# Nothing seems to work



## JamesT (Feb 19, 2014)

I need some help, and hopefully someone more experienced than myself on here can provide it. I am trying to bulk up a bit but as the title says nothing seems to work, atleast not how it should do. i used the "calcualting calorie & macronutrient needs" sticky thread on bodybuilding.com, I used the lowest activity factor because at the moment I dont have a job, so my physical activity is walking my dog and exercising 5 days a week. Tried for a few weeks to give the diet a fair chance and it didnt work I didnt gain any weight at all. Over the past few months I have been adding calories and from the starting 2500 I reached 3000, which for a start should make a change to my weight.

Anyway it didnt, my weight remained exactly the same, so 2 weeks ago I added a little, only 100 calories this time, the 2 weeks went well in terms of exercise I felt pretty good and I didnt fail any exercise - Im doing Jason Blaha's Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 Novice Program which requires me to increase the weight every session. But over the 2 weeks I gained 2.2 then 2.4 lbs which is far too much. What is going on, how can a 500 calorie increase make absolutely no difference to my weight then suddenly a small 100 increase makes me gain weight too fast?

To try and hit the right amount of weight which ofcourse opinion varies on but the most common belief seems to be that 0.7lbs a week is perfect to gain muscle without too much excess fat this week I slightly reduced the calories to 3050 and its been a disaster, not only could I not increase my weight but ive had to lower them to less than what i managed at 3100.

I am completely stumped, I am autistic and very methodical and nowhere online or in any of my books can I find a reason why my weight gain changes so drastically or why after so many increases in calories a mere 50 seems to either halt my progress completely or makes me gain too much too fast.

Sorry if ive rambled a bit, it tends to be a struggle for me to coherently word my thoughts


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## Boshlop (Apr 1, 2012)

im only seeing calories here, what do you actually eat?


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## zasker (Jun 21, 2014)

it would be best to know what your meal plan looks like, there is only numbers in there.

but in fairness when i bulk up i always gain fat, no matter how anal i am about what i eat or calories so i just cut afterwards to loose it


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## JamesT (Feb 19, 2014)

right well admittedly my diet has had to have an overhaul lately because it turns out im lactose intolerant . The supper will vary as im still experimenting with finding a viable substitute for eggs.

Breakfast

Alpro - Fresh Light Soya Milk, 250 ml

Kellogs Cornflakes , 64 g

296Cal 10P 4F 55C

Post Workout

Banana

Myprotein - Soy Protein Isolate (Chocolate Smooth), 18 g

Wholegrain Scottish Porridge Oats, 50 g

Alpro - Fresh Light Soya Milk, 250 ml

Nakd - Cocoa Orange bar

556Cal 32P 14F 73C

Dinner

Tuna Chunks In Brine 139g , 1 tin

Heinz - Beanz reduced sugar & salt, 220.0 g

Asda - Sweet Potatoes , 200 g

Albero Antico - Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 25 ml

760Cal 49P 24F 80C

Tea

Frozen - Cababge

Spinach

Carrots

Broccoli

Green Beans

Musclefoods - Chicken Breast 200g

Bisto Best - Chicken Gravy, 200 ml

Asda - Easy Cook Brown Rice, 100 g

485Cal 55P 5F 45C

Shake

Myprotein - Soy Protein Isolate (Chocolate Smooth), 25 g

Alpro - Fresh Light Soya Milk, 300 ml

Myprotein - Almond Butter, 36 g

Asda Chosen By You - Wholegrain Scottish Porridge Oats, 60 g

607Cal 44P 29F 38C

Supper

Irwins - High Fibre Brown Bread, 2 Slice

Musclefood - Pork & Leek British Sausages, 1 Sausage

Hp - Brown Sauce - Reduced Salt & Sugar, 15 g

351Cal 17P 15f 41C

Totals

3,055 calories

207 protein

91 fat

332 carbs


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## zasker (Jun 21, 2014)

whats your current weight?


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## gaz90 (Jun 19, 2014)

JamesT said:


> I need some help, and hopefully someone more experienced than myself on here can provide it. I am trying to bulk up a bit but as the title says nothing seems to work, atleast not how it should do. i used the "calcualting calorie & macronutrient needs" sticky thread on bodybuilding.com, I used the lowest activity factor because at the moment I dont have a job, so my physical activity is walking my dog and exercising 5 days a week. Tried for a few weeks to give the diet a fair chance and it didnt work I didnt gain any weight at all. Over the past few months I have been adding calories and from the starting 2500 I reached 3000, which for a start should make a change to my weight.
> 
> Anyway it didnt, my weight remained exactly the same, so 2 weeks ago I added a little, only 100 calories this time, the 2 weeks went well in terms of exercise I felt pretty good and I didnt fail any exercise - Im doing Jason Blaha's Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 Novice Program which requires me to increase the weight every session. But over the 2 weeks I gained 2.2 then 2.4 lbs which is far too much. What is going on, how can a 500 calorie increase make absolutely no difference to my weight then suddenly a small 100 increase makes me gain weight too fast?
> 
> ...


welcome to the human body.

my advice is put down the microscope and get of the weighing scales before you go insane. i think your expectations may be unrealistic. its taken me 3 years of trying everything i could think of just to put 10kg on my bench press. -be patient and you shall be rewarded.

bust your ass in the gym. eat sickening amounts of food. sleep 8hours plus. stop looking for the magic macros. even with AAS, there are no short cuts, only determination and consistency.


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## JamesT (Feb 19, 2014)

zasker said:


> whats your current weight?


