This is sort of related to a previous thread, but thought it might be better to just make a new topic. Anyways, I've been trying to gain weight by doing strength-training. I've been doing it for about 4-5 months now, 4 times a week for 30-40 minutes each time. I push myself as hard as I can without hurting myself, eat extra carbs, protein and fat ( I eat LOADS of nuts) and give myself time to rest but I haven't gained any weight! I know I'm getting somewhere because I'm a lot stronger but I am wondering why I haven't gained anything? Am I doing something wrong?

First of all, are you female or male? If you want to pack on mass, you have to eat more--not bad stuff, you can still eat good stuff and gain--plus they have protein powders (when combined with weights) that specifically help you to gain mass. Your body needs extra fuel to make muscle, otherwise, when you're depleted calorically, say goodbye to muscles. I find that eating 6-7 small meals a day work great. 3 regular meals and 4- snack-type meals. Your snacks should be your protein shake (mixed with fruit)....you know what? Buy the book, "Body for Life" by Bill Phillips and do the 90 day challenge. I did and was buffed out by the end. (flat stomach and everything) I did the program religiously and IT REALLY WORKED. If I could get my digital camera working, I'd post a before and after pic...one of these days. Since you have no weight to lose, it should be a piece of cake for you. Yes...go and buy this book...you will not be sorry. :hi:

clusswoman- Is it possible to do that program and still be veg*n?! I am really interested in it but I thought it was impossible for vegetarians!!

Anyway, clusswoman is right!! :yes: It is likely you are not eating enough...your body will need a small surplus of caloric fuel with which to really stack on the muscle and weight. At the health club where I work, guys drink protein shakes with 1000 calories in them to help them gain muscle mass- you don't need one of those, probably, but a good protein shake isn't a bad idea. You have to make sure you are getting tons of protein and tons of calories. I don't know, but I wouldn't be shy to recommend eating at least 2500 calories a day; keep a food journal for a few days and see where you round out calorically. That will give you an idea of where you might need to be to gain mass.
Lovenlight,
Linz

Rainbow- It's a myth that vegans can't get muscles. They have all kinds of vegan protein powders out there. I get mine at Trader joes--GNC has a Pro Max that's vegan but it's rather costly. A google search should pull up some good ones.

I think the trick is, as Rainbow said, eating a bunch of calories, doing a lot of strength training and less cardio. If you're going to do any cardio, make sure you eat some healthy carbs beforehand to ensure you don't burn away more muscle.

Good luck--if you have any questions on your training, pm me, I'm a personal trainer. :)

OOO! I'll trade you!!
I've been doing cardio and strength training to lose weight and all I've done is gained muscle.
I don't know how I did it though since I know nothing about fitness. I take yoga two mornings a week, and do about 45 min cardio + 20 minutes weights 3 times a week, and that seems to be giving me arm and calf muscles. Mysterious.

rabid---the more muscle you make, the more fat you burn. (yippee!) :yes:

Star - can you give us some more deail about what exercises you are doing?

rabid---the more muscle you make, the more fat you burn. (yippee!) :yes:

I'm not sure I believe that. :worried:
I guess it would just make me feel better for the scale to drop a hair, y'know?

I'm not sure I believe that. :worried:
I guess it would just make me feel better for the scale to drop a hair, y'know?



You know, you can work so hard and restrict your calories right into nothingness...meaning your body gets scared that you're starving it. Make sure you're eating the right amount of calories for your size...even if it feels like it's too much. Your body needs the right amount of fuel and exercise to work properly. Plus, make sure you're drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day.

If I may be ignorant of addressing your exact issue, I'll just direct you to www.veganfitness.net for advice, and which is given willingly in a friendly, layed back but functional atmosphere! :)

I have a quick question...I've been wanting to start jogging so that I build up my endurance! I have been jogging a little bit here and there, but a lot of times it seems that my arms ache after I've been jogging for a bit! Is this because I don't have very much muscle there or what??

I'm curious. Why do you care so much about gaining weight?

I'm curious. Why do you care so much about gaining weight?
Some people don't like looking like stick figures (not that you do, starblossom, I'm just taking a guess and making a general comment as to why someone would want to gain weight - No offense intended :cool: )

I'm not sure your answer is constructive for me. It sounds more like you took my question personally. I was really just curious to know why starblossom is struggling so hard to gain weight, because there could be a whole host of reasons for this, and a whole lot of reasons why it's not happening. It's kinda hard to know the exact situation, obviously, and none of us know starblossom's daily routines, food intake, etc.

epski, I love your quote....I mean your signature thing. Good old Ron.
I just wanted to offer a few words based off what brownie said...when I read
"I'm curious. Why do you care so much about gaining weight?" something immediatley went off in my head, like MAYBE BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO LOOK THIN! MAYBE BECAUSE A LITTLE MEAT ON THE BONES IS OK, ALRIGHT EPSKI?!
LOL. I know, I know...but what brownie and I have in common is that I believe we both have had issues with eating disorders...it makes you a little hypersensitive. I think you were looking for a specific answer like, "I want to look different" or something, but it rubbed me that wrong way, too, and I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it...
I'm probably like, completely being stupid here...I was just explaining how I felt when I read it, because I think I was feeling similar to brownie...:yes:

Nope. Not stupid. Thanks for sharing. Looking at it in that light, I can certainly see how it might come off to certain sensitive types. As long as my subsequent clarification makes sense, I'll leave it as is. Not sure I actually received an answer, though...

First of all, are you female or male?

I'm female. I also have a small body frame, so I figured it would take a while to gain weight in the first place, but this is taking longer than I expected :(

Star - can you give us some more deail about what exercises you are doing?

Well I've been slacking off lately, but what my routine was before was, I would work-out 4 days a week. One day for Core muscles, one day for legs, one day for shoulders and arms, then the last day was a quick whole-body workout using compound exercises. There are about 4 exercises I do for my abs, 2 that I do for chest (pushups and bench press), 3 that I do for my upper back and 1 for my lower back. For legs, I do lunges, reverse lunges and squats with 30lbs resting on my back. I also do deadlifts with 30lbs, hoping to increase that soon. Then of course bicep curls, tricep extensions, etc etc. Don't worry, I don't kill myself on my whole body day. I just do a couple sets of 12-20 reps of 5 compound exercises (lat pullups, pushups, squats, lunges and crunches). I also run twice a week, 15 minutes each, so I don't think I'm overdoing the cardio. Umm I think that's it.

I'm curious. Why do you care so much about gaining weight?

Rainbow and Brownie are right, I just don't like looking like a stick. I have never had an eating disorder or anything, so I'm not very underweight. I have just always been rather thin and have a boyish figure. I want to add muscles in sort of a way to add curves, since my hips don't seem to be growing wider. Eating tons of calories doesn't make me gain fat-weight -- I have discovered that's impossible for me to achieve. Well of course looks aren't the only reason I want to gain weight. Being strong comes in really useful and I enjoy the exercise, it's quite empowering, but it's certainly a plus that muscles can look oh so sexy. :)

clusswoman, veganaconda: thanks! will check out website

And sorry for taking a while to respond, I compeltely forgot that I had posted this!

I'm not sure your answer is constructive for me. It sounds more like you took my question personally. I was really just curious to know why starblossom is struggling so hard to gain weight, because there could be a whole host of reasons for this, and a whole lot of reasons why it's not happening. It's kinda hard to know the exact situation, obviously, and none of us know starblossom's daily routines, food intake, etc.
I definately do apologize EPski. I didn't mean for that comment to read as harshly as it might, and I should've phrased it better. RBM- thanks for clarifying :up:

:)