cant gain weight

[Lagrangian]

Originally Posted by stinger70

I would be gaining a bit of fat each week if i wasnt working out correctly, but instead im gaining nothing despite eating a lot more than maintenance every day.

No. You'd be gaining a bit of fat every week if you did something RIGHT, because thats how gaining mass generally works - you amass new tissue, some muscle some adipose.

Originally Posted by stinger70

Its pretty stupid saying ive put no effort in, most people dont actually try, but ive gone out and bought the right kind of foods, prepared them etc totally changed my diet and lifestyle.

It's pretty stupid to ignore the multitude of advice given to you ITT regarding putting on the weight you so eagerly want. You can go on doing the **** you do now, that's fine, but you won't be getting anywhere.

OR you could actually try out some of the stuff here, put down some calories and do compound lifts as heavy and as often as you can - I mean, the worst that could happen is that you gain nothing, but how does that differ from your current situation.

 

[jarude]

Originally Posted by stinger70

because 6'1 and 140 is anorexic. I only want another 20lb of combined muscle and fat. No problem being slim i just want to fill out arm holes and have a bit of a chest. Guys im staying with are my age or younger and slim but muscular and look properly ripped just from doing a bit of gym work- dont eat a quarter of what i eat. Even the 6lb i gained made me feel better and so has the gym work, so i want to take it further.

Its pretty stupid saying ive put no effort in, most people dont actually try, but ive gone out and bought the right kind of foods, prepared them etc totally changed my diet and lifestyle. I would be gaining a bit of fat each week if i wasnt working out correctly, but instead im gaining nothing despite eating a lot more than maintenance every day.

hurf durf hurf. every single bit of advice needed to gain muscle and strength is present in this thread, via direct advice or a link to somewhere helpful. there is no need for you to post any more.

honestly, if you're serious about wanting to progress with this, you have every tool at your disposal to succeed. as a reformed skinny *****, i can tell you you can succeed, if you actually think about what you're doing. i was you, once - complaining about not being able to gain because of a unique and special situation that only i found myself in. fortunately, i realized i was being a *****, and started doing everything right.

whats the right way, you ask? you've already been told in many different ways. come back when you have spent a month eating and lifting consistently. that means logging your actual daily intake every day and logging your workouts. from there you'll be able to troubleshoot.

 

[Crane's]

Originally Posted by jarude

hurf durf hurf. every single bit of advice needed to gain muscle and strength is present in this thread, via direct advice or a link to somewhere helpful. there is no need for you to post any more.

honestly, if you're serious about wanting to progress with this, you have every tool at your disposal to succeed. as a reformed skinny *****, i can tell you you can succeed, if you actually think about what you're doing. i was you, once - complaining about not being able to gain because of a unique and special situation that only i found myself in. fortunately, i realized i was being a *****, and started doing everything right.

whats the right way, you ask? you've already been told in many different ways. come back when you have spent a month eating and lifting consistently. that means logging your actual daily intake every day and logging your workouts. from there you'll be able to troubleshoot.

Yep, got to start somewhere and then modify what you do to reach your goal. It's really not that hard.

 

[speedy4500]

From a hilarious interview with Dave Tate ............ There was a time at the Old Westside gym where I couldn't gain weight to save my ******* life. There was this dude who trained there who could just put on weight like ******* magic. He'd go from 198 to 308 and then to 275 and back down to 198. And he was never fat. It was amazing. I finally asked him one day how he did it. "You mean I never told you the secret to gaining weight? Come outside and I'll fill you in." Now remember, we're at Westside Barbell. And this guy wants to go outside to talk so no one else can hear. Think about that for a minute. What the hell is he going to tell me? This must be some serious **** if we have to go outside, I thought. So we get outside and he starts talking. "For breakfast you need to eat four of those breakfast sandwiches from McDonalds. I don't care which ones you get, but make sure to get four. Order four hash browns, too. Now grab two packs of mayonnaise and put them on the hash browns and then slip them into the sandwiches. Squish that **** down and eat. That's your breakfast." At this point I'm thinking this guy is nuts. But he's completely serious. "For lunch you're gonna eat Chinese food. Now I don't want you eating that crappy stuff. You wanna get the stuff with MSG. None of that non-MSG bullshit. I don't care what you eat but you have to sit down and eat for at least 45 minutes straight. You can't let go of the fork. Eat until your eyes swell up and become slits and you start to look like the woman behind the counter." "For dinner you're gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don't like sardines, don't put 'em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that ****** up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that **** over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the **** out of it." "Now before you lay into it, I want you to sit on your couch and just stare at that ******. I want you to understand that that pizza right there is keeping you from your goals." This guy is in a zen-like state when he's talking about this. "Now you're on the clock," he continues. "After 20 minutes your brain is going to tell you you're full. Don't listen to that ****. You have to try and eat as much of the pizza as you can before that 20-minute mark. Double up pieces if you have to. I'm telling you now, you're going to get three or four pieces in and you're gonna want to quit. You ******* can't quit. You have to sit on that couch until every piece is done. And if you can't finish it, don't you ever come back to me and tell me you can't gain weight. 'Cause I'm gonna tell you that you don't give a **** about getting bigger and you don't care how much you lift!" Did I do it? Hell yeah. Started the next day and did it for two months. Went from 260 pounds to 297 pounds. And I didn't get much fatter. One of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, though.

