Lifting weights to gain weight

carolineconnor2

Hello!
So I made a previous post about how I keep losing weight and can't seem to fit in enough calories through out the day to gain or, honestly at this point, sustain a healthy weight. I've started a more high calorie, healthy fats, etc diet to try to hold onto or gain the weight. Including added meal replacement drinks ALONG with what I normally (try) to eat.

HOWEVER, I have always known and have been told that if you exert more energy/calories than you eat, that you will inevitably lose weight. I stopped working out for a long time because I was scared to spend anymore calories than I needed to. But I have lost all my muscle and I hate it. Since I can't "eat big, get big", would weight training sans cardio help or hurt me??
To give you an idea, my BMI is about 17.1, which is very low. So caloric deficiency+working out hasn't seemed like a great idea.

cwolfman13

Weight training will increase energy expenditure though not to the extent the cardio would.

livingleanlivingclean

I know plenty of slim ladies who gave been very successful in growing/gaining with strength training - you might find your appetite increases with the added exercise.

VintageFeline

Regardless of exercise, your issue here is getting enough calories in. If you don't compensate for any exercise calorically you're still going to lose weight. To gain any appreciable muscle you're going to have to get at least to maintenance or ideally above.

Your BMI is very low, I would introduce some "fun" foods if you've excluded them because you think they're unhealthy. Pizza, chocolate, cheese, peanut butter, cake, pastries etc. I would also actually track your intake. It can be hard to anyone who doesn't appropriately (too much or too little) to accurately judge if they're actually changing their intake to meet their goals.

JohnnyPenso

Since you're into the healthier fats I'd find ways to incorporate the more healthy fats into your diet. Adding nuts and seeds, for example, is a healthy way to add lots of calories with little bulk. A couple of spoonfuls of brazil nuts on your yogurt adds 100-150 calories and barely changes the amount of food you eat. Avacados, coconut milk and oil, olive oil and other good fats can be added to all kinds of foods with little change in volume but a significant change in calories.

Unknown

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VintageFeline

mralexjones wrote: »

18.5 is considered a normal BMI, how are you very low? Some people are just naturally and healthily skinny and don't fit into the BMI norm. Take NFL players for example, most of them are considered obese and overweight according to BMI, despite them being lean.

You are what they term as a hard gainer Ectomorph, which is good because you don't need cardio to get lean. You just need to eat a surplus of calories to gain, preferably 150 to 250 calorie surplus to minimize fat gain and just have enough energy to build muscle.

Your metabolism is very fast, so you probably need more calories than what calorie calculators suggest as your maintenance. Just add 250 calories to your suggested maintenance and see if you gained weight in a week. If not, add 250 more.

Trouble eating all those calories? Eat every three hours and try a weight gainer powder (not protein whey powder).

There's so much no in this.

NFL players are male elite athletes with a large than average muscle mass. The chances of a female being able to naturally gain enough muscle and still be lean at an overweight BMI is slim to none.

17.1 is low and comes with a range of health implications that are more problematic than being overweight. Bone density for one and nobody wants osteoporosis.

Her metabolism isn't fast, she is likely very naturally active or has habits with food that mean she naturally undereats. Eat enough calories and everyone, regardless of metabolism, will gain. But the vast majority of the population falls within a small range as far as BMR goes.

If she isn't accurately tracking calories you can't assert she needs significantly more than the online calculators advise.

The ectomorph/mesomorph etc thing has been thoroughly debunked and is not a thing.

Ironandwine69

VintageFeline wrote: »

mralexjones wrote: »

18.5 is considered a normal BMI, how are you very low? Some people are just naturally and healthily skinny and don't fit into the BMI norm. Take NFL players for example, most of them are considered obese and overweight according to BMI, despite them being lean.

You are what they term as a hard gainer Ectomorph, which is good because you don't need cardio to get lean. You just need to eat a surplus of calories to gain, preferably 150 to 250 calorie surplus to minimize fat gain and just have enough energy to build muscle.

Your metabolism is very fast, so you probably need more calories than what calorie calculators suggest as your maintenance. Just add 250 calories to your suggested maintenance and see if you gained weight in a week. If not, add 250 more.

Trouble eating all those calories? Eat every three hours and try a weight gainer powder (not protein whey powder).

There's so much no in this.

NFL players are male elite athletes with a large than average muscle mass. The chances of a female being able to naturally gain enough muscle and still be lean at an overweight BMI is slim to none.

My BMI is 25.4 which is considered overweight. I haven't measured my body fat recently, but granted, I'm not overweight.

livingleanlivingclean

Ironandwine69 wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

mralexjones wrote: »

18.5 is considered a normal BMI, how are you very low? Some people are just naturally and healthily skinny and don't fit into the BMI norm. Take NFL players for example, most of them are considered obese and overweight according to BMI, despite them being lean.

