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Not sure if I am making any progress?

Should I increase how much I eat?

JourneyMan
JourneyMan g Alejandro Rojo
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: June 6, 2018
Posted

On June 14, I was a week into serious weightlifting. Also during that time, I was confused if I should eat more if I wanted to gain lean muscle. I was told to increase my calories from 2100 to 2400, so I did that. For more than a month I have been consuming 2400 calories every day; however, I have stayed at the same weight. On the before picture, I am 153lbs while measuring at 5'11. On the picture a month later, I am still the same height and weight.

Also, I work out 5 times a week, where on Monday I do a full upper body, Tuesday I do a full lower body, Wednesday I do Pull, Thursday I do Push, and Friday I do Legs. Each session I try to hit 20 sets, I been attempting to progressive overload.

My macros are 2400 calories, 180 grams of Protein, 300 grams of carbs, and 53 grams of fat.

 

 Before Photo (Relax).

 

Before Photo. (I guess Flexing)

 

A month later. (Relax)

 

 

A month later. (I guess flexing)

 

A month later. (attempting to flex my tiny arms.)

 

My questions are:

Can you notice a difference on my body a month later? Even a slight difference would be good for me since it tells me that I am not wasting my time.
Do I need to increase my macros?

 

I know I have to be patient for results. I have been patience before when I went from 312lbs to 135lbs in about a year. However, I just want to make sure that I am not wasting my time by doing something wrong.

 

Thanks!

Zeke_BE
Zeke_BE g Brandon Ellsworth
55 Post(s)
55 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: December 12, 2017
Posted

 First off congrats on loosing all that weight. That is amazing! Couple ways you can find your TDEE. Punch it in the computer and it will give you it on line and and give or take a couple hundred calories. Or weight and watch and see what happens. If you were right on your macros for weight gain it would only put you 1 pound of mucsle if you were doing it right. You will notice it maybe in 2-3 months of a few pounds of muscle and after 5 pounds people close to you will notice it and around 10 pounds other people will notice a change. Be patiencent its eaiser to loose alot of weight then it is to put on some mass. Now back to your TDEE guessing your age but Im getting 2600 calories TDEE with your work out schedule. So bump the calories up. You want to be seeing about 1/4-3/4 pounds a week inclease. So there is a good chane you need 2800 calories a day to gain muscle. Start at 2600 and see what happens

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: JourneyMan

On June 14, I was a week into serious weightlifting. Also during that time, I was confused if I should eat more if I wanted to gain lean muscle. I was told to increase my calories from 2100 to 2400, so I did that. For more than a month I have been consuming 2400 calories every day; however, I have stayed at the same weight. On the before picture, I am 153lbs while measuring at 5'11. On the picture a month later, I am still the same height and weight.

Also, I work out 5 times a week, where on Monday I do a full upper body, Tuesday I do a full lower body, Wednesday I do Pull, Thursday I do Push, and Friday I do Legs. Each session I try to hit 20 sets, I been attempting to progressive overload.

My macros are 2400 calories, 180 grams of Protein, 300 grams of carbs, and 53 grams of fat.

 

 Before Photo (Relax).

 

Before Photo. (I guess Flexing)

 

A month later. (Relax)

 

 

A month later. (I guess flexing)

 

A month later. (attempting to flex my tiny arms.)

 

My questions are:

Can you notice a difference on my body a month later? Even a slight difference would be good for me since it tells me that I am not wasting my time.
Do I need to increase my macros?

 

I know I have to be patient for results. I have been patience before when I went from 312lbs to 135lbs in about a year. However, I just want to make sure that I am not wasting my time by doing something wrong.

 

Thanks!

@JourneyMan I can see a different in your upper body especially! Looks like you have added some mass there, the chest and shoulders in particular and your bicep looks a little bigger too!

 

If you are still the same weight, there's a chance you are losing fat while gaining muscle - exactly what you want! It certainly doesn't look like you have gained any more fat (it's hard to tell with the mirror being dirty, haha). Your shoulder to hip ratio looks to have improved though. Positive signs I think.

 

How do you feel? Are you getting stronger in the gym? Do you feel bigger? Keep in mind (I might have said this in the original post) that a lot of what is left on your stomach is lose skin. Training will tighten it up a bit, but there's a chance you will need some surgery to make a bigger impact.

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JourneyMan
JourneyMan g Alejandro Rojo
2 Post(s)
2 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: June 6, 2018
Posted

First off, I am sorry for such a late response. I was busy with work, which meant I was hardly ever home.

