Thread: i'm trying to gain weight

tuffluck welcome to IM!

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you sound like a classic ectomorph, please repost this question in the diet/nutrition forum!

Eat 4000 calories a day and you will gain weight.

I'm 5'7" 174. I used to be 185 when working out hard and eating 3000 calories a day of quality food. I'm about to create a diet where I can get up to a solid 190. DoubleBase is right....eat a STEADY DIET OF 4000 calories and you will see results. Space out your meals. I'm new here too so we can keep tabs on each other's progress if you wish. I'm from eastern USA. Good luck!

Welcome to IM!

i started tuesday, i know that's only 3 days. but i followed another sticky here eating 15 times my body weight in calories a day, 1g of protein a day based on my weight. so i've been doing ~2,500 calories a day and ~165 grams of protein a day, and i'm about to start working out soon. do you think that will do a lot? i have also ordered a protein supplement to drink.

ideally if i could get to between 190-200 i would be satisfied. i am nearly 6'6" and weight 171.5 (weighed yesterday). i have looked at weight:height ratio charts, but none go higher than 6'4", although 6'4" average weight does contain 170lbs as healthy, so i would imagine 6'5"+ would as well. that seems weird though, as i am pretty scrawny. they list 205+ as overweight, granted that is not factoring in that you are all muscle, but still i guess if i can get close to that weight IN muscle, i will be happy.

any thoughts/opinions? i hate breakfast, but i have been making myself eat it around 10am every morning. i eat again at 12:30, 3:30, 6, and then about 10. i used to eat twice a day, 1pm and 11pm, and that was it with the exception of a small snack after work perhaps. ironically, adjusting to this new diet, even though it has been only 3 days, has been pretty easy so far. but it is a lot of food and therefore expensive. hopefully i can keep myself up with it.

Originally Posted by tuffluck

i started tuesday, i know that's only 3 days. but i followed another sticky here eating 15 times my body weight in calories a day, 1g of protein a day based on my weight. so i've been doing ~2,500 calories a day and ~165 grams of protein a day, and i'm about to start working out soon. do you think that will do a lot? i have also ordered a protein supplement to drink.

ideally if i could get to between 190-200 i would be satisfied. i am nearly 6'6" and weight 171.5 (weighed yesterday). i have looked at weight:height ratio charts, but none go higher than 6'4", although 6'4" average weight does contain 170lbs as healthy, so i would imagine 6'5"+ would as well. that seems weird though, as i am pretty scrawny. they list 205+ as overweight, granted that is not factoring in that you are all muscle, but still i guess if i can get close to that weight IN muscle, i will be happy.

any thoughts/opinions? i hate breakfast, but i have been making myself eat it around 10am every morning. i eat again at 12:30, 3:30, 6, and then about 10. i used to eat twice a day, 1pm and 11pm, and that was it with the exception of a small snack after work perhaps. ironically, adjusting to this new diet, even though it has been only 3 days, has been pretty easy so far. but it is a lot of food and therefore expensive. hopefully i can keep myself up with it.

Create a new thread in the diet and nutrition forum.

Post your diet broken down my meals and if you have any idea on calories.

Gaining weight doesn't just come out of no where. You can workout to your hearts content. But if you aren't eating enough then you won't gain a pound.

Originally Posted by IainDaniel

Create a new thread in the diet and nutrition forum.

Post your diet broken down my meals and if you have any idea on calories.

Gaining weight doesn't just come out of no where. You can workout to your hearts content. But if you aren't eating enough then you won't gain a pound.

can't. have to have 22 more posts to do that because of the IM spam filter, and i feel like posting 22 more posts in one day on topics about bodybuilding that i know nothing about, is called spam.

can we just talk about it here?

10am - pbj
12:30 - 2 chicken sandwiches (breaded tyson, bread, ketchup)
3:30 - pbj
6ish - egg, cheese, ham on english muffin
10ish - steak or grilled cheese + potatoes or broccolli

getting some syntha-6 next week to substitute with one day meal, is that okay? it's hard at work to find time to eat that many meals all the time, and i sense in the future they may wane.

that's about 2,700 calories, 115/260/160 fat/carb/protein respectively.

was going to start working out 1-2 times a week starting this weekend. thoughts?

It actually doesn't sound like your metabolism is very high. At 6'5", if you feel that 2500 calories is a lot, you simply aren't used to eating much.

