating clean. It would take a monumental effort on his behalf and his body would be screaming at him to stop the merciless torture.

I dont generally advocate eating dirty but the OP could do with a few extra burgers to get him in the weight gain groove.

New Goat wrote: »

Mmmm burgers, pizzas and ben and jerrys, washed down with coke and none of that diet or zero sugar nonsense :pac:

In all seriousnous though, could he not eat clean and still be in a surplus, alot of "clean" foods are very calorie dense unless your restricting the portions.

Avocados
Coconut Milk
Bread
Oats
Salmon
Peanut butter
Nuts
Pasta

etc

Brian? wrote: »

I'm twice the OPs weight. 90% of my diet is from clean whole food sources and has been for years. I don't see why the OP can't put on weight eating clean.

It's about choosing calorie dense foods. When I was purposely gaining weight I had a couple of shots of olive oil a day to add some calories in. Milk, nuts, avocado, fish, meat, sweet potatoes etc are all great.

Just saw this, you beat me to it.

cfuserkildare

Beer,

What you don't lose, you're body converts to fat,
then with a decent training regime the fat should convert into muscle.

b_mac2

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Beer,

What you don't lose, you're body converts to fat,
then with a decent training regime the fat should convert into muscle.

Hahahahahaha...

AlmightyCushion

Have a pint of full fat milk with every meal and you should put on weight easily enough.

Nichololas

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Have a pint of full fat milk with every meal and you should put on weight easily enough.

Came to post this.

Dropping weight: drink a pint of water before every meal
Increasing weight: drink a pint of milk after every meal

Mellor

New Goat wrote: »

How would dirty eating be better when not in a surplus?

As Alf said, it's a lot easier to hit that target if you geta little durty.

If I was doing a food plan for the OP I'd start dirty, or rather 3000 cals by any means. And get cleaner depending on how easy he finds it.
From there add it macro splits and tailor intake around training.

Brian? wrote: »

I'm twice the OPs weight. 90% of my diet is from clean whole food sources and has been for years. I don't see why the OP can't put on weight eating clean.

So you're 115kg or so? It's probably fair to say that your don't particular struggle to eat large quantities. I don't either, and could be 100kg+ easy (I'd be fat AF though).
Being 57kg at 6ft requires either massive dedication to underrating, or an extreme aversion to eating large amounts.

It's about choosing calorie dense foods. When I was purposely gaining weight I had a couple of shots of olive oil a day to add some calories in. Milk, nuts, avocado, fish, meat, sweet potatoes etc are all great.

NewGoat wrote:

In all seriousnous though, could he not eat clean and still be in a surplus, alot of "clean" foods are very calorie dense unless your restricting the portions.

Avocados
Coconut Milk
Bread
Oats
Salmon
Peanut butter
Nuts
Pasta

There's plenty of high calories clean foods. Avocado and coconut are two of my favourite food regardless of bulking. Nuts are great too - although evidence shows that large amounts are malabsorbed.

But I don't think bread, meat, sweet potato and a few shots of olive oil is and particular cleaner than a fresh burger and chips tbh.
I don't consider pasta any cleaner than pizza, etc
Maybe we separate the clean/dirty differently. I wasn't suggesting 3000 cals of sweets.

Cake Man

OP would struggle to put away about 3000 calories worth of food I reckon, given that he's probably used to taking in around half that. Quickest and easiest way to get calories down without really feeling it is to blend up food. Throw a few eggs, milk, avocado, peanut butter, oats, fruit etc into a blender and drink it down. Handy way to quickly get in 500-1000cals, depending on quantities.

Tigger

Blend up a scoop of this
https://eu.iherb.com/pr/optimum-nutrition-oats-whey-milk-chocolate-3-lbs-1-36-kg/37901
and a banana and full fat milk for breakfast
Eat lots of protein during the day and drink at least a two lifer of milk a
Day
Start StrongLifts 5x5
Enjoy the gains

TimeToShine

Brian? wrote: »

I'm twice the OPs weight. 90% of my diet is from clean whole food sources and has been for years. I don't see why the OP can't put on weight eating clean.