 

[Kajak]

Dave Tate admits he became a fatass though. But OP could stand to use that advice... I eat 5000kcal and am gaining slowly and steadily. OP, you're at 3. Sorry, but thats not "trying". I know I can eat 6000kcal a day, at least, so I could be trying harder. Hell I could probably eat 7 or 8 if I consistently pushed myself. You can too, if you try. Also, you're not doing heavy compound lifts. Step one: http://www.utorrent.com/ Press the big download button Step two http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5960...ion%5D-Mantesh Step three: read. Step four: do what Rippetoe says. Step five: buy the book. Are you tracking your diet or just estimating? www.fitday.com How much Whole Milk are you drinking? Try drinking 4L a day. $3 for 2400 calories. Epic weightgaining win. Note: you weighed 130 at 6ft1? don't worry about getting fat. Just eat big, lift heavy, and sleep long. If you get a little soft after gaining 20-25 lbs of mixed muscle and fat, you could probably just stop forcefeeding yourself and shed the fat and keep the muscle (as long as you keep lifting).

 

[simondacis]

If You want to gain the weight, Protein is one of the best source for fat. If We consume more and more protein food then I am sure that We will easily gain the weight.

 

[northnick]

Originally Posted by asdf

I don't care what your motives are, but I know what your goals are and how to get there:

Starting. Strength. Buy it, steal it, look it up online, I dont care.
If you're a ***** and don't like it, look up Wendler's 5-3-1.
If you're a ***** and don't like that, look up Starr 5x5, but frankly Starr and Wendler are too advanced for you and Strarting Strength is the infallible easy answer.

Don't say you're already doing the same stuff, because it's apparent that you are not.
This is not rocket science.

Are you aware?

 

[suited]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

lol. why do you want to gain weight when youre naturally not gaining? just go with the flow and stay slim. you'll appreciate it when you hit 30 and blow up to 200 lbs and get a big ol potbelly. we all were like this at 23. trust me.
I wasn't, mostly because I had a much better routine and diet than the OP. I also know plenty of people in their 30s that are in the best shape of their lives. First off, if you're really eating 3k calories a day (which I highly doubt you are) and not gaining weight at 140lbs, that's a little suspicious. Bump it up to 3500, assuming you're actually counting your calories at this point, again, which I doubt you are. If the OP does not know what compound movements are, I sincerely doubt he's counting his calories with any degree of accuracy. You're 140lbs. Do not do anything in the gym except the following movements: Deadlift, Squat, Bench, Overhead Press, Dips, Chins, Barbell Row. Also, ignore the recommendations from anyone that advised you to spend money on anything (other than more food/protein/Meal Replacements).

 

[inq89]

I am another strong believer in compound movements, eating, sleeping, and repeating.

Starting Strength is all you need. Seriously. No...seriously.

I started SS in January of this year. By May I had gone up from 150lbs to 165lbs at 6'1" (noob gains). I currently weigh 175 to 180lbs and my bf has stayed pretty constant. After a full year of working out, only NOW have I moved on from Starting Strength to a more advanced 4 day split. I promise you OP, do SS and eat a ton of (mostly clean) food and you will see vast improvement. You should aim for 3500 cals at the very least.