 

Now, thank you for responding back. And, I am glad that you can see some result because I was worry that I was changing much since I been stuck at the same weight, and I was doing the same amount of weights for mostly all my exercises. For instance, on seated dumbbell shoulder press I can rep like 8 to 10 reps on 25lbs, but once I get to 30lbs, I can't do more than 2. I think what is holding me back is my forearms. They tend to give up much quicker than any of my other body parts.

 

Now to answer your questions. I do feel better but I have gotten a lot of days where I'm just tired. As for me getting stronger, I think I am. Can't really say since I am not moving up in weights but I am able to do more reps on the weights I'm stuck with. As for feeling bigger, I only feel bigger on my shoulder, but everything else I still feel weak, especially in my chest. I feel really weak in my chest because I can only bench like 65lbs. Also, I think working on abs has really helped my loose skin because my stomach seems a little bit more flat.

 

My main goal is to build muscle but to build muscle you have to gain strength. Therefore, do you think if I increase my calories from 2400 to 2600, I'll be able to lift more? So my macros right now are 180grams of protein, 300 grams of carbs, and 53grams of fat. I would increase my total carbs from 300 grams to 325 grams and my fat from 53grams to 63 grams of fat. I am also asking because I am afraid of being label as overweight or obese again.

By the way, even two weeks after this post I am still sitting around 153lbs.

 

Also, I need some advice on what to do during my vacation. Today and the next 5 days I'll be on vacation but I am worried about losing my results because I'll be mostly eatting out and I won't really be able to really workout. Therefore, should I enjoy myself or how can I attempt to be on track? This is going to be my first vacation as a skinny person.

 

Also, when I post my next progress picture, I'll make sure that someone is taking the pic because I don't want my dirty mirror being a problem. Hahaha.

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: JourneyMan

First off, I am sorry for such a late response. I was busy with work, which meant I was hardly ever home.

 

Now, thank you for responding back. And, I am glad that you can see some result because I was worry that I was changing much since I been stuck at the same weight, and I was doing the same amount of weights for mostly all my exercises. For instance, on seated dumbbell shoulder press I can rep like 8 to 10 reps on 25lbs, but once I get to 30lbs, I can't do more than 2. I think what is holding me back is my forearms. They tend to give up much quicker than any of my other body parts.

 

Now to answer your questions. I do feel better but I have gotten a lot of days where I'm just tired. As for me getting stronger, I think I am. Can't really say since I am not moving up in weights but I am able to do more reps on the weights I'm stuck with. As for feeling bigger, I only feel bigger on my shoulder, but everything else I still feel weak, especially in my chest. I feel really weak in my chest because I can only bench like 65lbs. Also, I think working on abs has really helped my loose skin because my stomach seems a little bit more flat.

 

My main goal is to build muscle but to build muscle you have to gain strength. Therefore, do you think if I increase my calories from 2400 to 2600, I'll be able to lift more? So my macros right now are 180grams of protein, 300 grams of carbs, and 53grams of fat. I would increase my total carbs from 300 grams to 325 grams and my fat from 53grams to 63 grams of fat. I am also asking because I am afraid of being label as overweight or obese again.

By the way, even two weeks after this post I am still sitting around 153lbs.

 

Also, I need some advice on what to do during my vacation. Today and the next 5 days I'll be on vacation but I am worried about losing my results because I'll be mostly eatting out and I won't really be able to really workout. Therefore, should I enjoy myself or how can I attempt to be on track? This is going to be my first vacation as a skinny person.

 

Also, when I post my next progress picture, I'll make sure that someone is taking the pic because I don't want my dirty mirror being a problem. Hahaha.

@JourneyMan No problem at all about the late response my friend!

 

If you're struggling with going up in weight with your exercises, try doing rest pauses and/or drop sets. So if you can do 30lb dumbbells for 2 reps, do those 2 reps, and then finish with 8 reps of a lighter weight. Aim to get one more rep with the 30lb dumbbells every week or two if you can. Once you can do 5-6 reps with the 30lb dumbbells, that's when you could include rest pauses. So you would do 5-6 reps, rest for 10 seconds, and then do 2-4 more reps.

