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So I have been upping my dumbbell weight and visually looking more muscular. I am naturally muscular so I figured it would be easy to just eat more and lift heavier. Umm not the case.. I’ve lost weight. How the heck can I put on some more muscle?
Eat more carbs and protein! You need the protein to rebuild after exercise and the carbs stimulate insulin, which promotes growth and helps transport the protein into the muscle tissue.
When weightlifters have a hard time building muscle, it’s usually because they’re not eating enough. “Hard-gainers” (naturally thin people who have a difficult time building muscle) really need to boost their calories if they want to get bigger muscles.
I eat a lot of carbs (oatmeals, cereals) and have been upping the protein! Eat an average of 2500. I’m not sure I am a hard-gainer…
You’re losing weight at 2,500 calories? What’s your full work-out routine look like, both weights (sets and reps) and cardio. If you’re burning too many calories, your body might not be able to increase muscle.
Some days around 2000 some days around 2500, probably somewhere in between. I always have a cardio component. I workout 6 days a week. 50 minutes. I actually a doing a beachbody program. My fiance does the actual program, I just pick two videos I feel like doing. Its called Focus T-25. I do two of those workouts a day, totalling 50 minutes. I use 10-15 pound weights but they are higher reps routines.
Those are substantial work-outs, so you might try boosting calories on days that you exercise. For me, a 50-minute cardio work-out burns 600-700 calories, and after such a work-out I modify my estimated BMR accordingly. I imagine you’re quite a bit smaller than me, so you won’t burn as many calories, but I think adding an extra 300-400 calorie snack after your work-outs might help you achieve your goal of building more muscle. Something with both carbs and protein would be ideal, like a smoothie with frozen fruit, juice, and greek yogurt. If I want something quick and convenient, I usually have a big turkey sandwich (and add a soda if I really worked out hard).
David you must be in great shape. How long did you work on your metabolism? Are you working to build muscle or lose weight? or both?
Hi Chen,
I appreciate the thought, but I’m still a ways from where I want to be in my physical fitness. I have made great progress in the last several months, though. When I started, I got tired on walks and couldn’t even dream of running a mile. I had put on a bunch of extra weight from overeating, and I had been living a sedentary life for too long.
On Saturday, my wife and I went out on a run on a local 10k route (not a race, just the route). I had to walk for about half a mile in the middle, but otherwise it was great. Part of why I like running is that it’s easy to see little improvements every week or two. In a couple weeks I’ll try it again without the walk.
Ideally, I’d like to build both muscle and lose weight, but I’m not too upset if I can lose the weight while just maintaining muscle, or gain muscle without increasing weight. For a while I was getting stronger while the pounds went down, but lately, my strength has been plateauing, so I may decide on a slower weight loss.
What about you? What’s your story?
Would my above exercise be enough to cause adrenal fatigue? Or would it just be exacerbating a mixture of an ED, Grad school, work, etc?
I can say with 100% certainty that the answer is “Maybe.” I know that’s not very helpful, but I think you’re the only one who can really answer your question. If you’re concerned that your exercise is exacerbating your fatigue, why not take a week off to find out? One week isn’t enough to lose fitness, and if you discover that you feel more energetic without exercise, then you’ll have your answer. Keeping a journal can help you remember how you feel on a day-to-day basis.
I find exercise helps alleviate stress up to a certain level of intensity, and then it can contribute to stress. A little stress isn’t always bad, but it sounds like you have stress coming from a lot of directions, so you may need more time for relaxation. The only way to know is to experiment and see what works for you!
Doing high rep workouts with 10-15 pound dumbbells is essentially doing cardio. You will not build much strength, only increase conditioning. The reason you look more muscled is that you are losing weight and look more cut. If you want to actually build strength and/or muscle mass (they aren’t exactly the same thing) ditch the video routines, go to the gym and lift heavier weights. Barbells are excellent but you need some education about doing barbell movements (start with Starting Strength and/or liftbigeatbig.com for info), if you don’t want to do that, heavier dumbbells and kettle bells will do what it seem like you want. You want lower reps, higher weight.
Okay thanks! I will try that after I get over this walking pneumonia crap. How many reps/sets should I start with?
I believe Matt mentioned 5×5 strong lifts and I am starting today. http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5×5-beginner-strength-training-program/
I pretty much know nothing about lifting, so blindly following, but it seems like a good fit for me. Hoping the weight training will help boost hormone levels and build muscle. Have always been skinny (6’1″ and generally around 160 lbs.), so filling out the toothpicks would be nice. I tried testosterone injections and went up to 172 with noticeable muscle gains, but the effects faded, so trying the more natural route.
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