recomendations?

[chiangxiong]

basically my situation is this im 6' i used to be about 185 - 190 before i started lifting but i cut down to 150 - 153 anyway i have been pretty serious about lifting for awhile now, but i cant seem to gain any mass i have been getting stronger but im not getting bigger... i get about 250 grams of protien a day over 6 meals so protien aint the problem, i take a protien shake as well which has BCAA's. my diet consists of chicken breast, egg whites, rice (generally not much), vegetables, skim milk, and water thats it. even though i know i'm pretty new and all it cant be my technique i make sure i do at least 4 exercises for every muscle and generally work that muscle only once every 5 days, i do quality exercises (no cheating) and i keep good form, anyone see anything obvious i may be doing wrong or a suggestion for a supplement that may help me out?

[UCDFuBoO]

basically u should up your calories.........eat more!!

try keeping a log of how many calories u eat each day and slowly up the calories for maybe 300-400 calories a day and try that for a week. IF u gained some weight then it should be fine but if u stay the same then upp your calories another 200-300 calories and keep doing this until u see that u are gaining maybe 1 lb a week.

If u gain more than that then chances are it's fat and we don't want that. if that happens just lower your calorie intake.

[DcK]

First of all, welcome to the board. There's alot of people who'll give you great advice here.

It looks like your protein intake is okay. I think you need to go up on your carbs and fat (healthy fats, like flax). If you could give us your exact calorie totals per day, carbs, fat, protein (which you already did), then I could probably give you a better estimate of what's going on. But, for bulking, your want to intake about 20+ x bodyweight to get total caloriies. Some people need to go up to 25x or more. Just start around 20, then up the calories about 300 per WEEK until you start to bulk.

Another thought is your training, you may be overtraining? There's alot of articles you can read here, and search through. Basically you just want to make sure you hit each body part about once per week, leaving at least 72 hours rest b/w same body part.

Hope this helps.

[chiangxiong]

meal 1:
12 egg whites [36g]
glass of skim milk [10g]

meal 2:
6oz chicken breast [40g]
half slice soy pita bread [11g]
lettuce/tomatoe
glass of skim milk [10g]

meal 3:
6oz chicken breast [40g]
half slice soy pita bread [11g]
lettuce/tomatoe
glass of skim milk [10g]

meal 4:
6oz chicken breast [40g]
half slice soy pita bread [11g]
lettuce/tomatoe
glass of skim milk [10g]

meal 5:
6oz chicken breast [40g]
half slice soy pita bread [11g]
lettuce/tomatoe
glass of skim milk [10g]

meal6:
protien shake [40g]
BCAA's

i seem to have underestimated on my protien intake it adds up to more like 330 grams per day :rolleyes: but i dont see that as a problem, generally between meals i only drink water and for snacks i eat this 10 calorie per serving no sugar no carb jello stuff but i am prone to eating up to a pound of pretzles a day... not every day but when i have them :D maybe 2 - 3 days a week if i dont eat them i will eat rice instead, as for calories id say about...

2800 - 3500 calories per day

2800 on days i eat rice and up to 3500 if i eat pretzles
some times i cheat and eat other snacks always low or no fat but usually a carb food (fat free pudding, throw a ton of crutons in the salad, plain bagels, ect)

i havent been going too hard on cardio probably 3 days per week 40 minute sessions nothing crazy but i am really cut... i just ate 1500 calories in carbs last night before bed and my abs look noticably deeper then before /shrug.

oh and i dont think its a question of over training, this is what my scedule looks like...

Sunday:

Traps + delts + forearms + abs + back

Monday:

Biceps + lats

Tuesday:

Abs + back (back optional here depends how i feel)

Wednesday:

Chest + triceps

Thursday:

Quads + hamstrings + calves + abs + back

Friday:

Rest

Saturday:

Rest

[chiangxiong]

oh and remember all this food is for a 150 pound guy :D

[Shao-LiN]

Wow, you actually eat the same thing for like 4 meals of the day? My suggestion, vary it up a bit. I know my body would get bored from that diet.

