# urgent call for help



## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

hello. i'm in a real mess and need some advice. i'm 21, dead on 7stone, 5'5.. really underweight and i can tell somethings wrong with my body which is a weight issue but i eat and eat still nothing comes of it. my face puffs up but my actually body doesn't put any weight on. i do work out, it heals but i'm really lean. from my neck down my body show my muscles all be it small but their there its just i can't seem to put weight on.

I'm eating

4 slices of toast in the morning or 2-3 eggs with 2 slices of bread

pasta or sandwich (mainly tuna or egg) for lunch

rice with lamb, chicken or steak for dinner

sandwich, crisps, biscuits, a bit of junk food if its there in between dinner and bed

I don't often drink protein shakes.

a few things about my body which are not normal, not that this whole things normal. my hands and feet don't warm up , there always cold especially the tips on my hands. feet all round cold. everything came back clear when i went for a blood test, doc said i'm not putting on weight because of my age.. enjoy it!! i guess hes a positive guy but doesn't understand i don't feel strong, i feel weak and want to change things, i want to get bigger, feel stronger and if possible gain a little height but seeing as i'm up against it i doubt all will happen. thanks


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

Calories

Step #1: Resting Metabolic Rate

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is the energy it costs the body to basically keep alive. This doesn't include the costs of getting your butt out of bed and moving around; those numbers are calculated in later. Although you might not guess it, about 50 to 70 percent of your entire day's calorie expenditure is a result of the RMR. So, let's figure out your RMR right now.

Determining RMR:

To start off with, you need to take your body weight in pounds and convert it to kilograms. (International readers, please bear with us silly non-metric Americans for a moment.) This is a simple conversion. Just divide your body weight by 2.2.

Next you take your percent of fat and multiply it by your body weight (which is now in kilograms). This will give you your fat mass (FM) in kilograms. Next simply subtract this number from your total weight in kilograms and you'll have your fat free mass (FFM) in kilograms.

Before we go on, why don't we try this out on me. Since I'm an athlete with a body weight of 200lbs at 5% body fat, I'd take my total body mass and divide it by 2.2:

Total body mass in kilograms = 200lbs / 2.2 = 91 kg

Next I'd multiply this kilogram number (91 kg) by my percent of body fat. Remember, percents are really decimals so 5% equals 0.05, 12% bodyfat will be .12 etc.

Fat Mass = 91kg x 0.05 = 4.55kg FM

Next I subtract this fat mass number (4.55 kg) from my total body mass (91kg):

Fat Free Mass = 91kg - 4.55kg = 86.45kg

Therefore my fat free mass is 86.45 kilograms. From that I can determine my RMR. The formula for RMR is as follows:

Resting Metabolic Rate for Athletes (in calories per day) = 500 + 22 x fat free mass (in kilograms).

Again, for me, I'd multiply 22 times my fat free mass and add 500 to that number as shown below:

RMR= 22 x 86.45 + 500 = 2402

Therefore my resting metabolic rate is about 2400 calories per day. Everyone have their RMR figured out? Good, let's move on.

Step #2: Cost of Activity

The Cost of Activity represents how many calories are required to move your butt around during the day. This includes the cost of walking out to your car, scraping the ice off the damn thing, driving to work, pinching the secretary's ass, going to lunch with the boys, and of course, training after work. These factors make up about 20 to 40% of your daily caloric intake based on your activity level. So let's figure out your costs of activity. I'll use myself as an example again.

Determining Activity Costs:

Cost of Daily Activity is equal to the RMR you calculated above multiplied by an activity factor that fits your daily routine. I've listed some common activity factors below:

Activity Factors:

1.2-1.3 for Very Light (bed rest)

1.5-1.6 for Light (office work/watching TV)

1.6-1.7 for Moderate (some activity during day)

1.9-2.1 for Heavy (labour type work)

Note: Don't consider your daily workout when choosing a number. We'll do that later.