 

Strength and size are correlated.. but don't always cause one another to happen at the same time. I would say as a beginner like yourself though, you will see strength and size gains at the same time. If you are still sitting around 153lbs, like I said, it could be that you are losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. But if you don't think you are gaining size or strength, then yes increasing your calories is the way to go. To help minimize fat gain, I would say keep the carbs at 300g and focus on getting more fat in your diet when increasing your calories. So maybe take the fats up to 75g.

 

You can definitely enjoy yourself while on vacation. Maybe you can go for some runs to get some cardio in to help burn off any excess calories you are eating? Or do some bodyweight workouts? You don't have to do them every day.. but maybe every second day just so you are doing something. It's totally up to you whether you do that or just enjoy vacation, then get back on track when you are home.

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theliftinglibrarian
theliftinglibrarian g Michelle Spencer
18 Post(s)
18 Post(s) Gender: Female Goal: Lose Fat Date Joined: November 11, 2017
Posted

Congrats on losing all that weight! Such a great accomplishment.

 

Definitely noticed some development in your chest, shoulders, and arms. Your biceps in particular are looking much fuller in your flex photos.

 

I'm going to throw my support behind upping your calories and bumping up the fat macro. Fats help your body absorb nutrients, keep your cells healthy, help regulate hormone production, and help maintain healthy skin and hair. Even saturated fats - which everyone likes to crap on as the "bad fats" - are important in maintaining testosterone levels, which in turn is important for muscle growth. Everything in moderation, of course. 😊 So don’t cut your fats too low. And hey, more fat in your macros means more room for peanut butter. BONUS!!

 

Sorry, I love peanut butter.

 

Anyways.

 

The main reason I'm commenting is to talk about vacation. Mostly because I just got back from one! I packed my running gear and had the best intentions, but I ran exactly ZERO times, haha! I also enjoyed every calorie I (over)indulged in. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, and so I didn't want to add any extra stress by worrying too much about what I was eating - it would have been impossible to track everything. I still tried to maintain common sense by choosing healthier options at restaurants and limiting my portion sizes (except for that one milkshake, but omg, so worth it). I DID do some bodyweight exercises - push-ups, triceps dips, planks, wall-sits, squats, etc. But overall, I just focused on enjoying myself and jumped right back into my workouts and good nutrition habits the day I got home. It's only been a few days, and I'm already feeling much leaner. Workouts haven't felt too bad, either. It didn't take long to bounce back to normal.

 

Bottom line, do what's gonna help you enjoy yourself and stress less on vacation. If you'll stress less by squeezing in some quick workouts and eating right the whole time, do that! Just make sure you're enjoying yourself.

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: theliftinglibrarian

Congrats on losing all that weight! Such a great accomplishment.

 

Definitely noticed some development in your chest, shoulders, and arms. Your biceps in particular are looking much fuller in your flex photos.

 

I'm going to throw my support behind upping your calories and bumping up the fat macro. Fats help your body absorb nutrients, keep your cells healthy, help regulate hormone production, and help maintain healthy skin and hair. Even saturated fats - which everyone likes to crap on as the "bad fats" - are important in maintaining testosterone levels, which in turn is important for muscle growth. Everything in moderation, of course. 😊 So don’t cut your fats too low. And hey, more fat in your macros means more room for peanut butter. BONUS!!

 

Sorry, I love peanut butter.

 

Anyways.

 

The main reason I'm commenting is to talk about vacation. Mostly because I just got back from one! I packed my running gear and had the best intentions, but I ran exactly ZERO times, haha! I also enjoyed every calorie I (over)indulged in. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing, and so I didn't want to add any extra stress by worrying too much about what I was eating - it would have been impossible to track everything. I still tried to maintain common sense by choosing healthier options at restaurants and limiting my portion sizes (except for that one milkshake, but omg, so worth it). I DID do some bodyweight exercises - push-ups, triceps dips, planks, wall-sits, squats, etc. But overall, I just focused on enjoying myself and jumped right back into my workouts and good nutrition habits the day I got home. It's only been a few days, and I'm already feeling much leaner. Workouts haven't felt too bad, either. It didn't take long to bounce back to normal.

 

Bottom line, do what's gonna help you enjoy yourself and stress less on vacation. If you'll stress less by squeezing in some quick workouts and eating right the whole time, do that! Just make sure you're enjoying yourself.

This is great input!! @JourneyMan definitely take all of this on board man. Peanut butter, avocados, nuts, extra virgin olive oil and seeds are all great fat options, and then I like to go for coconut oil for my healthy saturated fats!

 

Definitely enjoy that vacation too!

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