Thread: am i doing things right?

i am 6'5" and started eating/working out hard (for me) 7 weeks ago. i weighed 171.5 and my goal is 193ish. after 7 weeks i am a cool 180.0. i work out according to the 7 steps on the newbie lifting guide that is a sticky at the top of this forum. the only things i cannot do are deadlifts and squats. i am thin and tall, i tried the deadlift and pulled a muscle. some friends that work out told me i probably should find an alternative to those that works the legs and the lower back if i can because it is very hard on tall, thin people. i have found an alternative machine that seems to work the legs and lower back well.

here is the thing, i can see a difference, but it's very small in the areas i wanted to see the biggest difference--i.e. chest, abdomen, etc. i can definitely see curvature of my bicep muscle (which i have never had before), so something is obviously happening. i also don't look any less thin, but if i've gained nearly 10 pounds, where the hell is it going?

i work out one time a week only. i am really bad about committing to these types of things so the mere fact that i have done this for 7 weeks consistently is damn impressive for me. do i need to work out more than once a week? i thought i read that you should lift according to how much you gain, so if i am gaining and it's not showing up as fat somewhere (i don't look fat), then wouldn't that mean i am lifting at a good rate for how much weight i gain? i work out very hard once a week, and until last week, i worked out on sunday and i was sore until thursday.

does it sound like i am doing anything wrong or right here? i would post pictures but i don't think i have enough posts to do that yet? i can't see much of a difference in the pics. my girlfriend says she can, but she isn't very enthusiastic in saying that, which makes me think she agrees that the 10lbs i have gained IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND?!?!?

i eat close to 3,000 calories a day. you might say that isn't enough, but it's put on 10lbs in 7 weeks so it has been good to me so far. the last 2 weeks my diet has been relatively the same:

10am: PBJ/milk (~350 calories)
1pm: chicken sandwich/hot dog or sandwhich (~600 calories)
3:30pm: PBJ/milk (~350 calories)
6pm: syntha-6 protein shake OR ham/edd/cheese sandwhich (~500 calories)
10pm: steak OR pork OR sandwhich plus vegetables (close to 900 calories)
plus any soda/beer i may drink that provides (not very good) extra calories. don't know how much liquid calories really do. but i get a pretty good bit of protein i think.

any suggestions welcome, thanks!

Im a newbie but Id say yr gaining muscle density and yr getting heavier muscles. You feel stronger?