Flowbot's Journey to being fit...

[FlowBot]

Hey, guys I thought I would go out of my zone and try this out. I would appreciate and advice you can guys can possibly give. As, I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions.

I'm 5'101/2 and 132 lbs.

My goal for now is to gain around 20 lbs and to gain upper body strength.

I don't have a time table for it, as I want to do slowly and healthy, at the same time getting into shape.

I have never my whole life, been able to get any upper body strength and it is about time I do!

I started on my journey today by going to the grocery store and starting on a new diet.

I'm now planning on eating,

Breakfast:
1 cup of whole-grain oatmeal
2 scrambled eggs
1 cup of milk

Snack:
2 pieces of whole grain bread
1 apple

Lunch: turkey burger
whole grain bun
1 cup of black beans
1 cup of milk

Snack:
2 pieces of whole grain bread
1 apple

Dinner: Varies
But either fish, chicken, or ground turkey
Veggies
1 cup of whole grain pasta

Snack:
1 cup of milk

For the next week or two, I'm concentrating more on starting off on the new diet more than working out.

My main concern is though, from calculating it all. I don't think I'm getting enough calories to gain weight. Also do you think I'm getting enough fat in the diet?

Do you guys got any suggestions on how to increase my calorie count?

To sustain my current weight I need around 2350, so I would like to eat around 2800. I'm running around probably 2000 or so with the current plan.

I don't want to take any supplements except as a last resort, I prefer to do this the natural way.








I know I'm too skinny and underweight, so please be nice.

[FlowBot]

Sorry about the double post, I was having trouble with getting the pictures to show, and I couldn't update the original post any more.

[KaraBulut]

One thing that I find unusual in your post is that you're very focused on your diet.

To accomplish what you want to accomplish, you're going to have to eat a lot more food. A LOT more food.

Guys who are very serious about bodyuilding and are preparing for a show will weigh their food and will know how many cups of food they are consuming.

Guys who are where you are should not be measuring their food. You should be eating very calorie dense food and should not be focusing on portion control.

The key to everything is a very aggressive weight lifting program. But to get you into a normal height-weight proportion, you're going to have to give some thought about your relationship with food because you're not eating enough to maintain your basic body functions much less to put on muscle mass.

[D_Pipa]

You need to eat a lot more than that.

1 cup of milk won't help you a lot. Try smoothies?

I know you dont want to try supplements but whey protein is the best. You could add it with milk for snack?

Add cottage cheese with rye crackers, it tastes amazing

For wholemeal breads, add turkey, chicken or tuna (brine) P

It is best for you to try eat at least about 3000 calories. I am the same as you and 3000 calories is the best.

Add flaxseeds oil, it is considered as nature's richest source of omega-3 for almost whole of body systems.

[codeerror]

Hi FlowBot,
Nice of you to share your journey with us. I'll be checking every update from now on.
I agree with Karabulut, your focus should be on eating enough food.
Your diet looks quite similar to a cutting diet to me, and the last thing you wanna do is loose weight.
I think you should try supplements, nothing wrong with them. They have 'gainers' that usually consists of Proteins and carbs, It'll be just right for you.

Good luck!
CE

[Nephelauxetic]

I eat similar but I'm trying to loose some weight...
I think you need to eat more, especially more protein and carbs. Make sure you're carbs come from complex sources (whole grain stuff) but I don't think you have a problem with that.
Don't be worried about the fat. Diary products and eggs contain it. The oil used for cooking should contain enough essential fatty acids.
Eat more vegetables.
I agree with you that you don't need any sups.

The whole thing wont work without doing a good workout: you don't want to get fat, do you? Do some full body routines with free weights. The weights have to be heavy such that you can only do about 12 repetitions per set. The exercises should be natural movements: squat, deadlift, lunge, push, pull and twist are the important movements. A full body routine could look like this

Deadlift 3 sets
Chin-up 3 sets
Row 2 sets
Bench-Press 3 sets
Shoulder-Press 2 sets
Squat 3 sets
Lunge 2 sets
Crunch 2 sets

Oh I forgot. I think you see that I think it's very important that you also train your legs. In the legs there are some of the biggest muscles and training them will simulate the hormones that influence muscle growth in the whole body.


That's a really tough workout and I'm sure you'll make good progress as long as you stick to good exercise form and heavy and increasing weights.

Cheers
Neph

[FlowBot]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah, I figured I would have to eat more.

I'm just kinda unsure on what to eat more of. I want to eat healthy.

I'm thinking I'll have a lot more whole wheat pasta, some more meat, and more oatmeal.

Is that good enough?

I'm still not going to try the supplements yet. If after two weeks though and I don't gain any weight, then I will def. consider it.

I'm going to start working out this weekend, so hopefully my progress will start soon.

[KaraBulut]

You should start with a calorie count on your current diet.

Just at a glance, I would say that the meal plan that you've proposed is about 1/2 to 1/3 of the calories that you need to add muscle.

The RDA minimum for a male in your age group is 2400 kcal/day.

There's a food calculator you can use here:
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_food.php

[FlowBot]

Thanks for the food calculator link. What a awesome site!

Using the calculator, and by increasing the amount of the foods I'm currently eating during the day.

I got this total.

Calories Protein Fat Carbs Fiber Sodium
3,022.9 179.0 72.7 423.1 78.6 2,400.6
% of Calories: 23% 21% 55%

How does that seem for helping me to increase weight and bulk up? Is it enough and healthy?

