Beginner, looking for first gains, but getting stressed out

[freddytt]

I recently posted that I lost a total of 60 pounds in the last two years. Im 42 years old and frankly, I didnt like how skinny I was after I lost the weight. Everyone says 10% body fat is like a rule, but at 42 years old, when I got down to 17%, I looked right...proportionate. I think at my age and build if I went lower than 14%, I would look sick. Im not body building to compete and could care less about a 6 pack. I am an ectomorph who became fat as he aged. My goal is to build enough muscle, to look good. A developed chest, a thick back, good looking arms and shoulders, legs big enough to be proportionate with my upper body and a flat stomach.

I reached that flat stomach goal at 16% body fat, so Im sure for my body, 15% would look great and I would be happy with that. My dilema is getting gains with out getting fat again. It was really hard to lose 12% body fat. Im currently eating clean, about 3000 calories a day and at least 1 gram per pound of protein. In the gym, Im learning weight limits for myself using basic compound exercises...each week I go in I add weight to last weeks work out, recording the numbers as I go. Im in the figuring it out stage, but trying to push myself each week to get a good work out, even though I dont have it all figured out yet.

Since I started 4 weeks ago, I gained about 2 pounds and 1/2 around my waist. I went from a 35.5" inch waist to about 36". Since it may take me a year of consistant lifting to look the way I want, I dont want to get fat and have the burdon of losing a ton of body fat to look good again. Im not going crazy eating food, but I just dont know what the heck Im doing and since I have no idea what is muscle compared to fat gains Im getting stressed out about it. I have the body type of an ectomorph, tall and sinny arms/legs, but I gain weight super easy now at 40+. It all goes to my torso and it looks ridiculous. So maybe you can see my dilema. How to gain mass with out looking like a skinny fat guy, all while never gaining mass before and not knowing what I have to do to gain muscle. I got the gaining fat down pat! I know exactly how to do that LOL.

Typical meals look like this, but are not limited to only this:

Protein shake before breakfast
Fiber one cereal + skim milk for breakfast with a slice of sprouted grain toast

On the work truck for meals I eat bars. I have little choices there. between 830am and 530pm I will have:

Zone perfect protein bar
Kashi baked almond square
Eating right oatmeal and chocolate bar
A banana, or a cup of grapes
Grilled chicken breast, or a grilled steak, or tuna fish
Water

When I get home its:

Dinner

Peas
Grilled chicken
Mashed potatoes
Skim milk

Snack 1

Protein shake

Snack 2

2 cups of milk with

Could be a slice of sprouted grain bread with peanut butter and honey drizzled on top
or
sprouted grain toast x2 with smart balance and honey drizzled on top

Milk helps me get the calories up to 2900-3100 a day. With out the extra milk and snacks, I am often around 2300-2600 calories a day. My fat is about 90-110 a day, my protein about 180-210 a day, my carbs about 270-370 a day.

So with my upper and lower body split, Im doing compound exercises say Saturday/Sunday...off Monday, maybe Tuesday, go again Wednesday/Thursday, off Friday, Maybe Saturday etc. I like to rest a muscle group a couple days then hit it again hard. As far as I know, I am doing everything expected?? Am I going to get fat over the next 12 months doing what Im doing?

Sorry for these kinds of posts in advance. Until I see a noticeable muscle gain, I feel like a fish flopping around out of water and so far in a month, the only obvious gain was that 1/2" around my waist, so I thought I would ask about it before I potentially go 3-6 months doing something really wrong. However, I should mention I have gained strength. that is obvious to me.

[tryintorebuild]

First off, you said you've been working out for 4 weeks. That's not much time to see change. Don't get discouraged. If it could be done in a month, we'd all be fitness fanatics. I saw somewhere that it takes about 4 to 6 months for you to see the change. Seems like it was somewhere around a year, before your close friends would notice and even longer before you would "look like a bodybuilder". That's why so many people make the New Year's resolutions and then quit before they succeed.

Second off... And this is just opinion. But you are relying on way too much processed food. Protein bars have a lot of junk. I think they're okay if you have one every once in awhile. I would recommend them over other candy bars. But they really shouldn't be a staple to your diet. You're getting a lot of useless calories with them.

Again this is just opinion, but I'd replace the bowl of cereal for breakfast with good old fashioned eggs. They're cheap, high in protein and if you cook them right they taste great. You can still drink the milk.

[freddytt]

First off, you said you've been working out for 4 weeks. That's not much time to see change. Don't get discouraged. If it could be done in a month, we'd all be fitness fanatics. I saw somewhere that it takes about 4 to 6 months for you to see the change. Seems like it was somewhere around a year, before your close friends would notice and even longer before you would "look like a bodybuilder". That's why so many people make the New Year's resolutions and then quit before they succeed.

Second off... And this is just opinion. But you are relying on way too much processed food. Protein bars have a lot of junk. I think they're okay if you have one every once in awhile. I would recommend them over other candy bars. But they really shouldn't be a staple to your diet. You're getting a lot of useless calories with them.

Again this is just opinion, but I'd replace the bowl of cereal for breakfast with good old fashioned eggs. They're cheap, high in protein and if you cook them right they taste great. You can still drink the milk.

