Adding bulk to a small frame

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

BigPoppa

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,930
0
0
Originally posted by: Shujaa
Why are calories needed for muscle gain anyway? Surely you just need the right protein intake to build mass.

ps hi Koing :p

Conservation of energy. The laws of thermodynamics aren't broken by genetics.

If you consume more energy than your body uses, you're going to gain weight. That weight is going to be in the form of muscle or fat or both, depending on your physical needs. Consume less energy than you consume, again going to lose weight as either fat or muscle, or a combination of both.

Newbie gains can make it seem as though muscle is appearing out of nowhere, but its more a repartitioning of your body composition. Burn your extra fat and use the protein to build muscle rather than the protein as fuel.

That said, its beautiful when you're still in the newbie gains stage. Makes for a lot of motivation.
 

sonambulo

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2004
4,777
1
0
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I do 8oz of milk and one scoop of whey per shake. I have to keep my protein consumption in check. I have one kidney and if I go overboard my nephrologist would hunt me down and strangle me.

I shoot for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight...which is still about 3x what the RDA recommended amounts are.

Bottom line for me is that it's just simply too much of a hastle to try and eat myself to the point of adding more bulk than what my body reallly wants. I have no desire to gourge myself.

I'm just adding my opinion to this thread. Some of us just simply have bodies that weren't made for getting big.

It's a simple risk/reward. It isn't worth it to me for the work that it requires.

I hear ya. I'm 5'10" 160 lbs and for me to get beyond that I have to eat ungodly amounts of food and if I stop for even a short while I lose it all. My body is built for activities that involve a lot of dexterity and agility and in order to bulk I have to eat so much it's not worth it.

I kept logs for three years and managed to get DAMN close to 190 but within 3 months of dropping below 4000 calories to around my normal 3000 I lost 20 pounds. While it is technically true that with enough dedication I can bulk it simply isn't worth it for me.
 

TheSlamma

Diamond Member
Sep 6, 2005
7,625
5
81
Originally posted by: Special K
Originally posted by: TheSlamma
It's not just eating guys, genetics do play a big part in peoples ability to gain weight. My friend is 5'10" 165lbs... he eats 4 good meals a day (he doesn't eat junk cause he's a diabetic) and he can't gain a friggin ounce. He has the EXACT same build as his dad and his older brother.

We watched a Broncos game at Famous daves last month, I watched him eat an entire side of briscut, a full link, bakes beans, slaw and cornbread and he was asking if I was gonna eat my cornbread if that gives you an idea of how much this guy can throw down.

Food 0
Genetics 1

Not that I havent seen people increase their food intake and gain weight (hack it worked for me). I just know it doesn't work for 100% of people like is being applied here.

ANYONE can gain weight if they eat enough. Granted, some people have extremely fast metabolisms and need to eat several thousand calories per day to gain, but it can be done.

The key is to actually track what you eat using Fitday and make controlled adjustments as necessary.

I've known skinny guys who swore they ate *everything in sight*, and then when they actually plugged it into fitday, it only totaled ~1900 calories, which is pathetic for a young, healthy guy trying to gain weight.

I've also seen guys who will totally pig out during one meal, but then go 24+ hours without eating anything else. Just because you see them eat a certain way during one meal does not mean they eat like that all the time. If you want to gain weight, you must eat a lot on a consistent basis for months to see any real results.
I've known this guy for 23 years. As I stated before he eats big 4 times a day. Being a diabetic he has 4 meals and 2 snacks cause his insulin plan is 4 times a day instead of the 2 doses he used to be on. All 4 meals he eats are of big proportion. I don't think his doc knows how much he eats per sitting but that is what he enjoys. This is the guy that proved to me some people CAN drink a gallon of milk in a 20 minute sitting and be just fine. But then again this guy goes though 6 or 7 gallons of milk in a week.. oh wait he calls it his "Moo Juice"

Whenever we meet up to go somewhere to eat it's easy to figure out a place cause he will only go places where the portions are big.

I'll agree with you and say "ANYONE" can gain weight, but in his case I think it would take 8000 cals a day, cause he easily does over 4000 a day. He's not trying to gain weight either he is comfortable where he is at. He just really enjoys eating lots of food. But I really don't think it's financially or time possible to consume 8000 calories, I think your organs would shutdown anyway.
 

HamSupLo

Diamond Member
Aug 18, 2001
4,021
0
0
actually this might work out in your favor since you're just gonna get fatter as you age