Posted: 5/31/2012 2:22:33 PM EDT
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I'm in the skinny category wanting to gain mass / lean muscle. I'm also very much a noob so please forgive any dumb questions.
By eating healthier foods, and more of it, and also using the ON mass gainer, and basic exercises I've put on about 15 pounds over about 4 months. I am fairly happy with my strength gains and visible muscle growth so far. Before anyone asks specifics, I must confess that compared to many here I am pretty half assed at this, as I do not count my calories. I am starting to feel however, that I am adding too much body fat. YES, I know and understand that gains do not come without addition of fat, but I am wondering how much is enough and if I should start reducing my calories and start doing more cardio to eliminate some fat. I also know that relatively speaking I am just getting started with changing my body, but I want to make sure that I am not adding too much fat before it gets ahead of me. As I said, I know when trying to gain, especially for someone skinnier like me, fat is almost unavoidable but here recently my stomach area is noticeably thicker, and again, I understand that when gaining my abs would seemingly diminish, but I would like to know how much is to be expected, and if I need to make certain adjustments. |
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Have you been skinny your whole life? I personally think how your body is composed from puberty until current dictates your natural shape and how you will be at gain mass or losing fat.
If you've added lean mass, then obviously all 15lbs. you gained isn't fat but fat/muscle. You could try to dial in your diet a bit. Just experiment and maybe try going for about 500 calories over your BMR, then after a month or two, evaluate your results and then adjust accordingly. You don't want to add it too much cardio and lose that lean mass that you've worked so hard to build. |
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Fatten up until you can barely see the outline of your abs... Then you're fat enough. Then dial your diet to with your preferred method. For skinny people looking to gain muscle, I'd recommend looking into Carb cycling. Read Shelby Starnes' book (something about troponin nutrition or some bullshit)... |
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Quoted:
Have you been skinny your whole life? I personally think how your body is composed from puberty until current dictates your natural shape and how you will be at gain mass or losing fat. If you've added lean mass, then obviously all 15lbs. you gained isn't fat but fat/muscle. You could try to dial in your diet a bit. Just experiment and maybe try going for about 500 calories over your BMR, then after a month or two, evaluate your results and then adjust accordingly. You don't want to add it too much cardio and lose that lean mass that you've worked so hard to build. Yeah I'm pretty skinny, and by most standards I guess I still am. I am concerned about this fat gain because I know that getting ripped isn't a realistic goal and I would like to have a lean build. I've cut back on my calories intake with smaller meals and no more snacks (hope that isn't a bad move) and I'm going to stop the mass gainer and get protein that isn't so calorie packed. Quoted:
Fatten up until you can barely see the outline of your abs... Then you're fat enough. Then dial your diet to with your preferred method. For skinny people looking to gain muscle, I'd recommend looking into Carb cycling. Read Shelby Starnes' book (something about troponin nutrition or some bullshit)... Yeah I'm at that point now. Will eating less really cut down the fat if I'm not really stepping up the workout, and doing something like running? I know my body goes toward being naturally skinny but I don't want to do stuff wrong that has me fatter for longer than I need to be, or something where I'm gonna lose the muscle gains I've made so far. I was adding mass and muscle really well but I must have crossed a threshold or something because this feeling fat thing came on pretty sudden I think. I'll have to look into that Carb thing and see if I think it would work for me. Sorry for all the dumb questions. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Have you been skinny your whole life? I personally think how your body is composed from puberty until current dictates your natural shape and how you will be at gain mass or losing fat. If you've added lean mass, then obviously all 15lbs. you gained isn't fat but fat/muscle. You could try to dial in your diet a bit. Just experiment and maybe try going for about 500 calories over your BMR, then after a month or two, evaluate your results and then adjust accordingly. You don't want to add it too much cardio and lose that lean mass that you've worked so hard to build. Yeah I'm pretty skinny, and by most standards I guess I still am. I am concerned about this fat gain because I know that getting ripped isn't a realistic goal and I would like to have a lean build. I've cut back on my calories intake with smaller meals and no more snacks (hope that isn't a bad move) and I'm going to stop the mass gainer and get protein that isn't so calorie packed. *SNIP* Sorry for all the dumb questions. Not dumb at all. It's harder for me to give advice because I stopped being skinny at around age 8 and when I started getting taller, I got fatter, so I've never been a skinny/hard-gainer. The advice here is good. Since you're not obese and need to lose 100lbs, there's nothing wrong with adding some bulk, then doing a cut, and repeating the cycle. You'll add mass and fat during the bulk, then lose mass and fat during the cut, but obviously the whole point is to lose the least amount of mass as possible. I'd suggest getting your BMR calculated, then just stick to good, clean calories in a slight excess and see how that works.
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