With this information we can get back to determining my calorie needs. Since I work at a university, most of my day is pretty sedentary. Even though I run back and forth between the lab and classes, I've selected 1.6 as my activity factor. Therefore the amount of calories it takes to breathe and move around during the day is about 3800 calories as shown below:

RMR x Activity Factor = 2400 calories x 1.6 = 3800 calories

Costs of Exercise Activity:

Next, we need to determine how many calories your exercise activity burns so that we can factor this into the totals. Exercise activity can be calculated simply by multiplying your total body mass in kilograms (as calculated above) by the duration of your exercise (in hours). Then you'd multiply that number by the MET value of exercise as listed below. (MET or metabolic equivalent, is simply a way of expressing the rate of energy expenditure from a given physical activity.)

MET values for common activities:

high impact aerobics&#8230; 7

low impact aerobics&#8230; 5

high intensity cycling&#8230; 12

low intensity cycling&#8230; 3

high intensity walking - 6.5

low intensity walking - 2.5

high intensity running&#8230; 18

low intensity running&#8230; 7

circuit-type training&#8230; 8

intense free weight lifting&#8230; 6

moderate machine training&#8230; 3

So here's the formula:

Cost of Exercise Activity = Body Mass (in kg) x Duration (in hours) x MET value

And here's how I calculate it for myself:

Exercise Expenditure for weights = 6 METS X 91kg x 1.5 hours = 819 calories

Exercise Expenditure for cardio = 3 METS X 91 kg x .5 hours = 137 calories

Add these two together and I burn 956 total calories during one of my training sessions.

Since my training includes about 90 minutes of intense free weight training and 30 minutes of low intensity bicycling (four times per week), my exercise energy expenditure might be as high as 1000 calories per training day!

The next step is to add this exercise number to the number you generated when multiplying your RMR by your activity factor (3800 calories per day in my case).

So 3800 calories + about 1000 calories = a whopping 4800 calories per day! And we're not done yet! (Note: I rounded 956 up to 1000 for the sake of simplicity. If you're a thin guy trying to gain muscle, it's better to round up anyway than to round down.)

Step #3: Thermic Effect of Food

TEF is the amount of calories that it takes your body to digest, absorb, and metabolise your ingested food intake. This makes up about 5 to 15% of your total daily calorie expenditure. Since the metabolic rate is elevated via this mechanism 10 to 15% for one to four hours after a meal, the more meals you eat per day, the faster your metabolic rate will be. This is a good thing, though. It's far better to keep the metabolism high and eat above that level, than to allow the metabolism to slow down by eating infrequently. Protein tends to increase TEF to a rate double that of carbs and almost triple that of fats so that's one of the reasons why I'm a big fan of protein meals.

Determining the Thermic Effect of Food:

To determine the TEF, you need to multiply your original RMR value (2400 in my case) by 0.10 for a moderate protein diet or 0.15 for a high protein diet. So this is what the formula looks like:

TEF = RMR x 0.10 for moderate protein diet (1 gram per pound of bodyweight)

TEF = RMR x 0.15 for high protein diet (more than 1 gram per pound of bodyweight)

Since I eat a very high protein diet (about 350 to 400 grams per day), I use the 0.15 factor and my TEF is about 360 calories per day as displayed by the calculation below:

Thermic Effect of Food = 2400 calories x 0.15 = 360 calories per day

Now add that to your calorie total.

Step #4: Adaptive Thermogenesis

I like to call Adaptive Thermogenesis the "X factor" because we just aren't sure how much it can contribute to daily caloric needs. Some have predicted that it can either increase daily needs by 10% or even decrease daily needs by 10%. Because it's still a mystery, we typically don't factor it into the equation.

Just for interest's sake, one factor included in the "X factor" is unconscious or spontaneous activity. Some people, when overfed, get hyper and increase their spontaneous activity and even have been known to be "fidgety." Others just get sleepy when overfed - obviously the fidgets will be burning more calories that the sleepy ones.

Other factors include hormone responses to feeding, training, and drugs, hormone sensitivity (insulin, thyroid, etc), stress (dramatically increases metabolic rate) or temperature induced metabolic changes (cold weather induces increased metabolic activity and heat production).

With all that said, you don't need to do any math on this part or fiddle with your calorie total. This is just something to keep in mind.