[Nephelauxetic]

I got this total.

Calories Protein Fat Carbs Fiber Sodium
3,022.9 179.0 72.7 423.1 78.6 2,400.6
% of Calories: 23% 21% 55%

How does that seem for helping me to increase weight and bulk up? Is it enough and healthy?

That depends on the sport. A hard weightlifting workout will easily burn another 500 kcals.
But as basic nutrition to gain weight it looks ok and rather healthy.

[Muscles4daze]

Hey, guys I thought I would go out of my zone and try this out. I would appreciate and advice you can guys can possibly give. As, I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions.

I'm 5'101/2 and 132 lbs.

My goal for now is to gain around 20 lbs and to gain upper body strength.

I don't have a time table for it, as I want to do slowly and healthy, at the same time getting into shape.

I have never my whole life, been able to get any upper body strength and it is about time I do!

I started on my journey today by going to the grocery store and starting on a new diet.

I'm now planning on eating,

Breakfast:
1 cup of whole-grain oatmeal
2 scrambled eggs
1 cup of milk

Snack:
2 pieces of whole grain bread
1 apple

Lunch: turkey burger
whole grain bun
1 cup of black beans
1 cup of milk

Snack:
2 pieces of whole grain bread
1 apple

Dinner: Varies
But either fish, chicken, or ground turkey
Veggies
1 cup of whole grain pasta

Snack:
1 cup of milk

For the next week or two, I'm concentrating more on starting off on the new diet more than working out.

My main concern is though, from calculating it all. I don't think I'm getting enough calories to gain weight. Also do you think I'm getting enough fat in the diet?

Do you guys got any suggestions on how to increase my calorie count?

To sustain my current weight I need around 2350, so I would like to eat around 2800. I'm running around probably 2000 or so with the current plan.

I don't want to take any supplements except as a last resort, I prefer to do this the natural way.








I know I'm too skinny and underweight, so please be nice.

To put on Muscle your gonna have to eat more, and make sure you throw some protein shakes and lean meats in there as well. That diet is gonna make you lose more weight.

[FlowBot]

I know a lot of you were saying, that the list of food wasn't enough to gain any weight, so I took it and ate a lot more of some of the items from the list. I have been having about 2800-3000 calories a day for the past week and half.

But from last Wed to today, I dropped from 135 to 130. Obviously, I'm going to have the up the calories. But, how much 3500? 4000?

The problem is with how much I'm eating now, I feel full throughout the day and I don't think I could force myself to eat anymore. So, I really don't know. I'm going to try to find other healthful foods that have a lot of calories, but after reading up on this for two weeks now, I can't figure out what those foods are.

Right now for exercise, I'm alternating between my legs and abs one day, and then working out my arms the other. I do cardio every day too.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[D_Pipa]

your diet seems like it has not enough calories

i eat about 3500 calories, im 5.6 in height and 127 lbs, my diet is:

Breakfast
Porridge (45g)
Whey protein (25g)
Semi skimmed milk (300ml)
Eggs (2)
Wholemeal toasts (2)

Morning snack
Turkey (6)
Wholemeal bread (2)
Mayo (1 tbsp)
Butter (1 tbsp)

Lunch
Chicken fillet
Wholemeal pasta (60g)
Tomato sauce
Flaxseed oil (1 tsp)
Wholemeal pitta bread

Afternoon snack
Smoothie:
Raspberries (100g)
Blueberries (50g)
Blackberries (50g)
Strawberries (50g)
Flaxseed oil (1 tsp)
Whey Protein (25g)
Semi skimmed milk (300ml)

Post workout (Not on sunday as itll be a rest day)
Whey protein (60g)
Water

Dinner
Salmon
New potatoes (5 pieces)
Processed peas (25g)

Night snack
Cottage cheese (100g)
Rye crackers (2)

I think you should get protein shake, its easy to drink all those calories.

Do workout, you need to work out and eat hard at the same to achieve what you aim for

The cardio, you need to do less but it is essential. Do free weight, it is a way to gain muscles. Do 2 bodyparts per day, e.g:

MONDAY: Chest, Triceps
TUESDAY: Shoulders, Back
WEDNESDAY: Legs, Biceps,
THURSDAY: Chest, Triceps
FRIDAY: Shoulders, Back
SATURDAY: Legs, Biceps,
SUNDAY: REST DAY

Do cardio, half hour to hour per day or whatever you like to do. Swimming would be good too

[FlowBot]

It's been almost a month now since I started my new diet and working out. I first dropped down to 130lbs. But, then I ramped up to about 3000-3200 calories a day and work out almost every day. I'm now at 140lbs.

[Sultan]

You look like you've made some good progress and look healthier now. This is interesting because I want to gain some weight too but the only weight I really have is in my gut.

What kinds of foods do you eat that give you a lot of calories but are low in fat?

[FlowBot]

Thanks,

I eat a lot of whole grains to get a lot of the calories. Oatmeal, pasta, and brown rice. You have to eat a lot of them, but I find it is the best way to get a lot of calories.

Like with the oatmeal, I make 2 cups worth of it uncooked. It has almost 600 calories.

I eat the whole grains, and then complement them with lean means, veggies, and fruits.

[yeahman21]

Keep going! Keep bulking and then you can cut down and focused on getting ripped. Right now just eat eat eat.