Trying to gain muscle, how much should I eat/exercise?

tinarae62

I would like to gain roughly ten pounds and tone throughout my body. I'm 5' 6" and 100 lbs. I do 20-30 squats and 20-30 lunges every day, 20-30 bench push-ups, and workout my core for about fifteen minutes every day. Several times a week I hike for about an hour or two. My concern is that I haven't gained a pound, although I do look more toned than before and notice my strength and stamina have improved. Before I could barely do five push-ups or ten squats a day. Any who, I would appreciate any advice on what my calorie intake should be, I would say I eat about 2000 a day. I don't always have time to eat healthy but I'm working on this as well. My main goal in the long run is to get a butt(: Thanks for your help!

supermummy09

You need to think about eating high protein foods such as chicken, eggs, turkey, steak and green vegetables that are full of fibre sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, curly kale, lettuce, cucumber, celery etc and limiting the amount of everything else you have.

HIIT training 3 times a week along with something like Body Pump 3 times a week and 1 rest day.
Your body will get used to you doing the same exercise every day over weeks/months so you need to mix it up a little.

I am doing a detox called M10 LHP fat loss at the moment, im on day 5. Check it out if you get time - it looks hard but I am seeing results already.

EolAcalia

Your body will get used to you doing the same exercise every day over weeks/months so you need to mix it up a little.

This isn't strictly true, yes it gets used to lift 10kg quite quickly, you can overcome that by lifting 12.5kg and then onto 15kg etc you do not need to change the lift at all, which moves onto my next point to build muscle you have to progressively overload the exercise so either by increasing the weight, or by doing more reps (volume) .

You also need to eat! To gain muscle you need to increase your daily calorie intake, if you want to gain a minimal amount of fat I would suggest 500 calories above your TDEE

geebusuk

By 'squats' I presume you're talking without any extra weight? I'm personally very sceptical of such for anything but cardio - it's basically just standing up from seated .

Anyway, so I'd go for Progressive resistance using weights if you can. Do exercises in the 5-12 rep range. Do 3-5 sets. I do 3 sets of 5 reps. If I can do all 15 of those movements with good form and complete them, I increase the weight next time. If I fail or my form is off, I keep on that weight until I can do it well, then up the weight.

Look to a program like starting strength, strong lifts or new rules of lifting for women.
An example routine, all with barbells:
Workout 1) Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift
Workout 2) Squat, Upright row, Overhead press

Workout 3 times a week (I workout every other day, so it's actually 3.5x a week).
Eat at least 70g of protein a day. Eat about 250-400 calories over your TDEE. Your weight should be increasing by a quarter to a half pound a week. If it's not increasing that much on average, you're not eating enough calories and need to eat more.

If you don't have access to a barbell you can make bodyweight movements more 'progressive', but it gets hard with stuff like the squat.
You can buy a secondhand barbell wtih weight for not much. Cheap stands for them, again not much.

cmeiron

If you're looking more "toned" you're probably losing fat and therefore not gaining muscle. To gain muscle, you need to eat above your TDEE (for women, about 250 cal/day over is good) and aim for a gain of about 0.25-0.5 lbs/week. If you're neither gaining nor losing then you're probably eating close to maintenance now. You can gradually increase your intake by 50-100 cals/week until you find the intake you need to gain. There will always be SOME fat gain with the muscle gain, that's just part of deal. You could add 10 lbs of muscle but be prepared for that to take at least a year (if you do everything right), probably two. You'll need to seriously increase your weight training for this to happen. Body weight exercises won't cut it - as someone else said they're really mostly cardio and won't do much but burn calories, which is counter-productive to gaining unless you're compensating by eating a lot more. You need a full body, progressive, heavy lifting routine that continually challenges you to add more weight - something like Stronglifts 5x5, Starting Strength or All Pro's simple beginner routine. You might want to check out the group Women Who Bulk - there's a bunch of people there who have or who are working hard to gain muscle; it's a long and challenging process, and you might find some useful information there.

fightdem

This is a very good program for exercises. http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html .It's mainly bodyweight training, so you don't need to go to the gym. To gain muscle you need to do a good strength training, eat many protein, and get enough rest.

tinarae62

thanks everyone for the great advice! I'll try adding weights to my squats and lunges (hopefully it won't hurt my knee too much) and continue to increase the weight over time. I'll definitely try to increase my protein intake as well, and calorie intake in general. As a recovering anorexic this'll be hard, but I'm determined to do it(: thanks again!

kdiamond

I think you're in a great position to start lifting heavy. Get on a good program, 3x a week full body would be ideal for you just starting out, make sure you're eating enough (a few hundred calories daily over maintenance to start building muscle) and ditch any cardio. Doing bodyweight squats and stuff like that isn't going to help build any muscle. Good luck!

ccf_trainer

Consume more proteins and more good carbs. The more calories you put in your body (good calories, though), the more mass you can gain. Good nutrition will go a long way. If you do need more help, I can help because I'm a registered health coach, and I specialize in setting up nutrition plans for people.

Another thing, lifting helps.

ccf_trainer

Also, as far as how much you should exercise, lifting three times per week is enough. Plenty of rest will help you gain your muscle, and burn fat at the same time.

susannamarie

This is a very good program for exercises. http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html .It's mainly bodyweight training, so you don't need to go to the gym. To gain muscle you need to do a good strength training, eat many protein, and get enough rest.

Thanks for sharing this site!

geebusuk

Consume more proteins and more good carbs. The more calories you put in your body (good calories, though), the more mass you can gain. Good nutrition will go a long way....
I can help because I'm a registered health coach, and I specialize in setting up nutrition plans for people.

