Gaining good weight

[Itchik]

Hey fitbit world. I am a new user to fitbit (like as of thursday last week). I am pretty excited about it. Right now I am just tracking my habits for the coming week just to see what I am really like in terms of numbers etc.

My goal this year is to gain weight. I am 25 m,  naturally thin and on the tall side. I am not very active in terms of regularly working out or jogging etc, though I am pretty active in that I walk around alot and I am not sedentary. I have a high metabolism, whether I eat little or a lot it doenst really affect my weight gain. It is easier to lose weight than to gain weight. I hope to become more active and increase my appetite and gain "good weight."

Anyone have tips for me? I have tried to gain bulk in the past but I never had the signs of any results I wanted and I lost motivation after several weeks. Hopefully fitbit will motivate me. We shall see, wont we?

-cheers!

[TandemWalker]

Hi @Itchik - It may be worth your while in your case to see a nutritionist.  To me, gaining "good weight" is not about gaining fat but muscle mass; and at your age, it should be relatively easy to do just that, with a protein-rich diet and good carbs. I don't know if your activity for the last few days is representative of your activity level, but to me, that's pretty sedentary. You don't give a lot of detail but I gather from your post that you don't want to become a bodybuilder; but you're not happy being so slim and would like to gain so bulk. If bulk means muscle mass intead of fat, then you will definitely have to commit to an exercise regimen; and that will have to be accompanied with a proper diet. You cannot embark on a serious fitness program without proper nutrition to fuel your new energy needs.  HTH!  Take care Isaac!

[Itchik]

Thank you for your reply. No, the last few days isnt the best example of my average activity. One thing is I didnt wear my fitbit on friday or saturday so, that may explain a bit. I do sit a lot when I am working though. 

I would be willing to work out more I just dont really know what to do. Its all really new to me. I did like your advice about seeing a nutritionist, I will look into that. You are correct in that I am not looking to be a body builder per se, though I would like to gain some muscle and not be in the lower spectrum of my BMI.

[TandemWalker]

I am not a trained professional in the field; so even if I had more information about you, your general health and resources available, I would still be hesitant to offer any advice, as there are so many factors involved.

Walking,slowing buiilding it up over time and then incorporating intervals (jog 1 min, walk 4 min; and then increasing the job component to achieve a 50/50 spli) would be a good start on the cardio front; but it won't do much to built gain muscle mass in the upper body.

I would delay seeing the nutritionist until you can decide what tack to take on the firness front. For me, I am not a big fan of gym and fitness clubs. I much prefer doing my own thing, at my own pace.  I have had good success with thera bands. They are cheap and each one comes with a leaflet of a dozen or two of exercises that pretty much touch every muscle group. They are easy to use, easier to carry from place to place than weights, such that they can be used pretty much anywhere.  If you decide to go that way, I would start with the green color band (medium strength) and start the exercises very slowly; and build up from there progressively. You would be surprised how toned your upper body would get after just a couple of months.

If you decide to go that way,let me know via PM - there is a circuit program I do every second day that works pretty good.

HTH! Take care and GL!

[slysam]

Maybe I a missing it, do you strength train? You mention walking and running but I don't think those activities will increase your lean mass. Maybe a little if you were completely sedentary and then started, but not after a certain point or if you have been active for a while (Sprinting might). Usually a "good bulk" means more muscle mass and you would probably need to lift weights for that. You can get stronger with bodyweight exercises too, I am not sure how good they are for hypertrophy especially if you tend to be very lean with lower muscle mass. (You sound like an ectomorph, if so you might need to work harder to gain muscle than a mesomorph would).  That isn't necessarily the same as bodybuilding though they do bulking and cutting routines but it sunds like your goals are different. 

[TandemWalker]

Hi @slysam - Don't know if you're addressing this to me or the OP, but I agree; and that's why I suggested Thera Bands or any brand of resitance bands for that matter. I've had very good success with those, I can take them with me wherever I go ...

[josephz2va]

For starters, you need to see a sports nutritionist. A sports nutritionist will measure your body composition. Then they will generate a profile for what foods you enjoy and provide you a specialized diet. You need a consumption every 3 hours of proteins and supplements. So it helps to buy whey protein and one or two mixers from them to make two cups of whey protein for AM and PM breaks.

For me, I have a Gym Only mixer for my pre and pro workout sessions at the gym. And I have an AM/PM mixer in a different color to drink at 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM or closer to the end of my day before an hour trip home.

Most of your diet when it's generated would include a high protein. Either ready to eat meals or cookable meals along with superfood veggies.

Secondly would be exercises that will build muscle. If you can't afford a trainer, download an app based on this like Bodybuilding or if you have the dough, buy a DVD program for evening class training that will help shred fat and build muscle.

[slysam]

---

@TandemWalker wrote:

Hi @slysam - Don't know if you're addressing this to me or the OP, but I agree; and that's why I suggested Thera Bands or any brand of resitance bands for that matter. I've had very good success with those, I can take them with me wherever I go ...

---

Th OP--it wasn't a reflection on what you wrote just that he mentioned lots of good cardio but not strength training (unless I missed it).

[Itchik]

@josephz2va Thanks for your reply. I do think I could benefit from seeing a nutritionist, I had thought about that before, and it has been suggested. The idea does appeal to me. One of my issues is that I generally dont have a heavy appetite. When I do eat I eat alot but its not a regular schedule. So far my fitbit is telling me I have been burning slightly more calories than I bring in. Though I havent been to exactling on what I am eating. 

