I’ve been lifting steadily since last May. I’ve had some good progress…and some good regression of progress!
During this time I’ve change my diet around quite a bit. Gone on a few long fasts, cut out all dairy and eggs from my diet, and am now settled into a good groove.
I’m still pushing to get my bodyweight up to 165 lbs. I’m sitting at 151 as of this morning (12% bodyfat). The most I’ve ever weighed (two years ago) was 160.
My STRENGTH is progressing steadily. I’m super happy about that, but the WEIGHT just isn’t going anywhere.
When Rob came to visit a few weeks ago (he’s a Vegan Bodybuilder) I got a wake up call to how much I really need to be eating to gain muscle. I wrote a while back about my experiment with a high calorie diet. Let me tell you. IT AIN’T EASY! Last year I maintained a 3200 cal/day diet for a few weeks and it was almost as hard as going on a two week fast (ok, not quite that hard!).
Really, anyone who thinks that eating a lot is easy hasn’t tried to do it CONSISTENTLY.
Left to my druthers, I will consume about 2000 calories a day (on a vegan diet). When I was lacto-ovo vegetarian, I was probably getting around 2200-2300 a day without trying too hard. My basal metabolic rate is about 1800 day. Since I exercise everyday, and keep active at other times throughout the day (walking around, doing stairs, stretching), I end up most days in a caloric deficit.
This is bad is your goal is to gain weight!
I really need to stick to around 3000 calories a day to gain size at a good pace. So….for the past week or so, I’ve been GETTIN’ MY EAT ON!!! I’m getting around 2600 calories a day and actually feel pretty good eating this much. The biggest trick for me is to get calories early in the day and also in the afternoon. I can’t just rely on big lunches and dinner like I use to do.
I’m slowly gonna keep increasing my calories until I get to 3000 or so.
When I was a morbidly-overweight kid about 15 years ago I never would’ve imagined I’d have to TRAIN MYSELF TO EAT!
Wow, how times have changed :)
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m with you on this! I’m trying to gain weight as well, and it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. I’ve only gained a couple pounds in a few months.
It’s hard to gain weight while eating healthy for me. I’ve started to eat much more fruits this week and we’ll see how that goes. You can also try eating 3 ounces of nuts a day, approx 600 calories.
what kinds of foods are you eating to help tip over your natural eating limit?
I’m a vegan as well (also on Vegan Bodybuilding) (and indian!)
keep up the great work on the blog.
Whenever I flirted with serious body building (which really only lasted for about 6 months) I really struggled with gaining the weight. Looking back, I know that I did not understand how much food I really needed to eat.
My brother was a very serious body builder in college. He would toast roughly half a loaf bread with breakfast. Eating was a non-stop action for him. Although, he was not exactly concentrating on nutrition.
I defintely feel eating and diet is the hardest part of body building. Lifting is the fun part.
Hey Chuck, did your brother actually step on stage and compete as a bodybuilder?
Hey KJS, I have been taking a meal replacement drink called Vega (www.myvega.com). I also have been eating more bananas (3 per day, mostly before noon) and a few energy bars.
Another trick is to make sure I get in 300-500 calories right after working out. My body sucks up anything I take in then.
He was very serious about it and at several points did consider competing but never did. He was all natural. (no steroids or HgH) I think he would compare himself to professionals that use somewhat questionable medical practices. He would watch the Schwarzenneggar documentary “Pumping Iron” on a regular basis. He would do tanning to increase definition and shave regularly.
Imagine someone with my kind of body type (somewhat tall and skinny) with 205 lbs of muscle.
Hey Ravi
I’m with you too, gaining weight (the right kind) is tough!
Charles is spot on saying that lifting is the fun part! Hitting the gym is easy - eating right is the tricky bit. Especially when eating right means eating lots AND eating healthy.
But hey - its all good!
Good luck mate - keep us updated on your progress!
Ross
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