How to gain weight without gaining fat

[elnino47]

hi, so i'm 5"11 male and weigh only 55 kgs which is a bit underweight. i'm around 5% body fat and i was wondering how you gain weight without gaining fat. right now to maintain my weight i calculated i need around 1500 calories per day. what foods do you guys recommend and also workouts to get abs to show more? i should also mention that i do a lot of cardio every day as part of my training and run around 60-70km a week. if you guys can help me out i'd really appreciate it. cheers

[PecChef]

hi, so i'm 5"11 male and weigh only 55 kgs which is a bit underweight. i'm around 5% body fat and i was wondering how you gain weight without gaining fat. right now to maintain my weight i calculated i need around 1500 calories per day. what foods do you guys recommend and also workouts to get abs to show more? i should also mention that i do a lot of cardio every day as part of my training and run around 60-70km a week. if you guys can help me out i'd really appreciate it. cheers

To gain weight you have to be eating at a surplus. Don't be afraid to gain a bit of fat on a bulk. If your wanting to gain weight your gonna have to say bye to those abs and bulk up through the year and wait till summer.

Strong broscience

[Wolffenbuttel]

Stop Running.Start Eating.

[soundsgood]

It's pretty simple mate

Eat slightly above your calorie maintanence level and stimulate your muscles with resistance weight training.

I highly doubt your maintanence is 1500 cal a day with all the cardio you are doing but you are so light that perhaps it's right.

I would generally recommend going 300-400cal above maintanence and see how you go. Make sure you follow a decent training programme and keep increasing the weight used or reps and track your progress. If you're staying stagnant with muscle growth then add a few more calories. If you're putting on muscle but too much fat then drop the calories back a bit.

[tgzerozone]

I started on 63, at 65 now after a few weeks, gained no fat. 5.8"

I eat between 3500 and 4500 calories a day and am doing http://www.leangains.com

Works for me.

EDIT: And I don't run or cycle anywhere...

[elnino47]

It's pretty simple mate

Eat slightly above your calorie maintanence level and stimulate your muscles with resistance weight training.

I highly doubt your maintanence is 1500 cal a day with all the cardio you are doing but you are so light that perhaps it's right.

I would generally recommend going 300-400cal above maintanence and see how you go. Make sure you follow a decent training programme and keep increasing the weight used or reps and track your progress. If you're staying stagnant with muscle growth then add a few more calories. If you're putting on muscle but too much fat then drop the calories back a bit.

Thanks guys for all your replies and i meant my BMR is around 1500 calories. my maintenence calories is around 2500. but what foods should i eat to gain muscle without fat? i keep hearing a lot of talk about how carbs are bad for you yet my diet consists of like 60-70% carbs and i didn't see a problem

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

It's pretty simple mate

Eat slightly above your calorie maintanence level and stimulate your muscles with resistance weight training.

I highly doubt your maintanence is 1500 cal a day with all the cardio you are doing but you are so light that perhaps it's right.

I would generally recommend going 300-400cal above maintanence and see how you go. Make sure you follow a decent training programme and keep increasing the weight used or reps and track your progress. If you're staying stagnant with muscle growth then add a few more calories. If you're putting on muscle but too much fat then drop the calories back a bit.

Thanks guys for all your replies and i meant my BMR is around 1500 calories. my maintenence calories is around 2500. but what foods should i eat to gain muscle without fat? i keep hearing a lot of talk about how carbs are bad for you yet my diet consists of like 60-70% carbs and i didn't see a problem

theres tonnes of BS articles/'studies' out there, it will take time to build up the skills to filter out the crap. you need the carbs for the training you are doing (seems like tonnes of running), bodybuilders when bulking up also load up on 'em! don't think low carb/low fat etc but for health purposes you can consider low simple sugars.

bulking up without getting fat with starting point of 55kg @5'11 & male - easy as hell man (though I guess it also depends on your age), there really ain't nothing to it but to eat and lift (seriously), though keep in mind that since you are burning so much energy running, you will need a hell of a lot more than the maintenance/bulk cals you've calculated.

IMO, DON'T go the way of leangains (at least not right at the start), just go with the good ol' fashioned bulk. Use the mirror to judge when you are putting on too much fat for your liking and either trickle down the intake or up the cardio to deal with it, you'll learn a lot about your own body this way. keep in mind that staying way down low at 5% and trying to build lean muscle (particularly naturally and without some good muscle memory built up/lots of lifting experience) is an extremely hard ask - why don't you accept that you'll gain a bit of fat with the muscle? once you've gained enough muscle, you can trim the excess fat down and get back to a BF% you are happy with.

many would also argue that your body is a lot more anabolic (basically in a better state to build muscle) at bodyfat levels between 10% and 18%, you are also a lot safer dealing with the heavier weights in those ranges.

consider how much strain there is on your joints, weight lifting for a bulk on 5%? snap city here we come!

about the abs - to bring these up nicely & quickly (so they're thick/solid enough to so when you go lean you don't look like a freakin' concentration camp victim) you best be focusing on the big compounds rather than wasting your time doing hours of abs a day - think about big squats, deadlifts, pullups, rows, military press, dumbell pullovers in particular for that area. hanging leg raises are a personal favorite but remember to always hold at the top and lower very slowly if you expect any benefit out of them (+ if you don't do it properly you just look like a monkey swinging on the bars )

in my personal experience, the first few months I took advantage of the easy gains and ate a lot - shot up from 50ish to 65kg in 3 months (was not very lean but heaps stronger and didn't have to take shirt off to see that I was finally growing), 9 months later from that and now at 68 @ 14%.. could drop the bf further down but the cold hard truth is no one gives a shit about a featherweight with abs so may as well keep on the bulk dude.

[Kalidane]

good advices

Shot bro

[elnino47]

It's pretty simple mate

Eat slightly above your calorie maintanence level and stimulate your muscles with resistance weight training.

I highly doubt your maintanence is 1500 cal a day with all the cardio you are doing but you are so light that perhaps it's right.

I would generally recommend going 300-400cal above maintanence and see how you go. Make sure you follow a decent training programme and keep increasing the weight used or reps and track your progress. If you're staying stagnant with muscle growth then add a few more calories. If you're putting on muscle but too much fat then drop the calories back a bit.

Thanks guys for all your replies and i meant my BMR is around 1500 calories. my maintenence calories is around 2500. but what foods should i eat to gain muscle without fat? i keep hearing a lot of talk about how carbs are bad for you yet my diet consists of like 60-70% carbs and i didn't see a problem

theres tonnes of BS articles/'studies' out there, it will take time to build up the skills to filter out the crap. you need the carbs for the training you are doing (seems like tonnes of running), bodybuilders when bulking up also load up on 'em! don't think low carb/low fat etc but for health purposes you can consider low simple sugars.

bulking up without getting fat with starting point of 55kg @5'11 & male - easy as hell man (though I guess it also depends on your age), there really ain't nothing to it but to eat and lift (seriously), though keep in mind that since you are burning so much energy running, you will need a hell of a lot more than the maintenance/bulk cals you've calculated.

IMO, DON'T go the way of leangains (at least not right at the start), just go with the good ol' fashioned bulk. Use the mirror to judge when you are putting on too much fat for your liking and either trickle down the intake or up the cardio to deal with it, you'll learn a lot about your own body this way. keep in mind that staying way down low at 5% and trying to build lean muscle (particularly naturally and without some good muscle memory built up/lots of lifting experience) is an extremely hard ask - why don't you accept that you'll gain a bit of fat with the muscle? once you've gained enough muscle, you can trim the excess fat down and get back to a BF% you are happy with.

many would also argue that your body is a lot more anabolic (basically in a better state to build muscle) at bodyfat levels between 10% and 18%, you are also a lot safer dealing with the heavier weights in those ranges.

consider how much strain there is on your joints, weight lifting for a bulk on 5%? snap city here we come!

about the abs - to bring these up nicely & quickly (so they're thick/solid enough to so when you go lean you don't look like a freakin' concentration camp victim) you best be focusing on the big compounds rather than wasting your time doing hours of abs a day - think about big squats, deadlifts, pullups, rows, military press, dumbell pullovers in particular for that area. hanging leg raises are a personal favorite but remember to always hold at the top and lower very slowly if you expect any benefit out of them (+ if you don't do it properly you just look like a monkey swinging on the bars )

in my personal experience, the first few months I took advantage of the easy gains and ate a lot - shot up from 50ish to 65kg in 3 months (was not very lean but heaps stronger and didn't have to take shirt off to see that I was finally growing), 9 months later from that and now at 68 @ 14%.. could drop the bf further down but the cold hard truth is no one gives a shit about a featherweight with abs so may as well keep on the bulk dude.

Thanks bro. but the reason why i'm trying to bulk up and stay low on the body fat is doesn't your abs show more like it's more defined at lower body fat percentages? and also you said just buk up and lift and loose the fat later that comes with the bulk, by that are you saying do more cardio?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Thanks bro. but the reason why i'm trying to bulk up and stay low on the body fat is doesn't your abs show more like it's more defined at lower body fat percentages? and also you said just buk up and lift and loose the fat later that comes with the bulk, by that are you saying do more cardio?

Your abs do show a lot better at lower body fat but you don't have to be right down at 5% for it, 8~10% in general would be a better fat level for you to cruise at while still keeping visible abs (unless you have unlucky genetics). You gotta focus on the mass gains first though before getting caught up worrying over how visible they are or you'll just be looking in to nothing forever.

When I said bulk up and mentioned the fat gains btw, don't be too concerned. It definitely won't be a tonne of fat unless you've really let yourself go with the food. Just saying that if for example you were bulking like a madman and got up to 20% BF or something and wanted to go back down to something more manageable like say 12%, the way you would approach that is up to you. It all revolves around proven science of energy in VS energy out so you either:

- burn more energy by doing more physical activity (more running or just more exercise in general eg. high intensity lifting programs)

OR

- take in less energy.. so a bit less big macs and what not :pfft:

OR

- then of course you can do a combination of the above which is to eat a bit less as well as burn a bit more energy from physical activities

Same fundamental principles will apply to you for weight gains too, we just acknowledge a couple of sound principles:

* energy coming in in this case must be greater than energy expended. if there is no caloric excess then no gains will be made no matter how hard you work!

* there are two kinds of gains we can make: fat and muscle. by conducting in resistance training (weight training), we can provide the body with stimulus for using the excess caloric intake to build muscle and not just fat

[Kalidane]

Thanks bro. but the reason why i'm trying to bulk up and stay low on the body fat is doesn't your abs show more like it's more defined at lower body fat percentages? and also you said just buk up and lift and loose the fat later that comes with the bulk, by that are you saying do more cardio?

I wonder if you're being overwhelmed by all the (really good) information being put your way.

You goal seems to be having kick ass abs. Is this correct?

Having a low body fat % means there is less stuff physically and visually obscuring muscle. 5% is very low so whatever musculature you have is very visible. If you don't like what you are seeing now then you need to develop greater muscle mass. Deadlifts and squats are good for this (and good in general).

I'm 5'10", ~72kg at about 8%bf (purely my guess) and have visible abs. I haven't directly trained abs since the '90s.

Track your calories and macros, eat a bit more, run a bit less and lift some weights. It is not more complex than this.

[elnino47]

Thanks guys for all your replies and i meant my BMR is around 1500 calories. my maintenence calories is around 2500. but what foods should i eat to gain muscle without fat? i keep hearing a lot of talk about how carbs are bad for you yet my diet consists of like 60-70% carbs and i didn't see a problem

theres tonnes of BS articles/'studies' out there, it will take time to build up the skills to filter out the crap. you need the carbs for the training you are doing (seems like tonnes of running), bodybuilders when bulking up also load up on 'em! don't think low carb/low fat etc but for health purposes you can consider low simple sugars.

bulking up without getting fat with starting point of 55kg @5'11 & male - easy as hell man (though I guess it also depends on your age), there really ain't nothing to it but to eat and lift (seriously), though keep in mind that since you are burning so much energy running, you will need a hell of a lot more than the maintenance/bulk cals you've calculated.

IMO, DON'T go the way of leangains (at least not right at the start), just go with the good ol' fashioned bulk. Use the mirror to judge when you are putting on too much fat for your liking and either trickle down the intake or up the cardio to deal with it, you'll learn a lot about your own body this way. keep in mind that staying way down low at 5% and trying to build lean muscle (particularly naturally and without some good muscle memory built up/lots of lifting experience) is an extremely hard ask - why don't you accept that you'll gain a bit of fat with the muscle? once you've gained enough muscle, you can trim the excess fat down and get back to a BF% you are happy with.

many would also argue that your body is a lot more anabolic (basically in a better state to build muscle) at bodyfat levels between 10% and 18%, you are also a lot safer dealing with the heavier weights in those ranges.

consider how much strain there is on your joints, weight lifting for a bulk on 5%? snap city here we come!

about the abs - to bring these up nicely & quickly (so they're thick/solid enough to so when you go lean you don't look like a freakin' concentration camp victim) you best be focusing on the big compounds rather than wasting your time doing hours of abs a day - think about big squats, deadlifts, pullups, rows, military press, dumbell pullovers in particular for that area. hanging leg raises are a personal favorite but remember to always hold at the top and lower very slowly if you expect any benefit out of them (+ if you don't do it properly you just look like a monkey swinging on the bars )

in my personal experience, the first few months I took advantage of the easy gains and ate a lot - shot up from 50ish to 65kg in 3 months (was not very lean but heaps stronger and didn't have to take shirt off to see that I was finally growing), 9 months later from that and now at 68 @ 14%.. could drop the bf further down but the cold hard truth is no one gives a shit about a featherweight with abs so may as well keep on the bulk dude.

Thanks bro. but the reason why i'm trying to bulk up and stay low on the body fat is doesn't your abs show more like it's more defined at lower body fat percentages? and also you said just buk up and lift and loose the fat later that comes with the bulk, by that are you saying do more cardio?

you give some mean advice. thanks bro

[JOSEF RAKICH]

Dont consume a huge calorie surplus, aim for about 300 calories over your TDEE.

[elnino47]

Dont consume a huge calorie surplus, aim for about 300 calories over your TDEE.

yea thanks bro..currently aiming at 2500 calories a day which is about 300-400 more than my maintenance after all my exercises