CARBS!

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Replies

  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    I know you don't want to be told to stop exercising but honestly you should lay off the exercise for at least 10 pounds. THEN focus on gaining muscles. you will NOT get muscle if you're underweight, your body is going to throw all of that energy into making you healthy. You exercising without eating enough is making it harder on yourself, as you're burning off extra calories. Also, if you feel you have disordered eating, ie orthorexia, consider seeking help for this. Basically, carbs or not, JUST EAT. When you're underweight, you shouldn't be super concerned about the macros.
    Sorry if that came off crass but I'm just being honest.
    Please looking calorie partitioning before you assume someone won't gain muscle when underweight, eating a calorie surplus, and using resistance training.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    first - what is lean muscle? Can you explain to me how it is different than muscle?

    Secondly, to gain weight and add muscle (not lean muscle, as I don't know what that is) do the following:

    Set your caloric intake to .5 pound per week gain.
    get on a structured lifting program like strong lifts, new rules of lifting for woman, starting strength etc.
    make sure that you are hitting micros and macros
    take starting measurements and then at least once a month take follow up measurements
    set your macors to about 1 grams of protein per pound of lean mass .4 gram of fat per pound of body weight, and fill the rest in with carbs.

    to get more carbs fuel up on things like oatmeal, bagels, pasta, rice, ice cream, etc.

    repeat until you hit your goals.

    What is lean muscle? REALLY???

    How are you going to tell y a5'2'' woman to increase her calories by 250 a day? She's short, she's female... you guys don't give good advice.

    Original Poster, lift some weights, don't do "classes." and eat food, as others have suggested that that clean eating stuff out of your head.
    She also weighs 85 POUNDS. Do you catch that? Do you seriously not understand what that means, even for 5'2"?
    So much this. ^^^

  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited June 2015
    To the OP - Foods are neither clean nor dirty, unless you forget to wash your fruits and veggies. :)
  • ScreeField
    ScreeField Posts: 180 Member
    edited June 2015
    You're definitely headed in the right direction. A lot of people who fear something, whether it be snakes, thunderstorm, food, etc., run from it.

    The depression is a problem and I'd start by asking yourself whether it's directly caused by the weight gain or if there were other causes as well. This is something you'll want to work on for sure. If you get depressed again (even if not related to food) you could have a tendency to stop eating. When I get super stressed or depressed, I typically find that I'm under-eating which has absolutely nothing to do with my body image/perception.

    I'm a seriously hard gainer when it comes to muscle. I think a number of us women are. The best way for me to build muscle is to lift. You don't have to follow a lifting plan designed for total meat heads [read: really big, whole body lifts right off the bat]. But, you do need to get into the gym and lift consistently (at my most muscular, I was in the gym for about 2 hours a day, 3-4 days per week). If you can swing it, try working with a trainer.

    Also, here's some advice about food considering all of the weirdness in today's culture: toss all the macros and micros, good foods, bad foods, and all that stuff out the door. Just eat food. Try to eat foods that you feel somewhat good about even if some aspect of the food has been villainized at one time or another (white bread, sugar, hotdogs)--seriously, just eat it. In fact, if you're in the gym consistently, stop tracking your diet and your weight (chuck the scale for now). Eat when you are hungry, to give yourself enough energy to complete your workouts, directly after workouts, to stay awake and alert during the day, etc. Give that a go for a good 3 months and then re-check.

    After 3 months, hopefully you'll have regained your weight, built muscle, and lifted the huge burden of the constant checking, re-checking, dieting, nutrient tracking nightmare.
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    Based on your OP (original post), you don't have a healthy relationship with food. You need to seek psychiatric help from a professional who specializes in eating disorders.

    You are going to have an extremely difficult time putting on weight without eating "refined sugar" and "junk."

    While recovering from an eating disorder, individuals should not avoid any foods. There is no reason to avoid white flour. This is your ED speaking, which tells me you still need to be working with a medical professional.

  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    I know you don't want to be told to stop exercising but honestly you should lay off the exercise for at least 10 pounds. THEN focus on gaining muscles. you will NOT get muscle if you're underweight, your body is going to throw all of that energy into making you healthy. You exercising without eating enough is making it harder on yourself, as you're burning off extra calories. Also, if you feel you have disordered eating, ie orthorexia, consider seeking help for this. Basically, carbs or not, JUST EAT. When you're underweight, you shouldn't be super concerned about the macros.
    Sorry if that came off crass but I'm just being honest.

    You won't get muscle when you are underweight? LOL. That's bullsh!t. I was 5'2", 95-97 lbs, and 11% body fat.
  • FatFreeFrolicking
    FatFreeFrolicking Posts: 4,252 Member
    edited June 2015
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    first - what is lean muscle? Can you explain to me how it is different than muscle?

    Secondly, to gain weight and add muscle (not lean muscle, as I don't know what that is) do the following:

    Set your caloric intake to .5 pound per week gain.
    get on a structured lifting program like strong lifts, new rules of lifting for woman, starting strength etc.
    make sure that you are hitting micros and macros
    take starting measurements and then at least once a month take follow up measurements
    set your macors to about 1 grams of protein per pound of lean mass .4 gram of fat per pound of body weight, and fill the rest in with carbs.

    to get more carbs fuel up on things like oatmeal, bagels, pasta, rice, ice cream, etc.

    repeat until you hit your goals.

