I'm James, married man, 27 years old. I'm about 5-11 and weigh 133 pounds.
About 12-15 months ago I weighed 185 pounds likely due to lack of exercise, working from an office chair, drinking beer, soda, eating chocolate, candy, you name it...
I then fell in with a group of friends who smoked weed 24/7, I gradually picked up this stupid habit going from once a week, to daily, to three times daily, up until about 2 months ago when I completely stopped because it was taking over my life. To confirm I don't smoke any more, haven't for 2 months and don't plan to again... ever.
Anyway, in this time I have dropped from 185 pounds to 133 pounds and I'm looking to put some weight back on and build some muscle. The problem is however I don't just want to pile on the calories as the "10 Things You Must Do to Gain Muscle Mass!' post suggests because I still have quite a belly. I can grab my love handles and the major part of my belly in my hand, I can feel my abs underneath from poking my finger in. Although this just feels like it could be a lot of excess skin... if thats possible... none of my clothes fit as I dropped from a 33/34 to what I would estimate to be about 28/29.
I've been doing a 7 minute abs video I found on youtube (laugh away, it's better than 8!) plus a 20 minute dumbbell exercise from spark fitness... also found on youtube. I also add into my workout a couple other bicep/triceps exercises of around 12-15 sets each with 15 pound weights. I have 2 x 15 pound weights, 1 x 25 pound weight and a basic exercise bench. I do this routine every other day, so it's 1 day on and 1 day off, I've been doing it now for about 2 weeks, so perhaps 7 times in all. I also play soccer roughly once a week and loose anywhere from 4-10 pounds in water on the day.
I take no-explode Creatine formula 30 mins before my workout, I also take 3 x fish oil capsules and 3 x magnesium + B6 tablets daily.
My question to you guys is, what more should I be doing? what extras should I introduce both into my workout and diet?
NordicNacho; A squishy gut, call it what you will. And I eat a lot... I'd eat an entire turkey a day if my wallet would allow it.
Built; Thanks for the site recommendation... I added a couple foods and can see this will take me all day, I added a bagel and had to change all the nutrition facts... my bagels (Thomas Everything) have 10g of protrein... I also added Corn flakes and the system didn't recognize that they contain calcium? Does this mean I need to add milk separately? same with cream cheese? ~ I thought I was over my days of calorie counting, now I'm going the other way!
We don't have a gym near by but I can likely buy a pull up bar if my own body weight will do... I heard gym equipment is not as officiant as it doesn't work out as many muscle groups as free weights do, I don't know how true this is or how relevant this is for me.
Thanks for the welcome, I hope to show some good results soon!
Don't go nuts here on the customization - just put stuff in as best you can, program in your custom foods, and don't worry about the micronutrients. Don't bother tracking activity either - just put your food in nice and quick and run the macros. You can adjust things later if you program in stuff, but it won't change things THAT much.
I didn't ask you if you had access to a gym for the machines - but unless you have a cage, an oly bar and some plates at home, you're going to run out of equipment right quick.
how you can be that tall and 133 and still be fat is weird. You can use your own body as weight for now, but you need to plan on getting into a real gym soon. at your weight it shouldn't take long to be able to do endless amounts of pushups, dips, and chin ups....you need a gym with weights...and you need to make sure you are getting enough calories and the right amount of protein/fats/carbs in order to build muscle.
What caused you to drop so much weight? You talk about this super unhealthy lifestyle at 180 whatever...then you quit smoking and now you lost 50lbs...you must have been super fat if you are still fat at 133...I don't mean to sound like an ass...its just crazy you are that tall and weigh that much...you must look SOOO skinny...yet you claim to be fat. 133 is ideal for a chick who is 5'6"-5'8"....not a guy who is 5'11".
Hi everyone, sorry for not replying in a while... we had fires here in central Florida and I've been without internet for a long time.
Well happy to report in the time since I posted I bought a protein supplement at wally world and completely cut out all cardio and now I'm up to 141. I'm eating more meats, mainly chicken and mince, I also eat a lot of pasta.
The 'fat' I speak of is mainly visible when I sit down, I can grab my stomach area in my hand... it almost feels like I have this small pillow on top of my abs as I can feel them with I poke!
Here is a pic of me to show that I'm not abnormal, just in need of a little more weight and some muscle, ideally I want to be 155.
To drop 50 pounds of weight like I say I started playing soccer and smoking the devils lettuce which just completely destroys the growth of muscle. I wasn't super fat, in fact I didn't think I was fat at all which was weird to look back, it was evenly distributed over my body, and crept up slowly over the years... I just lost it all so fast!
I'll keep you posted and with any luck post another picture in a month or so... hoping for another 10 pounds. - Are there any cheap foods that contain a lot of good calories and protein? I can't afford to eat chicken and steak everyday.
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