Unable to Gain Weight

Ah goddamn you are one of those skinny guys that all you have going for you is a 6 pack. I bet you even flash it everytime someone asks if you lift, or run or if you eat dessert. You gotta get over that to put on weight. Nobody is saying to turn into a lard arse but gaining weight while keeping chiselled abs is really tough and takes a lot of experience, consistency and knowledge of what goes into you body. Not worth it IMO (although it is possible).

Dunno where you got that from? As long as you are getting 3-5 serves of vegetables in a day, don’t be afraid to eat a little dirty to move the scale. It tastes better and it is calorie dense. Kfc and service station chicken strips before work helped me immensely to grow my stomach when I started my gaining journey. Also high protein flavoured milk. And fatty fish. And so many potatoes!

abs%20skinny

Allot of guys do not grasp that concept…

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Fatties! @Irishman92 @bulldog9899

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Bull%20dog%20eating

:wink:

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Not to draw this out, but I don’t think your plan is adequate. Did you watch the Dave Tate video? I mean, that’s extreme as shit, but if you read my post, I kind of did something similar - eat until you are UNCOMFORTABLY FULL. A few protein shakes, some side dishes, and a day of junk food? Your skinny body will shit that out or adapt to that over 6 weeks, no problem.

Eggs, bread, sausage, cereal, fruit in the morning. Snacks in between- spoonfuls of peanut butter, cottage cheese, nuts, protein shakes (note the S) etc. Meat, potatoes, rice, veggies, pasta, carb the fuck up for lunch and dinner, keep the snacks going, and if the goal is to gain weight you’d better not be mixing a scoop of protein with water and calling that a shake. Whole milk, 1-2 scoops of powder, a whole banana, a big ass scoop of peanut butter. That’s a protein shake for hardgainers. I blend granola or oatmeal into them sometimes. Shit, you can pour olive oil or coconut oil into them too. If you’re eating a fuckin ridiculous amount of food you don’t have to count calories, or even macros. But your plan that you just laid out is typical of every skinny person trying to gain weight ever - “I’ll just do a pinch of this and a dab of that and sprinkle a little…” NO. Eat. Get your six pack back when you have muscles to compliment it.

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Oh, and @flipcollar is 10000% right- if you are going to keep track of anything, the key is in the carbs.

I’ll say it! Do it, I double…no, I triple dog dare you!

Don’t tempt me! I’ll bloody do it!

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Newest T-Nation Transformation Contest…you heard it here first.

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Wow, one I could win!

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If you don’t have a rough idea of how many calories you’re getting in (and able to round it to the 100s), you don’t know how much you’re eating. You’re probably not eating enough

I was 5’8 145 when I started lifting seriously, and couldn’t gain higher than 150s. I just started eating till I’m uncomfortably full, take a break, and go back to eating for seconds (I’m in a weed legal state and marijuana helps with my appetite). I also stopped doing cardio, which I think was a mistake.

I’m 195 now, and although I’m not as lean as I used to be, I’m bigger and stronger, and too old to worry about a six pack.

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This.

I was away for a while, I’m grateful for all replies, some even made me laugh and that’s nice.

Anyways here’s 1 week update:

  • I didn’t step on scale yet, since I doubt I gained anything significant yet
  • I have noticeably more energy trough day
  • I’m having more energy than before during my workouts and now I can even do more than before

And to sum it up, I just kinda upped carbs (eating side dish, together with 300-400g of meats that I’d usually eat) which I can barley do. Plus, I’m also having protein shake even at days when I’m not training, till now I was drinking protein shakes only after training. Everything else is basically the same, I eat boiled eggs or stuff like that between my meals, and if I’m somewhere on the go I buy 1 liter of yoghurt and drink some when hungry, or buy some almonds.

I’ll see how it goes with 6 weeks like this, like I said, I won’t straight out start overeating.

Don’t be afraid to straight up over eat. If you are skinny and you have always been skinny and you have never accidentally got fat then you naturally under eat. I’m the same, when you think your really pushing the food your actually just eating a little more normally. You may need to take it up a notch if you really want to gain, I don’t see the scale going up unless I’m hitting 3800ish consistently.

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Good call. I forgot to mention it in my post, but if I take protein right after a training session, I feel too full for a meal after I eat, so I drink a protein shake/gatorade mix during my workout to sneak in the 25g of protein.

Don’t just “see how it goes with 6 weeks” - it’ll take a lot longer if you want to gain mass and still remain lean.

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Turn 40 and you’ll have no trouble gaining.

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It’ll be 2 weeks update in 2 days.
I mean, tommorrow is going to be my day 14 LOL.

And yeah, it’s not going fast, I see that. So I will have this going bit longer.

But I had to post here that this week I broke 2 of my records.

Bench press - I managed to complete 3 sets of 12 reps with 75kg (and I had only 66kg last time I stepped on scale).

Squat - 4 sets of 8 reps with 90kg.

Not huge numbers, but it’s a lot for someone of my weight. And people often tell me I’m really strong for my size.

So far I mostly did 5 sets of 5 reps with bigger weights, but I changed my training for a while, because this will apparently make me grow more. Plus, I go to bed at least 2 hours earlier, and sleep around 9 hours a day for past 2 weeks. I even feel better mentally. Things are going good so far.

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Congrats. These are the best months of your training and you’ll see the fastest progress now than ever, so props to you for training smart. When I first started lifting, I wasn’t eating right, wasn’t counting macros, and wasn’t sleeping much, and lost a lot of progress as a result.

Props also for exploring higher rep ranges. I think it’ll be good for general physical preparedness.

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Thank you.

I just took some advice I got here, and did some research.

I change my training routine every once in a while. I also don’t do same exercises all the time.

Now, I’m already asleep at 21:00 every day and I get up at 5 in the morning if I’m working, and I’m up at around 6 when I’m not going to work. I know going to bed before 21:00 is early, but I’m getting up early and I’m also feeling sleepy at that time, so I have no problem falling asleep.
I also eat most of my calories and carbs in the morning, less at afternoon and have smaller dinner + I drink a glass of whole milk before going to sleep. And yeah, I snack a lot between meals.
High rep ranges are sometimes really good to avoid injuries.
I also feel better pump after high reps. So I’ll see how it goes.

No bueno, kid. We’re trying to gain weight here.

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