Step #5: Putting it all together

Okay, so how many damn calories do you need to consume each and every day? Well, adding up RMR plus activity factor (3800 calories in my case), cost of weight training (819 calories), cost of cardio (137 calories), and TEF (360 calories), we get a grand total of about 5116 calories! (Remember, that's just my total. You'll get a different number.)

Now that's a lot of food! And I must eat this each and every day when I want to gain weight. Are you surprised at how many calories I need? Most people are. So the next time you complain that you're "eating all day and can't gain a pound" you'd better realistically evaluate how much you're really eating. If you're not gaining a pound, then you're falling short on calories.


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## sakso (Mar 14, 2011)

thats where the supplements come in bud. to keep everything simple, "eat alot more and start using sups matey". you can search this forum for info on dieting and info about sups.


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

I bet your not eating as much as you need to, to gain weight... Read the above I just posted mate


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## sakso (Mar 14, 2011)

and one more thing, lift heavy mate. eat well and lift heavy in the gym. keep the cardio at min as well for a while until you get some meat on you.


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

Bigdawg2k11 your first post went straight over my head mate. i don't have a clue. my body weight; 44.45*kg* was where i got up to but i did read through it.

sakso, sorry i forgot to mention supps.. i have the following..

seven seas pure cod liver oil with omega 3 and vitamin a,d,e

vitamin b complex (doc told me to get it)

a-z multivitamins + minerals

i take 1 cod liver oil and vitamin b every morning.

a-z afterlunch.


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

Mabey try some carb sups for the extra cals


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

I had the same problem,

persistence is the key,

Are you lifting at the moment?


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

Seriously mate it's very helpful it will help you alot


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## sakso (Mar 14, 2011)

harry4 said:


> Bigdawg2k11 your first post went straight over my head mate. i don't have a clue. my body weight; 44.45*kg* was where i got up to but i did read through it.
> 
> sakso, sorry i forgot to mention supps.. i have the following..
> 
> ...


get a decent weight gainer as well mate. "nlarg 2" by prolab is what I recomend.


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

Or just try some Oxys lol


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

Bigdawg2k11 said:


> Or just try some Oxys lol


*tsk tsk*


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

LukeyC said:


> *tsk tsk*


Haaha


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## FleXXL (Sep 8, 2011)

Probably "eat a lot" doesn't seem like a magical advice, but essential that's what you need to do. If you will eat more calories than you need than you will put the weight on, calories don't vanish into thin air.

Without putting too much effort... Try eating a small meal every 2-3 hours, have a source of protein in it (lean meat, eggs, fish), source of carbohydrates (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc.), some vegetables and some source of healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, walnut oil, etc.). Typical boring meal would be chicken fillet, rice, broccoli, spoon of olive oil. Also get a weight gainer supplement to replace your meals with.


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## 1adf1 (Jun 15, 2010)

harry4 start of by working out how meany kcals your eating a day do this by recoding what you eat in a day it says on the back of packets of food now for the next 2 weeks eat 500kcal more than what you normally eat then if you havent gained any weight add anuther 500kcal to your diet and so on untill you start putting on weight then when you stop putting on weight add anuther 500kcals to your diet

the diet you posted probably only 1500kcal if that depending on portion size


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## Bigdawg2k11 (Mar 2, 2011)

FleXXL said:


> Probably "eat a lot" doesn't seem like a magical advice, but essential that's what you need to do. If you will eat more calories than you need than you will put the weight on, calories don't vanish into thin air.
> 
> Without putting too much effort... Try eating a small meal every 2-3 hours, have a source of protein in it (lean meat, eggs, fish), source of carbohydrates (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes etc.), some vegetables and some source of healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, walnut oil, etc.). Typical boring meal would be chicken fillet, rice, broccoli, spoon of olive oil. Also get a weight gainer supplement to replace your meals with.


There..... can't go wrong with that!!


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

can you recommend any decent carb sups mate?

prolab nlarge 2, i'll get onto that. taking it wise obviously i need to put on as much weight as possible so milk is ideal but my face puffs up a lot, it looks odd. its blue and green top milk by the morning its puffed up but i tried gold top around a month ago and not much changed ? should i ignore my face puffing up and drink it with blue or green top milk or gold? water?


