The Student Room Group

Want to improve fitness but do NOT want to lose weight!

I'm returning to Uni in the next couple of weeks and plan to start a fitness plan. My aims are to improve general fitness by exercising regularly (thinking maybe swimming, running and gym perhaps?), improving my diet (I eat really badly because I am a fussy eater) and to tone myself up a bit (don't want bulging muscles though).

However, my problem is this. I'm really underweight at the moment (for various reasons) - I'm averaging 7st 8 and I'm 5' 6". I do not want to lose weight, and ideally would like to put on weight. How do I incorporate an exercise plan, with healthier food, without losing anymore weight? I'm guessing perhaps up my calorie intake, but to gain weight I'm going to have to eat more than my recommended calorie intake for a while, which when eating healthy foods and exercising, is not an easy task!

I know that putting on weight isn't just about putting on fat, you can gain weight through muscle too...however, I don't want my body fat to drop too low. Anybody got any ideas?

Also, might it be worth holding out on the exercise and healthy eating until I gain some more weight?

Cheers
Reply 1
Read Dr Gillian Mckeiths u r wat u eat... it helps u understand the importance of food combinations n i kno tht in the tv series was used 2 promote weight loss bt can b a good way jus understand wat kinda diet u r lookin 4 n the type of foods u will b needing 2 eat... maybe more carbs or protein.

In relation to exercise run n def swim (swim is gr8 4 toning)
If you're light at the moment, I should imagine exercise will help you put on a bit of weight; you haven't got much weight to lose through exercise, and you should gain some muscle which will build your weight a bit.
Reply 3
First of all .. female_engineer .. nice name :wink:

I don't understand your problem. Let me summarize:
- You want to make fitness with a healthy diet
- You want to gain lean muscle mass
- You don't want to lower body fat

Why don't you just eat then? If you are very skinny and do alot of sport then
you can eat even more. Start with 4-5 small portions a day and gradually increase the meal sizes until you realize that it's mostly fat you put on, then reduce the meal sizes a bit.

Weight reduction = negative calorie balance
Muscle mass (for female read: toning) increase = positive nitrogen balance
Reply 4
female_engineer
and to tone myself up a bit (don't want bulging muscles though).


Only years and years of dedicated diet, training and probably other substances lead to bulging muscles for women. Don't worry about stumbling upon it accidently. :smile:
You've summarised it pretty well. The logical thing is to eat more (as I say, upping calorie intake). I was just concerned with how difficult that would be given that any food I would be eating would be pretty healthy and low in calories/fat.
Reply 6
I'm no expert, but surely if you're actually underweight you needn't be too afraid of taking in a bit more fat than recommended? Although presumably it's still healthier to take in the extra calories in protein/carbs form.
Christo
Only years and years of dedicated diet, training and probably other substances lead to bulging muscles for women. Don't worry about stumbling upon it accidently. :smile:


Oh good :smile:
Alexander
I'm no expert, but surely if you're actually underweight you needn't be too afraid of taking in a bit more fat than recommended? Although presumably it's still healthier to take in the extra calories in protein/carbs form.


Yes I could quite easily put on the weight by eating more of what I currently eat. However, not much point in trying to build on my fitness andbecome healthier if I'm feeding my face with crap. I think my diet affects my moods, which is why I'm so determined to force myself to like healthier things until I enjoy them :p:
Basically you won't lose weight if you are eating as many calories as you are burning. If you eat healthily, but decent size portions you can still take in a lot of calories. The main point really is that I would say it's better to sort out any calorie deficit by eating more and not by exercising less! If you look at serious rowers (I know it's totally different to your aims) but they often eat thousands and thousands of calories (like 7000 in a day) but exercise so hard and so much that they don't get fat (whereas anyone eating that without working out would get fat in a matter of months if not weeks).

Also if you join a gym you should check if they do yoga; apparently it's very good for toning but isn't exactly a sweaty workout so you won't be burning a tonne of calories.
Reply 10
female_engineer
You've summarised it pretty well. The logical thing is to eat more (as I say, upping calorie intake). I was just concerned with how difficult that would be given that any food I would be eating would be pretty healthy and low in calories/fat.


Why low in calories/fat? Your healthy food does not have to be low in calories and fat.
Actually in your cases I propose a high protein/high fat/low carb (so called light-low-carb) diet plan.. pm me if you want an example nutrition plan of one day for a woman LLC.

Don't try to switch diet at day 1 from ****ty to perfect, it won't work. You will learn more and
more about what to eat and how much :smile:.

And don't be afraid that eating alot will put on weight fast. It does not happen fast and with a bang but gradually and you have the control over it. Just start eating and watch your gains :smile:
chonky
Why low in calories/fat? Your healthy food does not have to be low in calories and fat.
Actually in your cases I propose a high protein/high fat/low carb (so called light-low-carb) diet plan.. pm me if you want an example nutrition plan of one day for a woman LLC.

Don't try to switch diet at day 1 from ****ty to perfect, it won't work. You will learn more and
more about what to eat and how much :smile:.

And don't be afraid that eating alot will put on weight fast. It does not happen fast and with a bang but gradually and you have the control over it. Just start eating and watch your gains :smile:


I just assumed healthy means low in fat, just shows my ignorance :p: There is no way I will be able to just flick the switch on my diet anyway, I'm a sucker for all things bad and unhealthy :redface:, I'm not that self disciplined, lol!

Thanks to all who have posted so far :smile:
female_engineer
I just assumed healthy means low in fat, just shows my ignorance :p: There is no way I will be able to just flick the switch on my diet anyway, I'm a sucker for all things bad and unhealthy :redface:, I'm not that self disciplined, lol!

Thanks to all who have posted so far :smile:


You can still have a good amount of fat in a healthy diet if you're doing regular exercise, since you'll burn it off pretty quickly. A healthy diet for an active person shouldn't be about just reducing fat, but getting the right amount of each food group. I think a good all round diet and a weight-loss diet can be quite different things.
Chumbaniya
You can still have a good amount of fat in a healthy diet if you're doing regular exercise, since you'll burn it off pretty quickly. A healthy diet for an active person shouldn't be about just reducing fat, but getting the right amount of each food group. I think a good all round diet and a weight-loss diet can be quite different things.


Good point. It's the all round good diet i'm looking for. Just need to gain a bit of weight for a short while until I'm at a healthier weight, then it's just a case of maintaining it.
Reply 14

I just assumed healthy means low in fat, just shows my ignorance There is no way I will be able to just flick the switch on my diet anyway, I'm a sucker for all things bad and unhealthy , I'm not that self disciplined, lol!


yep. fat is essential, reduce the bad fat (satured, mostly from animals) increase the good fat (non-saturated, mostly from plants).

I eat around 100g of fat each day and don't get a mu "fatter".