From super skinny to normal weight, anyone ?

[aladine]

Hello folks !!
I'll make this as short as possible, 

Next July i'll be 21 years old, my height is 1.68m (5.5 feet) and my weight is 50kg!!(110 pounds)  
i know that the main reason for this (if not the only reason) is my eating and sport attitude, those two are like my worst enemies, 
i don't want to eat a lot (some time i stay like 10 or 12 hours without eating anything), and am completely anti-sport guy...
but this month i decided to try and change that, am heading to the gym next week, a lot of people told me that once i start exercising i will automatically eat more, so i will certainly gain some weight in the first months unless my body is buggy (which i doubt it by the way xD) 
anyway,
i want to ask if there is anyone here had the same "problem" before and want to share his experience and maybe give some advice, i would really appreciate that, 
one last thing,
by saying "anti-sport" dude, i really mean the kind of person that cannot even touch his toes lol 
i wounder how all that fitness thing will go    
(anyone remember this xD ?)

Sheldon touching his toes 

thank's a lot and have a great day

[Lowren]

How lucky you are... I would be happy to be 1.68m and 50kg :/ I have the opposite. Always on diet

[aladine]

How lucky you are... I would be happy to be 1.68m and 50kg :/ I have the opposite. Always on diet

lol not if you were a guy, plus i'd rather to be a little chubby or even more than little, still better than super skinny

[Mike]

Yep it sound like you are a bit skinny but hey... I wouldn't worry for this because you're 21 years old... after 4-5 years without doing anything you're going to 

get some weight just by aging so...

 

One advice from personal experience - I was just like you not eating very much and playing a lot of sport 3 years ago... and was around 62kg (178cm 25 years old) and then I stopped sports cause

of knee injury and ... 1 year later I was 10 kg over 72kg.... after one more year I was 78kg ... and now after 1 more yeat cause I still can't and won't do sport I made a bit change in my eating routine...

and now I'm at happy 71 kg.

 

So... don't worry too much and try eating more meat and the fitness thing cause it wont hurt you

 

You can try a Phelps diet

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2177613/Michael-Phelps-12-000-calories-day-dont-doing-harm.html

[Daikrys]

well i have trained different kind of persons and some were like you not eating right

 

first, you are 21 that means you could still be in the grow state. between 21-23 you normally exit the grow state and your metabolism will change. the change could be small or really big. so keep an eye of it, you could gain weight in no time.

 

second, its not really a physical problem its more a mentally problem for you. you basicly killed your sensation of hunger somehow. in your current shape, your body would need around 1740kcal to maintain his weight (Basal Metabolic Rate is around 1440). so you basicly need to eat more calories a day to get more weight. plus, since you eating sometimes nothing for around 10-12 hours, you enter a state that is called catabolism. in this state your body will be burning more fat (which i assume you havent much of) and more importantly muscles and organs (cause you havent any ressources left).

 

training is always nice but you really need to fix your eating first. training will only deliver results if you give your body enough nutrients to build up. doing alot of cardio could also have a counter effect on you for gaining any weight or muscles.

 

to get your eating right you should build up systems to make you eating more or more frequently. like having some snacks near you and whenever you look at them you have to eat a bite. setting up an alarm clock that makes you eat to specific times. keep in mind that you have to recalculate everything a few times cause you want gain weight but not getting super fat

you should also drink enough to be hydrated for the whole time (if the pee is clear, you are fully hydrated <- gives more energy).

 

some good food ideas to gain weight: brown rice, cocos milk/fat, nuts, milk (at least 3,5% fat), chocolate (as treat not as full meal)

 

its always good to get healthy and stay healthy. so better start today then tomorrow, for a better today and a better tomorrow

 

if you need any further guidance, just pm me.

[fatalfluff]

@aladine: If you care for a beer belly transplant, just shoot me a PM 

[aladine]

you basicly killed your sensation of hunger somehow. 

it's REALLY dead man !!! 

and thank you for everything else it's really nice    

 

@aladine: If you care for a beer belly transplant, just shoot me a PM 

Hell yeah i do !!