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

Bigdawg2k11 said:


> There..... can't go wrong with that!!


I agree, from MR Carter, WTF A DIET, WTF NO GAINS? turns out my diet only equalled about 1500 calories and I always thought I was stuffing my face.


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## FleXXL (Sep 8, 2011)

harry4 said:


> can you recommend any decent carb sups mate?
> 
> prolab nlarge 2, i'll get onto that. taking it wise obviously i need to put on as much weight as possible so milk is ideal but my face puffs up a lot, it looks odd. its blue and green top milk by the morning its puffed up but i tried gold top around a month ago and not much changed ? should i ignore my face puffing up and drink it with blue or green top milk or gold? water?


Face bloating might be a sign of a food allergy, my guess is that you're lactose intolerant - it's worth checking with a doctor. In this case you shouldn't drink milk.


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## sakso (Mar 14, 2011)

harry4 said:


> can you recommend any decent carb sups mate?
> 
> prolab nlarge 2, i'll get onto that. taking it wise obviously i need to put on as much weight as possible so milk is ideal but my face puffs up a lot, it looks odd. its blue and green top milk by the morning its puffed up but i tried gold top around a month ago and not much changed ? should i ignore my face puffing up and drink it with blue or green top milk or gold? water?


http://www.discount-supplements.co.uk/sports-supplements-weight-gainers-prolab-n-large-2-2-72kg

you add this to your daily meals and if you take it 3 times a day you will be taking 1800 extra cals on the top of whatever you get from your meals during the day.

so if you are taking 1500 cals on a daily basis add 1800 to that and it will be 3300 cals.


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

FleXXL said:


> Face bloating might be a sign of a food allergy, my guess is that you're lactose intolerant - it's worth checking with a doctor. In this case you shouldn't drink milk.


and if your stomach/intestines swell, you won't be able to absorb nutrients from what you eat, do you poop like rusty water (dihoriah) by any chance?


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

i'll get booked up with my doc, thanks but not looking forward to it, i love gold top!

no but it smells bad


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

By the way if you ever get overwhelmed with advice here, just write it down somewhere in bullet points so it sticks in your head


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

thank you everyone i'll keep you updated on things.

luke somethings changed with regards to my poo, it smells bad it never use to around a year ago and before that. when i drink protein it normally digests well and dark solids come out but i have had the odd not so solid poo, its not diarrhea haven;t had that since i got food poisoned by a meal me and my dad ate, nothing happened to him though. i don't want to mention this to my doc, i'm not bending over for anyone.


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

May be something to do with the stomach acids, so be careful, the doctor isn't going to check your prostate or anything, he will just got your symptoms down, put them in the computer and see what it says.


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

ok i'll tell him about that too. thanks again everyone, i'm fed up not feeling in control and steady.

what i'm doing currently work out wise

2 sets of 10-15 pull ups

2 sets of 10-15 biceps curls 5KG dumbbell

2 sets of 10-15 shoulder press 5KG dumbbell

2 sets of 10-15 press ups

i have that elastic rope too

i increase the dumbbells to 8KG but i end up getting through less reps. i havent brought a set of weights yet with the bar or even a bench.

a friend of mine told me to do leg exercises to release more testosterone so i tried doing a few sets of squats with and without weights in my hands. i'll admit i'm not that strict on myself so i do miss a day or 2 in between after a few days of working out.


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## LukeyC (Sep 13, 2011)

That's how I started off, it gets your fast twitch muscle fibres going, don't expect massive gains though, you should go for

3 x 15 with 30 seconds rest

Working all major muscle groups considering you're not strong yet, you need to train your muscles to handle the stress for when you move onto bigger weights for less reps.


