Hi Guys and Girls, I'm trying to tailor my training plan to my body type and my ability to eat (or not eat) during a given day, any help would be graciously received! I'm 31 years old, I weigh 70kg (11 stone, 154 Lbs.) and I'm 5'11" (1.8M) tall. I have always been pretty skinny and have weighed about the same since I was 18 yrs. old. When I first turned veggie about 7 years ago I managed to up my weight to 12.5 stone (80kg, 175lbs) it took about 18 months of training every day and literally forcing two protein shakes a day down my neck, the weight was a mixture of muscle and fat. For me it was completely unsustainable, it made me feel sick every day and I had major stomach/gut problems, so I stopped altogether, the weight fell off to 11.5 stone in no time at all. I went fully vegan and started training again about 6 months ago and lost a further half stone in about 4 weeks, so I'm now back to the original, very stable 11 stone! I eat a pretty balanced diet, probably too much fruit (high sugar) and probably not quite enough protein, thankfully now I'm vegan and so have ditched the diary I don’t get anywhere near the same level of stomach problems as before, I’ve started drinking Vega protein powder with water or fruit juice and that seems okay on my clearly sensitive stomach! My big problem is that I just don’t seem to be able to eat enough, I think I eat all the time, I’m always picking on nuts or fruit or granola bars etc, but I struggle to eat really large meals without feeling sick or bloated. I can’t eat breakfast until I’ve been up for at least a couple of hours without the same ill feeling. In total I take in about 1800-2000 calories a day, which is clearly enough to sustain my weight, and to be honest I would find it hard/uncomfortable to eat too much more, unless its junk food and therefore calorie dense! Since I’ve started re-training I have noticed a definite difference in my body, it’s getting more toned, less fatty but my weight doesn’t change? I still need to lose some belly and love handle fat though! My upper body is okay, but my legs are out of proportion to the rest of my body i.e. too skinny! To complicate things further I only have access to a home gym, with pull up bar, weights bench and free weights etc. the training plan I’m about to change to is as follows (my current one is not split, I do a whole body work out 3 times a week), I’m not looking to get massive, but any tips you have for how to put on a bit more muscle as an ectomorph, or to sneak some high calorie foods into my diet would be greatly appreciated! I've been told to keep my training short but intense so as not too burn too many calories, I do a quick ABS routine after each session. I haven’t done any cardio at all in the last 6 months, except for walking the dog, but I expect to start doing some more as soon as the weather improves (its snowed again last night!). My worry is that as soon as I start cardio I will lose the fat, but my drop into the ‘unhealthy’ weight category!? Day 1 Chest/triceps: bench press 12 10 10 8 Incline DB bench 3 x 10 DB fly 2 x 12 Dips 12 10 10 8 Skull crushers 3 x 10 Day 2 Back/biceps pull ups wide grip 12 10 10 8 Bent over rows 12 10 10 8 DB rows 3 x 10 BB curls 12 10 10 8 Alternate DB curls 2 x 10 Day 3 Legs/shoulders BB squats 12 10 10 8 calf raises 12 10 10 8 Weighted lunge 12 10 10 8 BB shoulder press 12 10 10 8 Lat raises 3 x 10 Side raises 3 x 10 Upright rows 3 x 10 I understand that I need to up my calories/protein intake to grow more muscle, hopefully the Vega will help in that respect. Thanks in advance for your help!
Hi 'Hardgainer'. many thanks for your reply, i am indeed still following this thread, was hoping for a few more responses by now but i guess all these big dudes dont care about the skinny guys! I'll definitley try some of your tips, they all sound sensible to me, being able to eat a proper breakfast would be nice rather than waiting till 10:00am. Unfortuantley i can only work out after work and its usually quite late 8-9pm, so i try to have a meal early and then have a Vega shake post workout, i have found vega to be really good, the only protein powder i have tried that seems to be easy to digest, i tend to drink it with water or fruit juice, i think for me the big change is not drinking powders with dairy. One tip i wont be following is eating meat though! I've been veggie/vegan too long for that, even if i could be convinced its healthier to eat meat i would take being a couple of percent down on optimum if it meant not killing anything, but each to their own, personally being vegan has really worked for me both in terms of digestive health and general well-being. I've started to put a bit of muscle weight back on, slowly but steadily so progress is being made! I guess the plus side is that the fat content around the waist is going down easier than for a lot of people, got to find the positives somewhere! good luck with your training and thanks agian!