Thread: teenagers

hey im 19 and my metabolism just seems to gobble up anything i eat and i cant put on any weight when i go on diets - how long are you looking at before you start putting weight on for someone with high metabolism? were any of you guys big and lean when you were a teenager (or are you now), do you think its better to just try and make strength gains now and then really try and get bigger when i get a little older?

Originally Posted by zapedy

hey im 19 and my metabolism just seems to gobble up anything i eat and i cant put on any weight when i go on diets - how long are you looking at before you start putting weight on for someone with high metabolism?

This depends on how much you eat, what you do (activity wise) and just how fast your metabolism is.

Generally speaking - if you are looking to add on mass then start by increasing the calorie amount you eat ~10% each 2 weeks or so. So, start at 10% above maintainence and if you don't gain then increase cals by another 10% and wait another 2 weeks. Just continue to do this until you are happy with your size gains.

And don't waste ungodly amounts of calories on protein - it is important, but as long as you get ~1.5g per lean mass (or ~1.25 x total mass) then this is fine and for your overall calorie intake you want to focus on carbs and fats for energy.

You are best to go for the energy dense foods as well - nuts, oils, seeds, whole-grain products/pasta etc etc. You might also have to 'drink' a lot of your calories (home-made shakes with milk, fruit, oats, nut-butters, whey etc) as these will give you cals without the 'bulk'.

were any of you guys big and lean when you were a teenager (or are you now),

I wish! As a rather short female I didn't get much luck in the 'steam-train metabolism' department!

do you think its better to just try and make strength gains now and then really try and get bigger when i get a little older?

Aim for both - at the moment you want to take as much advantage of your age as you can.... You are at a stage where your anabolic potential is huge - so eat well, train hard and rest enough and you should make amazing gains!