my skinny fiancé wants to bulk up
rlzwakenberg
Posts: 64 Member
So, he's 23y/o 147lb and 6'1".
He's scrawny. But he has muscle in his shoulders and arms. He pretty much has no body fat. He has skinny legs and chest.
Hopefully, that's enough of a description. So basically, he's looking to bulk up a little. Develop some muscle. He also needs a RADICAL diet change because for now it's been Dr. Pepper, no water, and more sweets and junk food than actual food.
He wants to start on a track to getting healthier, but we have no idea what kind of goals to shoot for as far as calorie intake, macros, or even what exercises to start with.
We would appreciate any help.
I calculated his tdee and bmr which roughly comes to 1720bmr and 2050tdee. But I don't know if he should be eating above, equal to, or under either of those since he's not really looking to lose or gain weight. I mean, he recognizes as muscle builds he'll gain weight, but his goal isn't specifically to gain weight.
He's scrawny. But he has muscle in his shoulders and arms. He pretty much has no body fat. He has skinny legs and chest.
Hopefully, that's enough of a description. So basically, he's looking to bulk up a little. Develop some muscle. He also needs a RADICAL diet change because for now it's been Dr. Pepper, no water, and more sweets and junk food than actual food.
He wants to start on a track to getting healthier, but we have no idea what kind of goals to shoot for as far as calorie intake, macros, or even what exercises to start with.
We would appreciate any help.
I calculated his tdee and bmr which roughly comes to 1720bmr and 2050tdee. But I don't know if he should be eating above, equal to, or under either of those since he's not really looking to lose or gain weight. I mean, he recognizes as muscle builds he'll gain weight, but his goal isn't specifically to gain weight.
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Replies
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bonytobeastly.com0
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So, he's 23y/o 147lb and 6'1".
He's scrawny. But he has muscle in his shoulders and arms. He pretty much has no body fat. He has skinny legs and chest.
Hopefully, that's enough of a description. So basically, he's looking to bulk up a little. Develop some muscle. He also needs a RADICAL diet change because for now it's been Dr. Pepper, no water, and more sweets and junk food than actual food.
He wants to start on a track to getting healthier, but we have no idea what kind of goals to shoot for as far as calorie intake, macros, or even what exercises to start with.
We would appreciate any help.
I calculated his tdee and bmr which roughly comes to 1720bmr and 2050tdee. But I don't know if he should be eating above, equal to, or under either of those since he's not really looking to lose or gain weight. I mean, he recognizes as muscle builds he'll gain weight, but his goal isn't specifically to gain weight.
Move him in with my Italian Grandmother.0 -
Tell him to checkout bodybuilding.com!!
Drink lots of protein shakes!!!0 -
Tell him to pick up Starting Strength and read it.
Then tell him to eat to gain a pound a week, so roughly 2600 calories starting, and up it every 5 pounds he gains to keep gaining. (use a TDEE calculator to do this, maybe IIFYM). He can switch to a clean/lean bulk and aim for 1/2 pound if he thinks he's adding too much fat, but I'm taking a guess he's a hard gainer, so he needs to EAT! He could easily need 3000 if he doesn't gain on 2600 and the TDEE is inaccurate for whatever reason.
Tell him he needs enough protein. Right now, he should aim for 1 gram per pound body weight, so 150 grams protein a day. That will go up.
He could easily bulk for 2 years.0 -
drink a gallon of milk a day0
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You're going to get boatloads of advice on this... Some of it may even be good! First off, he needs to eat and lift. A million ways to do this... How much he eats depends on how much fat he wants to carry around, how fast he wants to bulk, how long he will be willing to cut later to lose fat, etc...
Bodybuilding.com has a lot of free workout programs. Excellent advice in books like New Rules Of Lifting and others. As a beginner, if he eats right, he will not need a lot of supplements. I recommend a quality multivitamin, fish oil and possibly creatine. bodybuilding.com micronized creatine is $15 for 200 doses... Don't spend a lot on supplements. Most do not work as advertised.
Here is a set of video's on basic food information that will help you structure your calories and macros. This goes along with the IIFYM train of thought. Video quality leaves something to be desired, but information is great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAvW6xBZjSk&list=PLnPAPdT4m_g_jts_h2xcr2MFzW5uwJ2uP
Cheers!0 -
STEROIDS. BUT ALL JOKING ASIDE, HIGH PROTEIN DIET, ROUGHLY 3000 CALORIES A DAY, AS WELL AS CREATINE. ALL THAT ALONG WITH 7 LIFTS 4 DAYS A WEEK, ON EACH WORK OUT DO 4 SETS OF 10.0
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Speaking for calories...
At 6'1 and 147, there is no way he's going to gain on 2700 calories. (It's doubtful.)
Honestly, he should just focus on getting to 3000 calories over time...and use MFP to track it. He will probably need more like 3500 though.
It can be hard to do this, especially if he's only eating, say 2500 a day right now. That's a 1000-calorie increase, and it can take months to get comfortable eating and working one's way up to that.
So the best bet is to track his intake, and constantly push the envelope until he gains...and track his bodyweight. At 6'1, he's going to need a lot of food, though. That's 4 inches taller than me and 7 lbs heavier...and I already push 3000+ a day. It took me a while to get comfortable and work up to that calorie level...about half a year to go from 2200 or so to 3000+ per day. He should probably just start by eating as much he is comfortable with to gain a bit, and then keep increasing by 100-200 calories after he plateaus each time for several weeks.
The focus should be on nutrition as well...quality food and eating habits. That doesn't mean tons of fruits and vegetables (which have few calories and make us full) though. It just means quality food, free of chemicals, etc.
