15 pounds in 5 weeks

atimehacker

My name's Joshua, I'm 23 and a 5'6 ectomorph from London, England and Leuven, Belgium. My original top weight was 133 pounds which for my height is quite healthy. As low as 120 pounds would put me at the lower end of the healthy BMI scale. Since being ill with aggrevations of ulcerative colitis over the past year my weight dropped to 117 pounds. My fat levels are at 8%, water at 67% and muscle at 47% apparently. My goal is to regain this weight before I return to university via a bodybuilding regime by August 31st. I will not consume junk food, or at-least very little and maintain a solid daily routine and lifestyle. My other aim this month is to get fully organised and study Dutch at-least 8 hours a day. My house is quite well stacked with high calorie healthy foods. This thread will serve as an accountability area.

Feel free to comment! And do not hesitate to view my diary!

Current Weight: 117 pounds
Goal Weight: 133 pounds
By: August 31st
Fat, Water, Muscle: 8%, 67%, 47%

ruby_red_rose

I wish you all the best!

KimchiKiller

I just lost 15.8 lbs in 5 weeks, wish I could give it to you, lol. Good luck!

nlcs_nickyv32

Good luck in your journey.

JoRocka

3 pounds a week is going to be work- but I wish you the best of luck.

I will not consume junk food, or at-least very little and maintain a solid daily routine and lifestyle.

I might rethink this line of thought if I was you- over eating is hard enough as it is- much less trying to stick to the 'clean' eating plan.

At some point eating 10 grilled chickens and 10 buckets of quiona is going to get old. Breaking out the high calorie "junk" food is glorious- that's half the fun of a bulk anyway.

Just don't beat yourself up if you break out the ice cream and smash up some oreos in there to round out your day in terms of calories.

TavistockToad

why is there such a short time frame?

why not aim for 1lb per week and then half of the gain can be muscle?

TheNewPriceIsLoading

Best of luck to you!

jeffpettis

It is absolutely possible to gain 15 pounds in 5 weeks, but just be aware that most of that is going to be fat. The body can not build muscle that fast. At best you could build about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds of muscle in that time frame at your age. That is if everything is set up perfectly, ie. diet, training, rest and recovery. If you are ok with gaining that much fat then good luck to you...

Just as a reference read these http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-long-does-it-take/; http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain/

atimehacker

Yes I won't be too fussy about my junk food consumption, just saying there's not much in the house, so, I'll be forced to consume real foods.

It is absolutely possible to gain 15 pounds in 5 weeks, but just be aware that most of that is going to be fat. The body can not build muscle that fast. At best you could build about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds of muscle in that time frame at your age. That is if everything is set up perfectly, ie. diet, training, rest and recovery. If you are ok with gaining that much fat then good luck to you...

Just as a reference read these http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-long-does-it-take/; http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain/

Jeff As I have 8% body fat and can be 17% and still in the very healthy range, with average's upper range at 24%, gaining 12 pounds of fat and 3 pounds of muscle would put my body fat at 16% which wouldn't be too bad. Lean muscle will take over it as a bulk more.

Regarding your claims and most of the online community's claims about 'how much muscle one can gain per X time'. I am not a believer. Has this claim been tested for all varieties on the spectrum from ectomorph to mesomorph? Has it been tested for all levels of testosterone, all types of diet and supplementation, protein absorption and synthesis factors and race of subject? Probably not. I've read a few token examples to show that this generalisation, that you can only gain 0.5 pound of muscle per week is not well referenced. Claims like this merely need one 'anomaly' to be disproven, such is the scientific method. Unfortunately I cannot find these at the moment, but I will try to log my case, to make it a well referenced anomaly and break this internet community supported falsity. Do not show me online articles, show me the scientific article that states this on the NCBI. Because that is all I read. Your reference, references no statistics, no studies, no trials. It's an empty claim.

I hope these 5 weeks will be a test in itself and I do hope to demonstrate that I was able to gain at-least 5 pounds of muscle in these 5 weeks. Time hacking is about achieving unconventionally 'unthought of, lofty aims in X time', due to the very fact our conventional daily routines waste time. I hope to introduce the concept of time hacking here. And though 15 pounds in 5 weeks is possible, would like to demonstrate 5 pounds in muscle is possible too. I will log my fat levels by next week on film.

ninerbuff

Just for reference, somatotypes don't really exist. The labeling behind them came from a psychologist and not a physiologist.
"Regaining" muscle is easier to do than actually putting on new muscle. Muscles readapt to loads and size after being in atrophy, within a couple of months or so. Essentially, they increase in size again and store water and glycogen in much higher volume then when they were inactive.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

JoRocka

Just for reference, somatotypes don't really exist. The labeling behind them came from a psychologist and not a physiologist.
"Regaining" muscle is easier to do than actually putting on new muscle. Muscles readapt to loads and size after being in atrophy, within a couple of months or so. Essentially, they increase in size again and store water and glycogen in much higher volume then when they were inactive.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Thank you- was amusing since OP is a die hard "science prove it or die" kind of person it seems.

atimehacker

Just for reference, somatotypes don't really exist. The labeling behind them came from a psychologist and not a physiologist.
"Regaining" muscle is easier to do than actually putting on new muscle. Muscles readapt to loads and size after being in atrophy, within a couple of months or so. Essentially, they increase in size again and store water and glycogen in much higher volume then when they were inactive.

