Hey guys,

 

So at the beginning of July I weighed 143.5 lbs fasted and I was eating 2600 calories. In the past month, August, I raised my calories to 3000, which is well over the amount I need to gain weight (I only need 2550). So I weighed myself today and I weighed 144 lbs. I feel like since I've been eating so many excess calories, I should be gaining weight faster than .5 lbs in two months? I have maybe gained a pound all summer.

 

Also, I have made strength gains, so I figured I would be packing on more muscle. And I haven't had the fat on my body to burn which would stall weight gain.

 

I have had a lot of trouble gaining weight ever since I switced to high volume training at the beginning of the summer BUT I get a much larger pump.

 

The only supplement I take it post workout whey protein. I don't know if that's important.

 

Any advice is appreciate, thanks!

 

Ben

 

 

Hey guys,

 

So at the beginning of July I weighed 143.5 lbs fasted and I was eating 2600 calories. In the past month, August, I raised my calories to 3000, which is well over the amount I need to gain weight (I only need 2550). So I weighed myself today and I weighed 144 lbs. I feel like since I've been eating so many excess calories, I should be gaining weight faster than .5 lbs in two months? I have maybe gained a pound all summer.

 

Also, I have made strength gains, so I figured I would be packing on more muscle. And I haven't had the fat on my body to burn which would stall weight gain.

 

I have had a lot of trouble gaining weight ever since I switced to high volume training at the beginning of the summer BUT I get a much larger pump.

 

The only supplement I take it post workout whey protein. I don't know if that's important.

 

Any advice is appreciate, thanks!

 

Ben

 

 

Ben,

 

The bottom line is you have a very effcient metabolism. If you are doing high volume training, your caloric requirements will go up substantially. Don't go by figures and caloric recommendations from the Internet. Gaining weight while staying lean is a slow process. .5 Lbs in two months, while slow, is good if the weight gain is lean. 3000 is probably still not enough for your training and our metabolism hence the small amount of weight gain. Try upping it to 3500 calories. If you are gaining more lean weight, then you are good to go. If you find you are gaining weight and fat, then you need to cut it back a bit.

 

As for strength, it is not only your muscles that get bigger and stronger but also your central nervou system (CNS) gets more efficient at activating muscles fibers. If your strenght is increasing even if your weigh is not, that is still a good thing.

 

John

I agree with John - Don't go by what you find on the internet or what other people say, go by what results you are seeing. Strength gains are just as good as weight gain, if not better - it means you are staying lean but able to lift heavier.

 

The lack of weight gain simply suggests you are not eating enough calories for the amount of training you are doing. How much cardio do you do? That could be an issue if you are doing it every day or every workout day.

 

Were you gaining weight more consistently before you switched to high volume training?

 

Taking whey protein after working out is great, the only reason you may want to have more is to increase your caloric intake, but having it just after training is fine and the optimal time to be having it.

You wrote: "I have had a lot of trouble gaining weight ever since I switced to high volume training at the beginning of the summer BUT I get a much larger pump."

 

The amount of pump you get doesn't tell anything about how good your training program is: the pump is just a matter of doing lots of reps, therefore convincing your body to send a lot of blood to the muscles involved.

 

If your goal is building muscle, and you gained muscles with low volume, but you don't make gains with high volume, than just go back to low volume, because that is what works best with your body.

Hey guys,

 

So at the beginning of July I weighed 143.5 lbs fasted and I was eating 2600 calories. In the past month, August, I raised my calories to 3000, which is well over the amount I need to gain weight (I only need 2550). So I weighed myself today and I weighed 144 lbs. I feel like since I've been eating so many excess calories, I should be gaining weight faster than .5 lbs in two months? I have maybe gained a pound all summer.

 

Also, I have made strength gains, so I figured I would be packing on more muscle. And I haven't had the fat on my body to burn which would stall weight gain.

 

I have had a lot of trouble gaining weight ever since I switced to high volume training at the beginning of the summer BUT I get a much larger pump.

 

The only supplement I take it post workout whey protein. I don't know if that's important.

 

Any advice is appreciate, thanks!

 

Ben

 

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

I actually cut cardio out because I didn't know if it was hurting my muscle gain goals or not, but I do play soccer 1-2 days a week. I'm a former collegic player.

 

And when I started training high volume, I also started watching what I eat. I used to just eat anything I wanted to. But I was 120lbs when I first started about 18 months ago so maybe I hit a time when it's harder to gain weight since I've gained 24 lbs so far?

Thanks for the reply!

 

I actually cut cardio out because I didn't know if it was hurting my muscle gain goals or not, but I do play soccer 1-2 days a week. I'm a former collegic player.

 

And when I started training high volume, I also started watching what I eat. I used to just eat anything I wanted to. But I was 120lbs when I first started about 18 months ago so maybe I hit a time when it's harder to gain weight since I've gained 24 lbs so far?

Ben,

 

Naturally gaining 24 pounds in 18 months is quite fast. You put on the most size and weight in the first 2 years of lifting than any other time. The amount of size and weight is genetically determined but maximum potential will not be reached without proper nutrition and enough calories - regardless of genetics. You are doing great so far at a 24Lb gain :-)

 

John

Not to take away from my progress, but the first 10lbs did go on pretty quickly. Haha That's probably common though.

 

But thanks for the help! I'll just keep eating more and more. My body seems to always be hungry for more than 3000 calories. I should probably listen to it!