Needed so much help

[lmh95s]

Being a dumbass I am, I tried asking ''famous trainers'' and coaches for help.

Nope, not a single reply given. I've decided to try on this place for luck. For help. Sincere help. *long story ahead 

 

Basic information about me 

Gender:   Male

Height:    1.75cm     5.74ft

Weight:   61kg        134.4lbs

Diet:        Vegetarian aka no fish as well. Do take dairy products.

Injury:      Back and neck. Mainly muscle tension, but rather terrible to the extend that its aching every single day.

 

Situation

On 2013, I'm just a skinny kid, was only 18yo. I decided to make a change. 

From 53.5kg (118lbs), my weight shoot up to 62kg(136.6lbs) in just 2 months. That is very fast. I'll consider it as super fast.

I eat almost double the amount of food, and workout hard, training primarily upper body(entire upper body)

Its good, ONLY till I realised, i'm actually gaining shit. In overall, I look bigger, but thats all. Its mostly fatty fats. Without the fats I MIGHT actually look the same.

WORSE thing worse, alot of fats accumulate at my belly area. Looking back at my diet, despite of high intake of protein, I took in a huge amount of carbohydrates as well. I can barely run, I actually feel breathless after 3storey of stairs. Despite of being ''skinny'', I'm actually fat. My body couldnt adapt to my sudden weight gained, especially the huge amount of fats added on.

 

Its my mistake, I admit. I neglect the side effect of huge carbo intake, as well as skipping cardio.

I took a long break after that, due to heavy schoolwork, and feeling despair.

 

During the long period, I occasionally go for jogging(usually 1-2km, or 10-20min), workouts (always do at home, with dumbbells and/or bodyweights)

As you can see, its not that consistent. 

However, at the end of last year(2014), I tried again for a change. 2 months, I do HIIT(heard that its the best for cardio and fat burning) 2-3times a week, workout 2-3times a week too. I time the training well, just enough time for every muscles part to have a rest for at least a day. Of course, diet change. I've been eating clean. So clean. Frying eggs with no oil, no sweets, no junk food, taking protein shakes, fresh milk, wholemeal, brown rice. Well, you know, all those stuff. To me, it is never an issue eating clean. Im no fussy eater. Its not consider as a suffering to me. However, it IS a suffering to me, when I tried so hard, doing all the considered ''right stuff'' and bam! No weight changes, belly fats remain THE SAME. 

 

I dont know whats happening. I stop everything again, I feel like shit. Fucking shit. I hate how my chest remained ''flat'', arms not 'filling' up my sleeves, belly look so fat that it look like its as big as my chest(mainly also bcos im flat chested), skinny, but fat. I cant stopped blaming myself for overeating last time. I felt like its because of that, my body look so messed up now. I hate it. People telling me how skinny I am, but the fats covering my body is disgusting.

 

No, im not becoming anorexic or something. 2015, my health report is out. I have a total amount of 20% fats in my body. 20! fucking 20. Im not wishing for a single digit of 2 or 3, but 20 is way too much. I really hate it. The matter of fact that I have no idea what exactly I should do, Im feeling helpless. As a man now(20yo) I actually cried and wonder whats happening to me.

 

Nevermind, I dont give up. After graduated this year, I picked up my fighting spirit again. Back to workouts, back to HIIT. From april, may, june.. Nothing. Nothing happen. Fuck this, I decided to go gym. No, nothing changes. I've tried out method A, B, C, D blah blah blah. Its not working! I wanted to give up again, Im feeling shit, I have no idea what is wrong exactly. So right here, right now, im going to share my entire diet+workouts routine, as well as my worries. Im hoping for someone, anyone, to enlighten me and correct me.

 

For weights training, I mainly use heavy weights and do a reps of 6. mainly 4cycles. I know the drills. I always do it with body upright, full move(no lifting halfway and up again, but all the way down and up) For free weight lifting, I can actually do 12kg (26.4lbs).   ---heavy weights, push body max, few reps

For cardio, I swim, i jog. I stop HIIT for awhile, because I lost hope for that at the moment... ---still keep cardio intensive, no more than 1hr for each session

 

For diet. This is the tricky part, isnt it?

Currently, i followed the guideline of 0.5g for 1 pound of your weight, more(1g/pound) when workouts. As vegetarian, I have firm tofu, milk, cheese, eggs, protein shakes, wholemeal food for my protein intake.

Definitely 2 servings of vegetables. 8 glasses of water. clean food.. Only thing failed to do is 2 serving of fruits, often I just forgot to eat it.

Overall, you can say im on a 'healthy diet'.