    What is lean muscle? REALLY???

    How are you going to tell y a5'2'' woman to increase her calories by 250 a day? She's short, she's female... you guys don't give good advice.

    Original Poster, lift some weights, don't do "classes." and eat food, as others have suggested that that clean eating stuff out of your head.

    Read the OP. She is trying to GAIN weight, hence why she needs to increase her calories.

  • tristamdavis
    tristamdavis Posts: 21 Member
    Thank you everyone for the advice. It's definitely a tough situation but my relationship with food is not at its greatest. However I choose to cut out refined sugars and flours because of a VERY high risk of diabetes. It runs in my family on both sides and has effected nearly everyone preceding me. So other than rice, starchy veggies, bread, crackers, fruit & oatmeal, I'm still struggling getting enough carbs and that is why I am asking for help. I follow the 50, 30, 20 macros as set by myfitnesspal.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    OP - I would highly recommend taking a look at the stickies . This can help provide a solid foundation to bulking/adding weight. But, as you are aware, you also need to address the psychological aspect. Good luck to you.

    Don't forget you can get some carbs from other whole food sources such as: dairy (milk), beans, quinoa, cereal (such as Kashi's protein blends) or even various nut/trail mix blends. If you don't mind protein bars, I tend to do cliff bars (their energy bar has 40g of carbs) or powerbar has an harvest bar (42g of carbs).

    And since diabetes runs in the family, just make sure you do regular check ups.
  • wrealmusic
    wrealmusic Posts: 16 Member
    edited June 2015
    When I was a teen, I was under weight. I stumbled up a book by Vince Gironda, and it helped me back then. But it sounds like you are eating pretty healthy. and also have a high metabolism. One method of building up lean solid muscle and weight gains is to start lifting heavier weights about 75% of your max. with lower rep ranges and sets (muscle failure around 8 reps). shorten the aerobic activity like carido. and increase your calorie intake about 250(experiment with that number) over your recommended BMR. Smoothies are a great way to add calories to your meal for the day. add foods like oatmeal, and peanut or almond butter to them. if you eat dairy, have a small serving of quality ice cream. Having a smoothie with moderate calories an hour before bed can help with the gains. The older you get your metabolism will naturally slow down anyway. so dont worry about being 85lb. just take it day by day. and bulk clean. Dont obsess over the numbers either. just find good tasty and healthy options to enjoy.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Thank you everyone for the advice. It's definitely a tough situation but my relationship with food is not at its greatest. However I choose to cut out refined sugars and flours because of a VERY high risk of diabetes. It runs in my family on both sides and has effected nearly everyone preceding me. So other than rice, starchy veggies, bread, crackers, fruit & oatmeal, I'm still struggling getting enough carbs and that is why I am asking for help. I follow the 50, 30, 20 macros as set by myfitnesspal.

    If you're trying to gain weight and eat at a surplus, it may be easier to not look at your macros as percentages. Many people recommend eating 0.6-0.8g of protein per pound of bodweight, and 0.35g of fat per pound bodyweight.

    That said, those can be minimums. Carbs are considered kind during bulks because they are easy to eat (they usually don't keep people as full, but that depends on the person) and they are cheap. But, how many carbs you eat boils down to personal preference. Many people find that additional carbs give them more energy, but there are also people who greatly limit their carbs.

    If you can hit your calorie goal but aren't getting "enough" carbs, and it doesn't affect your energy levels, then don't worry about trying to shove in more carbs. If you're having problems with low energy or hitting your calorie goals there are lots of options for carbs:

    Sweet potatoes, white potatoes (no clue why they've been demonized, but they're full of nutrients), lentils, peas, beans, corn, whole grain breads, wild rice, quinoa, barley, oats, bulgar wheat, etc. And there are tons of recipes online, so maybe look into some starchy side dishes. I love stuffed peppers, and I make them with quinoa (because I bought a massive bag of it at costco and I need to do something with it). I usually have a dinner roll (whole grain) with most dinners.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    wrealmusic wrote: »
    When I was a teen, I was under weight. I stumbled up a book by Vince Gironda, and it helped me back then. But it sounds like you are eating pretty healthy. and also have a high metabolism. One method of building up lean solid muscle and weight gains is to start lifting heavier weights about 75% of your max. with lower rep ranges and sets (muscle failure around 8 reps). shorten the aerobic activity like carido. and increase your calorie intake about 250(experiment with that number) over your recommended BMR. Smoothies are a great way to add calories to your meal for the day. add foods like oatmeal, and peanut or almond butter to them. if you eat dairy, have a small serving of quality ice cream. Having a smoothie with moderate calories an hour before bed can help with the gains. The older you get your metabolism will naturally slow down anyway. so dont worry about being 85lb. just take it day by day. and bulk clean. Dont obsess over the numbers either. just find good tasty and healthy options to enjoy.


    I think you mean add 250 calories over your TDEE, instead of BMR?
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Could you restructure your group exercises so you are doing flexibility and stretch-type every other day instead of aerobic every day? I'm no pro at building weights but I'd like to see your exercises work towards your gaining goals rather than against them.

    Try adding nuts to your day! They have carbs, fats, and a little protein, and they are calorific.