Want to gain weight? Focus on muscle-building, not calories

Every Friday is Health Tip Day at Zen Habits.

Reader stayfly wrote to ask about healthy eating and gaining weight:

I really want to eat as healthy as possible and also to gain some weight (I’m currently a bit underweight at 60 kilos and I’m wanting to put on about 10 kilos over the rest of the year). I’ve read a fair few health books but there is so much conflicting information that it’s difficult to know what to eat. With most other ares of my life I feel in control thanks to researching and finding great information that I believe in and trust (including from your blog) but with heath I’m struggling. I really feel as though as you are spot on with things like productivity, goals, habits, finances and I would love to hear more about your beliefs regarding health and hopefully you can possible recommend some excellent books on the subject of health as well.

In terms of healthy eating, here are a couple of posts that might help:

Trying to eat healthier? Make lifestyle changes, and have a weekly cheat day

Health tip: Try eating vegetarian sometimes

These are geared to people like me who are trying to eat healthy and also lose some fat. You want to eat healthy (rightfully so) and at the same time, gain some weight. However, I’m assuming you want to gain muscle weight and not just fat. To do that, you need to eat more lean protein while cutting back on the fat (don’t eliminate it, just try to eat less saturated fats and more good fats), while doing some weight-bearing exercises such as lifting weights.

Here’s what I would do in your situation:

Focus first on your eating habits, as those are most important to long term health. Do a one-month challenge that focuses on replacing some of the unhealthier things you might eat with healthy things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein (either lean meats, poultry and fish, or vegetarian protein like nuts, beans, tofu, soy meats, etc) and the like.
After that one-month challenge, focus on strength training. You don’t need to become a bodybuilder or anything, but really there’s no way to build muscle without some kind of exercise, and weights are best. You don’t need to do a lot of exercises and spend hours doing them. Do some research on the web, but I would suggest starting with simple exercises like pushups, crunches, lunges, squats with no weights, pullups, etc that you can do at home. After a few weeks, you can add some dumbbells or a barbell with weights, and do some compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and the like.
Protein power. When you do strength training, get some extra protein both before and after your workout to maximize muscle building. Again, you don’t need to bulk up or anything, but if you want to add a little muscle to your frame, you’ll need to get some protein. I suggest whey or soy protein powder to make a shake with milk or soymilk … drink some before and after a workout.
Low reps, higher weights. A lot of people try to do a high number of repetition for low number of weights, but it’s really best to do a higher amount of weight (build up to it though!) with lower amount of reps — that’s how you build muscle. Again, we’re not talking about bodybuilder muscle, just about building muscle without having to spend all day in the gym.
Legs, not your biceps. When doing strength workouts as mentioned above, focus on your bigger muscles rather than smaller ones. Big ones are in the legs and back, while smaller ones include things like biceps. It’s much easier to build some mass in your legs than it is in your arms. I’m not saying to ignore your smaller muscles, I’m just saying that you’ll maximize your workout time by focusing on the big muscles — and if you do the compound exercises I mentioned, you will also be including the smaller muscles, which is why those are the best exercises.

I’m not an expert, but I have done a lot of reading on this topic, and that’s what I recommend. I’ve used these methods to build some muscle, although my focus has been more on losing fat than on building muscle so far. I hope to change that once I get a flatter stomach.

See also:

Recipe: Best … soup … ever

How to Get Back on the Exercise Train

Trying to eat healthier? Make lifestyle changes, and have a weekly cheat day

Health tip: Try eating vegetarian sometimes

Recipe for a Flat Stomach

Get Healthy and Fit, Part 2 - Exercise Edition

Want to gain weight? Focus on muscle-building, not calories

Every Friday is Health Tip Day at Zen Habits.