It's about choosing calorie dense foods. When I was purposely gaining weight I had a couple of shots of olive oil a day to add some calories in. Milk, nuts, avocado, fish, meat, sweet potatoes etc are all great.

Jaysus no, not valid at all. You are literally double OP's weight, meaning either you were a hefty/more athletic young lad or you've been into gaining weight/weightlifting for years. OP is on the other end of the spectrum from you has absolutely no chance of hopping straight into broccoli and chicken breast diet and maintaining a consistent calorie surplus. Could be wrong though.

New Goat wrote: »

In all seriousnous though, could he not eat clean and still be in a surplus, alot of "clean" foods are very calorie dense unless your restricting the portions.

Avocados
Coconut Milk
Bread
Oats
Salmon
Peanut butter
Nuts
Pasta

etc



Just saw this, you beat me to it.

He can - but going from 0 to 100 like that is just too difficult. How do you expect someone to go from nibbling on 2 biscuits and a cup of tea in the evening to horsing down 2 chicken breasts, an avocado and 2 handfuls of nuts? Of course in an ideal world this would be great but I can't see it happening.

Step 1 - gain weight by any means necessary & lift weights - prove that you can do it.
Step 2 - Refine position from step 1 into a more manageable lifestyle change based around healthier food as per the post above.

GeneralC

I nearly died from anorexia. My calorie consumption was <1,200 while exercising for you up to 5hrs a day. I depleted my fat and muscle stores and my body was eating itself. I was on a drip with damaged kidneys, liver and heart.

Eight months ago I was 48kg at a height of 6ft '1. BMI was like 14.1 with a 3.2% BF. I now weigh 73kg, BMI at 21.7 ish and BF at roughly 12.3%. I am still not at my set weight.

I gained with clean foods, however, it was nothing but hard work and dedication. I couldn't just go from 1,200 calories to 5,000 over night. I had to slowly build up. Every few days I would increase my calorie intake by 100-150 calories and see how my body would adjust. It adjusted very well because I went through a starvation period for months while vigorously exercising.

I would eat a bag, yes a bag, of pasta (500g), covered in cheese with 3/4 slices of thickly buttered buttermilk bread at 63g a slice, 2 chicken fillets and a pint of milk. Another dinner the next day would be 1lbs of fish, 1kg of spuds, milk, bread and veg. Breakfast was porridge made with nearly 1litre of milk, seeds and toast plus Fortisip. Lunch was eggs, bread and more milk. Snacks were nuts, 500g of full fat yogurt and fruit. I also use to make up smoothies with oats, milk, peanut butter, bananas etc

I ate like a complete pig but I had to, my body was starved. Drink full fat milk with everything. Opt for salmon/steak over chicken/turkey. Full fat cheese, butter, spread, yogurt etc. Eat lots of calorie dense foods such as nuts, avocado, eggs, dark chocolate. Add chia seeds to your porridge.

For me, binging worked but it was gruelling. Looking back though I wish I applied the 'eat little and eat often rule'. I had to jam the food down because I was afraid of dying.

Try eat the foods that will give you the most bang for your buck. You're going to gain fat, that's inevitable, but try be smart about it. People were telling me "Ah just have a pizza, takeaways" and yes having a treat is fine but you can't live off them. Gaining a few pounds can be difficult but gaining a few stone, or in my case over 4 stone was a full time job. You'll have your plateaus, mentally and physically, during such a weight gain but you'll break through them.

I would also recommend getting blood tests, blood pressure etc checked regularly if you plan on gaining a serious amount of weight, just to be safe.


Remember, if you're not eating, you're not growing.

All the best, OP.

LionelNashe

What do you currently eat, OP?

Brian?

