I am skinny, I want to be average.

jaybee said:
I'm 6ft2 and skinny. Always have been since I grew quickly as a teen. (used to be smallest at school then had growth spurt). I also find it frustrating when people say "yeah just eat loads". That's really helpful thanks. I have tried over the past 2-3 years going to the gym and eating as much as possible and yes I have seen improvements in strength and slightly more muscular growth, but really it's only very slight and I never - NOT ONCE - went significantly higher in weight by any more than a few pounds. I'm pretty much consitently 11 and a half stone. Always. I obviously have a fast motabolism.

My issue is this:

1: I do not have time in my life to prepare and eat as much as 3-4000 calories a day.
2: I do not feel like eating that much and do not want to permanently feel bloated and sick.
3: I get constipation and digestive issues when I change my diet to eating a lot more.
4: COST COST COST. i have no idea how you guys eat what you eat and afford it. Do you literally go to work solely to spend it on food and gym membership? If I were to eat 2 - 3 times as much as I do, my food bill would go up....oh wait...2 - 3 times. That's 2 - 3 hundred pounds more every week or two. Cannot afford.


I have consequently cancelled my gym membership and finally given up. My life is not worth feeling permanently tired/achey/bloated/sick and broke for to gain a little weight. I admit it, it's just too much for me to take on and I do not want it enough.

Sad, depressing story I know. But just giving you my angle. Some people can't handle it and that's probably me for a variety of reasons.
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I'm going to reply to a couple of points in here because I come from a similar situation and used to feel the same way.

I'm also tall (6'3) and had a massive growth spurt when I was 14 (about 1ft in 12 months - I had some fairly serious skeletal issues it was so quick). Being tall does mean that it's harder to grow than the shorties, but it really is possible. I used to weigh about 11 or 12 stone and now I'm 15 stone! I've done this by eating loads and consistently training for strength by adding weight to the bar every week.

Eating 3-4000 calories a day is hard work, but definitely possible. And you get used to it within a few weeks. The key points are:
  • Get up early and eat a huge breakfast: eggs, beans, maybe some bacon, porridge (fantastic stuff), bread and fruit.
  • Snack on nuts
  • Eat regular, small meals. It's easier to get the total calories in this way
  • Protein shakes and smoothies are dead easy to get down and contain loads of goodies. Good smoothies could contain yoghurt, oats, fruit, blended nuts etc...
  • COUNT YOUR CALORIES. You are almost certainly underestimating how much you eat. Either do a spreadsheet or get a phone app. I was out by about 40% with my estimates.

It doesn't have to cost a fortune. Oats, eggs, beans, vegetable oil, frozen chicken: these are all cheap and can form the staples of your high calorie diet.

Commit to a good strength routine that encourages linear progression and focusses on the big lifts. If you squat, bench press and deadlift several times a week, adding 2.5kg each time you CANNOT FAIL to gain strength and weight.

I know you've said you've already given up, but I encourage you to give it another shot at some point. Have a break, get a new plan and attack it again.:)
 
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When the forums were still public I found some of the people there pretty annoying at times. Like you said the advice was fine, but there were too many people who thought that SL was the be-all end-all of workouts, and that unless you did things exactly as Medhi wrote them, then you'd be doomed.
 
Mehdi has produced something great in SL5x5 and it speaks volumes that loads of people have got into strength training through it. But the fact that he has to add "I'm not boasting but..." to most of his blog posts now kind of shows how he's disappeared up his own arse a bit. But yeah, I don't think that should put people off, after all, Crossfitters are even worse...:p
 
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Too many people here are giving totally bad advise, and it rather sad.

Getting from quote skinny to beafed up is a issue too many people completely misunderstand.

If your 6FT+(im 189ish cm) then skinny depends on what you call skinny as.

Do you know most people in the countrys like USA/UK are overweight? so who you compare too matters.

A good plan will make you feel

1:Better
2:Stronger
3:more active

Not the oppersite of what you said.

I suggest you do a fitness test first, heres one that is good

1: Run for 1.5 miles( if you can if not run as far as possible then jog/walk rest)

2: Do some gym tests, can be done ANYWHERE, no silly gym costs.
Pressups=max you can do in 1min(elbows tucked in, shoulder witdth across)

Sit-ups=max you do in 1 min(going full way up,knees together,elbows touch top of knees each time you come up)...this isnt for core so dont bash me about it

Pull ups=do as many as you can, either overhand or normal underhand, chin over bar/tree:)

Then write down scores , well done you made the first step to being better /fitter :)


I can give some good advice but i strongly suggest you stay clear off "bodybuilding" as well as "beefing up" topics, as this isnt going to help you, but if anything make you ill by eating/taking the wrong drinks/food.
 
shadowcreaper said:
Too many people here are giving totally bad advise, and it rather sad.

Getting from quote skinny to beafed up is a issue too many people completely misunderstand.

If your 6FT+(im 189ish cm) then skinny depends on what you call skinny as.

Do you know most people in the countrys like USA/UK are overweight? so who you compare too matters.

A good plan will make you feel

1:Better
2:Stronger
3:more active

Not the oppersite of what you said.

