How can I gain 5lbs of muscle? Advice needed!

goshnames

After a lifetime of always wanting to lose weight, I find myself in a new predicament: I am on the verge of having taken it too far. It's definitely hard to give up the satisfaction of seeing the scale and inches drop.

I now need to GAIN weight. I know people usually bulk THEN cut, but can we do this backwards?

Aside from just working my muscles more often, is there anything that I should be doing differently in order to gain muscle weight? I need about 5lbs to reach a healthy weight. Is there also a way to do this while ensuring that I gain muscle and not fat?


Can anyone give me advice on:

1. Appropriate protein intake (for a small female) and what the purpose of protein is?

2. How long each day to work the muscle groups that I want to develop (I guess abs and arms?)

3. Do I have to give up any cardio? I run for at least an hour every day.

4. What should I do about my calorie intake? Will I gain fat if I increase it?


I know developing muscle mass is kind of more of an investment in that it takes much longer to grow muscle than to just drop fat. How long do you think, with daily effort, that it would take to add 5lbs of muscle to a person?

Thanks!

Cherry_T

Protien is an essential building block of the body. You need it for your hair, nails , and muscle.
Anyways I`d suggest lifting medium weights (50% of your one rep max) for volume(5x5 or similar). You`ll build up both strength and endurance for your next workout AND fire up your metabolism. Leave your calories alone unless you start to feel sluggish, in which case increase it untill you dont.

Mia_RagazzaTosta

Focus on compound lifts. Stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength are good starter programs. You're probably gonna have to cut down on the running, but you don't have to give it up completely.

For more/better information, look into the Eat, Train, Progress group here. It's worth your time. Good luck!

katherinelangley

Having had to gain back a lot of weight, I'd cut down the daily cardio workouts as you might struggle to get a high enough net to account for everything you burn off and the added calories to gain.
Unless you're eating enough to gain, too much cardio will just burn off and you'll maintain at best. Try not worry too much about gaining some fat, out bodies need it! It's quite hard to gain only muscle and no fat at all.
To gain a pound think its recommended to increase intake by 500 a day (that would be 2500 - average woman)

eatrunstretch

I'd suggest looking into the New Rules of Lifting for Women. Its an ace book and program and should answer all your questions!