Mellor wrote: »

So you're 115kg or so? It's probably fair to say that your don't particular struggle to eat large quantities. I don't either, and could be 100kg+ easy (I'd be fat AF though).
Being 57kg at 6ft requires either massive dedication to underrating, or an extreme aversion to eating large amounts.

Or so . My dedication to eating is legendary and so I'm far from lean, but fit and strongish.

I want to be clear though, I am not suggesting the OP starts eating as much as me today. He should start eating 500-700 Kcals more than he is now. Replacing the food he eats now with more calorie dense options will easily close that gap.

As he puts on weight and continues to eat a surplus like this he'll learn to eat more.

Brian?

TimeToShine wrote: »

Jaysus no, not valid at all. You are literally double OP's weight, meaning either you were a hefty/more athletic young lad or you've been into gaining weight/weightlifting for years. OP is on the other end of the spectrum from you has absolutely no chance of hopping straight into broccoli and chicken breast diet and maintaining a consistent calorie surplus. Could be wrong though.

He shouldn't even attempt to eat like I do. As I said, it's a slow incremental approach that's needed. Add 5-700 calories from clean sources.

To me:

Clean =/= chicken and broccoli.
Clean= Wholefood sources. Meat, fish, vegetables, nuts and dairy. Although dairy is somewhat debatable.

I am heavier that the OP because I eat more. I carry more muscle because I lift more. It took me years, it may take him years. I just object to the idea that you need junk food to maintain a surplus.

TimeToShine

Brian? wrote: »

He shouldn't even attempt to eat like I do. As I said, it's a slow incremental approach that's needed. Add 5-700 calories from clean sources.

To me:

Clean =/= chicken and broccoli.
Clean= Wholefood sources. Meat, fish, vegetables, nuts and dairy. Although dairy is somewhat debatable.

I am heavier that the OP because I eat more. I carry more muscle because I lift more. It took me years, it may take him years. I just object to the idea that you need junk food to maintain a surplus.

I don't disagree with you but I do think someone with your approach to diet is of no help to the OP, and to be frank I doubt you are maintaining a "fit" 115kg physique with a totally clean diet unless you are some form of top level athlete (which you may well be!).

Brian?

TimeToShine wrote: »

Brian? wrote: »

He shouldn't even attempt to eat like I do. As I said, it's a slow incremental approach that's needed. Add 5-700 calories from clean sources.

To me:

Clean =/= chicken and broccoli.
Clean= Wholefood sources. Meat, fish, vegetables, nuts and dairy. Although dairy is somewhat debatable.

I am heavier that the OP because I eat more. I carry more muscle because I lift more. It took me years, it may take him years. I just object to the idea that you need junk food to maintain a surplus.

I don't disagree with you but I do think someone with your approach to diet is of no help to the OP, and to be frank I doubt you are maintaining a "fit" 115kg physique with a totally clean diet unless you are some form of top level athlete (which you may well be!).

I'm not and never claimed to be. I'm not lean. But that's irrelevant here. Why is my advice no help to the OP? He needs to eat a calorie surplus to gain weight, I'm just saying it doesn't have to be a seefood diet. He can eat good quality food and gain weight. What approach do you think he should take?

Alf Veedersane

Shoot for 80/20.

80% good food with an allowance for other calorie dense food. Not entirely necessary but the OP obviously needs to get calories on board to fuel some growth so it might just be easier for now.

TimeToShine

Brian? wrote: »

I'm not and never claimed to be. I'm not lean. But that's irrelevant here. Why is my advice no help to the OP? He needs to eat a calorie surplus to gain weight, I'm just saying it doesn't have to be a seefood diet. He can eat good quality food and gain weight. What approach do you think he should take?

OK I may have been a bit OTT. In an ideal world your approach is perfect, in reality he will struggle to eat 3000 calories of anything daily so may as well do it with something manageable. Going into it headfirst with clean food is bound to result in failure and then he'll give up.