You are what they term as a hard gainer Ectomorph, which is good because you don't need cardio to get lean. You just need to eat a surplus of calories to gain, preferably 150 to 250 calorie surplus to minimize fat gain and just have enough energy to build muscle.

Your metabolism is very fast, so you probably need more calories than what calorie calculators suggest as your maintenance. Just add 250 calories to your suggested maintenance and see if you gained weight in a week. If not, add 250 more.

Trouble eating all those calories? Eat every three hours and try a weight gainer powder (not protein whey powder).

There's so much no in this.

NFL players are male elite athletes with a large than average muscle mass. The chances of a female being able to naturally gain enough muscle and still be lean at an overweight BMI is slim to none.

My BMI is 25.4 which is considered overweight. I haven't measured my body fat recently, but granted, I'm not overweight.

I'm "overweight" too.

I think dismissing bmi as a measure is ok for those who are carrying a lot of muscle is fine, but it is a good indicator of someone on the other end of the scale being underweight.

Ironandwine69

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Ironandwine69 wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

mralexjones wrote: »

18.5 is considered a normal BMI, how are you very low? Some people are just naturally and healthily skinny and don't fit into the BMI norm. Take NFL players for example, most of them are considered obese and overweight according to BMI, despite them being lean.

You are what they term as a hard gainer Ectomorph, which is good because you don't need cardio to get lean. You just need to eat a surplus of calories to gain, preferably 150 to 250 calorie surplus to minimize fat gain and just have enough energy to build muscle.

Your metabolism is very fast, so you probably need more calories than what calorie calculators suggest as your maintenance. Just add 250 calories to your suggested maintenance and see if you gained weight in a week. If not, add 250 more.

Trouble eating all those calories? Eat every three hours and try a weight gainer powder (not protein whey powder).

There's so much no in this.

NFL players are male elite athletes with a large than average muscle mass. The chances of a female being able to naturally gain enough muscle and still be lean at an overweight BMI is slim to none.

My BMI is 25.4 which is considered overweight. I haven't measured my body fat recently, but granted, I'm not overweight.

I'm "overweight" too.

I think dismissing bmi as a measure is ok for those who are carrying a lot of muscle is fine, but it is a good indicator of someone on the other end of the scale being underweight.

Totally agree!

sijomial

Lifting weights to gain weight

Sorry but that's backwards - lifting weights takes energy, far less than cardio though. It's adding to your calorie deficit if you are going from no exercise to some exercise.

If you mean swapping a high calorie exercise (cardio) for a low calorie exercise (weight training) then yes, it's going to affect your calorie balance and slightly help you maintain or gain.

Primarily you need to fix the reasons why you can't eat enough.



(PS - ignore all the hard gainer, ectomorph, fast metabolism twaddle posted above!)

VintageFeline

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

Ironandwine69 wrote: »

VintageFeline wrote: »

mralexjones wrote: »

18.5 is considered a normal BMI, how are you very low? Some people are just naturally and healthily skinny and don't fit into the BMI norm. Take NFL players for example, most of them are considered obese and overweight according to BMI, despite them being lean.

You are what they term as a hard gainer Ectomorph, which is good because you don't need cardio to get lean. You just need to eat a surplus of calories to gain, preferably 150 to 250 calorie surplus to minimize fat gain and just have enough energy to build muscle.

Your metabolism is very fast, so you probably need more calories than what calorie calculators suggest as your maintenance. Just add 250 calories to your suggested maintenance and see if you gained weight in a week. If not, add 250 more.

Trouble eating all those calories? Eat every three hours and try a weight gainer powder (not protein whey powder).

There's so much no in this.

NFL players are male elite athletes with a large than average muscle mass. The chances of a female being able to naturally gain enough muscle and still be lean at an overweight BMI is slim to none.

My BMI is 25.4 which is considered overweight. I haven't measured my body fat recently, but granted, I'm not overweight.

I'm "overweight" too.

I think dismissing bmi as a measure is ok for those who are carrying a lot of muscle is fine, but it is a good indicator of someone on the other end of the scale being underweight.

It's not at all common for women to be well muscled enough to be a healthy bodyfat and overweight. Possible but not common and it would be even more unlikely for that BMI to pushing up towards the obesee. But it is by the by in this scenario given my original point about the health dangers being greater for the underweight than the overweight.

That and comparing an NFL player to a woman with a BMI of 17!

psuLemon

Op, I'd recommend using this thread to help increase caloric intake: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10326769/are-you-a-hard-gainer-please-read/p1


I'd recommend using this thread to find a good lifting program: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1


And realize that for the small increase in expenditure that comes from weight lifting will have to be dealt with so you can also get stronger and gain some muscle.

Unknown

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Meganthedogmom

Lifting may help you gain weight in the sense that, at least for me, lifting makes me hungrier and therefor I eat more.

comptonelizabeth

Op I have managed to gain weight by eating more and by weight lifting. For one thing,it does increase your appetite. And it doesn't burn as many calories as cardio. Just make sure you log the exercise and eat back the calories.