weight gain plateau! help!

[dzjunction]

allo all

new to the forum but not to health....

i have been following a weight gain / excercise program. my basal metabolic rate is about 1600, so i eat 3000-3200 calories a day along with just enough excercise for muscle growth.

roughly 35-40% of cals come from carbs, 30-40%% protein, and 20-25% from fats..... along with this, i take 3g of vitamin C a day, and only drink water. i also am on a creatine cycle.

according to the numbers i am suppose to be gaining 2-3 lbs a week. everything was perfect for the first 6 weeks. i gained 13-15 lbs in 6 weeks, mostly muscle. (started at 124 and now at 138-139)

in the past 2 weeks, my weight has not moved an inch. the only thing that changed was i stopped taking creatine as part of my cycle.

i have no idea whats going on. why is my body rejecting the calories i intake?

please help.

thanks!

 

[kicka19]

creatine holds water in ur muscle, u have prob been still gaining wieght but losing water at the same time, ur body isnt rejecting cals

 

[dzjunction]

makes good sense!

i think i also need to switch up my workout routine.... time to switch everything up.....

but yeah i was gonna start up the creatine again but i'll hold off a bit longer to see if it was the water.

thanks!

 

[Emma-Leigh]

I have been following a weight gain / excercise program. my basal metabolic rate is about 1600, so i eat 3000-3200 calories a day along with just enough excercise for muscle growth.

roughly 35-40% of cals come from carbs, 30-40%% protein, and 20-25% from fats..... along with this, i take 3g of vitamin C a day, and only drink water. i also am on a creatine cycle.

according to the numbers i am suppose to be gaining 2-3 lbs a week. everything was perfect for the first 6 weeks. i gained 13-15 lbs in 6 weeks, mostly muscle. (started at 124 and now at 138-139)

in the past 2 weeks, my weight has not moved an inch. the only thing that changed was i stopped taking creatine as part of my cycle.

i have no idea whats going on. why is my body rejecting the calories i intake?

Firstly - have you tried increasing calories? You have gained a good 14 odd pounds since starting and you now have to feed that extra weight. So it could just be that you need to increase your calorie intake.

Secondly - Try to alter your macro ratio's. That is a hell of a lot of protein for someone your size! 40% of 3200 cals means you are getting up to 320g protein/day and you are only 139 pounds... So that is about 2.3g per pound!

Instead of doing this you might want to think about increasing your fats and carbs... If you want to get some more quality energy for growth you want to get most of your energy from these. Protein is important in providing amino acids - but it is not great at providing base, easily available energy... So once you get about 1.25 - 1.5g per pound you should be filling the rest of your calorie needs with fats/carbs.

Thirdly - As it was said, you might have dropped some water from the creatine and if you give it a little more time the weight gain will start again...


ps: that is a LOT of weight to add in only 6 weeks... I would slow it down to 1-2 pounds/week at a max... You simply can not make that much lean tissue that quickly and will probably be adding more fat than you think...

 

[dzjunction]

thanks for the insight!

i didn't really want to increase the carbs or fats cause im trying to minimize my fat % as much as possible.

ive already gained more fat than i like in the tummy which i will have to shed off after i gain the muscle i want. after that i will have to try to shed off the fat....

but take more calories? wow its so hard taking as much as i do now.... i can only take so much at each sitting so i think its as much as i can take while staying comfortable but i will change a few things in the next couple of weeks and see what happens.

thanks!

 

[Emma-Leigh]

i didn't really want to increase the carbs or fats cause im trying to minimize my fat % as much as possible.

ive already gained more fat than i like in the tummy which i will have to shed off after i gain the muscle i want. after that i will have to try to shed off the fat....

If you have gained more fat than you would like then I would take the 'no gain' thing as a blessing and sit where you are for the moment.

Lower cals a bit and let your body 'catch up'.

Once things 'even out' continue as required - but with a more sensible calorie level...

 

[pengers84]

allo all

new to the forum but not to health....

i have been following a weight gain / excercise program. my basal metabolic rate is about 1600, so i eat 3000-3200 calories a day along with just enough excercise for muscle growth.



How did you find out your basal metabolic rate? what does 1600 mean?

 

[Skate67]

allo all

new to the forum but not to health....

i have been following a weight gain / excercise program. my basal metabolic rate is about 1600, so i eat 3000-3200 calories a day along with just enough excercise for muscle growth.

roughly 35-40% of cals come from carbs, 30-40%% protein, and 20-25% from fats..... along with this, i take 3g of vitamin C a day, and only drink water. i also am on a creatine cycle.

according to the numbers i am suppose to be gaining 2-3 lbs a week. everything was perfect for the first 6 weeks. i gained 13-15 lbs in 6 weeks, mostly muscle. (started at 124 and now at 138-139)

in the past 2 weeks, my weight has not moved an inch. the only thing that changed was i stopped taking creatine as part of my cycle.

i have no idea whats going on. why is my body rejecting the calories i intake?

please help.

thanks!

I donno about those claims bro. 2-3 lbs per week is quite a bit. Imagine if you went a year like that, thats 96lbs minimum!! Don't tell me that would be 100% lbm either. Shit I'd be happy to land me a solid 20lbs in LBM per year!

 

[dzjunction]

well, the claims are true.... you also have to realize i was underweight. and that rate can and will NOT last forever....

it was its greatest at the beginning.

but gains like that are not impossible.

 

[Skate67]

You have excellent genetics if you can gain 13 lbs of lbm in 6 weeks.

 

[cpush]

it has to be realized that excess protein intake can be stored as fat. it's not like if you just eat tons of protein and low fat you will not gain any fat

 

[dzjunction]

You have excellent genetics if you can gain 13 lbs of lbm in 6 weeks.

haha, wow, i never thought i would hear anyone say that. all my life i have been a twig. i use to try everything. it wasn't until i started doing the correct research.

ST240, take a look at this link, http://www.fastmusclegain.com/ , you may have run across it, but it was really after reading this, i went off and did more research to confirm it.

 

[mrpower]

damn what do u eat bro? how did u do it? that's a lot of weight in 6 weeks

 

[dzjunction]

damn what do u eat bro? how did u do it? that's a lot of weight in 6 weeks

meal 1: protein shake (1 cup milk, 1 cup low sugar/carb yogurt, banana, 1 scoop whey)

meal 2: chicken or beef burrito (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, pinto beans, rice)

meal 3: metrx protein bar

meal 4: foot long chicken or steak subway (wheat bread, cheese, and lots of veggies)

meal 5: protein shake (1 scoop whey, 2 scoops weight gainer, 2 cups milk)

 

[Emma-Leigh]

haha, wow, i never thought i would hear anyone say that. all my life i have been a twig. i use to try everything. it wasn't until i started doing the correct research.

ST240, take a look at this link, http://www.fastmusclegain.com/ , you may have run across it, but it was really after reading this, i went off and did more research to confirm it.

No matter how 'good your genetics' - you would still probably find that a lot of that growth was not muscle... If you were really underweight, and you suddenly started eating correctly then it would have been many things - intestinal bulk, glycogen, water, a bit of fat, some organ repair, some connective tissue and then some muscle.