too thin - please tell me what I'm doing wrong

[cvobn]

I bought a weight bench and some free weights about a year ago and started learning about what exercises and diet changes I need to get larger. I'm about 6ft1 and 140lbs. For the last few years, I've exercised a fair amount. I bike to work every day I can, play tennis a couple times a week, and other activities. The last several months I've been eating considerably more, because I assumed that's why I haven't gained any weight. I think I eat a pretty health diet with somewhere around 2500 cal, which seems to be as much as I can eat as I feel completely full all day.

I do most of the exercises from bodybuilding dotcom /guides/male-20to39-muscle-building/training (4 day tab). A couple I don't have equipment for and a couple I'm afraid to do in my basement alone (like barbell squat, even though I keep reading its really helpful).

I'm not sure if its that I'm not exercising right or still not eating enough that causes me to gain zero weight (I've been almost exactly 140 for many years). I don't know what else I can eat without risking gaining fat, too. I'm afraid if I just started eating a ton of peanut butter or something similar, I would just gain fat. It seems like I'm just screwed by genetics, and I don't want to spend several hours a week for absolutely no gain, plus more money and time on food. I don't ever want to be incredibly muscular...I just want to not look horrible and be in good health (though I think the latter is achievable without lifting weights).

Thinking about just giving up, I was reading some more online and came across this site [ anabolicminds dotcom /forum/bulking/108825-thinking-about-giving-2.html ]. Seemed like a lot of nice and helpful people, so I thought I'd get some opinions here. Thanks for any input

 

[mkretz]

worry about getting fat when u get fat..... simple as that, at ur body type whichi m assuming is very skinny, u not gonna get "fat" and if u did it would take ar eally long item to where u would notice it happening and oculd change things around liek diet or exercise. In terms of the PB all natural PB is a great tool in gianing weight and good weight because its healthy calories..... try adding in some iquid meals, this will help you toput in calories without filling you up too much, also on these boards its alot more helpful to us and you to let us know what ur eating and exactly what your training schedule is like

 

[mkretz]

haha rep

 

[purebred]

One word: food.

 

[MrBigPR]

eat more...you need to be putting down at least 5k calories. eat everything you see...EVERYTHING!!

 

[CrazyBassGuy]

You would be surprised how much food you need!!

The "guideline" of 2500 cals for men is based on the "normal" man. Which these days is pretty sedentary and not looking to build serious muscle.

To give you an idea, I am about 155lb, 5foot9 and I use 2000-2500 as my cutting cals.

Bulking I eat 3500-4000 and I don't have a great metabolism (gain fat easily)

Try eating a 4500 cal diet made up of roughly 40%cals from protein, 40% for carbs and 20% from fat. You may want to add a protein shake or 2 to your days food to acheive this without breaking the bank!

Chicken, rice, sweet potatoes, steak, olive oil, oily fish, eggs, avocados, PB, bananas, whey protein are your friends

Lift good and heavy 3 times a week (I use push/pull/legs split).

Do this for 12 solid weeks and keep a log of your weight, and the weight that your are lifting.

Then you will be in a better position to tweak your diet and workout based on your 12 week results.

 

[cvobn]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried adding my diet to the profile page a couple times now, but when I save changes things keep disappearing and changing numbers. Here is what I eat (at least M-F):

For breakfast I have instant oatmeal packet, glass skim milk, 2x PB toast on wheat bread
Mid-morning I have a granola bar
Around noon I have crackers, pb&j, protein bar, and an apple
Mid-afternoon I have brown rice and chicken
For dinner I usually have a turkey sandwich on a bagel with a slice of cheese and a pear
After working out, I have a whey protein shake with skim milk

For working out, I do:

Day 1: side lateral raise, seated bent-over rear delta raise, front dumbbell raise, barbell shrug, hanging leg raise, and crunches
Day 2: Lying leg curl, stiff-legged barbell deadlift, bench, and pullups (last two just randomly thrown in because I don't have the equip to do the other stuff on the schedule I tried using from bodybuilding com)
Day 3: incline dumbbell press, bench press, incline dumbbell flyes, dumbbell flyes, bench dips, flat bench lying leg raise, and oblique crunches
Day 4: chin-up, bent over barbell row, one-arm dumbbell row, barbbell deadlift, hammer curls, and concentration curls

I guess my main problem is that I never know what else to eat. I want to be consistent with something cheap and easy to cook that doesn't taste too bad. I get really bad stomach aches if I eat eggs or bananas.

Should I just be buying saltines and PB and eat that at my desk all day? I don't think I can stand eating more chicken, and if I added something like pasta, it wouldn't be very nutritious.

If I was eating enough, how much weight could I expect to gain over a period like 12 weeks?

 

[CrazyBassGuy]

Ok this is a sample of my bulking day/week:

Breakfast: 100g oats, handful raisins, 1 chopped apple, 250ml milk. 2 scoops whey, water.
Snack: 200g tin of tuna, tbsp olive oil, 1 wholemeal pitta
Lunch: 100g wholemeal pasta, 1/2 tin mixed beans, 1 red pepper, 1tbsp olive oil. 2 pieces fruit
Snack (pre w/o): 5 oatcakes, 100g cottage cheese.
Snack (immediately post w/o): 2 scoops whey + 1 banana + 1 spoon natty PB (blender)
Dinner (30-40 mins post w/o): 2 fillets fish or 1 large chicken breast or 1 large steak + 400g mixed veg + 100g wholemeal pasta.

This is about 3500 cals.

Mon: Warm up push ups + warm up dips
Warm up bench press
Heavy Bench 5x5
Heavy Dumbell Incline press 5x5
Heavy pec flys 5x5 or 3x8
Dumbell pullovers or skullcrushers
Pushups to fail

Tue: 2.4 mile run (15 mins)

Wed: Warm up hammer curls
Barbell Row 5x5
Barbell Curl 5x5
Pullups 5x5
Dumbell Row 5x5 or 3x8

Thur: Bike or run (short high pace cardio)
Fri: Warm up deadlift
Heavy Deadlift 5x5
Dumbbell Lunges 3x10
or
Warm up Squat
Heavy Squat 5x5
Barbell Shrugs

Sat: Rest
Sun: Plyometric Circuits (nasty nasty nasty - will make you wonder why you bother)

I rarely do direct ab work as the heavy compound lifts should work your abs sufficiently.
If you want to - weighted crunches, hanging leg raises, russian twist, plank. I like them.

The fast, intense cardio will keep you fit and should help you stay lean while you bulk - this is as I understand it anyway.

Now I'm no personal trainer but this is what I do and it works well for me. Hopefully some other guys will have more comments for you

 

[mkretz]

seems like ur a completely different person after that last post haha...... id say it looks pretty good for the most part, I would add more protein to your lunch and take teh fat out of your post workout shake becasue this slows digestion. Also 1 banana isn't enough carbs i woudl say add another banana if you go the whoel food route or preferably some faster carbs like dextrose/maltodextrin or some WMS. I am currently 130 trying to bulk up with 3000 cals and so far havent really gained so i will probably me upping it so 3500 may not be enough for you, but take a week or two and see where your at, but i woudl consider upping it to more around 4,000 cals at your weight, GL

 

[mkretz]

o ****.... my bad thought that was teh OP that wrote that last post..... well...... ooops haha, follow his plan and u shoudl be good for hte msot part haha