And honestly, he needs to ditch the soda habit...and drink water. And milk, if he can drink it.0 -
Btw, how'd you get 2050 for TDEE?
Nevermind...I think I know...many online TDEE calculators seem to drastically underestimate caloric needs. I tried one once and got the same sort of result. There is honestly no way he could even maintain on 2050 a day unless he lays on a bed for hours. He surely eats quite a bit more than 2050 even now...0 -
For now, don't take anything out of his diet. Concentrate and adding more to it in the form of high protein foods, and probably more fats - gonna need to push past 3000 cals a day in all likelihood. Think lots of chicken, fish, eggs, milk, and protein powder.
Keep cardio to a minimum because it will detract from trying to achieve a calorie surplus.
Lift 3 - 4 times a week on a structured programme.0 -
And one more thing...
His primary goal needs to be to gain weight. Because he's so thin, that's the *only* way to build muscle. Every pound of muscle is going to be another pound added to the scale...no joke.0 -
Gosh. Thanks for all the info. Read a good bit of bonytobulky and it sounds like he wrote it about my fiancé. Haha.
I got the tdee from iifym.com, but I put it no exercise, as he doesn't exercise, but he is very active at work. Wasnt sure how to put that in.0 -
If he's already active at work, and presumably going to be training on top of that, I'd choose Every Day. It'd be 3/4 times a week without including work, and as he's trying to bulk up anyway, yah.Gosh. Thanks for all the info. Read a good bit of bonytobulky and it sounds like he wrote it about my fiancé. Haha.
I got the tdee from iifym.com, but I put it no exercise, as he doesn't exercise, but he is very active at work. Wasnt sure how to put that in.0 -
Forget about getting scientific with calories.
How many should he eat?
All of them. He's a hardgainer, no calorie is a bad one (for now)
Lift heavy **** and eat all the food. Right now thats all he can focus on. He needs to be looking at 5000 cals a day +
Srs
If he is going to drink protein shakes......make sure they are high calorie mass gainer ones.
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P.S.
To understand how hard it will be.....read this from Dave Tate:
There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn't gain weight to save my ****ing life.
There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like ****ing magic. He'd go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.I finally asked him one day how he did it.
"You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I'll fill you in."Now remember, we're at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious **** if we have to go outside, I thought.So we get outside and he starts talking."For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don't care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that **** down and eat. That's your breakfast."
At this point I'm thinking this guy is nuts. But he's completely serious.
"For lunch you're gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don't want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bull****. I don't care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can't let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter."
"For dinner you're gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don't like sardines, don't put 'em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that ****er up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that **** over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the **** out of it."
"Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that ****er. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals."
This guy is in a zen-like state when he's talking about this."Now you're on the clock," he continues. "After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you're full. Don't listen to that ****. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I'm telling you now, you're going to get three or four pieces in and you're gonna want to quit. You ****ing can't quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.And if you can't finish it, don't you ever come back to me and tell me you can't gain weight. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you that you don't give a **** about getting bigger and you don't care how much you lift!"
Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn't get much fatter. One of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, though.•0 -
P.S.
To understand how hard it will be.....read this from Dave Tate:
There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn't gain weight to save my ****ing life.
There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like ****ing magic. He'd go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.I finally asked him one day how he did it.
"You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I'll fill you in."Now remember, we're at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious **** if we have to go outside, I thought.So we get outside and he starts talking."For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don't care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that **** down and eat. That's your breakfast."
At this point I'm thinking this guy is nuts. But he's completely serious.
"For lunch you're gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don't want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bull****. I don't care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can't let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter."
"For dinner you're gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don't like sardines, don't put 'em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that ****er up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that **** over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the **** out of it."
"Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that ****er. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals."
This guy is in a zen-like state when he's talking about this."Now you're on the clock," he continues. "After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you're full. Don't listen to that ****. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I'm telling you now, you're going to get three or four pieces in and you're gonna want to quit. You ****ing can't quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.And if you can't finish it, don't you ever come back to me and tell me you can't gain weight. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you that you don't give a **** about getting bigger and you don't care how much you lift!"
Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn't get much fatter. One of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, though.•
He did that and 'roids.
Not exactly the route I think OP's fiance wants to take. But you're right. That would do it. :laugh:0 -
He did that and 'roids.
Not exactly the route I think OP's fiance wants to take. But you're right. That would do it. :laugh:
Roids or not....you have to eat to grow. Pinning alone won't do it.
Eating becomes a chore to the point where you hate it.....if you are a 150lb hardgainer.
Me on the other hand.....I bulk easily. I lift for strength and love food lol0 -
P.S.
To understand how hard it will be.....read this from Dave Tate:
There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn't gain weight to save my ****ing life.
There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like ****ing magic. He'd go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing.I finally asked him one day how he did it.
"You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I'll fill you in."Now remember, we're at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious **** if we have to go outside, I thought.So we get outside and he starts talking."For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don't care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that **** down and eat. That's your breakfast."
At this point I'm thinking this guy is nuts. But he's completely serious.
"For lunch you're gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don't want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bull****. I don't care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can't let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter."
"For dinner you're gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don't like sardines, don't put 'em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that ****er up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that **** over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the **** out of it."
"Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that ****er. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals."
This guy is in a zen-like state when he's talking about this."Now you're on the clock," he continues. "After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you're full. Don't listen to that ****. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I'm telling you now, you're going to get three or four pieces in and you're gonna want to quit. You ****ing can't quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done.And if you can't finish it, don't you ever come back to me and tell me you can't gain weight. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you that you don't give a **** about getting bigger and you don't care how much you lift!"
Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn't get much fatter. One of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, though.•
LOL.
Here is Tate's serious advice for the average person though:
http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-6410
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