How to bulk up a little and get over my fear of gaining weight?

When you gain any weight, it's not all muscle. Some of it will be fat. That's just life.

However, you can minimize fat gains by adding a small surplus to your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)...such as +250 calories daily, with a progressive lifting program - and you can minimize the fat gain.

As for how much weight you will be gaining by adding muscle - that would have to be entirely up to you. Some people say 'bulk until you hate yourself' which would be the point in which you dislike how your bigger figure looks but that is different for everybody.

Keeping to your maintenance TDEE and starting a weight lifting programme will give you a recomp.

As you are young and male you could gain both strength and muscle doing this in a relatively short time.

Remember to include weight lifting in your TDEE.

If you haven't started a programme yet there is a good post that covers most- 'what lifting program is best for me?' Or similar title.

Cheers, h.

Good heavens @psulemon, I can't believed I missed protein out of the post
Being the opposite of @jtennis, a little older woman who lifts, most times I harp on about it way too much.

Probably drooling over the ease the young man is going to recomp at threw me off.

Cheers, h.

OP, Recomp is definitely a possibility but it is a longer journey. It depends on how much time you want to give yourself.

I also think you have to get over your fear of gaining fat. That is going to hinder your journey. In order to build muscle, you need a surplus of calories. You can't just make muscle out of thin air. Your body needs the calories, along with a progressive strength training routine to build the muscle. When you lose weight, you lose a combination of water, fat, and muscle. The same goes when you gain weight.

JTennis1995 wrote: »

I'm a 20 year old male, 6'1" and 148 pounds. Though I unfortunately have quite wide hips naturally, I have avery slim, slight frame otherwise. What are some exercises I can do to bulk up a little, specifically my shoulders and arms (my arms have almost no muscle on them)? Also, how much weight will I gain by adding muscle? Even though it would be muscle, I hate seeing the number on the scale go up, so I need to get over that paranoia to do this thanks guys!

First off, I am 5'7" at 165lbs with around 14% bodyfat (visible abs). You have a much taller frame and you weight much less. I personally think you are underweight and you have a long way to go before you consider yourself overweight. Also you are 20 years old. Look at it this way:You are in the best possible point in your life build muscle: you are young, you are underweight, you are a novice when it comes to lifting. That means you can get 'noob gains' - building muscle and strength at an almost unnatural rate.

My suggestion: Program wise, get on a novice barbell program for strength, size, and aesthetics. A good program will have progression. I.E. you squat 3x times a week, each time you increase the weight lifted by +5lbs... in 1 month your squat will have increased by 60lbs, in 3 months by 180lbs. If you do this on a proper diet, you will see significant muscle, strength, and aesthetics increase with minimal fat gain. Do Strong Lifts for the first 4 weeks, then switch to ICF 5x5 (it's a more aesthetic routine which I know you want). It is important to do it in this order as ICF has low volume but you NEED to get used to the main lifts before you add tons of other (vanity) work.

Note: I am long past the novice stage, and I increase my weight every month. You are increasing your weight multiple times a week, which is incredibly fast. As you progress, your increases slow down (see this chart). Just make sure your form is on point.

Diet wise: You are scared to gain fat, I can understand that. However you NEED to bulk to build muscle, and some fat is inevitable (but with muscle, you will look 100 times better than before - you are building the ice chest to put the 6 pack in). To bulk, you calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) - this is how much you eat to maintain weight. Bulk = eat +500 calories over that to gain +1lb per week. If you are lifting, you will gain mostly muscle with some fat. But since you are afraid of gaining fat, here is the key point: do a slow bulk: TDEE + 250 calories = +0.5lbs gained per week. You will gain mostly muscle and minimal fat, but your lifts will not go up as quickly. If you are patient, this will be the better option for your goals - to gain strength and muscle with minimal fat. Do not be afraid to gain weight. You are fueling your body and building muscle instead of fat. Look at this example of a female lifter, who gained significant weight, mostly of muscle. She is the one who inspired me to start lifting, and I'm a guy.

More information about beginner programs here.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

You have to think of it as being a means to an end. Nobody wants to gain fat, but it serves a purpose...it's temporary....and it comes back off. If people stayed fat nobody would do it, right?

I haven't read the other comments so sorry if I say something already said. But if u wanna build muscle you have to gain fat. There is no work around. But fret not, just eat and lift. Eat around 120g of protien as u are 148lbs. Do compound lifts. Squats, deadlifts, bench and over head press( this is ur shoulder builder) once you have lifted for around 3-4 months you will know where ur strenght is weakest and you can start doing isolation exercises to help with that. Don't be afraid of wieght gain! You will shoot up at the start because ur body will store more water and glycogen.

Hey JTennis, I wanted to point out that your hips probably aren't wide, it's just that you are very thin and not yet fit, and they are looking wide in proportion to the rest of you. Once you put on some muscle your profile will improve. Hips will stay around the same width but shoulders will look wider and arms bigger, it will balance out.