I doubt 2500 calories will be enough, especially if you are active. You can give it a try but I wouldn't be surprised if you had to go to 3500 calories+

Originally Posted by NeilPearson

It actually doesn't sound like your metabolism is very high. At 6'5", if you feel that 2500 calories is a lot, you simply aren't used to eating much.

I doubt 2500 calories will be enough, especially if you are active. You can give it a try but I wouldn't be surprised if you had to go to 3500 calories+

why don't you think my metabolism is high? isn't your statement slightly contradictory also...if the metabolism isn't high, then fewer calories it would take to gain weight, whereas with a high metabolism i would have to eat more calories (3500+) to gain weight?

like i said, i used to eat 2 meals a day, probably no more than 1500 calories. this wasn't problematic to me, i didn't gain/lose an ounce, ever. to be honest, i don't like food. i eat out of necessity. sounds like a joke, but i'm serious. i find purchasing, making, preparing, and eating food all too inconveniencing. but i want to gain weight, and am prepared to be a little inconvenienced.

i read on the starter thread here to do 10-15 times your weight in calories a day. that's 171.5 x 15 = 2,572.5, which i am exceeding; also 1g per lb in protein, which i am attaining. wherein, then, lies the problem?

How are you tracking calories?

Originally Posted by tuffluck

i read on the starter thread here to do 10-15 times your weight in calories a day. that's 171.5 x 15 = 2,572.5, which i am exceeding; also 1g per lb in protein, which i am attaining. wherein, then, lies the problem?

10-15 cals is a basic guideline... and that would be for a cut to maint. not trying to gain weight.

i'm using fitday.

so given my body type, do you think 2,700 is not enough?

once i get that protein drink, especially if i put a tbl spoon or two of olive oil in it, that would be at least another 500+ calories.

just looking for some relatively simple guidance here, if it can be simplified. thanks.

There is no cookie cutter guide for how many calories you need.

if you aren't gaining weight at 2700 cals, then bump it up to 3200 cals for a few weeks and see what happens. Adjust as needed.

okay, i'll give it a shot. how many weeks do you think it would take to notice a difference in which i can measure if my caloric intake is sufficient? in other words if in 6 weeks i've gained 3lbs, would you consider that a good thing or that i need to eat more? i just don't know the scale...

It's very hard to say how long weight takes to show up on a scale because everyone gains at different rates.
Usually two or three weeks is enough to see it on a scale but to actually know if you're gaining "good" weight, you need to measure bf% and optionally use a measuring tape. You can't avoid putting on some bodyfat simply because your calorie surplus is not likely to be the absolute perfect amount without going over but if you notice the tape measure or BF% increasing too rapidly then you're likely eating too many calories.
3 pounds or more in 6 weeks can be expected. 3 pounds in 1 week could be too excessive. No weight gain in 3 weeks, I would increase 500 calories.
Also, don't weigh yourself too often. It'll drive you nuts and would likely be inaccurate. Weighing yourself in the morning after using the bathroom, and then weighting yourself that evening will usually show a +3 pound difference while on a bulk. Weigh in the same time of the day, once a week. If you do skin folds for bf%, try your best to measure again in the exact same spots. Same thing when you measure with a tape. If you measure your quads today 4 inches above your knee and next week you measure 5 inches above your knee, don't be fooled into thinking you gained an inch and a half on your quads in one week.

Originally Posted by tuffluck

why don't you think my metabolism is high? isn't your statement slightly contradictory also...if the metabolism isn't high, then fewer calories it would take to gain weight, whereas with a high metabolism i would have to eat more calories (3500+) to gain weight?

like i said, i used to eat 2 meals a day, probably no more than 1500 calories. this wasn't problematic to me, i didn't gain/lose an ounce, ever. to be honest, i don't like food. i eat out of necessity. sounds like a joke, but i'm serious. i find purchasing, making, preparing, and eating food all too inconveniencing. but i want to gain weight, and am prepared to be a little inconvenienced.

i read on the starter thread here to do 10-15 times your weight in calories a day. that's 171.5 x 15 = 2,572.5, which i am exceeding; also 1g per lb in protein, which i am attaining. wherein, then, lies the problem?

I was saying I don't think you have a high metabolism because you can survive on 1500 calories a day.

It's not contradictory... yes fewer calories to gain weight means a low metabolism. If you had a high metabolism, you would be eating 3500+ calories a day and not gaining weight. The fact that you are still alive and not constantly hungry on 1500 calories indicates to me that you have a low metabolism.