The Student Room Group

Advice on how to build muscle if you're skinny

Someone I know has had the problem of trying to build muscle, below is the paragraph I told him on this issue. Please keep in mind I was taking to him as well as using his Stats.

Ok let me just clear this whole thing up... Listen closely because this is the truth and the only truth don't listen to other people that tell you to eat more **** because they are wrong.

Eating tonnes of **** is not good either way if your gaing fat or not. Its better that you were eating loads of **** and have fat on the outside as this is better. Eating tonnes of **** and not gaining "outside fat" is extremely bad as your body stores fat inside, this is the bad type of fat that leads to heart disease and blocked arteries etc.. Even though it doesn't seem like you're gaining fat your getting fat inside and becoming unhealthy. You are killing yourself and you dont even know it.

Eat healthy foods. Ok like say eat a chicken burger after the gym because you can afford this, eat two or three but make sure they have large chicken breasts inside. After the gym make sure to eat a massive meal macro rich in all 3 macros Protein fat and carbs.

You want to eat before the gym about an hour to 30 minutes before this will allow all the food you eat to be used as energy during the workout. Because you're 6ft2 and weight 50 ish KG you should eat 3500 calories per day you go gym doing this for one year will surly build you up to roughly 70k next year.

Don't ever eat **** food even though it "looks" like you aren't gaining weight. Don't even do this without going gym you are damaging your body more. Think about this, the harder you go at the gym the more you can eat? Go to the gym half ass is for an hour then eat 3000 calories, go to the gym and go all out rest 30 seconds become tired after every set eat 4000 calories per day. It's really quite simple.

Never fall into the trap of thinking you need to eat alot to gain weight. As soon as your body realises that your muscles are being used they will slowly use more "Fuel" to build them bigger. You really want arms that were build by MC Donalds? they will never be good.

Hope this helps.
So, TL;DR - don't eat junk food because you will gain fat inside your body.

What???
I weight 52kg and 5ft9 how shall I build muscle
Reply 3
Original post by WoodyMKC
So, TL;DR - don't eat junk food because you will gain fat inside your body.

What???


Research it ?
Reply 4
Original post by WoodyMKC
So, TL;DR - don't eat junk food because you will gain fat inside your body.

What???


He's actually right, visceral fat is a thing.. But ofc you need to increase calorie intake to build mass, clearly
Reply 5
Original post by mustards12345
I weight 52kg and 5ft9 how shall I build muscle


The exact same way but reduce calories to 3000 then add 100 every 2kg you gain make sure you properly measure though.
Original post by etata
He's actually right, visceral fat is a thing.. But ofc you need to increase calorie intake to build mass, clearly


Visceral fat is indeed a thing, but that's not the point he's making.
Original post by NoahMal
Research it ?


If you make a thread with a view on something to get people to take it on board, it's customary to provide links to your research. I can google it and get a hundred articles that agree with your point, but then I can find a hundred articles telling me that fats are bad for you; that sit-ups will burn belly fat; or that eating every few hours will speed up the metabolism. Doesn't make them true, it just means there are a lot of ill-informed people out there.

You gain a percentage of visceral fat when you gain regular bodyfat, there is no proven link between gaining visceral fat and the type of foods consumed. There is also no link adopted by any recognised health association to suggest increased risk factors for health problems with larger fat:visceral fat ratios.
Reply 8
Original post by WoodyMKC
If you make a thread with a view on something to get people to take it on board, it's customary to provide links to your research. I can google it and get a hundred articles that agree with your point, but then I can find a hundred articles telling me that fats are bad for you; that sit-ups will burn belly fat; or that eating every few hours will speed up the metabolism. Doesn't make them true, it just means there are a lot of ill-informed people out there.

You gain a percentage of visceral fat when you gain regular bodyfat, there is no proven link between gaining visceral fat and the type of foods consumed. There is also no link adopted by any recognised health association to suggest increased risk factors for health problems with larger fat:visceral fat ratios.



