Hey everybody, I'm new.

[Vinnie]

As you figured from the title, I'm new. Not only to the forums, but to exercise and working out and generally being healthy. I decided recently to get up off my ass and actually do something, so here I am.

 

Basicly, I'm an 18 year old guy from Ireland, temorarily living in Australia (long story), I'm 125 pounds, about 5'9 and I have gotten sick of people telling me that I'm skinny. I have little/no body fat to speak of and have trouble gaining weight. Also, I pretty much ate whatever I wanted over the last few years because no matter what I eat, it doesn't seem to affect my weight.

 

At the moment, my plan is a bit vague. I know I want to gain weight, to increase my strength and It would be great to have a proper six-pack (I have the typical skinny guy 4 pack).

 

Thats all I can think of right now. Anyway, its good to be here

[Greypanther]

Nice to meet you! I have always wondered what it was like on your side of the equation. I have reverse issues from yours, I can't seem to lose any pounds. Even when I train, I just seem to get denser,...ha ha. So, you want to pack on muscle. Like pareto's law always starts, 80% to 20%. 80% will be diet, and not all calories are equal, muscles grows from protein, glucose, and calcium. As you lift the protein restores and bulks muscle fibers, the heavier weight used to build muscle fibers in short gain puts a strain on your bones, and you muscles repair quicker with sugar directly after a workout. A glass of milk, or a protein shake heavy on the protein and light on the sugar should be enough right after workouts to start packing weight on. I am not a nutritionist, but I do know how most bodies work. You could have a very high digestion rate as well, and the way to work with that is to find the foods that sit in your system longer.

 

This could be very time consuming, but ultimately if you digest red meat slower than chicken you will receive more in calories from it. You often see the effects of these digestion trends in patients with Crohn's because food moves so fast through their system, they are on 5,000 calorie plus diets and still skinny. Some people refer to these high digestion rates as a high metabolism, and this is true in the same sense as very rapid eye movement is part of an action that burns calories and so relates to your overall metabolism. Most bodily functions do, this is also why we see fiber one bars, etc for weight loss, because it alters/sometimes destroys the bodies ability to move calories quicker. I hope some of this helped, and of course you should go to a real doctor first and get an evaluation. I think you have the capacity to make this work for you, and I look forward to a success story on the boards!