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Originally Posted by Xerxys
I used to run 1.5 miles in the morning and now I 'm up to 3. [...]
My main focus is to look better, I mean that ... I am skinny!!! [...]
I eat 4 small meals a day. I might have to increase my 4 small meals to 4 big meals a day. Do you think that's a good idea? Eating filling meals 4 times instead of the conventional 3 sounds bad even to me. Maybe increase the portions then to 5 or 6 but that doesn't give me time to digest except at night and I don't think I want my body doing 2 things at a time.
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If you don't want to give up the cardio, but you want to gain weight, you'll need to increase your overall caloric intake, and you should do resistance training as well. Four larger meals a day is actually a good idea, just don't make too many of them fast food, and be sure you're including snacks in between (though you do mention two shakes a day....). Try to bump up your caloric intake by 500 calories/day and see what happens. Try doing resistance training once a week, or up to 3/week if you can. Building muscle will help you gain weight and bulk.
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Fast foods are mainly starch and not carbs ... right??? I bought a crock pot and consume 3 times more white meat than I used to before. Veggies on the other hand are a bitch to make. I try to include them everyday though.
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Starches
are carbs; they are generally the slower burning carbs compared to sugars (glucose). Fast food is made up of too many refined carbs (starches closer to glucose than others) and high amounts of bad fats (saturated), and possibly too much fat overall. Veggies can be made convenient. Try using frozen veggies and a microwave if you can, or cut up fresh veggies ahead of time. Eat as many as you can fit in.
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Fruits ...er... what are they? They fill me up in the morning and are not productive at all to be consumed before any meal. Nuts are fine. They do nothing for me though. I also take shakes twice a day. I sleep less than 8 hours though. I just can't sleep beyond 6am!! But I work past 11 hence the dynamic ...
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Have you tried keeping dried fruit on hand? Stick to the kind with little or no added sugar: dried apricots, dried papaya, etc. (check the label). Nuts are a good snack, especially for the good fats and calories loaded with nutrients. What do you mean they "do nothing for you"? Pair them with dried fruit and they're delicious. Try to stick to unsalted almonds and walnuts, as they're the healthier varieties. Soynuts are a good snack too, as is granola.
You simply need to increase your caloric intake and build some muscle if you want to be not so skinny. Run your little heart out, but if you don't do these other two things, you'll stay skinny. It's that simple.
Again, try to increase your caloric intake by 500/day, and fit in a resistance routine at least one/week, preferably 3/week. Try simple body-weight exercises at first: pushups, lunges, etc. But if you truly want to gain muscle weight, you should do things such as squats (free weight)/leg presses (universal), bench presses, and bent-over rows (free weight)/seated rows (universal). These are heavy compound exercises that engage much of your musculature. Eat your calories as a balance of protein, complex carbs, and fats to ensure you're meeting energy and rebuilding requirements for your exercise, both cardio and resistance-based.
If you're getting anywhere near 7 hours of sleep, you might be fine.
How's that for a start?