Skinny athlete!

monikker

I'm a pretty skinny girl, always been into sports (specifically basketball). Wanting to start some intense physical training and be a competitive basketball player, but need to get some more muscle or just mass in general. I burn calories insanely quickly or something. So...trying to gain a few pounds before starting a new workout program. Otherwise, I guess the calories will all just fall off and I'll still be skinny and weak. Here we go!

In other words: trying to gain weight. Any insight on this is cool. Lots of carbs and fat, I know that for sure. I'm thinking about even getting up in the middle of the night to get more calories in my body. Could get cray cray :P

Lukazetta

Are you looking to gain mostly lean muscle, fat or both?

I'm assuming you want lean muscle and a bit of fat (it's pretty difficult to build lean muscle w/out a bit of fat).

Anyway, you have it right with the carbs and (saturated) fats and already know this but be careful with the carbs, they are pretty much useless unless you want tons of energy when working out (otherwise they will store as fat in your body). I suggest go with mostly slow digestive carbs to keep your blood sugar levels more stable but you can probably have the occasional non-complex carbs to boost your energy/carbs (I just don't recommend it for every meal).

I don't know if you do any weight lifting or circuit training, and if you do I suggest you have your after workout meal with the most protein. It will help your body recover.

I'm actually trying to do the opposite of what you're doing right now (lower body fat by cuting carbs/calories), but I was in your phase about a month ago and I went from 150lbs to 165lbs with 14-15% body fat. But had a really hard time boosting my metabolism in the beginning so I had to have 3-4 meals (small portions) a day. You probably don't have to worry about metabolism but it helps a lot if you have an early breakfast in my opinion.

Good luck with your weight/muscle gains and if you have any questions let me know!

monikker

Yeah, I basically wanna try to gain some pounds so my body has something to work with when I'm lifting. I haven't started a program yet. But I want to get a basketball trainer at the same time, so I don't want all the calories to just burn off when I'm running and doing drills.

Tell me a little more about the carbs...now that you know my goals (I definitely want all those carbs for more energy when I'm working out, when I start a program), do I not want those carbs that store as fat? I'm not worried about getting fat. At all. I'm assuming that'll all burn when my basketball training gets intense. But, if they're not helpful and if I should be gaining a different type of weight then I definitely wanna sway that way.

You had to boost your metabolism to gain weight?

monikker

What should my body fat goal be? I'm almost 5'8" around 120 pounds (I need to weigh myself, though)
I'm assuming a high intake of protein won't hurt me because I'm planning to start using it all soon to build muscle. My meal plans include steaks, protein shakes, Ensure shake supplements -- so lots of protein.

Lukazetta

Your body fat goal is up to you. Healthy women have around 20% body fat. High protein is great for building muscle and recover so it's good that you're adding whole protein to your diet.

Check this page out I made for women to cut body fat without losing muscle (this is the opposite of your goal but you want to make sure you don't lose lean muscle mass while gaining weight too): http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/534663-guide-properly-lose-body-fat-for-women

And remember, you don't have to worry as much about adding some body fat as you gain weight so a surplus of calories will help you that includes essential carbs/fats/protein.

LovesGG

I'm also trying to gain weight. Feel free to add me.

Lukazetta

Carbs are essential by the way, you need to them as fuel for the day (especially at the gym). However, carbs you get from junk food can higher your body's glucose levels and they digest much faster (causing you to get hungry and tired easily).

This is a great post on the type of carbs you should choose:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/532247-let

Lukazetta

You had to boost your metabolism to gain weight?

I did at first. I had really bad eating habits though...

What I did was have 5 meals a day but small portions. My body got used to me not skipping meals and my metabolism went up a bit and I could eat more and felt hungry to want to eat more.