Ask HN: How do you gain weight?
Context: a skinny guy, 24 years old.
Currently, I am working at a startup. I am used to walk to the office. I don't do regular exercises, except walking and doing chores. I usually eat three times each day. No snack.
Currently, I am working at a startup. I am used to walk to the office. I don't do regular exercises, except walking and doing chores. I usually eat three times each day. No snack.
Lift Heavy. Stop wasting time with curls and flies. Do free weight, compounds like Squats and Deadlifts instead. These exercises work more muscles with heavier weight. They trigger more strength and muscle gains, and will make you go from skinny to muscular.
Be Consistent. The total calories you eat on a weekly and monthly basis must be higher than the calories your body burns. If you eat a lot today but then little the rest of the week, you won’t gain weight. You have to consistently eat more than you burn to increase your weight.
Read more https://stronglifts.com/gain-weight/
Crossfit just isn't working for me. At all. I can't squat deep enough, and my shoulders aren't flexible enough to keep the weights as far back as they should be. So I'm stuck doing remedial stuff to get to the point that I can actually lift anything. I've been trying this for four months now, and I'm really stuck on square one. Any thoughts on this?
While I do not have personal experience with it, something like tai chi might also help.
I am at the high end of intermediate/low end of advanced range with regards to how much I lift @ 180lbs. I'm still making imrpovements to my texhjique all of the time.
One issue with _some_ CrossFit outfits is that they throw you into these movements from day 1 with non trivial weight. Your CANS gets no time to develop the coordination needed and you can get discouraged or, worst case, hurt yourself.
Everyone can squat. Being a tall guy you will do it differently than e.g. a 5'5" powerlifter. You just need time and practice.
If you look at any decent, beginner's weightlifting program with an emphasis on the big movements (i.e. not bodybuilding programs) they'll all start the same way; perform the movements often, start with little to know additional weight on the bar, and add weight progressively (linear progression.)
5 years later, I'm still in the best shape of my life and deciding to gain weight & exercise regularly continues to be one of the best, most profitable decisions I've made next to learning how to program.
Skinny people problems, I know, but this might be the hardest thing to do. Just as overweight people might underestimate their calorie intake, skinny people might overestimate theirs. So it's helpful to objectively track your calories.
I think I eat a lot, but can also "forget" to eat 1 or 2 days out of the week, and that makes gaining weight for me difficult.
1. Chipotle burrito bowls with extra meat: At least 1000 calories in this alone with a significant amount of protein.
2. Protein shakes with whole milk. Or fruit/vegetable smoothies with whole milk and yogurt.
3. Natural peanut butter (the kind you need to stir) for dessert, washing each mouthful down with whole milk. Alternatively I'd also have some rocky road (for the peanuts it contains) ice cream.
4. If I ever missed a meal and was significantly low on calories for the day, I'd eat a few slices of pizza to compensate.
It wasn't the _healthiest_ diet plan, and I definitely gained a lot of fat, but it's not like I looked awful - after ballooning to over 160 pounds, I still looked skinny due to my height. Once I got to a satisfactory level, I began to eat healthier, meanwhile my strength increased dramatically.
What it is - take your normal diet, and on top of that, drink a gallon of whole milk every day. A gallon of whole milk is 2400 kcal (200g carbs, 120g fat, 120g protein). Along with your normal food intake, this will make you gain weight.
- avoid appetite suppressors (e.g. caffeine) and modulators (e.g. artificial sweeteners). "avoid" != "eliminate": sure, have a coffee or two in the AM, but don't drink it all day.
- exercise will make you hungrier (it is an appetite suppressor for those whose body asks them to eat out of boredom, which is very common).
- choose a healthy diet. You won't have the 24-y-o metabolism forever, so don't make habits you'll later regret (e.g. two croissants in the morning). This also means you'll be building weight through your body and not just adding fat.
At 24 none of these "rules" need be strict, so have a milkshake, etc; you have a great opportunity to experiment with what works and is enjoyable to you.
How tall are you? How much do you weigh? How much do you want to gain? Who/what do you want to look like?
While you certainly can add muscle, you should be cautioned against trying any program to significantly change your basic build. If you're naturally thin, then you can be muscular, but you'll still be generally thin, and you probably can't ever be a tank. Being a tank is really more about your genetics ( bone structure, shape of your chest, overall length of your muscles ) than working out.
Not saying it's your goal to be a tank, just trying to provide some realistic counsel.
Saucisse is right - you need to eat more and more frequently. And to ensure that doesn't all become fat, you need to lift heavy - focus on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press. Stronglifts is a great place to start. Good luck!
Metabolism is the conversion of energy from incoming food into stored energy (fat) or used energy (heat, chemical processes). The speed of metabolism does not appear in any equilibrium (of which body weight is a statistic). If you've eaten food and it is not stored, the energy has to be expressed some other way - in what way do "fast metabolism" people express it?
What kind of weight do you want to gain? I presume you want muscle rather than fat...
I'm a skinny guy, always have been. I gained a bit of weight when I got married, due to eating better. I gained more when we had our first child, due to lifting the kid, the carseat, and the diaper bag over and over. That's weightlifting, even though I wasn't in the gym.
(I'm not saying don't try to gain some weight. I am saying be grateful for your basic body type.)
Also, paradoxically, working out will regulate your appitite and might help you eat a bit more, and store it in a way your body prefers.
Eat an avocado every day.
Eat 3000+ calories per day.
Hit the gym.
Eating is 90% of it.