Been lifting hard for 7 weeks and have not gained weight

[mahon83050]

Hey all,

I have been going to the gym about 4-5 times a week and lifting each body part once a week. When I look in the mirror, I look a little more cut or defined but I still weigh 170lbs..(where i was when I started) Dies this mean I have not gotten bigger and what i see is just an illusion. Oh and by the way, yes I do eat protein. I have been eating alot of boiled eggs and protein bars (taste like crap).

 

[Phenomenom101]

What kind of weight lifting excercises have you been doing? Try to post how much weight you have been lifting and the sets and reps you do them at. When you post that maybe I can tell you what might be wrong.

 

[mahon83050]

Well for the most part, I lift with free weights and the machines. I don't go real heavy because I want to have good form and get atleast 8-10 reps per set. I would give you an example of what I did for back today but I forget the names of some of the exercices.

 

[The Great Juan]

How big you get is mainly governed by how much you eat, you might have the perfect work out, but if you aren't getting enough calories you won't gain weight. You said you're eating protein (although not how much you are eating), but remember you still need alot of carbs to get your calorie intake up where it needs to be.

For example, you might eat 200 grams of protein a day, that amounts to 800 calories, so if you need 3000 calories a day to gain weight (you might need even more than that) you can see that you need another 2200 calories coming from complex carbs and essential fats.

This is the main reason most people fail when trying to gain weight, they think they are eating alot more than they actually are, then they try to change their workout, or workout more often (which just leads to overtraining).

With your actual workout (although i don't believe that it is the problem here) 10 reps i believe is getting a bit on the light side for gaining mass, you might want to drop your reps to about 6 with a heavier weight. You can still maintain good form, something to try out anyway.

 

[NEWBIE101]

Originally posted by The Great Juan
How big you get is mainly governed by how much you eat, you might have the perfect work out, but if you aren't getting enough calories you won't gain weight. You said you're eating protein (although not how much you are eating), but remember you still need alot of carbs to get your calorie intake up where it needs to be.

For example, you might eat 200 grams of protein a day, that amounts to 800 calories, so if you need 3000 calories a day to gain weight (you might need even more than that) you can see that you need another 2200 calories coming from complex carbs and essential fats.

This is the main reason most people fail when trying to gain weight, they think they are eating alot more than they actually are, then they try to change their workout, or workout more often (which just leads to overtraining).

With your actual workout (although i don't believe that it is the problem here) 10 reps i believe is getting a bit on the light side for gaining mass, you might want to drop your reps to about 6 with a heavier weight. You can still maintain good form, something to try out anyway.

Bump.

 

[Templeton]

Had you trained before or are the 7 weeks your first experience with resistance training?

It is perfectly normal to experience little or no muscular hypertrophy in the first 2 months of training. What you are experiencing during this time are neural adaptations causing an (apparent) increase in strength but often no growth. Such adaptations actually lead to LESS muscle being used to lift submaximal loads during this early training phase.

So start looking out for increases in size from this point on. I am also assuming you are training efficiently and hard enough and that your diet is adequate - that means sufficient protein AND carbs as well as overall calorie count. If you are a naturally skinny guy who has always found it difficult to put on weight then don't be afraid to eat high amounts of carbs - obviously I don't mean refined and processed crap but good wholesome foods.

 

[K-Daddy]

You aren't eating enough. If you've been lifting for 7 weeks straight, regardless of how atrocious your routine may be or how overtrained you are...you WOULD have gained weight if you were eating enough. No matter what. It's a case of calories in vs. calories out, and over a period of 7 weeks, you CAN eat more than 3500 calories over your maintenance to at least gain a pound. Eat more.

 

[Templeton]

Originally posted by K-Daddy
You aren't eating enough. If you've been lifting for 7 weeks straight, regardless of how atrocious your routine may be or how overtrained you are...you WOULD have gained weight if you were eating enough. No matter what. It's a case of calories in vs. calories out, and over a period of 7 weeks, you CAN eat more than 3500 calories over your maintenance to at least gain a pound. Eat more.

I can gain a shed load of weight if I sit on my arse and fill my face but so what? We want lean muscle tissue first and foremost and if extra weight is gained on top of this then so be it. For the reasons stated it is indeed perfectly normal not to gain LBM during the initial training phase when the neuro-muscular adaptation is dominant.

To eat more good food when training hard is good advice but also a no brainer yet many seem to overlook it!. Mahon: Don't be discouraged by what you perceive to be your initial lack of progress - stick with it.

 

[mahon83050]

Originally posted by Templeton
Had you trained before or are the 7 weeks your first experience with resistance training?

It is perfectly normal to experience little or no muscular hypertrophy in the first 2 months of training. What you are experiencing during this time are neural adaptations causing an (apparent) increase in strength but often no growth. Such adaptations actually lead to LESS muscle being used to lift submaximal loads during this early training phase.

So start looking out for increases in size from this point on. I am also assuming you are training efficiently and hard enough and that your diet is adequate - that means sufficient protein AND carbs as well as overall calorie count. If you are a naturally skinny guy who has always found it difficult to put on weight then don't be afraid to eat high amounts of carbs - obviously I don't mean refined and processed crap but good wholesome foods.

You have very good points here. I have done resistance training before, however it has been atleast a year since I did so. I hope what your saying is true.

