Welcome to TIM88

[Lisa~]

Tim is our current newest member and he sent me a pm asking for advice. I attempted to reply, but he's got his user controls set to refuse pm's.

Since my advice was to start a thread, I just decided to do it for him. Here's his pm to me and my reply:

Originally Posted by T1M88

Hey, I'm new to all the fitness scene.

I'm a complete novice on fitness so I'll be looking for advice for '08 goal, so any advice given would be great

About me...I'm 19. I weigh 8stone (approx.) and I have given up drinking and I am cutting down on smoking (and it's working).

I know everyone wants to lose weight, but I need to gain weight. I have a very fast matabulism and I need to gain weight and muscle so thats what my aim is.
Any advice, quick links to where to start would be great.

Tim

Welcome to the forum. My advice would be to make this a post in the training forum and let some of the guys who are your age and in similar circumstances to yours offer you some advice and good places to start. Guys like ParanoidAndroid, KevinT, and a few others are near your age. Most guys your age want to gain muscle and total bodyweight. Just beginning a good lifting and nutrition program of most any kind is the place to start. Something like Rippetoe's Starting Strength might be the right course of action.

Lisa

[kingkop182]

Good Idea Lisa.

Tim, I can't really advise you personally but would definitely second Lisa’s advise and tell you to have a look at Paranoid Android’s log. Although he started at a higher weight than yourself (you being roughly 112lbs) he has gradually but continuously added more 'good' weight.

Here's his log, it would be a great reference point for you.

PA's Log

[Kevin T.]

Hello Tim. I can see where you're coming from, but my weight was higher to start with. I started out at 5'9" 145 pounds at the end of freshman year basketball - the skinniest I have been, and I had abs! But, I wanted to be bigger. Long story short, I'm sitting here today, just about 3 years later, at 5'11" 190 pounds, but have been cutting down from 200. So, in about 3 years, I was able to put on 55 pounds. It's doable man. You gotta eat.

How bout you start by posting your typical diet for a day? Even better idea, log it at fitday.com and post it here, with your total calories and protein-carb-fat breakdown. That way, the kind people here can help you out with your diet. The main thing is you have to eat alot. Lots of fruits and veggies. Lots of protein: eggs, meat, fish, etc. I'm not a fan of breaking down P+F, P+C, nutrient timing, and stuff of that nature. I just eat more good food when I want to put on weight and eat less of it when I want to shed some poundage. Eat. Eat. Eat.

Lifting wise, there's tons of good programs out there that you can try. Click me for just a small taste of what is out there. Go check out the Training Logs to see what members here are doing. With most programs you'll find people on here doing, you can't go wrong.

Post some stats my man and we'll get you packing on some pounds in no time!

[Frank.S]

2 years ago today I was around 170lbs, this morning I weighed in at 244lbs (been as high as 251) and I can see some abs in there somewhere too. ~75lbs gained in 2 years with minimal change in bodyfat. I realize most people dont want to be as big as me (im 5'9). but the methods are still the same.

I had some things on my side for sure, my strength base before training was ok, and i started at 18years old (20now). those are prime growing years.

The key is, well, there is no key.

Get starting strength like Lisa suggests, its a very solid book and is a great way to start.

For diet, keep it simple. Track your cals for a day or two but dont get to worried about it, weight gain is a slow process. Focus on eating things like steak, eggs, milk, whole foods but dont go crazy trying to keep the food selections 100% clean.

[Cynic]

Fat is 9cals/gram. A couple tablespoons of natural peanut butter is about 200cals. Good for upping calorie intake. Also, olive oil, flax oil, grapeseed oil, etc. Basically, your fats should come from natural sources.

Don't shy away from saturated fat, it plays a part.

This is on top of making sure the rest of your diet is proper.