Thank you for the quick response. I understand what youre saying about the bars. The Kashi Bars are probably the best out there, but they are still processed. They have very good ingredients, but are mostly carbs and fiber, not much protein. Just like figuring out the most challenging weights to push myself, trying to find easy meals to carry on the truck is also been a work in progress. I am a service guy on a truck and am in and out 12-16 times a day. What ever I eat has to be served cold and I have to be able to eat it in front of someones house, or between jobs. I have started grilling family packs of meat to take stuff with me on the truck, but I have not figured out a good plan overall for fast preped meals. My goal is eating and lifting for a year, before trying to cut back down on calories and reach a lower BF%.

Obviously, I just dont want to gain all my body fat back in the next 12 months, while eating 500-800 calories a day more than what satisfied me and held me at a steady weight before starting to lift. Loosing body fat is not fun and it can be mentally exhausting. Lifting and eating is more fun to me than keeping carb intake below 100 and restricting calories. I dont want to experience that again for very long when the time comes. Thats for sure

[magic15]

I didn't really read your post, but I saw you have been only working out 4 weeks and want to see fast muscle gains.

video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCkD_yyBWUQ

[tryintorebuild]

Thank you for the quick response. I understand what youre saying about the bars. The Kashi Bars are probably the best out there, but they are still processed. They have very good ingredients, but are mostly carbs and fiber, not much protein. Just like figuring out the most challenging weights to push myself, trying to find easy meals to carry on the truck is also been a work in progress. I am a service guy on a truck and am in and out 12-16 times a day. What ever I eat has to be served cold and I have to be able to eat it in front of someones house, or between jobs. I have started grilling family packs of meat to take stuff with me on the truck, but I have not figured out a good plan overall for fast preped meals. My goal is eating and lifting for a year, before trying to cut back down on calories and reach a lower BF%.

Obviously, I just dont want to gain all my body fat back in the next 12 months, while eating 500-800 calories a day more than what satisfied me and held me at a steady weight before starting to lift. Loosing body fat is not fun and it can be mentally exhausting. Lifting and eating is more fun to me than keeping carb intake below 100 and restricting calories. I dont want to experience that again for very long when the time comes. Thats for sure

I'm not recommending you cut back. I'm just saying there is better food to give you more bang for the buck. Go ahead and get your calories in, just do it with more food and less protein bars. You were talking about gaining muscle and while I'm no expert, I don't think the diet you listed is condusive (I butchered that word) to muscle gain. That looks like a lot of carbs to me. Carbs are good, if the balance is right.
Think of your body like a combustible engine. You have to have the right fuel to air ratio. No air is bad, but too much isn't right either.
Same thing with carbs, protein and fat. You have to balance them.
But really the biggest thing I saw in your post was time. Four weeks is not much to gauge your success on.
I'm a newbie too. I'm in my 10th month of this latest round of working out. There are better gains out there, but my results aren't bad. Still, after 10 months the only people who call me a bodybuilder are the ones who know me well enough to know I go to the gym 4 or 5 times a week. To the rest of the world I'm just an average guy. Not fat, not muscular.
Just remember all that matters is that you are improving. If you're better off than you were 4 weeks ago, keep plugging along. Good luck.

[Ralikar]

I'm at your age range and in the same boat--I seem to be forever cutting, getting close though. The problem you face is that dieting and weights/bb are not the same thing. You can (and I did) lose a bunch of weight just with lower calories. Now you want better body composition. The reason many BBs cut/bulk is that it's more effective and keeps your metabolism active with cycling. If you just want to go slower set your cals at +500/day over and see how it goes. You should go to the bb stickies section and calculate your daily activity calories. Your enemy will probably be an activity flux with your job like:

You eat say 3100 cal/day for a +500:
Mon: standard day... you were at +500 cal
Tues/Wed: Busy days and you worked hard/overtime-- maybe you were at -100 cal/day
Thurs/Fri: gym days plus work... maybe -500
sat/sun... rest days... so you were at +1100cal/day

This may just even itself up...or maybe cut some muscle and gain some fat. This happens to me: I'll set calories say -750... then spend to much time on the treadmill then do some unforseen activity then I'm in a calorie hole and cut some muscle.

If your days are diverse in activity, I would suggest you tier your calories to your job/activity for the future: normal work day... normal gym day+work... sedentary rest day. If your life is pretty homogeneous just set your calories at a bit above and change up your diet each week as you progress.

Some misc:
1) Ab work can build up a sheet of muscle, depending.
2) Make sure you understand rest days, refeeding for later, take lifting breaks for later.
3) Your metabolism may -- or may not -- be a bit frayed from long term dieting. So don't be afraid of overeating a bit and gaining some fat temporarily for a short time as it resets.

You could do the bb method of eating the same thing at the same time every day and then you will be sure of your caloric intake! ;0.

[tazmanpa]

Obviously, I just dont want to gain all my body fat back in the next 12 months, while eating 500-800 calories a day more than what satisfied me and held me at a steady weight before starting to lift. Loosing body fat is not fun and it can be mentally exhausting. Lifting and eating is more fun to me than keeping carb intake below 100 and restricting calories. I dont want to experience that again for very long when the time comes. Thats for sure

If you don't want to gain much fat I suggest you keep your calorie surpluss under better control. I would try to make it so you gain around 1/2lb per week. I know whenever I up my calories it seems to go to my torso also so I know where you are coming from