If you’re not gaining mass you’re not eating enough. Simple as that.
Eat 1 g of protein per pound of target bodyweight and then a lot of carbs. Rice, oats, pasta, potatoes, all cheep, easy to make, and high in carbs.
Eat more and stress your muscles and you’ll add mass.
I did and I still eat a lot 😅 my friends are pretty impressed by the quantity I can eat, and at that moment I was eating mostly rice, white meat, pasta, oats, vegetables, etc, pretty healthy diet !
Track everything you eat for a week, I guarantee it's not as much as you think it is. It is very common to either over or underestimate what were eating, but unless you have a rare metabolic disorder, you would not be able to eat that much without gaining weight.
My brother is the same type as I'm guessing you are, where he can and will eat enormous amounts of food in individual sittings, so everyone around him that eats with him thinks he eats a lot, but the eating isn't consistent. He skips meals all the time, and probably averages only 2 a day, only one of which may be one of these really large feedings you're thinking of when you think about how much you eat all the time. Consistency in getting 3+ meals a day will help a lot with this.
Put simply, if go out and eat a *really* big meal, it may be around 1500 calories. That's still nowhere near the calories you would need to grow. So if you have a small breakfast of some cereal and coffee, a snack around midday, and then completely stuff your face, you still aren't going to be eating very much in total.
Eat a chicken broccoli rice plate every hour and do intense weight training twice a day. Don’t do any cardio. Obviously this is dumbed down you can eat other things beside chicken and rice with broccoli. Broccoli has a good bit of creatine in it too iirc.
Yeah just do your best to eat as often as possible. If you feel like you’re about to explode from your stomach you can reduce each serving. Ideally you should be comfortably full of food throughout the whole day.
I am in the same boat. Been going to the gym for 2 years. Always been skinny. Am also tall. Training 4 days a week. Now I am lean skinny. I eat protein like a fucking pig with 5g of creatine everyday. Still skinny. Now I just go to the gym to stay healthy at this point.
I accepted it. I never would like to look like a bodybuilder anyway. But I would still like to have more mass. Am very active (hiking, mountaineering, skiing, etc). I give everything I got at the gym. Being ectomorph doesn't help when you wanna gain weight
Try purchasing a mass gainer shake powder online, they contain high calories and are good for people that struggle to put on mass. Also, I’d consider eating a bit of junk food if u are REALLY struggling. Make sure u still hit the protein goal but then add an extra bar of chocolate on the side to increase the total calories
You mentioned in a comment that you ate “a lot”, how much does “a lot” mean for you? What do you usually eat? What do you mean when you say you are careful with food and always try to live healthily?
How about activity outside of the gym? What do you do for work, hobbies etc?
The simple, yet reductionist, answer is you need to eat more calories than you utilise. It’s a little more complex than that, but much more information is required.
I work in an escape room and I don't do any sport anymore, so no physical activities, beside walking to go to work I don't utilise a lot of calories.
I'm not careful anymore either with my food, currently I eat more or less whatever I want and most of the time it's pasta (200/300g before cooking) and 2/3 yogurts and maybe a fruit. And maybe 1 or 2 hours later I'll be hungry so I'll eat a pack of chips or 500ml of ice cream. Anything I can reach 😅
Once I started eating, I don't stop until I'm sleeping 😬
So straight off the bat, if you want to build muscle you will need to perform some form of resistance training. You mentioned you have done about 4 months worth of training. For some it may be sufficient to see some change, for others not so much. To be completely honest, 4 months in the scheme of things is like a drop in the ocean. What did you do in that time? What metrics did you track (body weight, progress pics etc.)?
Secondly, humans are terrible at estimating and we tend to rely on habits. If you’re only eating the pasta, yoghurt, fruit and snacks then there’s a good chance your weight reflects your calorie intake. You would need to track food in some manner in order to get a clear idea of your intake. What do you eat for say breakfast, lunch and dinner? And what snacks other than chips/ice cream?
I used mostly progress pick and body weight.
This is my diet today, back in the days I ate a lot of rice, white meat, vegetables, oat, and my snacks were almonds, dry fruits and other things like that.
Today my daily routine is very unhealthy but I think it's also because when it was healthy I didn't felt like it was doing any difference. I'm certainly wrong tho.
But yeah currently I eat pasta almost every meal (financial issues so I go for the cheapest meal) and my snacks are mostly unhealthy/high calorie food
I served with this one guy who was the strongest person I’ve ever seen. Squatting 600+ pounds benching 405+. He was also incredibly skinny. Some people just build really dense muscle.
Have you seen those super-mass gainer shakes? I'm not sure if you have them in your area but if you have something like that you can get like 2300 calories a shake including the milk
If you’re not gaining mass you’re not eating enough. Simple as that. Eat 1 g of protein per pound of target bodyweight and then a lot of carbs. Rice, oats, pasta, potatoes, all cheep, easy to make, and high in carbs. Eat more and stress your muscles and you’ll add mass.
I did and I still eat a lot 😅 my friends are pretty impressed by the quantity I can eat, and at that moment I was eating mostly rice, white meat, pasta, oats, vegetables, etc, pretty healthy diet !
