Skinny 21 y/o vegan gaining weight and needing a little help

[chewybaws]

I couldn't really tell you how effective pasta is for energy because I always have it at night (I workout usually morning/early afternoon), I'm eating a lot more of it now rather than rice, because higher calories/less cook time.

When I cook veg I always have it in olive oil, but I haven't really payed attention to this. Just the last few weeks I've been concentrating on getting the calories up because putting on weight is a priority for me just now, and it's working Saying that, I don't eat any shit it's all healthy stuff.

Yeah it's cool you're gonna increase the number of meals, it's amazing how much you can eat when you get your metabolism up I'm prob eating double what i used to no joke

[jtp]

Just a tiny update. In that video you linked chewybaws about proper cardio, the guy explicitly says sprinting is definitely not good cardio. My previous 2:3:3:2 treadmill routine would definitely be considered sprinting. See, this is what I mean by me not knowing anything about proper procedure.

I went in today and was able to do 10 good minutes on the treadmill with about 8.5 minutes running at speed setting 6.5 (down from 8.5 on my sprints). This was much easier on my body and I didn't burn nearly as much energy as my sprinting. I'm going to stay in the 6.5 speed setting range from now on and try to do 20 minutes of 6.5 straight for a warmup.

[jtp]

Okay, just another silly update because I want to tell someone/something about this.

I think I've had my first tangible, substantive "small win" in my weight training. Like I mentioned before, I could only bench 2.9 sets of 70lbs after a 40 lbs warmup set. After maintaining good nutrition and letting my muscles convalesce for a few days, I was able to go in and do three FULL good-formed sets of 70 lbs. Since I still had energy, I upped the weight to 80 lbs and did THREE MORE full good-formed sets of 80 lbs. I missed on my ninth rep of my fourth set at 80 lbs (seventh overall set). I could probably have done three sets of 90 lbs.

That definitely feels like progress. I went from barely being able to do three sets of 70 lbs to doing three sets easily followed by three sets of more resistance, and then some!

Although this may not be totally accurate since I just got out of the gym, I noticed my muscles (esp. my triceps) were bigger than normal. I measured them and compared them to my measurements from a few weeks ago and they've grown by 0.5" in girth. I'll take that with a grain of salt for now and do a measurement again in a few days when they have time to heal more. Right now they feel pretty expended.

In the past, not seeing any progress like that was extremely discouraging. This is finally a tiny win I've been waiting for.

[JulianOspina]

CONGRATS JTP.

im having almost the same problem as you. i has always had a fast metabolism. so i have been skinny my whole life. i have been a vegan for about 3 1/2 yrs.

right now im 20 yrs old, 5'7" and weight about 130... i have been wanting to get some muscle but the problem is that all i have at home is a pair of 20lb dumbbells and a pull-up bar. and i cant afford a gym membership right now (im accepting donations) jk

any advises?

(sorry for my broken english.)

[jtp]

I'm not a coach or body training expert by any means but there should be a lot of things you can do at home without a lot of expensive weights. I don't know of any body builders who've got huge on yoga, but that's definitely something you could do at home inexpensively. Here is a free yoga podcast you can watch:

http://www.yogamazing.com

Supposedly Chaz, the guy who does YogaAmazing, got his muscle from Yoga. I think he may be unlike us though and naturally kinda muscular.

One of the other posters on this thread linked me to this guy's videos on YouTube. He's a great coach who just records the videos for the fun of it. All of his videos have the "you can do this cheaply" theme.

http://www.youtube.com/user/scooby1961

I recommend watching a lot of videos on YouTube and just educating yourself about at-home physical training. You're definitely not the only person wondering about it.

[xveganjoshx]

I try to have 40g or more of protein per day which I think is adequate

I disagree, but we all saw that one coming from a mile away.

There's that old 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight rule, and I think it's a good starting point. You can always modify it from there.

[jtp]

Yep, I've heard of the 1g per pound of bodyweight rule but, keep in mind, I'm only doing benchpressing right now. In two weeks I'll have a full fledged gym membership and will be able to do full body exercises. Don't you think over 40g of protein is an overkill since I'm only working one muscle group?

[xveganjoshx]

Don't you think over 40g of protein is an overkill since I'm only working one muscle group?

No.

If you are truly getting 40g of protein per day (something that is so paltry it is hard for me to imagine), you probably want to ease into increasing protein intake. I would do 40 g/day, then the next day get 60 g, then add 20g per day until you hit something like 150. That is what I would do, but I've always favored a high protein/high fat/moderate carb diet, am an ecto like you, and was skinny like you.

Thats my take on the issue.