 

what i did today : 

i think that i have consumed twice the amount i am used to eat

 

@7.15   : cup of chocolate milk + a little sweet sandwitch

@10.00 : same thing

@11.30 : a medium cheese sandwich + cup of coke 

@12.30: another medium cheese sandwich + cup of coke

@13.45: a tomato sauce macaroni plate (didn't finish it all )  + 3 cups of coke 

@20.30: another macaroni plate (i finish it  )

@now  : i have some little cakes + white milk 

 

but the thing is that after the lunch i was feeling very uncomfortable, my stomach felt like it's inflated or puffy xD and i had a STRONG will to sleep but i didn't fall for it   instead i went out for a walk, about 45 minutes in a good walking speed with super mix between metal & electronic music \m/ 

i can see that i spend a long time without eating anything again but i swear i didn't noticed at all before writing it now (that's very weird lol)

so ? is that a good start ? just to give you a previous idea of my old eating habbit,

an example of yesterday :

@7.30   : half cup of chocolate milk

@13.30 : an egg + some bread

@20.30 : an egg + some bread + cup of coke    

it's like am on super evil diet or something 

 

thanx everyone 

[Daikrys]

keep it up, you will somehow get used to it

 

walking is a great exercise and often totally underrated. you should also check out some different kinds of exercises like calisthenics, strong man stuff, crossfit, 5x5, bodybuilding and so on, to get yourself in shape.

 

personally i do mostly calisthenics and swimming. its fun and works pretty well for me, if you want to learn more you can search for bartarzz on youtube to get a bit inspired. if you go for bodybuilding i would recommend a look at the youtube channel of scooby1961. youtube is quite a good source for workouts

if you dont like such tough exercises and you prefer lighter ones, you could check out pilates (i often recommend this to womans cause its do able for them).

 

once you get to your goals it will be getting easier but dont let your guard down until you reach them

[Vidsneezes]

I make a sport out of my weight, been in the mid 200s (lbs) and the low 100s (lbs) multiple times.

What's worked for me to gain weight was eating big hearty meals one or twice a day. Also keeping a calorie count is good, the default is to say you need 2000 calories a day to maintain weight.  Basically i start in increments when i want to gain weight, say for example if i wanted to gain 10-15 (lbs)

if i need the default calories of 2000 a day,
then for 3 weeks i would eat 2100
then after that kick it up to 2300 for 4 weeks
then try to maintain it at 2600 calories for 2 or 3 months. 

the hard part is not going overboard right in the beginning, . 

[Daikrys]

the default is to say you need 2000 calories a day to maintain weight.

 

dude, please be careful with saying such things. the default will only apply if you are in the range of the default persons data. always calculate daily calories based on your personal data and never ever go for something default!

 

its also important to be honest with your activity level and calculate that in.

 

if in doubt use scoobys calculater, its exact enough to be useful and lazy people can also set their goal there. always recalculate your needs every few weeks or minor goal.

[Vidsneezes]

Yea Daikrys is totally correct, your personal data is incredibly important.
 

[dev]

Daikrys, sensible stuff except that I really wouldn't recommend crossfit to anyone. The benefit is that it has a community that gets you motivated, I really like that about crossfit. The downside is that it takes really solid exercises and mangles them, one of the notorious examples being the kipping pullup (here's a parody: 

). As for the community of crossfit, there's simply a ton of people walking around who have no regard for proper form (or worse, teaching form) and in the long run that's really dangerous and contraproductive. Oh and it's also bloody expensive.

 

Anyway to get back to the first post, you mention exercise and diet are two of your biggest problems in not gaining weight. I'd say the first one is your basic biology, your genes, your metabolic rate. You're likely an ectomorph and there's nothing you can do about that. (look that up, depending on your body type different exercises and diets are recommended. Here's for example some simple starters http://www.dreambodysixpack.com/2012/09/08/body-types-work-out-your-body-type/)

 