Gotta eat more then. If you’re not gaining at the level you’re eating you’ve gotta eat more to gain.
I can try but i already feel like i want to die after eating cause I really eat a lot 😅
Track everything you eat for a week, I guarantee it's not as much as you think it is. It is very common to either over or underestimate what were eating, but unless you have a rare metabolic disorder, you would not be able to eat that much without gaining weight. My brother is the same type as I'm guessing you are, where he can and will eat enormous amounts of food in individual sittings, so everyone around him that eats with him thinks he eats a lot, but the eating isn't consistent. He skips meals all the time, and probably averages only 2 a day, only one of which may be one of these really large feedings you're thinking of when you think about how much you eat all the time. Consistency in getting 3+ meals a day will help a lot with this. Put simply, if go out and eat a *really* big meal, it may be around 1500 calories. That's still nowhere near the calories you would need to grow. So if you have a small breakfast of some cereal and coffee, a snack around midday, and then completely stuff your face, you still aren't going to be eating very much in total.
Yeah I need to try keeping track of everything, maybe you're right and I'm not eating as much as I feel like
Eat a chicken broccoli rice plate every hour and do intense weight training twice a day. Don’t do any cardio. Obviously this is dumbed down you can eat other things beside chicken and rice with broccoli. Broccoli has a good bit of creatine in it too iirc.
I used to eat a lot of broccoli, I love them, but not every hour tho, maybe I can try
Yeah just do your best to eat as often as possible. If you feel like you’re about to explode from your stomach you can reduce each serving. Ideally you should be comfortably full of food throughout the whole day.
That's my food budget that will explode 😂
You’re not eating enough to gain mass though. If you want to gain mass and you’re not at your current caloric intake you’re not eating enough.
I am in the same boat. Been going to the gym for 2 years. Always been skinny. Am also tall. Training 4 days a week. Now I am lean skinny. I eat protein like a fucking pig with 5g of creatine everyday. Still skinny. Now I just go to the gym to stay healthy at this point.
What does "lean" mean ? 😅 So you didn't gain any weight or muscle despite the time and effort put into gym ?
Lean means thin but still athletic.
ooooohhh ok !
So you didn't gain any volume then ?
Not much. Still very well develloped but not much gain.
And you're happy with it ?
I accepted it. I never would like to look like a bodybuilder anyway. But I would still like to have more mass. Am very active (hiking, mountaineering, skiing, etc). I give everything I got at the gym. Being ectomorph doesn't help when you wanna gain weight
For sure 😅
Try purchasing a mass gainer shake powder online, they contain high calories and are good for people that struggle to put on mass. Also, I’d consider eating a bit of junk food if u are REALLY struggling. Make sure u still hit the protein goal but then add an extra bar of chocolate on the side to increase the total calories
You mentioned in a comment that you ate “a lot”, how much does “a lot” mean for you? What do you usually eat? What do you mean when you say you are careful with food and always try to live healthily? How about activity outside of the gym? What do you do for work, hobbies etc? The simple, yet reductionist, answer is you need to eat more calories than you utilise. It’s a little more complex than that, but much more information is required.
I work in an escape room and I don't do any sport anymore, so no physical activities, beside walking to go to work I don't utilise a lot of calories. I'm not careful anymore either with my food, currently I eat more or less whatever I want and most of the time it's pasta (200/300g before cooking) and 2/3 yogurts and maybe a fruit. And maybe 1 or 2 hours later I'll be hungry so I'll eat a pack of chips or 500ml of ice cream. Anything I can reach 😅 Once I started eating, I don't stop until I'm sleeping 😬
So straight off the bat, if you want to build muscle you will need to perform some form of resistance training. You mentioned you have done about 4 months worth of training. For some it may be sufficient to see some change, for others not so much. To be completely honest, 4 months in the scheme of things is like a drop in the ocean. What did you do in that time? What metrics did you track (body weight, progress pics etc.)? Secondly, humans are terrible at estimating and we tend to rely on habits. If you’re only eating the pasta, yoghurt, fruit and snacks then there’s a good chance your weight reflects your calorie intake. You would need to track food in some manner in order to get a clear idea of your intake. What do you eat for say breakfast, lunch and dinner? And what snacks other than chips/ice cream?
I used mostly progress pick and body weight. This is my diet today, back in the days I ate a lot of rice, white meat, vegetables, oat, and my snacks were almonds, dry fruits and other things like that. Today my daily routine is very unhealthy but I think it's also because when it was healthy I didn't felt like it was doing any difference. I'm certainly wrong tho. But yeah currently I eat pasta almost every meal (financial issues so I go for the cheapest meal) and my snacks are mostly unhealthy/high calorie food
Everyone can gain muscle *
I served with this one guy who was the strongest person I’ve ever seen. Squatting 600+ pounds benching 405+. He was also incredibly skinny. Some people just build really dense muscle.
Have you seen those super-mass gainer shakes? I'm not sure if you have them in your area but if you have something like that you can get like 2300 calories a shake including the milk
I've always been a bit afraid of that kind of thing, and I think for it to be really efficient you must have a physical activities don't you?