I’m roughly 130-135#. Frame is 5’6". Always been slight built. I’m not looking to bulk just to get back in shape. I have always had a problem of not eating enough. I was a wrestler in school so that might be the problem. Either I’m pushing 40 and I have read a lot of articles about food, weight gain, etc. on this site. My question is. How do I get my mind hungry so I can eat more and not skip meals when I’m not hungry? I sometimes over stuff myself at meal times but not sure how to eat the best so I get my butt working out again.
[quote]pushn40 wrote:
I’m roughly 130-135#. Frame is 5’6". Always been slight built. I’m not looking to bulk just to get back in shape. I have always had a problem of not eating enough. I was a wrestler in school so that might be the problem. Either I’m pushing 40 and I have read a lot of articles about food, weight gain, etc. on this site. My question is. How do I get my mind hungry so I can eat more and not skip meals when I’m not hungry? I sometimes over stuff myself at meal times but not sure how to eat the best so I get my butt working out again. [/quote]
There’s a few different tactics that I’ve seen work:
- Eat more frequently to spread your calories out throughout the day
- Drink some calories (obviously it’s important to keep an eye on quality here)
Either way, the bottom line is you’ll have to increase calories slowly to get your body used to the extra intake.
I started out just below 130, so I think I have some experience on force feeding. To be honest, it is mainly a psychological issue. You have to repeatedly eat past the point of discomfort and eventually your appetite adapts. More frequent eating etc. can help, but the bottom line is: you have to eat more than you want to.
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Being a wrestler does not mean you have to be underweight. There are 300 lbs wrestlers competing at the College level.
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Besides that, you’ve been out of school for 20 years. Your wrestling in school has nothing to do with you now.
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I was your weight, and 4 inches taller, when I finished high school. I now weigh 195. Massive body composition changes are possible. You just have to want it bad enough. Which leads me to…
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To gain weight, I ate everything I could stomach, and more. I made myself feel sick at meals until my body adapted. And it will, trust me. It takes patience and commitment. If you don’t stick to it, it will always be difficult.
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I recommend high carb diets to guys who have never been fat. It’s worked well for me over the years. High carbs and high protein, along with some fat. Whey protein shakes are excellent for meeting protein requirements, because they’re not too filling. I drink 100g of whey everyday while I’m at work. I just sip it at my desk.
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If you can tolerate milk well, I suggest half a gallon of whole milk, or more, everyday.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
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Being a wrestler does not mean you have to be underweight. There are 300 lbs wrestlers competing at the College level.
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Besides that, you’ve been out of school for 20 years. Your wrestling in school has nothing to do with you now.
-
I was your weight, and 4 inches taller, when I finished high school. I now weigh 195. Massive body composition changes are possible. You just have to want it bad enough. Which leads me to…
-
To gain weight, I ate everything I could stomach, and more. I made myself feel sick at meals until my body adapted. And it will, trust me. It takes patience and commitment. If you don’t stick to it, it will always be difficult.
-
I recommend high carb diets to guys who have never been fat. It’s worked well for me over the years. High carbs and high protein, along with some fat. Whey protein shakes are excellent for meeting protein requirements, because they’re not too filling. I drink 100g of whey everyday while I’m at work. I just sip it at my desk.
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If you can tolerate milk well, I suggest half a gallon of whole milk, or more, everyday.
[/quote]
All of this, be careful with the milk though. I used to tolerate milk well. I now have a fairly severe lactose intolerance from about a year of chugging milk and whey for the majority of the day. YMMV, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
[quote]dagill2 wrote:
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
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Being a wrestler does not mean you have to be underweight. There are 300 lbs wrestlers competing at the College level.
-
Besides that, you’ve been out of school for 20 years. Your wrestling in school has nothing to do with you now.
-
I was your weight, and 4 inches taller, when I finished high school. I now weigh 195. Massive body composition changes are possible. You just have to want it bad enough. Which leads me to…
-
To gain weight, I ate everything I could stomach, and more. I made myself feel sick at meals until my body adapted. And it will, trust me. It takes patience and commitment. If you don’t stick to it, it will always be difficult.
-
I recommend high carb diets to guys who have never been fat. It’s worked well for me over the years. High carbs and high protein, along with some fat. Whey protein shakes are excellent for meeting protein requirements, because they’re not too filling. I drink 100g of whey everyday while I’m at work. I just sip it at my desk.
-
If you can tolerate milk well, I suggest half a gallon of whole milk, or more, everyday.
[/quote]
All of this, be careful with the milk though. I used to tolerate milk well. I now have a fairly severe lactose intolerance from about a year of chugging milk and whey for the majority of the day. YMMV, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
[/quote]
Milk’s weird. I’ve been drinking 1/2 a gallon or more pretty much everyday for 10+ years. I’ve taken 2 separate month-long breaks from it, and felt awful both times from NOT drinking it. A lot of very strong guys I know drink as much milk as me. But I do know everyone’s different.
[quote]pushn40 wrote:
I’m not looking to bulk just to get back in shape.[/quote]
What’s your current general bodyfat level? If you’re carrying a little fat versus already being kinda lean, the approach will be a little different.
What is your actual specific current goal? Just “getting back in shape” is vague. It sounds like you haven’t even started training yet. Basic hard lifting a few days a week might be simple enough to stimulate your appetite.
Like Flip said, that was quite a while ago. Unless you’ve been dealing with a legit eating disorder all this time (which is possible), I’d say that’s not a factor in your current condition.
Consider Dave Tate’s motivational pizza gorge:
"After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you’re full. Don’t listen to that shit. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I’m telling you now, you’re going to get three or four pieces in and you’re gonna want to quit. You fucking can’t quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.
