Gaining weight/muscle

I'm 20 and have been very, very skinny/underweight my entire life...anyone have any tips to put on weight/muscle? I am thinking of getting a professional opinion. I want to figure out a good diet/work-out plan. It's very frustrating. I am also a vegan, and have no intention of reversing that decision (before I get the predictable response, I have only been vegan for several months and have been skinny my entire life). Thank you!

 

You need dairy products...

 

I'd rather not debate the ethics of veganism, I'm hoping for some practical tips.

 

take your vitamins erryday

 

Would you count whey protein to be off limits because of your dietary restrictions? Maybe you should just rock the skinny thing. You don't need to worry about maintaining muscle tone and as you get older its much easier to be skinny then it is to be buff and toned.

 

I'm not debating this vegan stuff I'm just trying to tell you that in order to gain weight and muscle you need dairy like milk, eggs, peanut butter, protein supplements etc. Its hard without them. All those big guys you see at the gym, not vegans.

 

I take vitamins, but I am going to try and find a non-dairy protein supplement. I don't mind being skinny but I am veeeeery skinny lol. BTW Delta i love you signiture, Reagan is somebody we can all look up to

 

I eat lots of peanut butter/nuts etc. But in 20 years meat, eggs and dairy havn't helped, so I don't see why they would help now. I'm not planning on becoming a body builder though, just fill myself in-I'm one of those guys who is very bony and underweight because of genetics. I eat lots, but put nothing on, so it's not as simple for me as simply hitting the gym everyday.

I actually tried the dairy thing-for a while I was drinking 4 litres of milk a day. I think I will buy supplements instead

 

You're probably not eating enough. I used to think I ate a lot but when you see what how much you actually need to be eating in order to gain weight you'll be like.. Woah. If your going to buy a supplement, get something like universal real gains. Food is more important though and a solid routine with compound exercises, not isolation exercises

 

Where would be the best place to get this type of information? A dietian/doctor?

 

Probably at your gym they'll make you see their doctor before you start your training.

Do a lot of weights, you'll learn to like them.

Double your starchy foods: bread, rice and all that stuff.

Take a protein suplement.

 

eat a lot. a lot more than you're eating now. it will be tough right at first but you'll burn a lot of calories working out so you'll need to eat more anyway, and before long you'll just be used to eating more. protein supplements are good. don't do cardio. google muscle gaining, there's tons of good info online.

 

eat all natural food beef! chicken, fish, treenuts fruits and vegs alot of this. if your trying to bulk find carbs in whole grains; wheat bread, oats, pasta. if your very skinny try to get atleast! 2500 calories a day try for 3500 it can be hard at first but your diet is 90% of the work. it takes a lot of time and dedication to reach your prefered size, develop a weightlifting program that works for you. once again this takes a lot of time!

 

You will need to follow a pretty tough weight training regime - the problem you will have is that protein is required to grow, and most proteins are animal based. This brand however, stock some of the best non-whey protein supplements, though they're not cheap:

http://shop.myvega.com/sequel-estor...a_sport_performance_protein_tub_chocolate_usa

1) Buy something like the attached and take 2-3 times daily with water (morning and night or straight after training / playing any sport). After weight training protein and carbs (a banana will do) are key, as your muscles will be starving and looking to grow and recover. Wash shaker ASAP as they stink if you leave them. In my opinion chocolate shakes taste the best.



2) Train at least 3 times a week with heavy weights (not machines) as soon as proper technique is learned, in particular squats, deadlifts, pullups and chest press. Perform big exercises like these, which work a large group of muscles simultaneously, and do them slowly. If you join a gym and pay a PT to run through a mass-building routine with you a couple of times, you can learn the proper technique and discuss the theory behind what you're doing. They love starting skinny guys out on the road to getting bigger, as if you've never done it before you can get results fairly quickly - if you're willing to train hard, you should see results within a 2-3 months, and in a year you should be in good shape.

3) Eat regularly and plenty of calories, avoiding too much sugar, white bread and rubbish where possible. Brown carbs are better where you can get them. 5 small meals a day is way better than 2 big ones.


