trying to gain

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I would like to gain 20-30 lbs. Looking for other support to make this happen. Starting off with increasing my calories. Will begin strength training next week. I'm 6'1 and 152 lbs

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  • markjacobs1987
    markjacobs1987 Posts: 162 Member
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    I'd be glad to help you out! Good luck towards your goals!
  • LiftBig68
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    Good luck man. Train hard and get stronger. Get that volume up and lift that heavy *kitten* weight.
  • alvinsmith99
    alvinsmith99 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thank you sir. I definitely plan on it. B)
  • nattyy264
    nattyy264 Posts: 176 Member
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    U can take some of my lbs lol
  • sethglenn56
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    It's all about diet and low reps with heavy weight! If you really wanna gain big, you have to keep your calorie intake up, shoot for 5000 a day. I'm back into my bulking phase and diet is always the hardest part
  • alvinsmith99
    alvinsmith99 Posts: 5 Member
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    It most definitely is. 5000 would be extremely hard for me. Right now I'm getting half that. I don't even know what to eat to get 5000 a day without getting sick.
  • dieselbyte
    dieselbyte Posts: 733 Member
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    It most definitely is. 5000 would be extremely hard for me. Right now I'm getting half that. I don't even know what to eat to get 5000 a day without getting sick.

    Calculate your TDEE and determine how fast you would like to gain weight. If you want to take a slower bulk, around .5lbs/week, aim for 250-500 calories over TDEE. If you are just looking to gain weight, and not worried about how much fat you are gaining, go more aggressive with 500-1000 calories over 1lbs or more/week.

    5000 calories isn't a magic number, so don't listen to someone that throws out an arbitrary amount of calories.

  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
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    It most definitely is. 5000 would be extremely hard for me. Right now I'm getting half that. I don't even know what to eat to get 5000 a day without getting sick.


    I wouldn't shoot for 5000 out of nowhere. Workout you TDEE and aim for 250-500 surplus, if you're not gaining at that then increase till you are. There's going to be fat gain but you want to keep it minimal.

    If 5000 put you in a 'dirty' bulk situation (>1lb week gain) there'd just be more fat to cut at the end.
  • nakiawatts
    nakiawatts Posts: 4 Member
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    Yes i am looking to gain weight, the key is to take in all the calories u can stand so I can join the journey to...

  • sjsprigs
    sjsprigs Posts: 2 Member
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    I would like to gain 20-30 lbs. Looking for other support to make this happen. Starting off with increasing my calories. Will begin strength training next week. I'm 6'1 and 152 lbs

    Hi Alvin,

    First of all good luck in gaining weight, I know what its like to be tall and thin (my body type would fall in the category of ectomorph = which in 'leyman terms' is someone like you and me who is naturally thin and carries less fat and has a fast metabolism so struggles to gain weight but finds it easy to lose weight)

    Although I like nice food most of it home cooked for nutrition and taste and better on the purse strings, I do find it hard to consume tons of calories. (you may find it hard to eat at times like me)

    Since my fiancé who is very active and healthy and who has a super figure (my opinion) started using this app (my fitness pal) about 2 weeks ago she has become fascinated by the detail it shows and the nifty Barcode scanner device (i'm not trying to go off at too much of a tangent here - so bear with me)

    Long story short she got me into this app and since using it for the first time this week from Monday I have been hooked.

    So Alvin I am a similar build to you I am 6'0 and 154 lbs or 11 stone. I have an office job so am not burning many calories walking around my office. I am getting married this year in June and that being one reason but for other reasons I want to gain weight but more naturally and sustainably = or what I mean is I don't want to look at this as a "Diet" because diets don't work, lifestyle choices do!

    I have been following a maintainable lifting program I designed myself since the beginning of 2015, the last two weeks of lifting I was less focussed on fuel intake or ripping/repairing muscle to gain weight, I just wanted my body to get used to routine of lifting Monday to Friday. Goal achieved.

    Now this week I have stepped up my lifting. Lifting heavier weight and probably tearing muscle now (as I have that ache feeling all the time now this week - which is bearable) BUT the good thing about monitoring my calories when I set my profile on the 'myfitnesspal' as sedentary. I set my goal to be able to be 12st 6 lbs or 176 lbs an increase of 22lbs or 1.5stone. So I know I need to consume lots of calories so have set my target to 2600 per day. The first few days I found it hard to eat that much, on the Wednesday I consumed 2769 calories and the myfitnesspal app when you lock it at the end of the day when you don't intend to eat anymore food the app says if I kept it up for 5 weeks I would be 11st 3lbs or have a gain of 3lbs (positive) now yesterday I consumed lots and surprised even myself I hit 3266 (it was hard to eat that much as I am not a natural for eating loads) when I saved the days data it said if I keep up this much volume of calories daily then id be 11st 12lbs in 5 weeks (feeling chuffed)

    Although I have until June to hit my target anything more is a bonus anything just shy of 22lbs is also a bonus and positive in my eyes.

    I found it funny and I may not be the only one to notice this but on the Wednesday this week when I had exceeded my calorie target of 2600 by consuming 2769, My fiancé asked if id join her for a slow but long run of 10k - so being positive and helping her aswell as my self said sure... I got back home just over an hour later and manually told the 'app' that id run 10k and it said id burnt 956 calories in that run!!! Ahh Man!!! I thought to myself and laughed. so the way I see it is cos I ran slow I would have been fat burning (even skinny people like me carry unwanted fat)

    Anyway Alvin and anyone else here who reads this I am a regular Joe who just wants to see and feel gains by eating healthy and as naturally as possible added with weight training. I would be happy to share updates of my progress as I go along.

    (I'm no expert but this is just my experience up until now)

    If it helps anyone to know I do ride a road bike/mountain bike on the odd weekends and walk around golf courses occasionally so am cardio active also which can make it real hard to gain weight because that topped with my fast metabolism means I burn everything.

    Anyways (if you are still awake)

    Thanks for listening and if I can help you Alvin or anyone with my experience then cool.

    Thanks

    Steven
    (England)
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    edited January 2015
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    To all you gainers! If you want to keep the fat gain at a minimum I suggest (along with the progressive 3 x per week all body heavy lifting) that women eat approx 250cals per day extra, and men 500 extra.

    This is because we have limits to the amount of muscle we can build per week. Women approx quarter of a pound, men half a pound. You will also gain the same amount in fat, that's unavoidable.

    Everything above those calorie numbers is more likely to turn to fat.

    This is called clean bulking (nothing to do with 'clean' foods).

    After a bulk, people generally go on a sensible cut that removes the excess fat and as little as possible of the muscle gains.

    It is MUCH easier to cut than bulk, the muscle earned is like gold dust, and needs maintenance and adequate nutrition.