Too skinny, anything I should be doing?

grandvizier1006 said:

Ok, according to the BMI calculator I'm technically at a normal weight. I'm on the light end, though.

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Then your only problem (if I may call it that) is just your self image, not your weight. Please note that I say respectfully. And don't worry, as you get older, you will naturally put on weight. Therefore, please take the advice of an old man like me who has coached many great athletes - don't try to accelerate the process.

You're more than welcomed!

BTW, the one thing that I have always seen which makes guys put on weight: marriage!

Since you are young, this is all the more reason for you NOT to put on weight right now. When you get married, you will likely put on more weight than you may want.

Shodan said:

Yes, it is.

If 3 times a week is too much - you are still exhausted on Wednesday from Monday, do the routine twice a week, and drop all the other exercises except the squat and pullover, bench press, and rows.

If you are a hardgainer, less is more. The temptation is always to do more sets but easier sets. That's the opposite of what you need. Short, intense bouts of near-maximal effort, interspersed with completely adequate rest periods, is the way to go for gaining muscle mass.

Do not do the routines the magazines tell you that the bodybuilding champions do. Because

• Magazines exaggerate. When someone squats 405 once as a limit rep becomes "Joe Muscles does five sets of 12 with 500".
• Those guys are all on enough anabolics to stock a pharmacy.
• They are the genetic super-elite. They will grow no matter what they do, and sometimes in spite of what they do. Someone with 17" arms before they first touched a weight is not someone whose advice on how to grow is going to be very useful.

Regards,
Shodan

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Seems like you had researched it all, quite a bit!

Keep mind you're still only 20. I didn't fill out until about 25.

You're one of the lucky ones with a fast metabolism!! I wish hahaha
Increase your caloric intake bro. My friends with the same sort of problems take a mass-gainer protein (make sure to work out while taking it, you don't want to get fat, you want lean muscle!) and increase your overall protein/carb intake.

grandvizier1006 said:

So I just eat foods with more calories, then?

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Again, it's not a free pass to eat junk food! Eat healthy, but eat more of it!

grandvizier1006 said:

So I just eat foods with more calories, then?

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Be active and eat more lean protein and complex carbs.

While all the responses are good, one thing is missing: the very important point of self-acceptance! And, believe it or not, some women are attracted to small/slender guys. I liked them so much that I married one!

Also, you might want to do a search for vata, pitta and kapha. These are body types that are important to Ayurvedic medicine of India. The western idea of ecto, endo and mesomorph were based on these. My guess is that you are a vata, and not much will change that, although vatas can become more muscular.

grandvizier1006 said:

Thanks for all the help, everyone! But I have another question now: what about aging? Right now I still literally look like a 16 year old despite being 20. is that normal for some people or has my growth been stunted somehow? And would some sort of hormone thing work to counteract that?

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For my family, that is completely normal. Really, everyone grows and develops at different rates, so just because you aren't like the average person your age, doesn't make anything wrong with you.


Young men often continue growing until 21, and brain development continues just past mid-twenties. My brothers are like you in that they all look much younger than they really are. I also have never quite looked my age, though perhaps more now, though people still mistake me for being high school age at times, even though I am actually 23. So I really do not think you should worry about it, just make sure to eat healthy, like what others recommended.

Well tbh I don't think it's bad to be skinny as long as you're not sick. Maybe lift weights more.

grandvizier1006 said:

i am trying to exercise, but it's not going so well. I weigh only 119 pounds at age 20. That may have to do with the fact that I have always been underweight for my age--my birthweight was 2 pounds, 4 ounces!

What sort of exercises and foods would bulk me up? There's tons of stuff out there about weight loss, but I have the opposite problem. It's very discouraging to go to the gym, and despite my best efforts and desire to lift as much as I can, everybody else there is stronger than I am and seems to have gotten results. My lack of results discourages me, but it might be my fault since I don't think I work out enough, nor is there anyone there to tell me what or how to do things. So I could be doing everything wrong without even knowing it.

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I was also born as light as a feather and have remained underweight my entire life, so I understand your frustration. I've been a little under the weather lately and my weight plummeted to 101 pounds. I think our ages and your gender are significant contributing factors. My boyfriend is four years older, but we both had our most substantial growth spurts at the same time. Guys continue to gain height and to fill out into their 20s. In his teens you could count his ribs when his shirt was off, and now that he's in his 20s he's slowly begun to gain weight and have broader shoulders. So try to retain some hope that time itself will give you a boost.

Have you ever seen an endocrinologist and had your thyroid levels checked to make sure yours isn't overactive? Hyperthyroidism can contribute to being thin, and it's treatable. It's one of the reasons I'm so thin.

My nutritionist recommended that I eat high-carb foods that have more nutritional value, like brown rice, wheat pasta, whole grain bread (preferably ones like Ezekiel 4:9 that are complete proteins), yams, sweet potatoes, potatoes, granola, and steel cut oatmeal. These can all can be "bases" for other foods like stir-fries, sandwiches, casseroles, jacket potatoes, or parfaits. I used to be a vegan and returning dairy to my diet has made a difference. I have whole fat milk and whole fat yogurt now. It's also helped me to get in more protein. Fairlife's whole milk has 13 grams of protein per cup, and Fage's yogurt has 23 grams per cup. You can use the milk and yogurt for shakes and smoothies, and there are so many variations that can be tried. My stepdad makes this amazing date shake for me that has whole fat milk, cashew nut butter, walnuts, vanilla beans, cinnamon, and like a cup of dates or something. Dates are surprisingly caloric. A bonus to them is that they are so portable so you can bring them with you in a little bag and have it while hiking or whatever. Tropical fruits like mango, bananas, papaya, and pineapple will help you to gain weight more than berries. You can add them to smoothies, top yogurt with them, throw them in the juicer, or just have them raw. Nut butters are great for weight gain (not just peanut butter but also almond butter, cashew butter, walnut butter), and you can add them to a variety of dishes. Nuts are great, too. Avocados are fattening but healthy. I love avocado toast. Drizzle olive oil over it to add in more calories and fat. Cheese is also fattening but has protein. Get the kind that isn't processed. Juice doesn't have a lot of fat but it packs in calories. It's best to have fresh juice when possible.