And if you can’t finish it, don’t you ever come back to me and tell me you can’t gain weight. ‘Cause I’m gonna tell you that you don’t give a fuck about getting bigger and you don’t care how much you lift!"’
Also check this article for some ways to get on track with a general eating schedule:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]pushn40 wrote:
I was a wrestler in school so that might be the problem.[/quote]
Like Flip said, that was quite a while ago. Unless you’ve been dealing with a legit eating disorder all this time (which is possible), I’d say that’s not a factor in your current condition.
[/quote]
I don’t know about this. My husband was a D1 collegiate wrestler some 30 years ago and still has a weird attitude about eating, in my opinion. Those habits and attitudes get ingrained pretty deep.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]pushn40 wrote:
I was a wrestler in school so that might be the problem.[/quote]
Like Flip said, that was quite a while ago. Unless you’ve been dealing with a legit eating disorder all this time (which is possible), I’d say that’s not a factor in your current condition.
[/quote]
I don’t know about this. My husband was a D1 collegiate wrestler some 30 years ago and still has a weird attitude about eating, in my opinion. Those habits and attitudes get ingrained pretty deep.[/quote]
But that is not the reason this guy is still 130lbs. Wrestling all those years ago may give him a weird attitude about eating but, it does not make it impossible for his body to grow and put on weight. He may feel weird or something going against what he used to do but, wrestling didn’t stunt his growth or super charge his metabolism so hard that 20 years later he can’t get over 130lbs. But yet that is what the OP is more or less assuming. He doesn’t eat pretty much where that ends.
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
[quote]dagill2 wrote:
[quote]flipcollar wrote:
-
Being a wrestler does not mean you have to be underweight. There are 300 lbs wrestlers competing at the College level.
-
Besides that, you’ve been out of school for 20 years. Your wrestling in school has nothing to do with you now.
-
I was your weight, and 4 inches taller, when I finished high school. I now weigh 195. Massive body composition changes are possible. You just have to want it bad enough. Which leads me to…
-
To gain weight, I ate everything I could stomach, and more. I made myself feel sick at meals until my body adapted. And it will, trust me. It takes patience and commitment. If you don’t stick to it, it will always be difficult.
-
I recommend high carb diets to guys who have never been fat. It’s worked well for me over the years. High carbs and high protein, along with some fat. Whey protein shakes are excellent for meeting protein requirements, because they’re not too filling. I drink 100g of whey everyday while I’m at work. I just sip it at my desk.
-
If you can tolerate milk well, I suggest half a gallon of whole milk, or more, everyday.
[/quote]
All of this, be careful with the milk though. I used to tolerate milk well. I now have a fairly severe lactose intolerance from about a year of chugging milk and whey for the majority of the day. YMMV, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
[/quote]
Milk’s weird. I’ve been drinking 1/2 a gallon or more pretty much everyday for 10+ years. I’ve taken 2 separate month-long breaks from it, and felt awful both times from NOT drinking it. A lot of very strong guys I know drink as much milk as me. But I do know everyone’s different.[/quote]
Unless I’m eating cookies on a cheat I don’t drink milk. Always bloats me and makes me feel shitty if I drink more than a glass or so.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]pushn40 wrote:
I was a wrestler in school so that might be the problem.[/quote]
Like Flip said, that was quite a while ago. Unless you’ve been dealing with a legit eating disorder all this time (which is possible), I’d say that’s not a factor in your current condition.
[/quote]
I don’t know about this. My husband was a D1 collegiate wrestler some 30 years ago and still has a weird attitude about eating, in my opinion. Those habits and attitudes get ingrained pretty deep.[/quote]
That last part is kinda what I was trying to get at. A few studies on high school and college weight class athletes consistently show a fair percentage of some kind of eating disorder or “disordered eating”. Some studies have it as high as 45% of athletes showing signs.
If it goes unchecked or unaddressed, it makes sense that it simply becomes habit once the athlete is done competing. I’m certainly not saying it’s the case with all former wrestlers, obviously, but there’s a chance it’s a factor. Or, as was said, the OP could just be using it as an excuse.
I think seeing a typical day’s eating would help shed some light. Yep, chalk up another… “What, exactly, did you eat yesterday?”
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
[quote]pushn40 wrote:
I was a wrestler in school so that might be the problem.[/quote]
Like Flip said, that was quite a while ago. Unless you’ve been dealing with a legit eating disorder all this time (which is possible), I’d say that’s not a factor in your current condition.
[/quote]
I don’t know about this. My husband was a D1 collegiate wrestler some 30 years ago and still has a weird attitude about eating, in my opinion. Those habits and attitudes get ingrained pretty deep.[/quote]
That last part is kinda what I was trying to get at. A few studies on high school and college weight class athletes consistently show a fair percentage of some kind of eating disorder or “disordered eating”. Some studies have it as high as 45% of athletes showing signs.
If it goes unchecked or unaddressed, it makes sense that it simply becomes habit once the athlete is done competing. I’m certainly not saying it’s the case with all former wrestlers, obviously, but there’s a chance it’s a factor. Or, as was said, the OP could just be using it as an excuse.
I think seeing a typical day’s eating would help shed some light. Yep, chalk up another… “What, exactly, did you eat yesterday?”[/quote]
Yep. I see your point.
Just don’t get fat, forcing your self to eat can quickly put you in the same boat as many people have of gaining a hell of a lot more fat then muscle. pick a set of macros to hit and force your self to eat them through smaller meals or eating very quickly. Don’t push over that though even if you don’t gain weight. add incrementally
First world problems 
Just eat a little more than you usually do and bump it each fortnight. I’ve always found that quantities which nearly make you throw up leave you hungry after 2 hours after about 2 weeks.
If you’re training hard and making progress on the big lifts your appetite will take care of itself, saying that a clean weight gain shake here and there wouldn’t hurt