Am I eating right?

[Marcellius27]

I weigh about 129 lbs. 5'10 18 years old.

My first month of rippetoes I gained 8 lbs.

My question is, how much weight should I be gaining per month? per week?
I eat about 3000K per day. Is that alright?

[Mark Rippetoe]

That is about 1/2 enough food. Most of my guys gain 8 lbs. a week at first.

[KSC]

You should be eating 3000K/cal by noon preferrably. I wish there was some way to convey via a message board what eating alot of food actually is. Seriously dude, I could gain 8 lbs in about an hour at Whataburger.

[JesseJJ]

Maybe my experience will help here. When I first tried to gain some weight 7-8 years ago (@5'7", 140#), I read some bodybuilding crap about figuring out your base caloric needs and then adding 2-300 calories/day to that. This, I was led to believe, would lead to a precise amount of lean muscle gain each and every week. I gained nada, despite trying repeatedly for two years. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me over and over and over again, shame on Bill Phillips. Anyway, I finally (I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid) figured out that I need to bump near 5000 cal/day to gain. And to be clear, by that point I wasn't calculating, I was just drinking milk whenever I sat down. Just train heavy and eat and drink as much decent stuff as you can shovel in. At 5'10", 129#, and 18 years old, you'll grow like kudzu.

[Zarsky]

Here is an example of gaining 20 lbs in one month. johnny pain gets people to gain weight!

http://greyskullelite.blogspot.com/2009/11/training-day-091103.html

[gordonrumble]

I was just browsing through this forum and looked at this topic, did a double take. I was eating 4k-4.5k a day, and I thought I was doing fine. Guess I just got an answer to a question I didn't know I had. Thanks.

[Marcellius27]

wow, 8lbs a week1? But for me won't that just get me all fatty? 8 lbs a week....that's a wow. People are saying that at least 6 lbs of that would be fat. I want to be big, but not powerlifter big. So I should be eating double the calories. I'm okay with that. But how much of tha would be water, fat muscle, and whatever else that makes weight.

[Mark Rippetoe]

You are 5' 10" at 129. You quite literally need to gain 100 lbs. of whatever type of bodyweight you can in order to merely resemble a human male instead of a tall insect. But you are typical; perhaps you will figure this out.

[titan]

But you are typical; perhaps you will figure this out.

Will he/they, though? No disrespect Marcellius27, but you're a weed.... and I thought I was skinny as all fuck.

Mark, I vote that you start deleting these pathetic threads so these people take their "I only want to gain lean muscle mass so I can still see my six pack... if I eat that much all I'm gonna do is turn into a big ball of flab" to the bb.com forums....

I don't know how you continue to put up with this BS, you have far more patience than I ever would.

[Paul Sousa]

129 at 5' 10" AFTER gaining 8 lbs?!? And you are worried about putting on some fat? I thought I was skinny when I was 6' and 165lbs at 18. Stop worrying about putting on fat and just get strong. After you are over 200lbs and strong as hell come back and tell us if you're still concerned about getting fat. I don't think you understand the stress that SS puts on you and that you will literally need at least 5k calories to keep making gains. And if you are continually making gains do you think it is because you are putting on fat or muscle? Think about it.

[KSC]

wow, 8lbs a week1? But for me won't that just get me all fatty? 8 lbs a week....that's a wow. People are saying that at least 6 lbs of that would be fat. I want to be big, but not powerlifter big. So I should be eating double the calories. I'm okay with that. But how much of tha would be water, fat muscle, and whatever else that makes weight.

I think it would be okay if all 8 lbs gained in a week were fat. Rip is right, you are quite typical in your teenage girl like fear of getting fat. I lose probably 2 out of 3 kids in my program because of this. I see them a year later and they are still weak, skinny, and frail. The kid who stuck with me and ate all his food like a good boy is big and muscular and strong, but very rarely fat. What "people" are saying that 6 lbs of that would be fat? My guess is other people who are frail and weak?

[Gary Gibson]

"You are 5' 10" at 129. You quite literally need to gain 100 lbs. of whatever type of bodyweight you can in order to merely resemble a human male instead of a tall insect. " :)


wow, 8lbs a week1? But for me won't that just get me all fatty? 8 lbs a week....that's a wow. People are saying that at least 6 lbs of that would be fat. I want to be big, but not powerlifter big. So I should be eating double the calories. I'm okay with that. But how much of tha would be water, fat muscle, and whatever else that makes weight.

If you don't train, over 90% but not quite 100% of any gains will be fat. You'll look like the typical Walmart shopper that gets candidly photographed for those periodic "OBESITY EPIDEMIC in the U.S." articles.

If you train to add a few hundred pounds to your squat and bench press, then your body will figure it out. You'll only get as fat as required by the laws of human physiology to support all the muscle you'll sprout.

[Alyion]

seriously gain some weight - as soon your strength and muscle increases you will quickly change your mind.

Im glad I did, 140 lbs didn't look right on a 6'2 frame :)

Just gotta make that initial jump pal

[Steve in ATL]

The more literature I read, and the more thought that I give it, the more I become convinced that the human body will not grow muscle that it does not "believe" (for lack of a better word) can be supported by ongoing, long-term caloric intake.

The human body is an adaptive mechanism, and it will not adapt to any given environment unless ALL applicable conditions are met. For muscle mass, one of these considerations is caloric surplus, which would bee needed to support the increased metabolic demand that an increased muscle mass will bring.

Consider it a probationary period governed by hormones. Your body will play wait-and-see if you continue to try and starve it.

[Marcellius27]

Dang...a tall insect...ouch I just got burned. All right guys, Rippetoe sir I'll do what you say. I'll eat like the horse Pegasus. I'm sorry for doubting, my mistake. I'll eat a lot. I've figured it out. I don't want to be typical.

[Craig B.]

I went from 145 to 200 in my early thities by judicious use of half gallons of milk mixed with ice cream and a ton of protein powder. And squats and deads. According to fitday, half a gallon whole milk + 4 cups of chocolate ice cream + four scoops of whey protein = 2800 cal, 180g protein. Add that to your diet every day, and you'll gain weight. Worked for me and it's worked for others.

[JB52]

You definitely need to eat more. I began SS with the same stats as you (5'10, 129lbs, except 20 years old) and after two months I have gained 24lbs; 12lbs a month. This is eating between 3-4k a day with some odd days of 4.5k-5k. I am definitely upping this amount as I have already stalled once on squats and had to reset, and I am attempting the weight I stalled at on friday. 8lbs for one month is weak, you will stall quickly. Trust me, it is hard to get fat when you are lifting heavy things and eating alot of good food. If anything my abs are more defined and I don't care at all about maintaining them, just trying to get in enough calories and get stronger. So start chuggin milk or get a crockpot and make alot of meat at once; I've found pork and brisket to be great ways to put on weight.

[MAD9692]

Tall insect, look here:

www.70sbig.com (http://www.70sbig.com)

[Benthic]

I went from 145 to 200 in my early thities by judicious use of half gallons of milk mixed with ice cream and a ton of protein powder. And squats and deads. According to fitday, half a gallon whole milk + 4 cups of chocolate ice cream + four scoops of whey protein = 2800 cal, 180g protein. Add that to your diet every day, and you'll gain weight. Worked for me and it's worked for others.

And it sounds damn tasty... :)

Brian

[Marcellius27]

Yeah, I realize now. I'll just eat.

[Mark Rippetoe]

See post #15 here: http://startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=13374&page=2