posted Sun, 04/10/2022 - 11:46
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Hard to gain healthy weight
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I am late 40's, female. Had to decrease my lifting weight for some time now due to never ending neck and shoulder injuries. I've incorporated modifications and do lots of drop sets and TUT. I eat adequately and have a balance of macros. I know as we age we lose more of the subcutaneous fat and so forth. I have always been on the lean side due to fast metabolism. I still have muscle but I am looking more slender now. Unfortunately, if I gain even a couple pounds it all goes to my stomach. Eating refined carbs or junk will just raise cholesterol, etc. Creatine doesn't do anything for me. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to fill out more?
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A caloric excess, extra protein and strength training (deadlifts, squats, lunges etc) will probably help.
Eat more starchy carbs and healthy fats.
I eat 5 meals a day. Meal replacement shakes are useful for squezing in extra cals. Whole milk too. Cheap and calorie packed.
I do 6-7 meals...3 main, then snacks in btwn. unfortunately, any extra pounds goes to my stomach. maybe eventually it'll spread out.
For healthy weight gain eat a calorie surplus (obviously) e.g 2500/3000 calls for a 100lb person. 3-4g of carbs per lb of bodyweight, 0.8g to 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight and the rest in fats (4 cal per gram of carbs/protein,9cal per gram of fat).
Care to share your diet? You’ve said you’ve got it on locked and count your macros, I’d be interested in seeing what you’re eating
Sure...(protein for lunch/dinner is about 4-6 oz):
-morning 6am - eggs, 2 pc whole grain toast with some butter, coffee with creamer
-mid morning snack 9:30am - almonds and protein pancake
-lunch 12pm - chicken, turkey meatballs, or seasoned ground turkey; brown rice/quinoa, salad (including avocado)
-mid day snack (closer to workout) 3:15pm - apple, hard boiled egg with humus
-post workout 6:30pm - small bagel, whey protein shake with banana, kale, and use some half & half (creamier and to add some calories)
-dinner 7:45-8pm - protein (i.e. chicken, salmon, steak), sweet potato, veggie (green beans or asparagus)
-night time snack 9:30pm- peanut butter (like 2-3 tablespoons mixed with chia seeds, sounds weird but gives it a little crunch)
Water throughout the day. When I tracked before this was about 2000 calories or so
Looks like a well planned and thought out diet in my humble opinion. Do you know how many grams of protein you’re eating?
How long have you been training and dieting? Are you considering trying steroids now?
thanks, I’d say around 130-150g protein a day if I had to guess. training for 9 yrs.
I want to do hgh but main reason to try and heal the long term injuries. I’ve read it can increase lean muscle growth, but also cause weight loss and I definitely don’t want that, so still researching it and undecided if worth it.
Like Makwa said, nutrient timing is important and scheduling carbs around your training. I think the main question would be what your current goal is? It seems like you are trying to bulk and cut but getting the downsides of both.
You will gain some fat in a bulk and you will lose some fullness in a cut. I recommend looking at Makwa's dieting plans for either bulk or cut. Cycling your calories to keep the metabolism up and fat down.
Also, make sure you are drinking enough water. A common mistake many of us don't think about is subq water retention and bloating from sodium and some processed foods. We may feel fat but it could just be certain foods that don't work well for our bodies.
Nutrient timing could be your issue. Try timing all of your carb intake around a 4hr window of your workout. Carb meal 2hrs before workout, immediately post workout and then your main meal when you get home from gym. Protein and healthy fats the other times of the day. There is more to eating than just hitting your macro goals, you need to time them around when your body can most efficiently use them to optimize body composition.
PropheticWookieGreat thoughts, and how true. When I just ate, my body and workouts were not of high quality. But it was worth taking food on time, adjusting carbohydrates for training, as you wrote about, everything immediately became different.
Hi, I do eat carbs during those timeframes every meal, snack, shake, etc. (and everything else at other times). I'll have to see where I can increase the portion somewhere throughout the day.
If you are adhering to nutrient timing then I would follow this approach to putting on quality weight. First thing I would do though is perform a mini-cut for about 2 weeks to ensure you have optimum insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity could be your issue in the first place if all weight you gain seems to be fat. So reset it with a cut and then start the bulking routine indicated below.
https://www.eroids.com/forums/general/general-talk/i-know-my-tdee%E2%80%...
Start with increasing proteins. Then How are your healthy fats
Mac oil, almond butter , advocado
My body likes alittle higher fats before i raise my carbs. But everyone is different. But you have to try and dont get discouraged
My body does well to extra fats as well
So @Makwa definitely helped me realize that time under tension, shorter rest times, lifting with intention and having a good split makes muscle growth pop. I know as a male it’s easier to pack on muscle but I am coming from a triathlon back ground just 7 months ago. Using lighter weights and focus on the above really helped me. Makwa has this great post basically on how to get jacked that I try to workout by.
As far as I understand when your trying to gain size you might get a little fat on the way. I eat like 500 calories over my maintenance currently as I am trying to put on size. Even during PCT this has been working well! My abs are losing definition but there is always time for that summer cut. Makwa has a great post about bulk/cutting to.
The muscle definition, etc. isn't the issue, just to fill out a bit more if that makes sense. I just want 5 lbs! lol
The only options are muscle or fat. So a health body fat percentage and a little muscle I’d assume is what you mean by 5LBS. That should be very doable. Like Makwa said timing helps a lot. Definitely health fats play a big role in optimizing hormones for a healthy weight as well. Add in a good resistance training program and you got a recipe for your goal!
yeah, I'm OCD and have everything down pretty good (diet, w/o routine, etc.). Guess it can't hurt to go back and fine tune some things. thx
It’s true it’s all true , I know as males (speaking for myself) I get wrapped up in my bloods. Like the core four specifically , test, free, estro, pro.. It then becomes easier to overlook the basics aka humble beginnings. I wanted to give the miss proper advice but struggle with many issues the same. @getbuff17 great post it got (me) thinking. Not a lot of recent posts dial it back to proper clockwork thinking,, ie rushing to results. Much faith though!
@Makwa