A.C.E. Certified Personal & Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Thank you- was amusing since OP is a die hard "science prove it or die" kind of person it seems.

I never said somatypes definitely exist. This is why I did mention 'spectrum' in my last post. When I use the term 'ectomorph' it was more illustrative for public language purposes. More research definitely needs to be done on somatypes. Could you reference the study that supports this view, which is also my instinctive view too? I'd like to read it.

And Jorocka, I have no idea why this is amusing :P. Care to expand?

JoRocka

um... sigh.
really?

Fine.
It's ironic you spend an entire paragraph specifically saying you ONLY read one type of information and all other 'studies' aren't worth your time- but your very first post pulls from a concept that the bulk of the lifting world rejects as pseudoscience.

If you can't see the humor in that- I got nothing else.

Ploybenc

how did you manage to lost 15lbs in 5 weeks? thats super awesome! great job

JoyeII

how did you manage to lost 15lbs in 5 weeks? thats super awesome! great job

Bahahahahahahahaha!

bagge72

I'm not sure how this works at all, but how can someone be 122% of fat, water, and muscle? Do the calculations include the water in the muscle as water?

jasonmh630

how did you manage to lost 15lbs in 5 weeks? thats super awesome! great job

Read the actual post, please.

JoRocka

reading- it's so very hard for people.

steve0820

Yes I won't be too fussy about my junk food consumption, just saying there's not much in the house, so, I'll be forced to consume real foods.

It is absolutely possible to gain 15 pounds in 5 weeks, but just be aware that most of that is going to be fat. The body can not build muscle that fast. At best you could build about 2 - 2 1/2 pounds of muscle in that time frame at your age. That is if everything is set up perfectly, ie. diet, training, rest and recovery. If you are ok with gaining that much fat then good luck to you...

Just as a reference read these http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-long-does-it-take/; http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain/

Jeff As I have 8% body fat and can be 17% and still in the very healthy range, with average's upper range at 24%, gaining 12 pounds of fat and 3 pounds of muscle would put my body fat at 16% which wouldn't be too bad. Lean muscle will take over it as a bulk more.

Regarding your claims and most of the online community's claims about 'how much muscle one can gain per X time'. I am not a believer. Has this claim been tested for all varieties on the spectrum from ectomorph to mesomorph? Has it been tested for all levels of testosterone, all types of diet and supplementation, protein absorption and synthesis factors and race of subject? Probably not. I've read a few token examples to show that this generalisation, that you can only gain 0.5 pound of muscle per week is not well referenced. Claims like this merely need one 'anomaly' to be disproven, such is the scientific method. Unfortunately I cannot find these at the moment, but I will try to log my case, to make it a well referenced anomaly and break this internet community supported falsity. Do not show me online articles, show me the scientific article that states this on the NCBI. Because that is all I read. Your reference, references no statistics, no studies, no trials. It's an empty claim.

I hope these 5 weeks will be a test in itself and I do hope to demonstrate that I was able to gain at-least 5 pounds of muscle in these 5 weeks. Time hacking is about achieving unconventionally 'unthought of, lofty aims in X time', due to the very fact our conventional daily routines waste time. I hope to introduce the concept of time hacking here. And though 15 pounds in 5 weeks is possible, would like to demonstrate 5 pounds in muscle is possible too. I will log my fat levels by next week on film.

Good Luck gaining the 15lbs in 5 weeks! Especially if you expect at least 5 of those to be muscle hahaha

I think you might need to stop trying to find articles and start looking at real world results.

atimehacker

I'm not sure how this works at all, but how can someone be 122% of fat, water, and muscle? Do the calculations include the water in the muscle as water?

I don't really understand that myself really. Just telling you what I was told. I know these scales are unreliable, but until I go back to my university gym, they are the best I have. This is what gave me these stats, this link provides a really good explanation. I'll be using this as a rough indicator until my gym instructor can do real tests:

http://www.uk.salterhousewares.com/body-analyser-guide#musclemass

I know what these scales say is a load of rubbish though. So I'm going to try to get an accurate reading of my fat, water, muscle % and research how best to do that. Then measure at the beginning and end of these 5 weeks.

Good Luck gaining the 15lbs in 5 weeks! Especially if you expect at least 5 of those to be muscle hahaha

I think you might need to stop trying to find articles and start looking at real world results.

Hi Steve0820. I agree, time will only tell if I will be able to do this, with 5 pounds of muscle. Regarding the amount of muscle one can gain in X time, really believe in real-world experiment now and want to test this, on the basis of specific assumptions about protein, carb and fat synthesis and absorption for example Are you able to quote a study to back up you implying this would be impossible? If you can I will read it. Otherwise, perhaps it's just best to wait and see if I manage to do it. And perhaps you also shouldn't have such limiting beliefs unto others, implied by your laughter, because perhaps they are limiting the rate at which you can gain muscle! Perhaps it may be pragmatic to believe one can gain an unlimited amount, by the very phenomenological effect that has on one achieving whatever science's pre-defined full capacity of that person is?

It's ironic you spend an entire paragraph specifically saying you ONLY read one type of information and all other 'studies' aren't worth your time- but your very first post pulls from a concept that the bulk of the lifting world rejects as pseudoscience.

Hi Jorocka. And what concept is that? Somatypes?

TavistockToad

5 weeks time cant come quick enough for me!