I suggest you do a fitness test first, heres one that is good

1: Run for 1.5 miles( if you can if not run as far as possible then jog/walk rest)

2: Do some gym tests, can be done ANYWHERE, no silly gym costs.
Pressups=max you can do in 1min(elbows tucked in, shoulder witdth across)

Sit-ups=max you do in 1 min(going full way up,knees together,elbows touch top of knees each time you come up)...this isnt for core so dont bash me about it

Pull ups=do as many as you can, either overhand or normal underhand, chin over bar/tree:)

Then write down scores , well done you made the first step to being better /fitter :)


I can give some good advice but i strongly suggest you stay clear off "bodybuilding" as well as "beefing up" topics, as this isnt going to help you, but if anything make you ill by eating/taking the wrong drinks/food.
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not_sure_if_srs.jpg
 
Skillmister said:
It really takes very little time to prepare a decent meal. Chicken and potatoes and veg may take 45 mins of cooking but in reality only 10 mins of that is preparation. Doesnt take much longer to eat either.
I eat about twice as much calorie wise as i used to and my weekly bill went from £30 to £40-45, and thats not as cheap as it could be for sure. Lets be honest if you're spending £100 a week on food already and eating less than 2000 calories a day you're doing something very wrong.
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Cristian said:
sorry but that is complete bs mate.
Learn to cook and shop smart, my food bills hardly ever go over 150 a month because i am on a student diet and that's 3500-4000 calories a day with decent meals and the odd treat here and there. I'm not only shopping for organic and premium lean eefbut I'm not eating tesco value chicken portions either (which is nothing to be ashamed of)

If you want to go bulk on a budget then grab oats, milk, eggs, peanut butter frozen ckn breasts (4pounds per kg) and loads of rice/couscous/pasta/potatoes and some frozen veg and you can get yourself a half decent diet for less than 100 a month. But you have too cook and stop eating crap and making excuses.

As for the time, please, excuses again. I'm not debating that making fancy stuff takes time and money, but whacking that chicken breast in the oven with some seasoning and coming back 30mins later is not a lot of time at all.
same with the rice or pasta, whack em in a pot on the hob, let them simmer for 10-12 mins and come back. simples, but you have to try and stop complaining.
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I have kids and work mon - fri. Weekends are also busy for me. If I go to the gym 3 times a week I have to go peak time after work which takes about 2 hours out of my evening even if I go on the way home so I get home late and see my kids for barely minutes before they go to bed. It's difficult to fit in, but... I did it for 4 months solid. I can't just cook something in the middle of the day at work as don't have facilities to do that.
If you guys do it every evening for the next day that's added time every evening again. As for costs, my food bill for my family is about £350 a month I would say. We do shop as cheaply as possible already. I think some of you need to take a reality check on the cost of living and food. If would say the food bill could easily go up £150 a month to accomodate me eating shedloads of protein rich food like chicken. In fact, it pretty much did when I was doing it to be honest.
I could probably hack it and give it another go if the actual gym membership wasn't such a rip. Even with corporate discounts it costs me £40 per month.

I'm just not sure I can be doing with the lifestyle change again.
 
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Grabs popcorn..

This thread makes me want to cry.

There seems to be some misguided perception that all bodybuilders are gross disfigured giants that pose onstage, take daily jabs and live artificial lifestyles built on proteins shakes, vanity and consuming inordinate amounts of food.

You can do bodybuilding to a much more casual degree and still see vast improvements in not only the mirror, but the subsequent confidence levels that you get from it, which you carry with you in every life scenario.

Even just doing the compound lifts threes times a week and upping your daily calories by 400 - which is a trivial life change - can have significant dramatic changes on the way you look if you stick at it for 6 months+

It is sad there are such negative generalisations surrounding "bodybuilding", as it can be a very healthy, enjoyable and even positively lifechanging recreation.
 
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jaybee said:
I have kids and work mon - fri. Weekends are also busy for me. If I go to the gym 3 times a week I have to go peak time after work which takes about 2 hours out of my evening even if I go on the way home so I get home late and see my kids for barely minutes before they go to bed. It's difficult to fit in, but... I did it for 4 months solid. I can't just cook something in the middle of the day at work as don't have facilities to do that.
If you guys do it every evening for the next day that's added time every evening again. As for costs, my food bill for my family is about £350 a month I would say. We do shop as cheaply as possible already. I think some of you need to take a reality check on the cost of living and food. If would say the food bill could easily go up £150 a month to accomodate me eating shedloads of protein rich food like chicken. In fact, it pretty much did when I was doing it to be honest.
I could probably hack it and give it another go if the actual gym membership wasn't such a rip. Even with corporate discounts it costs me £40 per month.

I'm just not sure I can be doing with the lifestyle change again.
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Sounds exactly like my friends situation, however he made a few tweaks to his schedule and now enjoys the gym 3 days a week.

Are you not able to start work a bit earlier to allow you to leave for the gym earlier?
 
LiE said:
Sounds exactly like my friends situation, however he made a few tweaks to his schedule and now enjoys the gym 3 days a week.

Are you not able to start work a bit earlier to allow you to leave for the gym earlier?
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Listen, the guy has self-confessed to not wanting it enough. He's not being pragmatically reasonable with his time.. Not willing to getup earlier. It's just not worth trying to help people who brainwash themselves with fabricated excuses. To put it simply, not everyone has the discipline that we take for granted.

Anyone can say they don't have time/money/insert variable here - in reality I would say perhaps 5% of those cannot feasibly accommodate any minor lifestyle changes realistically.. These are often the same people who adopt the "I can't" negative attitude towards everything in life that comes with any difficulty, resistance or challenge.

Yeah, I'm going to get flamed - but I am right.
 
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