I understand what you are saying but think about this. You eat thousands of calories per day from KFC or McDonalds of "Shitty" foods fast foods full of fat someone that gains no weight where does all that extra energy go? Unless someone shits 10 times per day or exercises constantly that fat is going to to stored somewhere, if it is someone such as Ben Schwartz, that you can see has no "outside fat" has gained visceral fat. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3346002/Get-in-touch-with-your-inner-fat.html Link for you bro:smartass:
Original post by NoahMal
I understand what you are saying but think about this. You eat thousands of calories per day from KFC or McDonalds of "Shitty" foods fast foods full of fat someone that gains no weight where does all that extra energy go? Unless someone shits 10 times per day or exercises constantly that fat is going to to stored somewhere, if it is someone such as Ben Schwartz, that you can see has no "outside fat" has gained visceral fat. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3346002/Get-in-touch-with-your-inner-fat.html Link for you bro:smartass:


Calories in vs calories out is a simple concept. If someone eats thousands of calories per day and doesn't gain weight, then they're eating at maintenance, it really is that simple. That goes for "clean" food or junk food. Some people are more active than others or have a naturally higher TDEE than others due to higher thyroid hormone levels and metabolic activity.
Visceral fat isn't weightless, either - if you've gained visceral fat then you'll have gained weight on the scales.

Please, tell me you didn't just use a news article as your source :rofl::rofl::rofl:
Reply 10
Original post by WoodyMKC
Calories in vs calories out is a simple concept. If someone eats thousands of calories per day and doesn't gain weight, then they're eating at maintenance, it really is that simple. That goes for "clean" food or junk food. Some people are more active than others or have a naturally higher TDEE than others due to higher thyroid hormone levels and metabolic activity.
Visceral fat isn't weightless, either - if you've gained visceral fat then you'll have gained weight on the scales.

Please, tell me you didn't just use a news article as your source :rofl::rofl::rofl:


The thread was to help people to be healthy while muscle building. hence I said that they shouldn't eat bad food and even worse more of it if they arn't noticing weight gains, most people out there that want to gain muscle would eat all these food that are high in fat, would you recommend doing this? As that is what I was trying to help with as I was try to get people to eat healthier and less junk food as a McDonals burger has anywhere from 15g fat to 45 g fat, eating just two of these would put peoples health at serious risk... Here are a few sources for your greedy ass.

http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthy-eating/Pages/Healthyeating.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/healthy-eating/Pages/Healthyeating.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/goodfood/Pages/Goodfoodhome.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/Fat.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/Eat-less-saturated-fat.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1124.aspx?categoryid=51
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/reference-intakes-RI-guideline-daily-amounts-GDA.aspx
Lmfao.

Agree with everything Woody has said

Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by NoahMal
The thread was to help people to be healthy while muscle building. hence I said that they shouldn't eat bad food and even worse more of it if they arn't noticing weight gains, most people out there that want to gain muscle would eat all these food that are high in fat, would you recommend doing this? As that is what I was trying to help with as I was try to get people to eat healthier and less junk food as a McDonals burger has anywhere from 15g fat to 45 g fat, eating just two of these would put peoples health at serious risk..


You cannot seriously be suggesting that eating a couple of burgers, even as a one off occurrence,will cause serious health risks???

If your thread was purely designed to encourage people to eat healthily in their muscle building then that'd be fine, but you're misinforming people. It's impossible to not gain weight but still have gained visceral fat, and there is no proven link between certain foods and visceral fat.