@slysam  I do not know exactly what you mean by strength train, I am not familiar with exercise terminology. I am sorry to say. I had found something online which seemed interesting at the time called "7 minute scientific workout", it was supposed to be good for core muscles and the like.This I did for several weeks, though I wasnt too happy with it. If it seems too good to be true it most likely isnt.

Thanks again to all who have responded to my queries. I am very much a "newby" at all this, so please pardon my ignorance.

[TandemWalker]

Oh please @Itchik , you don't have to apologize for ANYTHNG. This is precisely what this community is about! Believe me, once you start moving more and getting involved seriously in a fitness program of one sort or other, you WILL WANT TO EAT more, and rightfully so.

GL in all your endeavours and if you need any more help and want to query folks here, by all means do so, that's what it's all about.  Take care!

[slysam]

---

@Itchik wrote:

 @slysam  I do not know exactly what you mean by strength train, I am not familiar with exercise terminology. I am sorry to say. I had found something online which seemed interesting at the time called "7 minute scientific workout", it was supposed to be good for core muscles and the like.This I did for several weeks, though I wasnt too happy with it. If it seems too good to be true it most likely isnt.

---

Hi Itchik, I agree it would be a good idea to see a dietition, good nutritionist especailly since your goals are kind of specific. 

By strength training I mean exercises intended to strengthen your muscles and help you increase muscle mass over time. I used the term strength training to keep it a little non-specific. The most common form of strenght training is weight lifting, to gain muscle mass you usually need heavy weights (heavy for your strength). Other types of strength training include using resistance bands and bodyweight calisthenics (like pushups, pullups and squats, etc). Usually something that challenges the muscles enough that you can only do 5-15 or so reps before you need a rest. The specifics depend on your goals and fitness. But a movemtn you can do over and over (like wlaking or running steps) isn't training strength it is training your body for endurance. Both are beneficial to your health and fitness and are worth doing. Just since you mentioned a lot of endurance activity but no strenght exercise, I wondered whether you were doing any. Usually people who want to gain healthy muscle weight focus more on strength training. But it probably depends what or why you need to gain weight.

[Itchik]

In the mornings I used to do a series of squats, pushups and crunches. I use weights too when i do these things. I didnt realy see results after a few weeks. I am interested in these rubber strips. I think Ill try those out. I had also wondered if I should eat more and then work out or if working out would increase my appetite. chicken or the egg?

Thanks again to all who have taken their time to answer. Wishing all the best!

[slysam]

---

@Itchik wrote:

In the mornings I used to do a series of squats, pushups and crunches. I use weights too when i do these things. I didnt realy see results after a few weeks. I am interested in these rubber strips. I think Ill try those out. I had also wondered if I should eat more and then work out or if working out would increase my appetite. chicken or the egg?

Thanks again to all who have taken their time to answer. Wishing all the best!

---

It takes longer than a few weeks to see noticable results usually. Though it could be that your workout wasn't challenging enough for you. Also you don't want to strenght train the same muscles every day, so if your strenght work was pushups, squats and crunches you would want to do them every other day at most. And the workouts should get harder and involve higher resistance. You can build good strenght with bodyweight, but you probably would need to progress to harder versions of the exercises because if you keep it the same you stop improving and only maintain (which is fine if you are happy where you are).  The resistance bands might help as it is easier to increase the resistance on them once you know how. To gain weight you do want to eat more than you burn. For most people (saying that as the majority want to lose some weight) that is easy to do. I am not sure that it is easy to do for people who struggle to maintain their weight so you might need to make an effort to eat more. I don't know much about healthy weight gain because that has never been my personal goal. I have read that people wanting to gain some muscle mass usually more than they burn (especially protein) and they strength train. I think it is usually a fairly long process just like weight loss is for most people (depending how much they want to gain). And if you are female, it is even harder to gain muscle weight because we don't have very much of the hormones that stimulate muscle growth. With a good strength workout you should feel stronger after a few sessions if you are eating enough and you might start to see some results in about a month or so if your body fat is low but the bigger results do take time.

[Heybales]

As mentioned, strength training - weight lifting, is the only thing that will get you to increase muscle mass, which is the only good weight you could gain. (outside needed water weight as part of exercise changes)

The basics of a good lifting routine. Body weight and bands will soon not be enough, you'd have to do so many reps with them eventually that the response by the body is no longer to build more muscle, but make the existing muscle endure longer, so more cardio than strength training.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Guidelines.html

And then get a program together.

http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Instructions.html

And it will take longer than a couple weeks, and that's even if doing it very correct, which I doubt you were able to with limited resources available.

There are some body weight stuff available there, but not much. If you can do 20 reps of pushups x 3 sets, then you already need more weight for bench press. Pullups is likely good for awhile. Squats and lunges without extra weight are probably not useful right now, though 1-legged stuff can take bodyweight exercise to a better workout.

[Itchik]

Interesting and helpful info thanks!

[wapuka]

As a professional in the Body Building World for 35 years, a certified personal trainer before anyone knew

what that meant and a judge wtih the NPC, back off on cardio, your walks and spend three months in

the gym developing lean tissue.  Train to 80 percent of your max.  That means getting down to the 4 rep range.  Hire a personal trainer that is worth their weight in gold, hard to find.  Proper bio-mechanics, no momentum and enertia. And when you do return to cardio, perform cardio AFTER your weight training

session so as not to burn your valuable glycogen stores before your weight training session.

Good to see you are asking!  That means you are hungry for results:)  Natasha