Reader stayfly wrote to ask about healthy eating and gaining weight:

I really want to eat as healthy as possible and also to gain some weight (I’m currently a bit underweight at 60 kilos and I’m wanting to put on about 10 kilos over the rest of the year). I’ve read a fair few health books but there is so much conflicting information that it’s difficult to know what to eat. With most other ares of my life I feel in control thanks to researching and finding great information that I believe in and trust (including from your blog) but with heath I’m struggling. I really feel as though as you are spot on with things like productivity, goals, habits, finances and I would love to hear more about your beliefs regarding health and hopefully you can possible recommend some excellent books on the subject of health as well.

In terms of healthy eating, here are a couple of posts that might help:

Trying to eat healthier? Make lifestyle changes, and have a weekly cheat day

Health tip: Try eating vegetarian sometimes

These are geared to people like me who are trying to eat healthy and also lose some fat. You want to eat healthy (rightfully so) and at the same time, gain some weight. However, I’m assuming you want to gain muscle weight and not just fat. To do that, you need to eat more lean protein while cutting back on the fat (don’t eliminate it, just try to eat less saturated fats and more good fats), while doing some weight-bearing exercises such as lifting weights.

Here’s what I would do in your situation:

Focus first on your eating habits, as those are most important to long term health. Do a one-month challenge that focuses on replacing some of the unhealthier things you might eat with healthy things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein (either lean meats, poultry and fish, or vegetarian protein like nuts, beans, tofu, soy meats, etc) and the like.

After that one-month challenge, focus on strength training. You don’t need to become a bodybuilder or anything, but really there’s no way to build muscle without some kind of exercise, and weights are best. You don’t need to do a lot of exercises and spend hours doing them. Do some research on the web, but I would suggest starting with simple exercises like pushups, crunches, lunges, squats with no weights, pullups, etc that you can do at home. After a few weeks, you can add some dumbbells or a barbell with weights, and do some compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, and the like.

Protein power. When you do strength training, get some extra protein both before and after your workout to maximize muscle building. Again, you don’t need to bulk up or anything, but if you want to add a little muscle to your frame, you’ll need to get some protein. I suggest whey or soy protein powder to make a shake with milk or soymilk … drink some before and after a workout.

Low reps, higher weights. A lot of people try to do a high number of repetition for low number of weights, but it’s really best to do a higher amount of weight (build up to it though!) with lower amount of reps — that’s how you build muscle. Again, we’re not talking about bodybuilder muscle, just about building muscle without having to spend all day in the gym.

Legs, not your biceps. When doing strength workouts as mentioned above, focus on your bigger muscles rather than smaller ones. Big ones are in the legs and back, while smaller ones include things like biceps. It’s much easier to build some mass in your legs than it is in your arms. I’m not saying to ignore your smaller muscles, I’m just saying that you’ll maximize your workout time by focusing on the big muscles — and if you do the compound exercises I mentioned, you will also be including the smaller muscles, which is why those are the best exercises.

I’m not an expert, but I have done a lot of reading on this topic, and that’s what I recommend. I’ve used these methods to build some muscle, although my focus has been more on losing fat than on building muscle so far. I hope to change that once I get a flatter stomach.

See also:

Recipe: Best … soup … ever

How to Get Back on the Exercise Train

Trying to eat healthier? Make lifestyle changes, and have a weekly cheat day

Health tip: Try eating vegetarian sometimes

Recipe for a Flat Stomach

Get Healthy and Fit, Part 2 - Exercise Edition

Posted on 7 April 2007 in Fitness, Health Tip Day  |

Digg  |

Del.icio.us  |

Stumble  |

Print

Comments (11)

paulkdad Says:

April 7th, 2007, 10:08 am

The diet and fitness industry is huge, and it is full of conflicting information. All the above advice is great, but I would also suggest calculating your percentage of body fat, and monitoring that as well. This way, if you find that you’re gaining fat along with muscle, you can adjust your eating and training habits accordingly. Think of it as “getting feedback from your body” on how you’re doing.

TimmOC Says:

April 7th, 2007, 11:30 am

Pretty good suggestions there and I would add another: buy and read Starting Strength by Rippetoe and Kilgore. Website: http://startingstrength.com

If you haven’t weight trained before it is the *perfect* book. Written more for coaches - you will coach yourself. It will teach you the proper form for the lifts as well as lay out a program + progression for you.

