I am skinny, I want to be average.

fiveub

fiveub

fiveub

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First of all, I am lost.

I am skinny, over 6FT tall, and I would love to bulk out a bit, so I don't get the comments like "Ohhhhh you are so skinny, look at your arms!", and so I look and feel good in myself.

I hear all different ideologies such as:

Just eat more
Get some protein
Go to the gym
Eat more junk food
Eat more healthy food
Don't go to the gym because you lose weight
Eat more meaty food
Have a healthy food diet
Set a routine
and the list goes on...

Well some make sense, some contradict themselves, and when looking at magazines/most internet articles when about going to the gym, getting 6 packs, being fit. They all tend to be for people who are oversized/weight who needs to lose weight.

I don't need to lose weight, I need to get it on, and have bigger muscles.

So what do you think I should be doing? And what will work?

Sorry for the list of things, but I am lost to what I should really be doing, and what works. Any tips and advice is good. :)

Where do I start?
 
I recently added a whey protein supplement to my diet and my weight is slowly creeping up.

Just take in more calories than you use, obviously try and eat a balanced diet though. From what I understand, it take on average 2500 calories a day to maintain bodyweight, but if you exercise and burn 500 you'll need to replace them, so would in theory need 3000 calories. So if you're trying to gain weight at the same time, you'll have to up them a little bit more, so 3500 calories. At least that the theory......
 
If you have a read of GordyR's sticky that should give you a good start, there's a lot of useful information in there and it's quite clear to follow. You'll probably have more questions after that but it will answer a fair few of the basic ones.
 
Lift weights with a reasonable routine (GordyR's sticky), eat more calories (from good food.).

Unless you want to add fat to your body, but I doubt that :p
 
If you take on more calories than you burn, you'll gain weight. If you burn more calories than you take on, you'll lose weight.

The food you eat (and don't eat) and the exercise/gym routine you do (or don't do) will determine how your body changes over time given the above.

There are many approaches, the sticky is a good place to start though :)
 
I shall take a read of GordyR's thread, as regards to supplements, which are the most popular to put on weight/muscle for people who are skinny? - Shakes, bars, powders?

Going to read his thread now as I am sure it will answer many of my questions. :p
 
You don't really need supplements at this stage, only really when you're not getting enough from your diet.

Ideally, you need to up your carbs in a good way - such as spuds, brown rice/pasta, wholemeal breads and cereals. Meat and veg are also a requirement, try and get three decent meals down you a day at least, and if you take up the gym or some form of exercise as a regular commitment then you should see some gains in a couple of months; if not sooner.
 
Do you have a set meal routine? Or did you start with one? Or do you tend to just think "Right I need to eat pasta!". Also what times do you take the meals? When you say three, do you mean, Breakfast, Lunch, and Tea.
 
I've just (re)started with going to the gym (also fairly skinny uptop due to having lost weight from being lazy with my diet). The main recommendation for protein supplements around here (and having used it for several weeks I agree) is a bag of impact whey protein, from MyProtein.co.uk.

I personally just got it unflavoured, and have it with milk for flavour.
 
Try not to go straight for the supplements, try adding more calories to your diet through eating more regular meals first, and cramming in the right foods.

Begbie said:
Have a look at Riptoes SS.

I am starting it Monday. Better being skinny and strong, than fat and weak.
Click to expand...

Looks extremely similar to stronglifts, but I like it.
 
For gaining weight the most important thing is eating lots. And I mean LOTS. I'm in a similar position to you as I'm 6'3 and used to be a very skinny 13 stone. After about a year of hard work I'm now hovering around 14 stone 12lb. I did this through increasing my calorific intake from "I eat loads, why don't I put on weight" to about 4000-4500 calories a day, which I normally count to make sure I get them in.

Simple things like eating a big breakfast every day of porridge, eggs, bacon and fruit can make a big difference. And snacking on mixed nuts throughout the day. But it's important to really count how much you're eating because most people will overestimate and not eat enough, like I used to.