MyFitnessPal is a free and simple to use app that tracks your calories, fat, protein, and carbs. Setting an alarm on your phone to remind you to eat might help. Eating something every three hours can be beneficial, even if it's just a small snack.
FitBit might help you to track the calories you've burned. If you're running, swimming, or doing anything else that burns up a lot of calories you might want to cut back temporarily. I was advised to minimize my aerobic activity to just 20 minutes three to five times a week for now. I don't think I can actually do that, but I might try. That's a dramatic decrease from what I'm accustomed to as a dancer and runner. Yoga is a way of stretchy and being active without really burning that many calories. Put more emphasis on strength training than aerobics for now.

As far as supplements and the like go, they've kinda sucked for me. I tried the Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass and the Pro Gainer protein powder and was underwhelmed with both. You might like them, though.

The Mayo Clinic has some good tips for gaining weight:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-l...ating/expert-answers/underweight/faq-20058429

Best wishes!

People's metabolisms do differ quite a bit; and there is also a hereditary aspect with some ppl. Careful, controlled change and development is important.

grandvizier1006 said:

Thank you! I've always wondered if it was a hormonal issue, but I figured it would be something like too little testosterone. I'm a a height that's acceptable...for girls, at 5'7".

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It definitely could be that your testosterone are contributing to you being underweight. A friend in my dorm at school has PCOS and very high testosterone levels for a female, and it has caused her to gain weight and have many challenges with losing it. It's worth getting a simple blood test.

I lost an alarming seven pounds recently due to being sick and then stressed with finals, but am hopeful that over the holidays I'll pudge up a little. Maybe you will as well. I'm ready for the Christmas cookies!

grandvizier1006 said:

I have a feeling my parents wouldn't bother with it unless there some serious medical issue behind it, which there doesn't seem to be, at least nothing visible (not that that hasn't stopped me from worrying before). I'm supposed to have gained 15 pounds my freshman year, but so far...nothing.

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Now that you're over 18 you could request the test on your own simply as part of your annual medical checkup. It is routine blood work that should be covered by your insurance. If your college has a medical center you might be able to just pop in there and get it done. Though admittedly I don't know quite how insurance works because my parents get the bills.

Yeah, I really think the "freshman 15" thing is sort of a myth. I've only lost weight since starting college. I'd love to gain 15 pounds and stop needing to wear a belt with my jeans.

Hi,

I have read through the posts and see a lot of garbage information. I have the same problem you do and have been battling it for years. To fix the problem requires a sort of lifestyle change. You said you feel like you could eat anything and it would do nothing... I have felt the same way. Here is the key... you need to eat enough calories every day so that you will gain weight. You need to find how many calories per day that you need to gain weight. There are many formulas to figure this out but the easiest way to find out is to eat the same amount of calories every day for a week. If you don't gain weight, then increase that amount of calories by 500 per day. Use this new calorie total for the next week and if you still don't gain weight then increase it again. For example, I started eating 2,000 calories a day for a week, actually lost weight so I added 500 calories per day for another week putting me at 2,500 calories each day. Again I lost weight! I added another 500 calories, putting me at 3,000 per day. At the 3,000 cal/day I did not gain or lose weight so after a week I added another 500 calories putting me at 3,500 calories per day. At this amount I finally started gaining weight. I was able to gain ten pounds. Soon though I needed to up my calories again to keep gaining weight.

The problems I see in the other posts is people suggesting certain types of foods, e.g. good fats vs bad fats, low cholesterol, etc. Don't worry about any of this for now! It is extremely hard to eat 3,000 plus calories per day every day for an extended period of time. People who do not have your problem have no idea and are full of it if they think it is easy. It is very difficult and will be a large challenge for you, but it is the only way. Don't worry if it is healthy for now, you need to concentrate on eating enough calories. Once you can consistently eat enough calories per day than you can clean up your diet. But seriously, eat ice cream, eat straight butter, whatever it takes. Eating the calories will help up your appetite as well and will make it easier when you do choose to clean up your diet.

The other problem I see with the advice is how to exercise. A lot of the advice is going to make you burn a lot of calories which just means you need to eat even that much more. Personally I don't want to eat any more than I have to. I would recommend doing no more than 45 minutes of exercise per day. The exercise you should do is lifting weights, no cardio! Look up how to do "compound movements" such as squats, dead lifts, bench press, etc. Only do these exercises. Don't do to much weight cause you will hurt yourself. But you do need to increase the weight over time. Also, look up "progressive overload". This is the basic theory behind gaining muscle. Do 3-4 sets of each exercise and 8-12 reps.

You also need to go out and educate yourself. I would recommend checking out the natural bodybuilding community on youtube. Natural bodybuilding is basically what you need to do. Some good ones are "MattOgus" and "ChrisJones"(Pumpchasers)(POG). These channels are NOT christian , be advised, lot's of cursing, etc. But very informative and straight honest about how to reach goals.

Your biggest enemy will be your appetite. I'm sorry you have this problem. People with normal metabolism's cannot understand and will hate you for it. I'm sure you hear "I wish I had your problem" all the time. Hope this helps and good luck.