I don't see what's complicated. If you're not gaining weight, add more calories. From a health perspective, eat mostly healthy foods, however a bit of junk here and there isn't going to cause a problem. The 80:20 rule (i.e. 80% good, healthy food, 20% whatever you fancy) is a well-established simple guideline recommended by recognised health bodies.
Reply 13


Ah, but of course. This one non-conclusive study overrides all the others that suggest no link, right?
woodys right its cals in vs out, doesnt even matter what it is as long as it fits your macros then youre sweet
Reply 16
'All the others'? As in? Obviously it is to do with genetic predisposition and metabolism as well but excessive saturated fats are the main cause. If you're trying to gain muscle mass then sure "if it fits your macros" but if you're trying to reduce body fat percentage and improve health in general- then he has a point.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it
Reply 17
Original post by WoodyMKC
You cannot seriously be suggesting that eating a couple of burgers, even as a one off occurrence,will cause serious health risks???

If your thread was purely designed to encourage people to eat healthily in their muscle building then that'd be fine, but you're misinforming people. It's impossible to not gain weight but still have gained visceral fat, and there is no proven link between certain foods and visceral fat.

I don't see what's complicated. If you're not gaining weight, add more calories. From a health perspective, eat mostly healthy foods, however a bit of junk here and there isn't going to cause a problem. The 80:20 rule (i.e. 80% good, healthy food, 20% whatever you fancy) is a well-established simple guideline recommended by recognised health bodies.


Im not "misinforming" people Im telling them that they should not listen to other people that say it's as simple as "cals in vs cals out" That is stupid. People will go off happily and east pure junk food expecting to grow expecting to get healthy... Yes a burger will kill you if you say "cals in cals out" because most people would just go and eat pure burgers for that maybe 5 burgers and you've done your calories in vs your calories out. But at the end of the day your cals in is 3500 calories about 200g fat 100g protein and 300g Carbs... Trying to make gains on junk food is a joke. The only want to get muscle is eating healthy and the right amount of stuff not just stuffing whatever you can find into your mouth and hoping that your IIFYM diet will work...
Original post by NoahMal
Im not "misinforming" people Im telling them that they should not listen to other people that say it's as simple as "cals in vs cals out" That is stupid. People will go off happily and east pure junk food expecting to grow expecting to get healthy... Yes a burger will kill you if you say "cals in cals out" because most people would just go and eat pure burgers for that maybe 5 burgers and you've done your calories in vs your calories out. But at the end of the day your cals in is 3500 calories about 200g fat 100g protein and 300g Carbs... Trying to make gains on junk food is a joke. The only want to get muscle is eating healthy and the right amount of stuff not just stuffing whatever you can find into your mouth and hoping that your IIFYM diet will work...


There's a lot of misinformation in your first post.

It's a simple concept based on science. Anyone who knows anything about the way the human body works knows that calories are the main determining factor in weight gain or loss. The body uses carbohydrates to convert to glucose to use within the body - this goes for whether they're "clean" or "dirty". The body uses fats as an energy source - this goes for whether they're "clean" or "dirty". The body doesn't go "ugh, no, that's unhealthy... let's store it!". If there's an excess of energy (calories) then the excess is stored as bodyfat, that goes no matter how clean you eat.

Why do people automatically assume IIFYM means eating all the unhealthiest crap you can find to make up your macros??? It doesn't. A sensible IIFYM diet follows the 80:20 ideal that says if you eat 80% healthy foods, then the 20% crap won't hurt. It's a healthy, sustainable way to diet. Only an idiot thinks that you should fill it with rubbish and not expect repercussions. You'd get results if you were getting the right amount of calories and good quality proteins/aminos, but from a health perspective it wouldn't be viable, hence the need to eat sensibly.

Now, I'm not gonna lie and say I don't eat more junk than I probably should... but then, here I am with an FFMI of 23, and I was about 190lbs lean this time last year. I've got 17" arms. I can, from experience, lose 3lbs a week whilst maintaining muscle following an IIFYM diet whilst cutting. They are many proponents of IIFYM that have outstanding physiques... but hey, IIFYM doesn't work, right :rofl:
Lets not complicate things. Just lift weights, excerise etc. So long as you eat alrite you will be alrite. If someone wants to be like Armnold Roidernegger then things do indeed get more complex, but then a student room would obviously be an ideal source of advice on that.

Quick Reply

Latest