Skinny Trying to Gain

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GDMarch2015
GDMarch2015 Posts: 6 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I've been lifting now for about 3 months nothing huge but anyways my goal is to be 200 pounds of muscle by the end of this year or next year if possible. So far I've gained 20 pounds of muscle in the past 3 months but I've found myself stuck at this 20 pounds gained. How can I gain more to make my goal more realistic??

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  • JB035
    JB035 Posts: 336 Member
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    Welcome to where the work begins! The next 20 won't come anywhere near the first.

    With out knowing your lifting program or what you are eating it's pretty hard to tell where you should go to next.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    Newer and young male lifters can gain about 2 pounds of muscle per month, so your 20 pound gain in 3 months was around 6 pounds of muscle and 14 pounds of water/fat. Keep that lean mass gain stat in mind as you gain weight.

    This may be a good read for you:
    http://www.leangains.com/2010/12/maximum-muscular-potential.html
  • GDMarch2015
    GDMarch2015 Posts: 6 Member
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    JB035 wrote: »
    With out knowing your lifting program or what you are eating it's pretty hard to tell where you should go to next.

    I've been sticking with a protein based diet mostly
  • sabol93
    sabol93 Posts: 1 Member
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    Some general tips... Eat more, train intense (preferably with compound movements), and keep track of your progress in the gym. Not 100% sure, but it may be that your metabolism has caught up to the amount of food you were once eating. Therefore, you may no longer be in as much of a caloric surplus. Without eating more to continue being in a surplus, you will not be able to gain as much muscle.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Not being negative but there is no way you have gained 20lbs of muscle in a few months.
  • JB035
    JB035 Posts: 336 Member
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    @trigden1991 how about educate them....??? Hmmm
  • JJS1979
    JJS1979 Posts: 177 Member
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    Like JB035 said, without knowing all the details it you probably need to find out what your caloric maintenance is and slowly add calories as you continue to try to bulk. You will never gain 100% muscle so the more slowly you increase your caloric intake above your maintenance the less fat you will gain. Whether bulking or cutting you dont want to gain or lose more than 2lbs or so per week. Goodluck.
  • Kingrico91
    Kingrico91 Posts: 2 Member
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    I had your problem myself I've found that doing heavy sets of 5 for 5 reps gets you massive gains in size and strength as long as your eating good taking in your body weight in protein and resting enough. I've gone from 160 to 220 and I've made a cut down to 195 to show my abs
  • hardyd85
    hardyd85 Posts: 21 Member
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    Get on a strength program like 531 or starting strength. Use a calculator from a bodybuilding site to figure out your calorie needs weight gain. Eat at least 1 gram of protein per lb of bodyweight. Try to get 2 grams of carbs per lb of bodyweight. Rest in healthy fats. The first couple lbs come on fast when your starting to weight train but the real work is only beginning. It takes time and consistency. Make sure to hit your calorie needs and lift heavy! Focus on the main lifts. Squat, bench, deadlift and military press and you will grow.
  • wernertraut
    wernertraut Posts: 19 Member
    edited April 2017
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    I've been sticking with a protein based diet mostly [/quote]

    You need carbs for fuel. If not, your body will break down the protein into glucose to maintain blood glucose level and loses its primary role as building blocks for muscles. Do not take too much protein. It does not have any advantage for performance nor will it be converted into muscle. 20-35% of your Kcal diet should contain good fats. As your body mass increases, recalculate your macro needs.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    JB035 wrote: »
    @trigden1991 how about educate them....??? Hmmm

    USMCMP already provided a link which would educate. Males, even young, would only allow for about 2 lbs a month of actual muscles. You might gains some more lbm but it's from increase glycogen or water storage and some increases in blood flood (which does show as LBM) from lifting.

    I would agree that a heavily protein diet isn't necessary and won't increase muscle gains. In fact, there really isn't any benefit (at least from the studies I have seen) to go above 1g per lb of mass. Considering the importance of fats and carbs play, I'd definitely look at a more balanced approach.
  • JB035
    JB035 Posts: 336 Member
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    JB035 wrote: »
    @trigden1991 how about educate them....??? Hmmm

    USMCMP already provided a link which would educate. Males, even young, would only allow for about 2 lbs a month of actual muscles. You might gains some more lbm but it's from increase glycogen or water storage and some increases in blood flood (which does show as LBM) from lifting.

    I would agree that a heavily protein diet isn't necessary and won't increase muscle gains. In fact, there really isn't any benefit (at least from the studies I have seen) to go above 1g per lb of mass. Considering the importance of fats and carbs play, I'd definitely look at a more balanced approach.

    Yeah I noticed that, just don't see the pony in the comment, that's all. It has zero benefit to the conversation.

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