Weight gain for dummies?
KevinWhite14
Posts: 5
So I was hoping someone would be able to give me some tips on how to gain weight. I'm 5'11 and still only weigh about 125. I have an awful diet to be honest and I'm relatively active. It seems no matter how much I eat I'm unable to put on any weight at all. I'm not really looking to use any supplements but if there's something that is effective I might consider it. I was on a weight gainer for about a year and it didn't help at all.
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There is no great secret to gaining weight all you have to do is eat more calories then you burn. and doing that consistently. may be the best way is to start logging your calories then begin to bump them up gradually so that your not over whelmed immediate. so if for example you are currently eating 1500 calories per day next week try an eat 1600 per day every day. if you can do that then the following week eat 1700 per day. keep upping your calories until you start gaining weight at an acceptable level.
doing some form of resistance training (Eg lifting weights) will help to make some of that weight gain muscle rather then fat.0 -
My caloric intake ranges anywhere from 3500-5000 depending on the day. I'm assuming getting my calories from the right kind of foods would help more as well, correct? And I do a lot of different sports so would it be beneficial to cut back on the amount of cardio I do and change up my exercise?0
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Kind of food doesn't matter. Try to back off on some of the cardio and get a solid lifting plan. And eat ice cream.0
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How do you know how much you are taking in? Those who don't gain, and I was one for years, are very bad at overestimation of intake. Start logging both intake and exercise then come back with the data so you will really know where you stand.0
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Do what I do and drink at least 20 ounces of soda every day. You'll gain plenty of weight quickly. Trust me, I'm a fatty.0
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Davidfor230 wrote: »Do what I do and drink at least 20 ounces of soda every day. You'll gain plenty of weight quickly. Trust me, I'm a fatty.
LMFAO! This totally made my day!
I eat all of my "allotted" calories every day...and then have a bowl of ice cream on top of it.0 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »How do you know how much you are taking in? Those who don't gain, and I was one for years, are very bad at overestimation of intake. Start logging both intake and exercise then come back with the data so you will really know where you stand.
this. most people who are "hard gainers" just don't realize how much they really need.
I know a kid who blends slices of cheesecake into his smoothies b/c his metabolism is so high. Just like losing weight- you have to go the extra mile if you really want it.
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Which means eat up my friend- beer ice cream wings doughnuts pizza bagels peanut butter are all your friend.
Hop to it.0 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »How do you know how much you are taking in? Those who don't gain, and I was one for years, are very bad at overestimation of intake. Start logging both intake and exercise then come back with the data so you will really know where you stand.
I know a kid who blends slices of cheesecake into his smoothies b/c his metabolism is so high.
Yum!!!!0 -
Lift heavy weights doing a full body routine 3x a week and keep eating at 20% over your TDEE or more like you seem to be doing. Sleep at least 8 hours a day. Eat at least your LBM in protein daily. Nothing fancy required, heavy weights, lots of food, lots of rest.0
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I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight0
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KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
As has already been mentioned--cut back on the cardio.
If you want a more accurate picture of what you're burning in a day, I suggest investing in an activity tracker. I have a FitBit and I've been able to cut, bulk, and maintain using the data collected from it.0 -
KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
Have you seen a doctor about a medical condition? If you are eating at that level at your weight then there maybe some underlying issue that needs to be addressed. There are people with faster metabolisms but even if you ran a marathon at 125lbs you wouldn't burn 2500 net calories at your weight and I'm doubting you are running marathons every day so there is something that doesn't seem to add up here.0 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
Have you seen a doctor about a medical condition? If you are eating at that level at your weight then there maybe some underlying issue that needs to be addressed. There are people with faster metabolisms but even if you ran a marathon at 125 you wouldn't burn 2500 net calories at your weight and I'm doubting you are running marathons every day so there is something that doesn't seem to add up here.
I'm a 124 lb female and burned about 2500 calories running a marathon last year.
But, yeah, I'm wondering what all this cardio activity is.0 -
How long have you been eating around that level? I was surprised to find out how long it took before I started to see the scale really move.KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
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It's been a while that Ive been eating like this. I snack basically hourly and still have real meals 3-4 times a day. As for the cardio it's a lot of basketball football and soccer. Anything to stay active really. Genetically speaking my family is relatively thin all around. But I've always been much skinnier than the average relative. I didn't even break a hundred pounds until my senior year of high school and I was already 5'9 or so0
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Wheelhouse15 wrote: »KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
Have you seen a doctor about a medical condition? If you are eating at that level at your weight then there maybe some underlying issue that needs to be addressed. There are people with faster metabolisms but even if you ran a marathon at 125 you wouldn't burn 2500 net calories at your weight and I'm doubting you are running marathons every day so there is something that doesn't seem to add up here.
I'm a 124 lb female and burned about 2500 calories running a marathon last year.
But, yeah, I'm wondering what all this cardio activity is.
It's about 2475 for net calories so technically we are both right.
