Why all the hardgainer talk?

[Bergs]

Surely there must be other people out there that consider themselves easygainers and hardlosers, right? As in... a slightly larger than normal meal can somehow put on 5 pounds of bodyweight; or a weekend of binge eating can mean 10+ pounds that takes two weeks to lose again. No one else has gained the "freshman 70?"

Basically, in this thread, I'd like to discuss means of upping your metabolism. I know there are a lot of large people out there, but that doesn't necessarily make them "hardlosers." I'm talking about people that obsess over their diet and exercise and still are unable to lose weight. For instance, why would someone not be losing weight on 2000 calories a day at 275lbs? Any ideas out there besides upping the cardio and caffeine?

I'll start with a few nuggests I figured out about myself:
*Getting a bad night's sleep will have me wake up about 3-5 pounds lighter than normal, but I'll rebound back again and put on even more weight once I get a good night's sleep. I find it best to keep sleep schedules as consistent as possible.
*Move snack food out of eyesight. Even if it's something healthy like almonds, just having them in view can mean taking in way too many calories.
* If you gain weight easily on small amounts of food, make sure you have a good calorie to nutrient ratio. The more protein you can get per calorie, the better.
* Constantly trying to lose weight can wreck havoc on your already low metabolism. Take a break from the EC stack and low calories every once in a while.

[RichMcGuire]

Because someone at 275 is usually eating more than 2000 kcals and aren't aware of it. If you look at kcals in vs kcals out, and lessen the amount in and expend more kcals out, you will lose weight. Note. I'm not talking about muscle loss or fat loss, I'm saying weight loss. Diets exist that try to maintain muscle. But you get the idea. At the end of the day, its kcals.

Also, from what I understand, leptin levels have had a huge impact on how effective fat loss is.

[Joe Black]

The best way to up your metabolism is to get lean in the first place in my opinion :)

I think a lot of people class themselves as a hardgainer, but in reality they are overweight and just aren't firing on all cylinders. it really is a lot easier to get stronger and build muscle when you're reasonably lean. Thats why the first thing diet coaches like Shelby do is get you lean and then build up from there.

[neweracat]

Another thing to consider is the time of day the calories are being consumed. Mainly how spaced out your meals are, and at what time of the day your eating vs when you train. I've used to do 40 minutes of cardio in the morning before eating, followed by small meals through out the day with regular training. that formula worked great for me. If you do I little research on getting these elements squared away it might help.