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## Guest (Sep 13, 2011)

> Bigdawg2k11 your first post went straight over my head mate. i don't have a clue. my body weight; 44.45kg was where i got up to but i did read through it.


hardly suprising that - some people macro everything and loose sight of the big picture


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## Breda (May 2, 2011)

Some decent advice here but its been overcomplicated

Its simple buddy you need to eat!!! being as small as you are thats all there is to it

I wouldnt worry about eating clean either... Cakes, biscuits, ice cream, Peanut butter and the like are your friend

Table spoon of Olive oil on everything and obviously eat meat and veg

Lift as heavey as you can with good form so if thats 5kg then thats fine just dont give up


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## T_Woody (Jul 16, 2008)

harry4 said:


> Bigdawg2k11 your first post went straight over my head mate. i don't have a clue. my body weight; 44.45*kg* was where i got up to but i did read through it.
> 
> sakso, sorry i forgot to mention supps.. i have the following..
> 
> ...


Read through it until you do, hes put a lot of time into you mate


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## vduboli (Apr 1, 2011)

If you can't feel your hands and/or feet you most likely need to see a doctor... that's not normal!


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## Breda (May 2, 2011)

vduboli said:


> If you can't feel your hands and/or feet you most likely need to see a doctor... that's not normal!


He can feel them they're just cold because he has no gloves or socks


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## LukeV (Jul 28, 2010)

When starting on its good to keep it as simple as possible. I started out at just under 9 stone 5'11. I didnt know a thing about bodybuilding or who the current pros were or what supplements to take, which is lucky because the pros can sometimes send you the wrong way entirely with exercise and nutrition.

for my first few years of training this was my routine. It was done every Mon/Wed/Fri

Bench Press or Dumb bell Bench press

Barbell Rows or chin ups or lat pull down

Squat or leg press

Shoulder Press with dumbells or barbell

Each exercise was 5 sets of 5 reps, first 2 or 3 sets are warm ups. This is a pretty decent way to start because you get more efficient at the big movements. Doing this got me stronger and bigger pretty quickly.

Supplement wise i used weight gainers with the most callories because i didnt have a clue about diet, i just knew i needed as much callories and protein as possible because my usual diet didn't cut it. Something along the lines of Mutant Mass or USN Hyperbolic Mass, just 1 serving a day in an extra 1000 calories in your diet and 50g of protein 200ish g of carbs. When your starting out it really is as simple as eat more and lift heavy.


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## the robster (Sep 13, 2011)

Dont feel like you have to eat food "in 1 sitting" whenever your not doin anythin just grab a cerial bar.. any weight is good weight at the beginning.. i used to have the same problem.. at 5ft 8 i was bout 50kgs (think.. skinny and on a diet lol) now just over 90kgs.. it seems your the only 1 that just cant put weight on but its not.. your diet or the amount of food you can take on board is more important than the training its self.. if it stands still..... eat the f****r


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

thanks for the replies all.

booked an appointment with my doc for friday. stepped up reps and sets now, 3x15 on everything, pushed myself a little harder on curls and squats... started to feel a bit "wezzy", loss of appetite but i'll force food down me :wacko: how many days in a week should i be training? i haven't brought n large 2 yet, i'll get on to that next week.

i have half a tub of this 

obviously milks a no go area for me so water it is?


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

went to see my doc hes sending me off to the hospital for tests. i don't know what, when or anything, their going to write to me. he done a few things but didn't say anything, weighed me too. i didn't mentioned anything about the advice given here but after he weighed me i did say i feel weak and underweight, he just said eat healthy and "run around like a nutter".

i'll carry on training, taking gainer, and eating as much as i can. ill post back whatever the results are from the tests.


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## 1adf1 (Jun 15, 2010)

try the stronglifts 5x5 workout 3x15 a lot of reps if your looking four strength train 3 times a week

http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-program/


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## harry4 (Sep 12, 2011)

Sorry for the late reply. In short i cant drink milk so im on alpro. i really dont understand why my bodys gone sensitive all of sudden! I cant eat what i use to without swellin. I do have to now go the extra mile in eatin carefully and thats seen my weight improve.. I think ive put on 3/4 of a stone so 7 and 3/4 stone now. That said i still feel as though something is wrong. Im also at unrest at my height which is 162cm. thats dire for a 21 year old.. my doc is next to no help. is there any clincal trials i can apply for to test out science wizards work.. thats if it exists.


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