[jtp]

I'm totally open to taking in more protein per day if it's appropriate. My understanding was that if your body doesn't have anything to use the protein on it just goes straight through your system without affecting any body functions. I've also heard that over 100g of protein, no matter what your body weight is, is just a kind of overkill and you body wouldn't use it anyway.

This brings up another interesting point about body building: it's hard to discern the apocryphal from scientific conclusions. Are you suggesting that based on personal experience xveganjoshx?

[xveganjoshx]

My understanding was that if your body doesn't have anything to use the protein on it just goes straight through your system without affecting any body functions. I've also heard that over 100g of protein, no matter what your body weight is, is just a kind of overkill and you body wouldn't use it anyway.

I believe it gets excreted by your kidneys if I'm not mistaken.
However, the threshold of this happening is the key. 300 grams of protein per day is probably too much for most people on this board and many athletes. You would definitely be excreting protein at that level, and it probably would not be healthy in the long run.

I'm no MD, but I don't think that any male athlete taking in 100 g of protein would be nearing that threshold. I just don't see it happening.

I've done all different amounts of protein, and I personally feel best and perform best around 200 g per day. Sometimes its more like 150, sometimes a bit over 200, but I do best in that range. That probably makes some people on here cringe, but theyre likely not bodybuilders either. The rule and average is 1.0-1.5 g per pound bodyweight per day. My numbers fall into that benchmark.

This brings up another interesting point about body building: it's hard to discern the apocryphal from scientific conclusions. Are you suggesting that based on personal experience xveganjoshx?

I went from 120 lbs to 155 lbs in my first 12-18 months after going vegan and beginning bodybuilding simultaneously. I think I was taking in even more protein than I do now, like 250 per day, but for me now I view that as suboptimal. I hit 30-40 grams protein per meal now and shoot for 5 meals/day.

[sosso]

I'm no expert but I can tell you what has helped me to gain over 20 kg / 45 lb in one year.

- High protein, moderate-high calorie diet. I weigh about 91 kg / 200 lb now and take in around 200 g protein & around 3500 calories
- Lots of water
- Heavy compound lifting
- Lots of sleep & adequate rest between workouts - usually one day but sometimes two days
- Consistency is very important

I'm sure this isn't the only way but it works for me.

[chewybaws]

Hey Jay glad to hear about your treadmill and benching progress I would start gradually increasing your food intake so that by the time you join the gym your body will be used to the amount. If you're looking to increase mass you'll need to eat eat EAT

I didn't start to notice changes before eating ridiculously big. Never really added weight before. Started aiming for 3500-4000kcal (getting about 150g protein in process) and I'm steadily adding weight now it's working

Try it out, you're not going to drop dead or turn obese overnight

[RawVgn]

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For starters, your not skinny. At 5-10 and 130 lbs your body mass index is just in the healthy range. Remember that overweight and obese people are a substantial majority in the US (60% plus) so healthy weight people look odd. 2 to 3 half hour sessions a week in the weight room, consistently, would probably give you a very solid physique. Ellington Darden Phd (exercise physiology and Mr Texas 1969) has a book out called "The New High Intensity Training." He's actually written over 20 body building books in his long career. Read it and you'll learn a fast easy way to slab some muscle on your promising body.

And BTW, Dr Darden specifically states in his book that there is no evidence showing that protein contributes to building muscle and he does not recommend taking supplemental protein. There is a lot of evidence protein causes long term health problems like osteoporosis, arthritis, cancer, and so on. You can build a very solid physique eating well below 10% of your calories a day from protein-I'm 160 lbs and eat only about 25 grams of protein a day. I'm attaching my pic so you can see that protein is irrelevant. Work heavy in the weight room with as much intensity as you can muster-but always excellent form for safety.

[xveganjoshx]

I'm no expert but I can tell you what has helped me to gain over 20 kg / 45 lb in one year.

- High protein, moderate-high calorie diet. I weigh about 91 kg / 200 lb now and take in around 200 g protein & around 3500 calories
- Lots of water
- Heavy compound lifting
- Lots of sleep & adequate rest between workouts - usually one day but sometimes two days
- Consistency is very important

This is spot on.

I'm sure this isn't the only way but it works for me.

I've never heard of anyone gaining mass WITHOUT eating a lot, doing heavy compound lifting, getting lots of sleep, etc. So I'm fairly confident in saying it IS the only way. The only thing we're "missing" here is chemical enhancement/supplementation, but there is no need for this at his stage anyhow. I know I just made some more people cringe here, but this is a bodybuilding forum after all.

[xveganjoshx]

...some stuff....

Just when I thought you were done posting not-so-impressive pictures of yourself on the forums, here we are again.