Secondly, start a good weights routine. I recommend Stronglifts but that's just because I've had a lot of success with it. It focusses on increasing your overall body strength as quickly as possible. Once you've done a year of this you'll be lifting about 4x as much as when you started, and in a better position to move on to more bodybuilding-oriented routines, if that's your thing.
 
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Zefan said:
Try not to go straight for the supplements, try adding more calories to your diet through eating more regular meals first, and cramming in the right foods.



Looks extremely similar to stronglifts, but I like it.
Click to expand...

Its pretty much the same, its a good read.

Going to do for 12 weeks, and start writting down everything I do. As I keep guessing what weights I was doing the time before and not progressing as much as I know I can.
 
5UB said:
as regards to supplements, which are the most popular to put on weight/muscle for people who are skinny? - Shakes, bars, powders?
Click to expand...

Normal good food and lots of it. Don't worry about supplements.
 
Begbie said:
Its pretty much the same, its a good read.

Going to do for 12 weeks, and start writting down everything I do. As I keep guessing what weights I was doing the time before and not progressing as much as I know I can.
Click to expand...

Sounds just like me :D Normally I can remember, but there's those times when I draw a blank and just end up guessing, which has been eventful when I've guessed too high :p
 
Its nowhere near as simply eating LOTS.

Channel 4 did a program about this last year entitled "why don't skinny people get fat" and in the show they tested 10 people who considered themselves unable to gain weight. They gave them specific diets to eat that consisted of eating x2 the amount of daily calories focusing heavily upon fatty foods. They also limited there excercise making them wear pedometers (counting the no. of footsteps you make). All the participants struggled to eat twice the amount of calories they needed, but the ones that did still didn't gain any weight. They measured the participants every weak on there fat/body weight ration having the safe limit of 10% as a cut off measure. Only 1 of the participants gained 10% of fat. Fat is a great starting place to gain weight, as its easier to turn fat into muscle.

I myself an in a similar position to you, but shorter. I used to go to the gym 7 days a weeks doing hard weights, and lots of supplements in protein and creatine, but I found I could gain ~half a stone over a month steadily and I maxed out only 3kg heavier than when I started. I was a lot stronger and fitter than when I started but turning your muscles into stronger muscles will give the muscles more mass and will add to your weight no problem, but to see a large bulk increase is virtually impossible. Thats why you will max out in weight at only say 5kg heavier than you are now.

P.S The protein and creatine supplements can play havoc with your digestion, and the protein will give you the most horrendous farts if you eat too much, as your body can only digest what it needs, so don't go OTT on it. Imagine the farts after a heavy BBQ, but 10 x worse! The creatine however is worse, and not for everyone, and if it doesn't go with you, stop taking it.
 
frankcatkill - I'm afraid I don't really agree with you. In most cases it really is down to just eating a lot more.There was a recent show on the BBC about diets, and it demonstrated that people who blame their metabolism for not being able to lose or gain weight were misled, since most people have an average metabolic rate. At the end of the day, it's as simple as calories in > calories burned for weight gain.

Also, you can't "turn fat into muscle". And I've put on more than 5kg since I started doing things seriously, and my weight is still going up. So it's definitely possible.:)
 
Only put on 5kg more than people are now? What rubbish.
Turn fat to muscle? What rubbish.

Skinny people really can eat as much as they want and not gain at all? What rubbish.

Next?
 
Well, I'll agree to disagree, but the show is out there shown on Channel 4 if you want to look for it. It'll back up everything I said, and they did there studies on real skinny people.

But I'm afraid its fact that muscle is easier to build from fat, than it is to build muscle from where there is no fat. I've studied this myself and read in countless places in my own quest to gain bulk and size. Everyones metabolism is different, and I could never really gain any kind of confidence from a scaled test to see how different peoples metabolism works, as you can't scale it, you need to test upon hundreds and hundreds of people. To say there is an average is scaling tests, but there are countless combinations of people in genes at different ages and stages of there life to consider. I mean half of my family is prone to obesity and finds it very easy to gain weight. My dad side however is prone to being of average weight, and yet I'm not smack bang in the middle of both? Saying that, I'm 25, so things might change when/if I get to 30.
 
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