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KevinWhite14 wrote: »It's been a while that Ive been eating like this. I snack basically hourly and still have real meals 3-4 times a day. As for the cardio it's a lot of basketball football and soccer. Anything to stay active really. Genetically speaking my family is relatively thin all around. But I've always been much skinnier than the average relative. I didn't even break a hundred pounds until my senior year of high school and I was already 5'9 or so
You do realize that your BMI would have a doctor considering you a likely anorexic. Have you spoken to a doctor about your inability to put on weight while eating the fridge?0 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »Wheelhouse15 wrote: »KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
Have you seen a doctor about a medical condition? If you are eating at that level at your weight then there maybe some underlying issue that needs to be addressed. There are people with faster metabolisms but even if you ran a marathon at 125 you wouldn't burn 2500 net calories at your weight and I'm doubting you are running marathons every day so there is something that doesn't seem to add up here.
I'm a 124 lb female and burned about 2500 calories running a marathon last year.
But, yeah, I'm wondering what all this cardio activity is.
It's about 2475 for net calories so technically we are both right.
HAHAHAHA!0 -
Wheelhouse15 wrote: »KevinWhite14 wrote: »It's been a while that Ive been eating like this. I snack basically hourly and still have real meals 3-4 times a day. As for the cardio it's a lot of basketball football and soccer. Anything to stay active really. Genetically speaking my family is relatively thin all around. But I've always been much skinnier than the average relative. I didn't even break a hundred pounds until my senior year of high school and I was already 5'9 or so
You do realize that your BMI would have a doctor considering you a likely anorexic. Have you spoken to a doctor about your inability to put on weight while eating the fridge?
This.
Plus, why the need to "stay active?" Stop "staying active," start lifting, keep eating, repeat.0 -
Honestly I dont think my doctors believe me when I tell them what I eat haha they've always just said it's due to a fast metabolism0
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if you're doing enough cardio to keep your weight that low, you need more calories or less cardio. since you enjoy your active lifestyle, more calories is the way to go.
avocado is healthy, versatile and calorie- dense packed with healthy fats. you can spread it on bread, add slices to foods like burritos or eat lots of guacamole.
nuts are full of healthy fats, and you can pick the ones you like best to snack on, adding a handful to each of your snacks.
peanut butter is also a calorie dense food, perfect if you like peanut butter and jelly sammiches. you can also make shakes with it if you have a blender.
drink whole milk (chocolate milk if you like) and eat whole milk cheese, ice cream, yogurt etc.
if you like them, eat baked potatoes packed with butter and sour cream.
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That's my point -- how long is "a while?" Gaining weight and overeating is just as difficult and frustrating for some people as dieting is for other people. If you look around the Losing Weight forum on here, there are a ton of people who are frustrated because they're trying to diet, but they're just not giving it enough time. It seems like it "should" be easier to gain, but it's not.KevinWhite14 wrote: »It's been a while that Ive been eating like this. I snack basically hourly and still have real meals 3-4 times a day. As for the cardio it's a lot of basketball football and soccer. Anything to stay active really. Genetically speaking my family is relatively thin all around. But I've always been much skinnier than the average relative. I didn't even break a hundred pounds until my senior year of high school and I was already 5'9 or so
The other issue is that people tend to gravitate back toward how they typically eat if they're not tracking really carefully. If you look back through the last month of your diary, how many days were over 4000 calories? What do your weekly averages look like? I would bet that it feels like you're eating much more than you actually are.
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KevinWhite14 wrote: »Honestly I dont think my doctors believe me when I tell them what I eat haha they've always just said it's due to a fast metabolism
Interesting, so they claim a fast metabolic rate without giving you a baseline to verify despite a sub 17.5 BMI? Guess you need to slow down on the activity and see how it goes. Good luck.
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Open your diary and log everything you eat after weighing and measuring it. You are probably just not eating as much as you think you are. Lower your activity also. Unless you dont actually want to fix the problem then just keep doing what you are doing.0
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Drink some of you calories to make it easy for you as possible. Does not have to be weight gainer. Juice, coffee with sugar cream, soda ensure, milk, sweet tea with and between meals.0
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Do you have any digestive issues? I am close to your size and have a very high metabolism as well, but even if I was as active as you are, 3800-4000 calories and not gaining weight doesn't quite add up.0
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Hi Kevin,
There are three aspects to weight gain - Lifting, Eating and resting.
Sounds like the part you are missing is the lifting (and possibly sufficient resting).
You need to be lifting heavy weights (for you) that prompting a defensive response from your body. Creating muscle makes no sense to your body. You actually need to make it start defending and protecting itself (by building muscles).
You also need to be eating (some of) the right kinds of foods to supply your body with the raw materials to rebuild itself. Eating crap won't help build muscle.
And then you need to be resting sufficiently to allow this all to happen.
I was a 'hardgainer' when I was younger. I could eat and eat and eat and nothing would happen. 6 months crushing my legs in the squat rack, deadlifting and heavy bench was the only thing that changed that.
Eating is one piece of the puzzle, but without the other two elements, you won't be moving anywhere.
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KevinWhite14 wrote: »I've been using the fitness pal app thing to track my calories and I'm sitting right around 4000 typically. And I eat a lot lol I'm talking *kitten* food too like donuts cookies anything unhealthy really. Just can't find anyway to keep on any weight
All you are going to achieve doing that is (eventually) diabetes.
Do you have any experience lifting weights?
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