Now of course, diet and exercise are the main solution to your low-weight problem. But is it really a problem? That's your body type and you have to consider how important it is for you to change it. For example, you describe a lack of a desire to eat massive amounts of food, that's your body telling you, why ignore it and stuff yourself to gain weight you have no function for? Sure you can do it, but remember this. Muscle burns more energy than fat and both fat and muscle burn energy while you're sleeping or sitting. The more you gain weight, the more calories you need to eat to keep you from having a deficit (burning more calories than you're consuming -> losing weight). That means the more weight you gain (especially muscle), the harder it will be to remain at that weight or gain more. So ask yourself whether you want this type of diet (two plates of macaroni a day) for the rest of your life, or if you may be better off being comfortable with whatever weight your body naturally gravitates towards. And also consider that if you just want to gain weight, exercise at this point shouldn't be the main focus. (yes, walking 30 minutes a day is awesome, but also going to the gym doing 30 minutes of high-intensity cardio and weightlifting is going to break down your muscles without the right diet, and any muscle you do gain will burn calories faster than if it was just stored as fat. So I'd definitely not do any cardio in the gym the first few months and perhaps not go at all at first).

 

I personally like to exercise and weightlifting (not bodybuilding) is a fun challenge for me and I encourage anyone to do so. Core weightlifting exercises like deadlifts are really awesome for just about anyone who can do the proper form. But I always think it's important to ask ourselves the right questions, why we do certain things. It turns out a lot of people exercise for the wrong reasons, for mere vanity at the expense of their health or sense of self-worth. I know a few people who ended up enjoying yoga, meditation and tai-chi much more. It helps them stay fit without forcing themselves to an uncomfortable diet to conform with a hollywood body-image, so I do a lot of that too.

[AhmedElyamani]

Aladine you should seriously practice a sport! , It'll force you to eat , and food won't be turned into fat.

 

Aside from that , I wish I was the one who is skinny , after all , When you are a little bit over "normal" , you'll start worrying about not drinking and eating much junk stuff (even though I'm more of a careless person ) , But it's nice to at least be like , you can eat whenever you want , and still buy the clothes you like.  

[ozdy]

I was very skinny before I went to university, we got measured in high-school so I remember my exact numbers - 8th grade - 175cm/65kg, 12th grade - 180/63kg. But after I went to university, we had all you can eat cafeterias, and guess what, I ate a lot - got to 80kg in a little over a semester!

[Gemfruit]

School french fries in high school kicked my ass. I had to stop eating them, and play a few hours of intense (9-10 footers) DDR every week to lose it. Since I started working out a year or so ago, I'm back to 5'11' / 158 lbs.

[Daikrys]

@Developoid: the form is always important regardless what workout you are doing. bad form might not only give you muscle imbalance, it could also prevent you from making progress.

 

the key is to start light and doing it right! in every workout there are some beginner exercises, this also applys to yoga, crossfit, pilates and so on. its always advisable to start with beginner exercises and doing them nice and slowly. this prevents you from injuries and get you in proper form.

 

aladine, said that he want to change something. given his story its possible that he killed his sensation of hunger and isnt doing any sport. well this is quite unhealthy and i understand why he want to change that. people today dont move enough throughout the day, especially in our branch.

 

eating that less, is rarely coming from genes or metabolism. it comes from training your body to eat less and maintain his weight while not getting any calories for long periods. to change that, its not like you are going on a life long diet, its a lifestyle change. also as i mentioned, when you get to your goals its easier. this means that at your goal you dont have to work that hard anymore to maintain your it. meaning that he dont have to eat at 120% his whole life. its always important to know what your goals are, and when you asking yourself why are you doing this, you should always have a meaningful answer to it.

 

 

i just giving hints of what he could do. since i dont know every detail or have had a look at him yet. it would be wise to contact a doctor for a talk and get some bloodtests done.

 

basicly he is doing trial and error atm. stuffing hisself the whole day might work but it might also be not optimal. but anyway he's getting an idea of what its like to eat more often a day. but before its gone worst, i should drop him a PM.

 

a close friend of mine had a similar problem, altough his body is different, he had a mentally problem of not eating right. he trained hisself slowly to eating less and ended up with a killed sensation of hunger. after he told me that the doctor said he will sooner or later kill himself when he's not changing something. since he was clueless of what to do and my expierence i gathered over more then a decade, i taked action and build him up. now he's quite jacked, cause he always wanted to get stronger. he's also enjoying everything i teached him and is back to good health.

 

well thats one of the extrem cases i had over the years but it seems its worth telling here. everyone here having some problems to get to your goals should always look for help. but since its about you, you somehow have to work for it too.

 

meh, i always ending up writing romans about fitness or game developing. if you made it to the end in every post, respect!