Quote:
Originally Posted by V
I'm starting to get into the weights thing again. I'm 6'2", 30 yo, and a year ago I quit smoking. After I quit smoking I ballooned from 177 to 206 lbs.
I've always been skinny as a rail, and could eat whatever I want, but now I've got a noticeable pot. Still fairly skinny everywhere else, but I really want to do something about that pot. At the same time, since I'm going to be working on my body shape, I was thinking of trying to build some sort of muscle definition.
So now I'm working on a 4 day split workout. But I haven't noticed a difference, and after reading all of this thread I'm figuring that has a lot to do with my diet.
I went to that fitday website and created my average daily consumption. I pick up 2400 calories, but only 120g of protein. I'm guessing that's why there's very little increase in muscle.
It was mentioned that carbs are the worst of the three macro-nutrients, and I have over 250g of carbs in those 2400 calories. So is that the problem? I have to cut down on carbs, while increasing proteins? I would've thought fat would be the problem. Should I look for foods that are both high in fat and protein? Eggs would be an example of that.
Also, what is the best way to build muscle? I do 3 sets of 12 reps for each exercise. I've heard that fewer reps and more weight is more effective for building muscle. Is this true?
Total noob questions here, but I'm hoping someone's got a few answers for me. It's extremely frustrating working so hard and seeing so little gain.
|
First of all - Great job on quitting smoking!
2400 cals is not anywhere near enough to make you gain weight. If your goal is to put on muscular body weight, you should be eating at least 3500 cal and quite likely more. At 6'2", I think you could easily be 220. Obviously you want to drop the pot, but gaining muscular body weight, while dropping fat is very hard. It would be best for you to focus on getting stronger first, exhausting your linear gains on a program like Starting Strength and then focus on leaning out.
I am not sure what lifts you are doing for your workout, but squats and deadlifts should be the staples you build around. I would highly recommend getting Starting Strength from here:
http://www.aasgaardco.com/store/stor...on=show_detail
You can get the program/workouts and all the information for free here:
http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wi..._Strength_Wiki
I would still recommend getting the book for reasons I stated earlier in this thread (portability, illustrations, technique corrections etc). You can find all this for free on the net, but I still think the book is worth it.
As far as diet...avoid all processed foods, cereals, avoid as much sugar as possible. Try to eat only whole foods.
Shoot for 1 gram per lb of body weight for protein. Eat as much leafy greens as you can stand and broccoli is good too. Round out your calories with healthy fats...which is everything but trans fats. Get a good variety. Olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, cream, butter etc. This will be a lot of food to try and gain size. Especially if it is hard for you to gain weight, so if you can tolerate milk, drink whole milk to get to your caloric needs.
Some other links for diet and Starting Strength:
http://www.strengthmill.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/
http://robbwolf.com/?s=low+carb
After exhausting linear gains on starting strength...then worry about dropping the extra weight. I bet you will start shedding fat and gaining muscle if you change your diet to the above advice (in the links I posted) and do starting strength as the book details.
It is about a lifestyle change though. Especially diet - diet is what controls body composition. What your body looks like is largely controlled through diet - roughly 80%.
Hope this helps.