To add credence to #5 - Legs not Biceps the program laid out in the book is very simple alternate workouts

Squat, Bench, Deadlift
Squat, Shoulder Press, Clean

Every other day is a workout, alternating workouts every time. They suggest weekends off. The point however is they have squats in both workouts. They consider it that important and useful.

Anyway that is a fine book for your current needs. That book combined with Ross Enamait’s Never Gymless is quite powerful. http://rosstraining.com

Use a couple of Ross’ Integrated Circuit Training or Enhanced Interval Training workouts on Tuesday, Thursday with Starting Strength on M, W, F + fantastic diet (my suggestion would be Paleo Diet + protein shakes) and you are well on your way.

Much luck,

Tim

TimmOC Says:

April 7th, 2007, 11:39 am

PS- Forgot to add: if you are trying to bulk you want to avoid long distance running in general. There is a hormonal response to long distance running that causes you to breakdown muscle that is NOT essential to running.

If you look at most marathon runner physiques versus a sprinter’s you will see how this functions

A google search for images link is too long to post but try: marathon versus sprinter image

A brief reading (*very* brief) of this article ( http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark15.htm ) looks as if it explains the situation.

Again best of luck,

Tim

stayfly Says:

April 7th, 2007, 19:04 pm

thanks for the advice guys! keep it coming :)

a special thanks to Leo too! :D

Linda Says:

April 8th, 2007, 14:39 pm

This is a great post!!

This may sound random but, I am a nutrition student on the verge of graduating and becoming a Registered Dietitian. It seems like you already know a lot about nutrition and physical health, but I just wanted to put myself out that and let you know that if you have any nutrition-related questions, I’ll be happy to answer them or look anything up. Thanks!

Leo Says:

April 8th, 2007, 15:16 pm

Thanks for the comments, guys, and thanks for the offer, Linda! I suggest anyone reading this taker her up on the offer.

Ann M. Says:

April 9th, 2007, 8:32 am

I haven’t had time to look through it or implement any of the workouts, but http://gimme20.com/ is a community fitness site. People can posts different workouts so you might find some good exercises there.

Caravaggio Says:

April 10th, 2007, 21:15 pm

I’m on a bit of a mission to increase my mass. I’ve found creatine to have the greatest effect, adding significant weight in the first few weeks of usage. I understand most of this is due to increased water retention in the muscles but it also gives you more ‘power’, so you can lift more weight and increase your muscle mass over time.

The other big change to my work-out (3x week at the gym) is to cut down the cardio to a 3m warm-up, and spend the rest of the time pushing metal. I think up to 20 mins of cardio is good and healthy but much more than that and you may struggle to increase mass.

The other factor is protein. It’s expensive. The cheapest option I have found is to add a few tablespoons of skimmed milk powder to a pint of skimmed milk. This gives almost much protein as a tin of tuna, but at a fraction of the price.

all the best

Gaining Weight Says:

July 17th, 2007, 0:30 am

You make some very good points. Nutrition, Training, and Recovery time are all very important.

simple simon Says:

August 23rd, 2007, 15:27 pm

Eat a breakfast

Healthy Eating Habits Says:

February 28th, 2008, 12:00 pm

“Focus first on your eating habits, as those are most important to long term health. Do a one-month challenge that focuses on replacing some of the unhealthier things you might eat with healthy things like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein (either lean meats, poultry and fish, or vegetarian protein like nuts, beans, tofu, soy meats, etc) and the like”

This is a great point. Slowely add changes to your eating habits and these habits will stay with you for the rest of your life.

Add your comment
Name:
Email:
URL:
Message:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Trackbacks (1)

Artisttheking.com » All The Best Tips on Getting In Shape, In One Handy List

donate
to Zen Habits

browse

Start here: Beginner's Guide

View Categories

View Popular Posts

search site

Add or Share the Zen Habits Facebook App!

Now Reading
What I'm reading now:

Recently Read
Some books I've enjoyed in the last month or two: