What is the secret to gaining weight as a skinny bastard?
Gaining weight is simple – you have to consume more calories than you are burning. It’s like saving money in a piggy bank. You cannot save anything unless you earn more than you spend.
A lot of skinny bastards think that they are eating enough, but an accurate calculation often exposes a lack of calories.
To make a rough estimate of the calories you need to maintain your current weight, multiply your bodyweight in pounds by 14-16.
If you weigh 150lbs, your maintenance calories would be about 2100-2400 kcal. You can read more on this subject here.
Technically, every calorie over maintenance goes to fat storage and muscle building.
Note: Your caloric needs depend on genetics, age, daily activities and many other factors. You will have to experiment. No calculator is accurate enough.
Most people are not really skinny
Most skinny people are actually skinny-fat – low bodyweight coupled with a high body fat percentage.
Skinny fat people usually don’t eat a lot, but their diet often consists of poor food choices. A good example would be the candy bar diet. Living on a few candy bars a day will keep your overall weight low, but at the same time, your body is only getting processed sugar. If the candy bars are replaced by better foods rich in protein and other nutrients, the body composition will have no choice but to improve, especially when you add lifting on top of everything.
So, what should we do?
First, you have to determine whether you are more fat than skinny. Obviously, if you are a skinny-fat bastard with a 40-inch gut and man boobs, you first need to lose weight by dieting.
On the other hand, if you are more skinny thanĀ fat, cutting may not be the best choice. An individual in this position may benefit more from eating at maintenance or slightly above for a while.
Unfortunately, this is a hard position to be in. It will get worse before it gets better.
Gaining Muscle Is A Really Slow Process
Naturals gain muscle very slowly. You will need 2-4 years to gain 20-25lbs of actual muscle.
Of course, there are many “success stories”, but most of the examples come from fake natties and people who don’t know the difference between fat and muscle.
Welcome to natural bodybuilding! Would you like some wine with that cheese?