When you put your body under regular strain by weight training, your it will produce more testosterone during sleep (it goes into 'growth mode'). It needs to be fed carbs and protein consistently to facilitate growth however, so you need to increase calories and not miss meals. If your body goes for a long time without nutrition, it breaks down muscle in order to feed itself, so your hard work is undone. It would be nice if it burned fat instead when you were hungry, but alas, muscle is broken down first, so don't allow yourself to get hungry, and make sure you have some protein (IE a shake) and ideally carbs soon after you wake up.

Look into creatine too - it helps you grow but is a chemical so perhaps not natural enough for some, but it does work http://store.veganessentials.com/vegan-creatine-monohydrate-by-now-sports-p1128.aspx

Pretty simple, but training hard and ensuring you're properly fed the whole time takes some commitment. Good luck!

 

Just to follow up, since it seems like the OP hasn't really worked out a lot before, when you work out your biceps for example, don't do them again the next day. Do your shoulders. Then next day chest, etc. The muscles need time to heal after they've been teared. And you don't need to go to the gym and start doing things that are out of your element right away either. There's tons of things you can do with free weights, just search on youtube. Also, you really need supplements in conjuction with working out, especially if you're just starting out. I'm sure there are lots that don't have any animal products in them. And you don't need to drink milk with them, you can use water.

 

Here is really nice and most informative post. According to me if you want to gain weight you should eat and sleep well. Make sure that you take proper diet and and use dairy product also. But with diet you should also take some exercise to stay healthy.

 

Horrible advice for gaining muscle. Those things will only make you FAT!

 

It depends on what sort of workout routine you have. I knew guys in the Marines who swore by shit like that.

Didn't work for me though. I ate a lot of protein rich foods/dishes. Stews were big.

 

Yeah I got big off of milk. Was in the same situation for years and years...but maybe you could try something like peanut butter?

 

I'd be interested to know why the OP wants to bulk up. Do you have a lack of strength that's preventing you from accomplishing things? I ask because I'm concerned that you may be allowing social pressure to encourage behavior that's detrimental to your health. Having a naturally lean body is such a gift in this day and age! I would count my blessings if I were you.

A vegan diet can put you way ahead. You're automatically avoiding a lot of the foods that are risk factors for various diseases. For instance, red meat is a major risk factor for colon cancer. But you've got to do it smart. Fritos and french fries with ketchup are vegan, but they're not a good diet.

There is plenty of protein that you can get from vegetable sources. If you want to even maintain muscle mass, let alone build it, you need protein, obviously. Foods that are high in protein include nuts and beans. A particularly easy to digest source of protein is sprouted nuts or seeds.

The trick with eating vegan proteins is to combine them to form a complete protein. You can get pretty deep into complex chemistry if you want to, but I'll try to keep it simple. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Some amino acids you can make out of other amino acids. But some you can't make, you need to eat them. These are called essential amino acids. In order to create a protein, you need to have all of the essential amino acids. But your body has no way to store amino acids. If you don't have the right mix to make a protein, you'll just piss out the ones you've got or convert them to glycogen, and it's a big waste.

A protein source with all of the essential amino acids is called a complete protein. Animal proteins are complete already, so this sort of thinking isn't really required for non-vegans. Just toss some cheese on there and you're ready to go. Another complete protein is soybeans, which is what tofu is made of. So you don't have to worry if you've got tofu in your meal.

All other plant proteins fall into three groups, all of which have overlapping essential amino acids; beans (legumes), nuts, and grains. If you combine two of those three groups, you create a complete protein. While most grains do not have very much protein in them, the essential amino acids that are there are enough to complete the protein of a corresponding portion of nuts or beans. It's important to know that peanuts are not actually a nut. They're a legume (bean), so you need to mix them with a grain or a nut.

Simple summary : Eat complete proteins in a single meal. This means soybeans like tofu, or a mix of two of the three categories, beans, nuts, and grains.

One warning : soybeans contain a chemical that is similar to estrogen. Women actually use soy milk as estrogen replacement therapy. I'm not sure what the long term impacts of eating this hormone mimicking chemical regularly are. I've been unable to find any real research on the subject. But I have to warn you that in my opinion, it's probably not the best idea to eat a lot of soy products all the time.