Do explain what makes a carb 'good' or not.
Do explain what makes a calorie 'good' or not.
As this is your speciality, I'm sure you'll be able to references the studies which are the basis of your advice!

Blue801

Your BMI, as I'm sure you probably know, is about 16. You said you eat about 2000 a day, but that could also be way off. I'm not sure how you feel about logging all your calories with the anorexia issue, but it might be a good way to make sure you are eating enough to gain.

RhysJ13

Stronglit 5x5 is a highly recommended novice (as in, anyone who has less than a year of seriosu strength training) strength training programme. It's relatively simple, and has you gradually increasing weights each week. It also has you squatting three times a week which will get you that *kitten* you want in no time!

http://stronglifts.com/5x5/

I'm a couple of weeks in, and trying to eat a 500-1000 calorie excess each day, with around 1gram of protein for every lb of body weight.

Feel free to add me, also.

AliceDark

Exercise can be really dangerous during anorexia recovery. Depending on a lot of factors (the length of time the disease was active, how long you've been eating at a higher intake, how much mass you lost and how much you've gained back, etc.), you could still be very much at risk for a heart attack. Someone else may be able to tell you when it's safe to start exercising, but at 5'6" and 100 pounds, it's probably not safe for you to be doing weightlifting. 2000 calories sounds low for someone in recovery, too (I'm in no way an expert, but from what I've seen, a lot of people cite 2500 as being a good ballpark).

Please, please, please talk to a doctor who specializes in anorexia recovery. I'm not trying to shut you down or criticize you, and if you're already under the care of a treatment team that's wonderful. A lot of the advice you've gotten isn't geared toward or appropriate for someone recovering from anorexia, and I'm worried that you could get hurt.

geebusuk

A very good point from AliceDark - you may well be at a relatively dangerous point still and getting professional advice from someone that has all your details has to be the way to go.
I know others that have been there and now do the weights, cardio and so on, but not sure what they were doing when their weight was as low as yours.

Fenrissa

Exercise can be really dangerous during anorexia recovery. Depending on a lot of factors (the length of time the disease was active, how long you've been eating at a higher intake, how much mass you lost and how much you've gained back, etc.), you could still be very much at risk for a heart attack. Someone else may be able to tell you when it's safe to start exercising, but at 5'6" and 100 pounds, it's probably not safe for you to be doing weightlifting. 2000 calories sounds low for someone in recovery, too (I'm in no way an expert, but from what I've seen, a lot of people cite 2500 as being a good ballpark).

Please, please, please talk to a doctor who specializes in anorexia recovery. I'm not trying to shut you down or criticize you, and if you're already under the care of a treatment team that's wonderful. A lot of the advice you've gotten isn't geared toward or appropriate for someone recovering from anorexia, and I'm worried that you could get hurt.

This is great advice.

OP, 2000 calories is a great step in the right direction but your body really needs more than that during recovery from anorexia. Your body and mind will thank you once you eat around 2500+. I'd stay away from heavy exercise right now, you could still be at risk for many complications. The oppurtunity to build muscle and exercise will still be there in the future.

CoderGal

I would like to gain roughly ten pounds and tone throughout my body. I'm 5' 6" and 100 lbs. I do 20-30 squats and 20-30 lunges every day, 20-30 bench push-ups, and workout my core for about fifteen minutes every day. Several times a week I hike for about an hour or two. My concern is that I haven't gained a pound, although I do look more toned than before and notice my strength and stamina have improved. Before I could barely do five push-ups or ten squats a day. Any who, I would appreciate any advice on what my calorie intake should be, I would say I eat about 2000 a day. I don't always have time to eat healthy but I'm working on this as well. My main goal in the long run is to get a butt(: Thanks for your help!

Given your post below sounds like you excise a fair bit. When I'm doing a lot of exercise I need about 3000-4000 cals to keep me from losing weight. So I'd say 2500 is a good place to start (if you're keeping up with your activity). Look up TDEE calculator. And don't underestimate your activity level.

If you're recovering from anorexia like you said, sometimes the increase in cals can feel like quite the unbearable punch. Increase gradually (but progressively, just like weight training). Snack on high cal foods but keep it nutritious: avocados, salads with dressings, edamame, plus topped with seeds/nuts, meats with currys with coconut milk etc. That way the quantity of food isn't such a punch in the face either. Eat early! Eat often! Eat late! Food is a beautiful thing that can help fuel for a beautiful body. I'm glad you're trying to recover. Goodluck to you. Keep in mind many people here are over weight and trying to lose. Don't let that skew your thoughts into doing what those around you are doing.

Just to give you an idea this is the difference of me putting on 10 lbs of weight:
120lbs->130lbs:


If you ask me my bum looks way better now

MrGonzo05

Progressive barbell strength training program immediately. Stronglifts 5x5 will do just fine. And a slight caloric surplus, once you have trouble adding weight to the bar. Do it. Do it.

tinarae62

Yeah, I could be off a little, but I do eat what seems like a ton haha. And good idea, I'll start logging what food I eat from now on and see if I need to increase my calories more than I thought! thank you(:

tinarae62

Your BMI, as I'm sure you probably know, is about 16. You said you eat about 2000 a day, but that could also be way off. I'm not sure how you feel about logging all your calories with the anorexia issue, but it might be a good way to make sure you are eating enough to gain.

Yeah, I could be off a little, but I do eat what seems like a ton. And good idea, I'll start logging what food I eat from now on and see if I need to increase my calories more than I thought! thank you(: