# Not gaining weight



## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

After some advice, im 31 170lb and been trying to bulk for the last 6 weeks gained 1lb a week for the first 3 weeks but nothing for the last 3 weeks.

I eat 3000 cals a day all good clean food plenty of protien

Im trying to bulk as clean as poss with minimal fat gain so my question is should i be aiming for 1 lb a week gain and in that case up cals to 3200 and see how it goes, or is 1 lb a week too much to expect and stick at 3000 cal and aim for 2 lb a month gain?

my maintance is around 2500-2600 so i thought at 3000 i should be gaining some weight?

I train push pull legs 3times a week and a short jog on a sunday morning

Any advice?


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## L11 (Jan 21, 2011)

If you're not gaining at 3000, then your maintenance is 3000 surely? Up the calories.

How are you counting the calories?


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## George-Bean (Sep 8, 2010)

Its all bout the maths, calories in and calories out.


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

Dont think my mantanince can be 3000 but i know what ur sayin.

I use my fitness pal

Im only 170lb jobs not that active all the online calculaters say 2800-3000 to gain!

I dont know if expecting 1lb gain a week is too much


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## Barman (Feb 29, 2012)

simples eat more


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## Robbie789 (Sep 6, 2012)

Gazza81 said:


> Dont think my mantanince can be 3000 but i know what ur sayin.
> 
> I use my fitness pal
> 
> ...


Does that include the couple hundred calories you burn when you train?

1lb is perfect to aim for, up your intake by 250kcals and see how it goes.


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## simonthepieman (Jun 11, 2012)

Your body does work by some calculator it finds on the Internet. It works on what you eat and what it does with it.

If you eat the sane each day and don't gain. You, by definition, are eating at maintenance


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## GeordieSteve (May 23, 2010)

I bet you don't REALLY eat 3k cals. Not being an @rse saying that btw I just mean do you finish all the food you set out? Give us a run down of your current diet... just list what you ate yesterday


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## kingdale (Nov 2, 2010)

eat more.


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

GeordieSteve said:


> I bet you don't REALLY eat 3k cals. Not being an @rse saying that btw I just mean do you finish all the food you set out? Give us a run down of your current diet... just list what you ate yesterday


100g oats 300ml skim milk 25g impact whey 3g fish oil

300g almonds apple

100g pasta 200g chicken 1tbs olive oil

100g oats 25g impact whey banana

150g sweet pot 200g chicken 100g broccoli

300ml skim milk 25g impact whey 3g fish oil


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## anabolik (Aug 19, 2010)

Eat more food


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## GeordieSteve (May 23, 2010)

I'm seeing about 1500cal here... anyone else?


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## kingdale (Nov 2, 2010)

use full fat milk. also im pretty sure that is not 3000 calories there.


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## neo9918 (Jan 27, 2012)

yeah thats not really any food, im on 3500 kals a day and eat:

100g oats with 500ml milk, protein scoop and tbsp peanut butter

250g greek yoghurt with honey, protein shake

250g chicken with veg or salad in a wrap

250g chicken in a wrap

300g cottage cheese

protein shake

at least 250g chicken in my main meal

protein shake with milk before bed

Sounds a lot more than your meals listed


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

GeordieSteve said:


> I'm seeing about 1500cal here... anyone else?


100g oats is around 350 cals 25g impact whey is 100 cal 300ml milk is 150 cal...

Thats 600 cals at breckfast!


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

Mayb it doent look alot as im getting a a fair few cals from fat, almonds, olive oil

Bout a 100g of fat a day


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## kingdale (Nov 2, 2010)

Gazza81 said:


> Mayb it doent look alot as im getting a a fair few cals from fat, almonds, olive oil
> 
> Bout a 100g of fat a day


3 decent sized meals and 3 weight gainer shakes and its really easy to get over 3000 calories.


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## simonthepieman (Jun 11, 2012)

It doesn't matter if you are eating 5000 cals. If your not gaining. It's not enough


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

simonthepieman said:


> It doesn't matter if you are eating 5000 cals. If your not gaining. It's not enough


Yeah i know, just thought at 170lb 3000 cals, even 2800 would prob be enough to gain!

Im gonna up em by another 200 cals and c how it goes


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## AFX (Oct 19, 2010)

is your food absorption process working properly? do you suffer from colitis, meteorism, diarrhea...?

sometimes a difficulty in gaining weight it's an absorption issue...

try anyway with a cycle of strong probiotics and see whether it works better and your hunger raises.


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## PHMG (Jun 15, 2010)

Gazza81 said:


> Yeah i know, just thought at 170lb 3000 cals, even 2800 would prob be enough to gain!
> 
> Im gonna up em by another 200 cals and c how it goes


as you add muscle mass, your body needs more calories/protein to even maintain this new mass....even more to grow more. over 3 weeks, you have added 3lb, if that is pure lean muscle, thats 1.4kg of muscle.....do you know what 1.4kg of muscle looks like? Its a lot. well, you have unlikely added that, but could well have added 1kg. This requires more calories. Original "calculations" go out the window. They are all bollox anyway tbh, cos we dont do exactly the same things everyday, even if we think we are.


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## Bad Alan (Dec 30, 2010)

I would up it by 250kcals and see how you go, body grows in spurts and is not always going to consistently add weight at the same rate. Keep trying to progress in the weight room aswell, adding more sets at the same weight, more reps with the same weight or moving the weight up even in 2.5kg increments and you will start growing.


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## harryalmighty (Nov 13, 2011)

neo9918 said:


> yeah thats not really any food, im on 3500 kals a day and eat:
> 
> 100g oats with 500ml milk, protein scoop and tbsp peanut butter
> 
> ...


where the fvck is your carbs bro?

my diet -

meal one: 100g oats, 6 eggs (three whole, three yolks) , multi vit, omega 3's. (roughly 650 cals)

meal two: 200g chicken/ lean mince beef 80g wholewheat pasta / brown rice or 230g sweet potato (roughly 750 cals with evoo, sauce etc)

meal three: 200g chicken/ lean mince beef 80g wholewheat pasta / brown rice or 230g sweet potato ( roughly 750 cals same as above)

pre workout: banana / very strong coffe (roughly 150 cals)

post workout: two scoops of whey, 500ml full fat milk (roughly 400 calories)

meal four: 250g chicken, green veg. TBSP evoo ( roughly 550 calories)

total : 3250 ROOUUUGGGGHHHHHLLLLLLYYYYYYY.


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## neo9918 (Jan 27, 2012)

Carbs are in the oats, and i usually have rice, noodles, sweet potato etc with my evening meal. Plus the wraps for the chicken


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## harryalmighty (Nov 13, 2011)

neo9918 said:


> Carbs are in the oats, and i usually have rice, noodles, sweet potato etc with my evening meal. Plus the wraps for the chicken


try adding carbs to atleast 3/4 of your meals and make them good carb sources - oats, sweet potato, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, ezekiel bread etc


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

So i upped my cals by 200 and i just weighed in 1/4 pound heavier! Lol guess ill up them by another 200-250 and see if i gain next week...


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

If you are a natural trainer and bulked at a consistent 1pound per week for 1 year then you would gain 3stone 7pounds. If that were possible then great but how realistic is that ? Maybe on some type of AAS cycle it would be possible but for a natural trainer to gain that ammount of muscle I think it's just not possible. I'm sure there are people who have done it but in my experience it's just not realistic.

Looking at your diet I would say your protein is a little low.


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

I get a min of 180-190 a day, thought that was plenty?


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## Bensif (Aug 28, 2011)

Gazza81 said:


> I get a min of 180-190 a day, thought that was plenty?


That's plenty if the carbs are there too. Carbohydrates are protein sparring, so if you have a good amount in your diet your protein is better able to do its job.


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

Cool thanks, yeah carbs are around 300 a day


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## PlymDan (Jan 22, 2012)

Gazza81 said:


> Cool thanks, yeah carbs are around 300 a day


As most people have said up your calories by 200-300 a day as a minimum, weigh yourself tomorrow morning say. Then hit those extra calories every day of the week until next sunday and weigh in again at the same time and see if you have made any progress.

Don't make the mistake of weighing yourself half way through the day/mid week etc as you won't necessarily be getting accurate readings. When you stop gaining again, then add another 200-300 and start the process again. Good luck.


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## Gazza81 (Aug 18, 2011)

PlymDan said:


> As most people have said up your calories by 200-300 a day as a minimum, weigh yourself tomorrow morning say. Then hit those extra calories every day of the week until next sunday and weigh in again at the same time and see if you have made any progress.
> 
> Don't make the mistake of weighing yourself half way through the day/mid week etc as you won't necessarily be getting accurate readings. When you stop gaining again, then add another 200-300 and start the process again. Good luck.


This is exactly what i do mate, weigh myself every sat morning started at 2800 cal upped to 3000 gained 3lb in 3 weeks then nothing for 3 weeks so upped to 3200 and gained 1/4 of a pound so ill up it to 3500 and see how it goes, just cant belive i need so many cals at 170lb and 3 day training


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## PlymDan (Jan 22, 2012)

Gazza81 said:


> This is exactly what i do mate, weigh myself every sat morning started at 2800 cal upped to 3000 gained 3lb in 3 weeks then nothing for 3 weeks so upped to 3200 and gained 1/4 of a pound so ill up it to 3500 and see how it goes, just cant belive i need so many cals at 170lb and 3 day training


Well last time I weighed myself I was 13st 3 and fair lean since I did a show last month, weighing in again tomorrow but I'm eating 4000cals a day at the minute hitting approximately 450g Protein, 400g Carbs, 100g Fat spread over 8 meals. Hoping my weight increase slows down in the next few weeks so I can up it again as I'm always hungry.

So if you have a fast metabolism and a relatively active job that's a reasonable amount to be eating.


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## aad123 (Dec 7, 2011)

I'm currently 176lb and have been on 2800 cals all week so I will weigh myself tomorrow and see if iv gained. The previous week I was on 2500 Cals and remained the same weight so 3000 cals isn't that much.


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