K-Daddy:

Your theory may also be correct, but here is my problem. I want to gain mass yes, but I am unhappy with my belly size and some little fat around my love handles. According to skinnyguy.net I am in a "damned if you do or damned if you don't situation." What i mean is, I want to gain quick mass, but you have to accept the fact you are going to gain fat. On the other hand, I do not want to have a gut at all. Many carbs may be good to put on quick mass, but it will also put on lots of fat! It seems that I cannot satisfy both of those needs at the same time....it is either one or the other.

 

[Unbridled_1]

mahon,

maybe when you get that chin implant and nose job you keep talking about, you can have liposuction done. Maybe they'll offer some kind of special for getting all 3 done. You could also get your ears pinned back and anything else you want I'm sure they'd give you a great deal.

 

[mahon83050]

Originally posted by Unbridled_1
mahon,

maybe when you get that chin implant and nose job you keep talking about, you can have liposuction done. Maybe they'll offer some kind of special for getting all 3 done. You could also get your ears pinned back and anything else you want I'm sure they'd give you a great deal.

I do not appreciate your sarcasm. Getting liposuction done on the body is a cop out anyways. You can get a decent body by working out..........facial features are another story.

 

[K-Daddy]

Templeton: You're exactly right, but I assumed that he was in the typical "high metabolism, think I eat a lot more than I really do" category. If that was the case, which I hear a lot from customers where I work, I was just telling him that there is a point that, no matter what, you WILL gain weight if you eat enough calories.

mahon, wouldn't you be happier with cutting what fat you do have and bulking up from there? I know I and lots of others do. I'd been fat most of my life and I went through the same stuff you are going through now. I want size, but I also want to be ripped. I struggled with it for a while and a couple months ago totally resigned myself to the fact that I will not be happy with how I look until I get cut. I mean, I'm sort of happy with my size, but of course I want to get bigger. I just know that I, and I think you may as well, won't be really satisfied until I get cut up...and bulk from there.

 

[anakin]

Originally posted by Mahon83050:
When I look in the mirror, I look a little more cut or defined but I still weigh 170lbs..(where i was when I started) Dies this mean I have not gotten bigger and what i see is just an illusion.

Strong indication that you have lost fat that lowers your weight and gained muscle, resulting in some gains. To confirm this, check your BF levels and check the difference between now and the last 7 weeks. You will probably find that your BF levels are lower.

Anakin

 

[gr8one]

start keeping a log of what you weigh, what you eat, and how much you lift.

If you're not trusting the mirror. Maybe you will trust your own writing!!!!

www.theromp.com

 

[DankNuggs]

7 weeks of hard lifting, you must have either lowered your bf% and cut fat with an increase in muscle... If your skinny its much easier to see the gains, than if your trying to fight through a laye of fat...good luck

 

[blackbirdbeatle]

Gain Weight

Ya I was in the same situation as you a few years ago. I was lifting right and thought I was eating right but I wasn't. I actually needed to increase my calories by close to 40% per day to get about 500-700 over my daily usage. I also increased my protein to .8-1 gram per pound of body weight. I ended up gaining around 10 pounds of muscle in about 2 1/2 months. I thought that as great considering I'm a really really hardgainer. I have done this a couple times since then.

Like others said just eat more. Things like pasta and peanut butter really helped me(also protein shakes). Keep at it and good luck.

Oh ya I am also going to go against the norm here and say that I did not eat 6 small meals every day(except for a protein shake after workout but that was right before supper). I found that if I ate only 3 or at most 4 really big meals my body's metabolism slowed and I was able to gain weight faster.

 

[Templeton]

Re: Gain Weight

Originally posted by blackbirdbeatle

Oh ya I am also going to go against the norm here and say that I did not eat 6 small meals every day(except for a protein shake after workout but that was right before supper). I found that if I ate only 3 or at most 4 really big meals my body's metabolism slowed and I was able to gain weight faster. [/B]

That's a very interesting point. Often it would seem, the advice to gain weight is the same as to lose it. i.e. eat many times per day. I agree that if it is purely bodyweight one is after it is more effective to eat less frequent but bigger meals - this is how Sumo wrestlers eat - 2 HUUUGE meals a day. Now im not saying that's what anyone wants to look like but for the hardgainer desperate to bulk up this style of eating may well be the way to go. I find with the 6 meal a day approach my condition improves and I gain quality bodyweight but at a slow rate. If I want to bulk up and not care too much about body compostion then 3 or 4 meals where I literally eat anything in sight works well - fun too!

 

[mahon83050]

Well, thanks for all of your replies. I actually have gained a few pounds...I am now up to 172lbs...whoo hewww!! It must be muscle because I have been eating the same and been working out religiously.

I have another question and it is actually kind of broad. I see guys in the gym with the kind of bodies I would kill for. I am not talking steak head or really huge....I mean, pretty big, but really cut and defined. Basically the type of guy you see on Men's Health (well, maybe not that good). On average, if one lifts hard 4-5 days a week and of course eats right at the same time:How long to get a body like that or almost as good? My guess would be a year or a little more..any other educated guesses?

 

[Templeton]

Mahon: Obviously genetics play a huge role so it is hard to say how long such a transformation would take. In my own case I humbly assert that I display the men's health kinda look - a little better if I may be so bold. The reason I tell you this is that I have been training for 15 years and I have never put myself under pressure to attain a certain look by a certain time. The longer I have trained the better quality physique I have developed and the more efficient my metabolism has become.

So train hard, eat right and get set for the long haul - look at training and eating in the correct way as an issue of lifestyle rather than a temporary thing you do to get a certain look in a certain time. If you have the right genes it will happen with the slackest training regime in the world anyway but not too many guys have this luxury.