Can't gain weight (already overeating, need serious help) - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

Andrew29 · 06-14-2006, 06:07 PM

Of course i'm an ectomorph; I can't even believe how fast my metabolism is. I'm currently 22 years old, 5'5" and 130lbs. I've been trying to bulk up for the past 2 months and have gained maybe 2 pounds. My diet originally started around 2800 calories/day. It's been increasing constantly every week or so. For the past 2 weeks now, it's been nearly 4000 calories/day...and still NO gain in weight, and NO increases in strength. Metabolism is so fast; I hate my body. Does anyone have any words of advice? I really don't think I can find more time to eat in my day. I also do very little athletic activities in a week. In any given week, I may go golfing once (walk 6000 yards) and work out 3 times/week. I'm definetly very dedicated, but am getting really discouraged. Below is my diet.

Meal #1 @ 10am (Protein: 36, Fat: 13, Carbs: 117, Calories: 740)
Oatmeal, scoop of weight gainer, serving of fruit

Meal #2 @ 12pm postworkout (Protein: 28, Fat: 7, Carbs 61, Calories: 410)
Scoop of weight gainer, yogurt

Meal #3 @ 3pm (Protein: 78, Fat: 11, Carbs: 45, Calories: 640)
Chicken, frozen vegatables, baked potato

Meal #4 @ 6pm (Unknown, Calories: minimum 500 calories)
Serving of fruit, this meal is cooked by my parents, so I'm not entirely sure of all the nutritional information.

Meal #5 @ 9pm (Protein: 44, Fat: 44, Carbs: 83, Calories: 890)
Scoop of weight gainer, milk, 2 slices bread, flax oil

Meal #6: @ 12am before bed (Protein: 49, Fat: 19, Carbs: 103, Calories: 784)
Scoop weight gainer, soy nuts, oatmeal

Daily total (NOT including meal #4)
Protein: 240g, Fat: 93.5g, Carbs: 430g, Calories: 3552)

Naxis · 06-14-2006, 06:36 PM

You eat admirably clean. Add more EFAs. You're getting plenty of carbohydrates and protein, but including more flax, and fatty fish/fish oil may help you put on some more muscle and add a few hundred more calories without being filling or adding another meal. Some olive oil and nuts would be good additions as well. Just one or two tablespoons of flax in the morning shake, some olive oil over the vegetables and/or potato, try to include some salmon or mackerel in there too if you can. What time is your last meal of the day? Do you eat before bed? What is your pre and post workout meals? Those two meals can make a huge difference.
Also, you might want to revamp your training a bit - granted I don't know what your weight training looks like now. I have found that every other week, training heavy eccentric reps helps to add mass, especially for ectomorphs.

chigs489 · 06-14-2006, 06:54 PM

the issue may be your workouts. Do you do cardio? High rep weights?

Focus on heavy lifting, low repitition, especially the leg press & military press. 2 reps max.

Do this for a few weeks and you will start to get serious bulk in your thighs, calves, shoulders, and triceps.

Your diet is fine -I don't think that is the issue.

Andrew29 · 06-14-2006, 06:57 PM

Naxis, I added the meal times to the original post. All the times are approximate of course. When I say oatmeal, it's actually rolled oats grinded up and mixed with a weight gainer shake, does that change the value of the oats in any way? Meal #2 is eaten every day, and is also my post workout shake. Meal #6 is eaten almost right before bed.

My workouts are Mon, Wed, and Fri. I try to keep all workouts under an hour. They are low-rep, high weight. I usually aim for 6 reps per set. And approx. 6 sets per body part after warm-up.

Naxis · 06-14-2006, 09:21 PM

So you workout between meal 1 and 2? Do you have any plain whey? Can you get dextrose? Ideally your post workout shake should be just whey and dextrose taken within 15 to 20 minutes of your last rep.

As for your workouts, I'd highly recommend adding occasional higher rep days (8-10/to failure) and every two or three weeks, heavy/slow eccentric rep workouts. Variety will make a huge difference.

Are you using free weights or machines? Are you doing compound exercises or isolation? You hitting legs too?

And putting the oats in a shake doesn't change the 'value' any, although I'm not sure what value you're talking about. The only thing the oats do in relation to the shake is slow the digestion of the shake (fiber) and drop the GI rating a little probably. Not especially significant, although you may be served better with a higher GI meal pre-workout.