 

[suited]

Originally Posted by inq89

I am another strong believer in compound movements, eating, sleeping, and repeating. Starting Strength is all you need. Seriously. No...seriously. I started SS in January of this year. By May I had gone up from 150lbs to 165lbs at 6'1" (noob gains). I currently weigh 175 to 180lbs and my bf has stayed pretty constant. After a full year of working out, only NOW have I moved on from Starting Strength to a more advanced 4 day split. I promise you OP, do SS and eat a ton of (mostly clean) food and you will see vast improvement. You should aim for 3500 cals at the very least.
I'd say at the most, not the least (he's 140lbs). Eating excessively over maintenance will lead to fat gain. If your body only needs 3k calories to grow, eating 4000 will not make you gain muscle at a faster rate - rather you'll just put on more bf than needed. Your body can only build muscle so fast.

 

[fuji]

I was in a pretty similar situation to you except I was about 115lb and 6'2", which is a lot thinner. I thought I was lifting enough and eating enough, but I was just eating **** and doing light dumb bell exercises. Eventually I joined a proper gym, did heavy compound lifts (doing 300lb dead lifts now) and started eating **** loads and I'm at 160lb after about 8 months. I still very thin, but I have a very low body fat %. As everyone else said you're not eating enough and you're probably doing **** exercises or you're not fatiguing your self enough. Don't just ******** though, even if you're just trying to gain weight don't just eat tonnes of carbs and little protein, you don't want to get skinny fat. I really doubt your a harder gainer then me, I have marfans disease, which makes gaining weight very difficult and I still managed to put on 45lb.

 

[sho'nuff]

i wish i had this problem of not being able to gain weight. i can put on 5 pounds over the weekend if i wanted to without even blinking

 

[stinger70]

Originally Posted by suited

I wasn't, mostly because I had a much better routine and diet than the OP. I also know plenty of people in their 30s that are in the best shape of their lives.

First off, if you're really eating 3k calories a day (which I highly doubt you are) and not gaining weight at 140lbs, that's a little suspicious. Bump it up to 3500, assuming you're actually counting your calories at this point, again, which I doubt you are. If the OP does not know what compound movements are, I sincerely doubt he's counting his calories with any degree of accuracy.

You're 140lbs. Do not do anything in the gym except the following movements: Deadlift, Squat, Bench, Overhead Press, Dips, Chins, Barbell Row.

Also, ignore the recommendations from anyone that advised you to spend money on anything (other than more food/protein/Meal Replacements).

Believe me, i am eating 3000 per day. Some days more. I ALWAYS count calories. When im at home its all calculated to a set plan and i eat the same foods to ensure a minimum of 3000 and then have different snacks and odd things on top of that. Its the right foods as well, brown bread, brown pasta, turkey mince, tuna, eggs etc. Everyone chooses to disbelieve me rather than accept that maybe i AM tracking my calories and HAVE put some effort and research into my diet. I've been doing it on and off for years, but only recently did i really go for it properly, and it worked until i hit 140 and then that was it. Tried stuffing more food, but no more progress. Ive been doing bench and dips, but not the others.

 

[suited]

Originally Posted by stinger70

Believe me, i am eating 3000 per day. Some days more. I ALWAYS count calories. When im at home its all calculated to a set plan and i eat the same foods to ensure a minimum of 3000 and then have different snacks and odd things on top of that. Its the right foods as well, brown bread, brown pasta, turkey mince, tuna, eggs etc. Everyone chooses to disbelieve me rather than accept that maybe i AM tracking my calories and HAVE put some effort and research into my diet. I've been doing it on and off for years, but only recently did i really go for it properly, and it worked until i hit 140 and then that was it. Tried stuffing more food, but no more progress. Ive been doing bench and dips, but not the others.
First things first, your routine needs a lot of work. Make a routine out of the movements I listed in my previous post. You can google videos of how to do them online. You need to train your legs. You need to be doing heavy compound movements. Second, start eating more than you are now. About 4-500 calories more per day. It should not be hard to gain weight at 140lbs. If you think it's hard now, you're going to struggle if your goal is to reach 200lbs, or anything close to it. Buy a good whey protein powder (Optimum Nutrition 100% whey) and mix it with milk, peanut butter, and a tablespoon of olive oil. You can get 1000 calories out of a shake pretty easily.

 

[Lagrangian]

Tell me again, why are you against doing compound lifts as they are the basis for practically every novice lifting program that produce exactly the types of results you're after?