Hey guys,  I’ve posted before about not gaining, well I’m back again with a similar yet different problem.  

I’m 35 y/o. Several weeks ago I was stuck at 165ish lbs,  3350 cal on workout days 3000 cal on rest days(carb 262, protein 289, fat 131).  I got the flu and lost 3-4 lbs.  I got myself back to 162/163,  but now I can’t gain.  I bumped to 3500ish/3200 calories for workout/rest days respectively, but can’t gain at those numbers even though the first time I got my weight up to 165 with lower numbers.  How is it possible that higher numbers than what worked to get me to 165 before, aren’t working to get me back to 165 now? In my mind 3500 calories seems really high for a guy that weighs 162.

I’m at a point now where eating enough is hard.  This is a rewarding process at times when I see those gains,  and then so much other time where i’m Frustrated when i’m Not seeing gains where I think I should be.

Unfortunately positive weight gain is a slow process, as opposed to the rapid negative weight gain of increasing body fat. At your age, I'm going to assume you've been training for awhile, so newbie gains should be a thing of the past. Realistically 1 to 2 pounds of lean muscle gain a month is about the limit for guys like you and I at our age. Though, everyone's psyiology is different, and I do see one area where you could make an adjustment. You could try a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protien for a month and see what that does for you. When I want to gain, I usually double up on my carbs, it works, and you won't put on much fat if you're taining hard. Then generally, your carbs should match or be 1/3 again higher than your protein intake if you're trying to cut or maintain. Obviously don't go out and binge on donuts, just add some high quality complex carbs into the diet: oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat breads etc. Get that fuel in your body, and watch it grow.

I will have been training pretty consistently for a year in August, still a beginner unfortunately, as I’ve yet to get my physique where I want it. I started around 150 and 21% bf, I’m now around 162 with roughly 22% bf. I’ve definitely seen some development in areas. But a lot of times I can’t increase weight very much and don’t feel like I’m seeing much gain after the initial added muscle from working a group. Shoulders for instance, I’ve seen growth, but after that first beginner growth, I don’t feel like I’m gaining much more. I try to increase the weight by a lb or two, depending on the exercise. I’ll try your carb suggestion, and keep fighting the middle-age-gainz, good fight.

Yep, things progress a little slower as we age. Add those carbs in and see what happens. The other thing to consider is what your intensity is at on your program. Sometimes we stall out because the program isn't actually challenging enough. Generally, working in 3-4 sets at 10-12 reps is a solid approach. The other thing that get's overlooked is frequency. For best results each muscle should be getting hit 2-3 times a week, push-pull-leg routines work well in that regard. Scott has a few videos where he discusses training frequency and the anabolic window, it might be worth checking out.

Man that suck about the flu. Unfortunately the body is a complicated machine and it doesn't always work the way you think it should haha. The bottom line is, if you're not gaining weight with your current calories, then you need to eat more food. Increasing the carbs is probably a good idea with your current macros.

The other thing to do is to increase you calories on your rest days to help you break through that plateau. On rest days, I would simply increase the fat and leave the carbs as is if you're worried about piling on unwanted fat.

Try adding 200 calories for the next week and see how that goes.