How much fat and carbs you eating? It's cool you're getting a lot of protein, but you can't neglect fat or carbs.

[gopher]

Replace a few of those chicken breasts with lean beef and fish. Also I would add some carbs to a few of those meals. Brown rice, sweet potatos, and a bowl of oatmeal with yoour egg whites. The menu you posted looks like about 2000 calories to me. Your going to need a lot more than that if you want to grow.

[DcK]

Yea bro, your not taking in 3,000 calories by my rough calculations. Why don't you use fitday.com or something, it's free, and it'll give you EXACT calculations. My recommendation, is to eat about 3,000 - 3,500 calories, and I know other may disagree, but you need to probably DROP your protein to about 200 grams (250g.max) and double your carbs to about 400-500grams per day, and up your fat content (fat in doesn't necessarily mean fat on) to about 30-50grams per day (healthy ie flax). If you add what I gave you up, you'll see it's close to 3,500 - 4,000 calories /day, I'd have a hard time believing you wouldn't gain doing this.

[chiangxiong]

sounds good, oh if you think my calculations are bad here they are...

format - (food) [calories]*[servings]

bag of pretzles calories 80*21=1680 cals 357 carbs
skim milk 80*6 =480 cals 78 carbs
egg whites 46*12=552 cals 5 carbs
protien shake 230*1=230 cals 12 carbs
chicken breast 180*4=720 cals
soy pita bread 120*4=480 cals 72 carbs

total 4142 calories 524 carbs

this doesnt include extra things i eat between meals which i do frequently (salads w/ ff dressing) for example, i plan on replacing those pretzles with rice from now on (though the pretzles are at least sodium free give me that much :p) and im going to look into that flax oil. also i did not include any calories or carbs obtained from vegetables so add a bit more there. hell im cooking the rice RIGHT now. goya baby.

egg calories calculated by taking the whole egg count (70) multiplying by .66 because i dont eat the yolks so i figure that removes 1/3 the calories should be semi acurite.

oh yeah and as for mixing it up people always tell me this... how can you eat the exact same thing for every meal dont you get sick of it?! the answer NO :D haha i have no problem eating the exact same thing all day long every day lol but i do have fish ect maybe ill try it.

[DcK]

Well bro, I'm at a lost for any recommendations. I can't see why someone with your weight and those calories wouldn't be gaining/?? Maybe someone else has a suggestion.

[chiangxiong]

maybe i just need to be patient, i started working out about 4 months ago but i knew nothing about it then and when i started out i was only using the machines lol but after awhile i learned all the free weight exercises, now i do nothing but freee weight and cable exercises and i use the smith machine on occasion hack squat ect, but thats pretty much it, 2 weeks ago i revamped my entire workout i used to only have two alternating days upper body one day lower body next day (stupid yeah haha) but thats was before, as a matter of fact i just revamped the scedule again today this week im starting this new schedule...

Day Body Parts Trained

1 Quads Abs
2 Back Hamstrings
3 Chest Calves
4 Biceps Abs
5 Shoulders Traps
6 Triceps Calves
7 off

im probably just jumping ahead of myself here ill have to see how much i weigh after a month its just discouraging when i see my next door neighbor gain 30 pounds in last 3 months and all hes taking is creatine he went from a lean 185 to a lean 215 in 3 months... ah! damn good genetics. its probably just that i havent starting "doing it right" but two weeks ago this stuff takes much longer than that, next month im gonna start creatine as well at least ill gain an initial 10 pounds or so hah that will keep me quiet. ill probably start a journal on here too.

[Shao-LiN]

If you don't think your diet is the problem, maybe your lifting routine is...you could be overtraining or not getting enough rest.

[NateDogg]

chiangxiong,

What do you estimate your body fat % to be at 6" 150 lbs? You are a light 6 footer, IMO!

[chiangxiong]

i really couldnt estimate i have no idea but its low i have a good six back but not nearly as skinny as like a pro body builder at contest time but i really have like no fat, youd think i would look sickly skinny at only 150 pounds but i looking pretty jacked especially after a workout :cool: ill have to start a journal here and post some photos.