160.0lbs


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## zasker (Jun 21, 2014)

gaz90 said:


> welcome to the human body.
> 
> my advice is put down the microscope and get of the weighing scales before you go insane. i think your expectations may be unrealistic. its taken me 3 years of trying everything i could think of just to put 10kg on my bench press. -be patient and you shall be rewarded.
> 
> bust your ass in the gym. eat sickening amounts of food. sleep 8hours plus. stop looking for the magic macros. even with AAS, there are no short cuts, only determination and consistency.


your right, but its still good to know your diet is right... no point bustin your a** in the gym if your diet aint up toscratch.


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## MySuppCheck (Aug 3, 2014)

You're either not eating enough or not working out with enough intensity. It's one of those two things, or possibly a combination of both


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## zasker (Jun 21, 2014)

JamesT said:


> 160.0lbs


to be honest i think your eating enough, your only 72ish kg.

just try changing the meals up a bit, for instance get rid of the carbs out of your last meal and add more carbs to your post workout meal... and like @MySuppCheck said your training may not be with the right intensity so the issue may lay there and not with the nutritional aspect.


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## gaz90 (Jun 19, 2014)

zasker said:


> your right, but its still good to know your diet is right... no point bustin your a** in the gym if your diet aint up toscratch.


very true.

ive gotten sick of counting macros, i do things mostly by eye. i used to have planned diets, but now i just go by how i feel depending on my appetite and whether its a training day or not. if i find my abs disappearing ill just clean up my diet and lower the carbs on rest days.

plus diet is such a boring subject for me. when i come to doing a show ill get geeky with it then


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## Boshlop (Apr 1, 2012)

right now we have seen the diet isnt just a pile of ****. second question. what do you count as nothing seems to work? how much do you expect to gain over x amount of time to deem not working?


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## 2004mark (Oct 26, 2013)

How consistent are you? This is usually the key.

Also don't worry about trying to put an exact amount of weight on a week, weight gain/loss is never linier... trying to put on 0.7lbs a week is just ridiculous... a turd weighs more than than lol


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## zasker (Jun 21, 2014)

gaz90 said:


> very true.
> 
> ive gotten sick of counting macros, i do things mostly by eye. i used to have planned diets, but now i just go by how i feel depending on my appetite and whether its a training day or not. if i find my abs disappearing ill just clean up my diet and lower the carbs on rest days.
> 
> plus diet is such a boring subject for me. when i come to doing a show ill get geeky with it then


haha same as me, after getting the format right i just slowly change the amounts and timings dependant on my goals... i used to be really anal about it but that gets boring.


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## JamesT (Feb 19, 2014)

Boshlop said:


> right now we have seen the diet isnt just a pile of ****. second question. what do you count as nothing seems to work? how much do you expect to gain over x amount of time to deem not working?


I dont aim for exactly 0.7lbs a week but I use that as a rough guide, anywhere between .1 and .9 lbs a week I would be happy with and would stick with that diet and workout routine while the results where good. I am trying to bulk thats my goal right now and I say nothing seems to work as the only 2 weeks I have managed to add any weight at all it was a massive amount.

Usually when I adjust my macros I give the new plan 3 weeks before I think about changing it , the 2 week 3100 being the exception as that amount of weight gained consistently over 2 weeks was enough evidence to say its more calories than I need



> How consistent are you? This is usually the key.
> 
> Also don't worry about trying to put an exact amount of weight on a week, weight gain/loss is never linier... trying to put on 0.7lbs a week is just ridiculous... a turd weighs more than than lol


Im very consistent as I am so anal about all the numbers, im constantly reminding myself that any deviation from the plan would disrupt the weeks experiment to test the new macros.

Also no offence to anyone but I have a hard time believing its the intensity of the workouts as I am doing a routine that requires me to lift more weight than ive ever done before 3 times a week I couldnt possibly do so if I wasn't really pushing myself


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## 39005 (Nov 25, 2013)

one of the problems for people with HFA is that they are over analytical with what they are doing and become obsessive , try not to focus on specific goals and just try to keep your protein intake high enough for your weight - if you are still hungry then eat - you can always diet/cut off any excess later on.


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## John. (Jun 24, 2013)

You are in one of these three situations:

1. You are not eating enough. Solution: Eat More

2. You Macros are set up correctly but you are inaccurate at counting. Solution: Get a scale (£9, Tesco) and weigh your food.

3. You are eating enough but you are not consistent E.G: You are having weekends without counting, or you aren't eating when you get home from work because you're tired etc. Solution: Stuff yer face....?!?!

HTH, I've never struggled to gain weight being a former fatty but these ules tend to be consistent when trying to gain or lose weight.


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## gaz90 (Jun 19, 2014)

zasker said:


> haha same as me, after getting the format right i just slowly change the amounts and timings dependant on my goals... i used to be really anal about it but that gets boring.


exactly mate.

some might argue, but the progress ive been making lately speaks for itself.


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## saxondale (Nov 11, 2012)

Your bodies not linear, look long term.


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## MFM (Jul 25, 2013)

As has been said, don't be anal when it comes to working out how much to eat and how much you're gaining etc. You'll know when you're going too far up or down. I came off a massive long cut and trying to put the weight back on seems to be an uphill struggle. Somehow my metabolism has got a lot faster by the looks of it as I now actually lose weight on 3000 cals a day. I'm paranoid about gaining too much fat but eating just over maintenance don't seem to be doing me any good as the weight has basically stayed the same for the last 3 months.

I'm going on holiday next week, but when I come back I'm going to eat a proper surplus to try and get some of my size back, getting a bit fat or not. My strength has gone up though as I did a PB this week on bench press.


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