The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

What are the possible reasons why I'm having so hard of a time gaining weight? What are some ways to help? Right now I'm trying to eat every few hours or at least drink something like kool-aide to keep the calories pumping in. However, I just can't seem to hold on to the weight I put on.

A little about me: I'm 19, 5'6, 112 lbs, and I'm hoping to gain at least 10-15 lbs. (Is that reasonable/good?) I go to school full time and work a part time job on campus (4hrs a day) so I have the time to do what's necessary for me to gain weight and keep it. Any suggesstions? I do a lot of walking to and from school because my apartment is just off campus. Is that a bad thing and something I should stop doing? Should I consult a physician?

Sorry for the unorganization of my post, it's just driving me crazy that I can't seem to gain any weight these days.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

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kool-aide


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Not the best way to gain weight.

You probably have a very active metabolism, so you just need to eat a lot. Try to eat more protein and fat, not sugar. Eat a lot. Lots and lots. Nuts, burgers, stuff like that.

Write down what you're eating and count your calories.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

First off, removing exercise is a horrible choice. Secondly, eating [censored] calories isnt a good idea. My roomate has an impossible time gaining weight, he's 6'3" and 140lb (imagine wut its like for him), and he eats fast food all the time, nothing matters. Basically your only choice is to take a weight-gainer supplement (which still might not work) and to start lifting weights (maybe switch to a high protein diet with lifting?). If your going to eat lots of food though, dont eat high fat/sugar crap. You still wont gain weight from it, and it can lead to future complications (think heart disease, diabetes, etc...u might think this is a joke, but i am being serious). Anyway good luck, your best bet is to go see a doctor/ trainer and get help.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

i think the biggest factor for people like you is that you have no idea what you are eating on a regular basis, its likely not very much...keep a food log for a week and see where you are with your cals...

if you are actually eating a lot like 3-5k calories per day then you will likely have to start force feeding yourself...you will have to eat even if you aren't hungry, something most people can't/won't do...oil/nuts/peanut butter are all cal dense food that don't have provide a lot of satiety so you can eat a ton...if you get truly desperate you can go on a more thremp style bulk, fast food, chicken pizza, tons of white rice/pasta etc...

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

I have this same problem, I don't like giving advice normally, because I don't think most people give good advice and I try not to contribute to that. Since I too am a hard gainer though I will.

With every meal I'll eat the clean, lean foods that are always recommended. Like chicken breast, some rice, broccoli or whatever, real clean good food with lots of protein. Then in that same sitting I'll also eat just whatever I can to fill the extra calories my body needs, ice cream usually cause it's so damn good and gets the job done quick, but it can probably be whatever you want.

Just keep increasing your calories this way until you see the desired gains. Always make sure to get enough clean foods though too. And since when I was lifting, I was also playing basketball a lot, this increased the amount I needed to eat even more, then the more you eat the more your metabolism goes up, so I had to eat even more...before I knew it I was eating 6k+calories a day to see the gains I desired. It was tough, eating every 90-180 minutes.

Atleast we can eat more food than the average person's daily diet and still lose weight though whenever we want.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

What type of lifting should I do? I'm not looking to get ripped...just looking to not look so damn skinny.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

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What type of lifting should I do? I'm not looking to get ripped...just looking to not look so damn skinny.

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I know much less about this, because what works for me is not what works for most people. I had to try a bunch of different stuff before I found what works for my body, and a bunch of people just told me what works for them thinking it should then work for me, but people's bodies are different.

Basically what I had to change to make it work was less lifting each session, less sessions per week, more rest and more food. One thing I learned is IF someone is either lifting too much or not enough, 99% of the time it is too much. If you want I can PM you to get more in detail about what I do, but I don't expect what I do by any means to work. There may be a better chance than the average person though seeing as we have a high metabolism and difficulty in gaining weight in common though.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

find a program from the faq...

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

I had the same kind of mechanism, and was also very physically active. I found the amount of food I ate was never enough, and I ate gigantic amounts, and frequently. Not even if I were sitting around all the time, but with my level of activity, forget it.

I finally started to gain some reasonable muscle only when I did very little but pure strength full-body exercises and ate so much it was very close to making me want to barf sometimes, and definitely made me feel uncomfortable and kind of freaky a whole lot of the rest of the time.

If you're truly a hard gainer/ultra-ectomorph, besides eating, gaining muscle is about a lot more than working out or being in shape. You have to do a certain kind of work-out and you have to choose being in one kind of shape rather than another. That's one of the tougher things for some of us; you have to not just do the right thing for your goal but limit your other options too. And you may enjoy some of those other things quite a bit or feel they are healthier for you. It's not really the path for everyone, or at any rate forever. You'll have to decide for yourself.

Re: The difficulty of GAINING weight: discussion
 

Use www.fitday.com for one week and report back. This is probably the easiest and most useful thing you can do to reach your goals. I'll be impressed if you average over 3000 calories a day.