However, I have this issue on beans(chickpeas, macadamia, etcetc). I know beans is a good source of protein and oil for vegetarian. But i cant take too much of the beans, daily. Mostly beans sold outside is fried/roasted, which make it extremely *heaty (im not sure if the westerners talk about this. But in asia, heaty food = bbq, fried, roasted food make your body heaty, which will cause inflammation, acne growth, bad breath, cough if its too much) Cough is the main issue affecting me. I cant eat beans every single day because eventually I will end up in bad cough and inflammation, and I have to stop my beans eating.

 

My questions...

What exactly should I be doing now?

I wanted to lose fats, but also gain muscles. Can I do it both now? Or should I focus on 1 side first? How EXACTLY should i do it???

more calories? less calories? more/less carbo? Even more proteins??? Theres this debate of man doesnt actually need much protein to gain muscles, blahblahblah. This stuff... is confusing.

Spam cardio? Back to HIIT? Change weight lifting system??

Also heard that too much milk causes some shit diseases or kidney stones stuff, as milk is 1 of my protein intake, should i take note?

Same for firm tofu, as plaster is the ingredient of the process of making soft tofu into firm tofu.. Should I be worry?

Is my back+neck muscle tension an issue? Read upon an article that protein intake often go the the muscle part that needed most(which i assume it might go to my back and neck, as its aching and sore every single day, ''in need'' of protein therefore)

How much is sitting too long consider as too long? I spend most of my time sitting, and again.. read upon article that sitting promote belly growth?

I dont ever dare to take naps after meals(its a common thing that people feel sleepy after meals isnt it), because im afraid it will promote belly growth as well.

 

Thanks for reading... hoping for sincere help, enlightenment. Thank you. Really thanks alot

Just an add on... photo that i took in 2013. you can see even within a month... my belly is hell lot bloated....

 

[Aena]

Hey there! Fellow veggie here. For us veggies it is harder to ingets protein since meat, one of the most amazing sources of protein, is off-limits. However, it is possible. You could try protein shakes or alternative forms of protein, ie. protein powder. I recall a friend of mine making his own 'cookie dough' flavoured cereal for breakfast using some protein powder to up the ante on his strength workouts. Otherwise, here are some protein-rich vegetarian foods; 

 

Greek yoghurt

Soybeans

Lentils

Green Beans

Quinoa (tastes yummy too!)

The vast majority of nuts (ie. pistachios, which are my favourites)

Nut butters (like peanut butter)

Beans (be it black beans, pinto beans or another kind)

Chickpeas

Tofu (because they're often made of soybeans)

Spinach

And thus, the list goes on.

 

So if you'd really like you could try and incorporate them into your diet. Atop that, cardio might not be the way to go. If you enjoy it by all means do it! But I'd turn my focus to strength-training if you want to build large amounts of muscle. If you check the 'warrior' knowledge base part of the forum or come across any helpful strength-trainers you'll definitely find some great starting points. As for some of your questions, its going to have to be a case of talking to strength-trainers and those who have succeeded in building muscle their way and making an appropriate plan based on their advice, but I'd say that you should be aiming for more calories - all the more for your body to turn to muscle! But, as with anything, it should be of the right things. Protein is great for aiding your body in building muscle, which is precisely why you'll want as much of it as you can manage. I wouldn't worry too much about sitting. Workout regularly and lead a healthy lifestyle and spending a few hours sitting a day shouldn't be a problem. Rather than look at it as; "I sit for long periods of time", look at your day overall - is there a good balance of relaxing and exercise? Have you been rather healthy that day? Have you pushed your body?

 

Best of luck!

[lmh95s]

Hello guys, heres more info of me.

 

For diet wise,
*usually breakfast start @ 9-10. food can be: 
1 bowl of oatmeal+1 egg added inside(with Milo powder added in)
3 slices of wholemeal bread+1 slice of cheese + glass of milk
1 bowl of porridge + side dishes(can be 1fried egg, kimchi, 50g of firm beancurd)
1 cup of cereal in milk

*lunch(12-1pm) and dinner(7-8pm) is about the same. Except that i'll eat more on lunch of course
1 plate of brown rice/1plate of instant noodles(non fried)
inclusive of 1-2 serving of vege(broccoli, bitter-gourd, eggplant, spinach, potato etc)/1 egg/50g of firm beancurd/.5 serv baked beans/1 piece of seitan(usually less than 5g of protein)/soup, occasionally

I have tea time(3-4pm). Usually is cereals or bread again, with milk. maybe A little of beans. 1 Fruit maybe. usual fruits are orange, apple, banana

Sometime I got hungry, I'll eat some supper(before 12midnite strike) Same, usually is cereals or bread again, with milk. amybe A little of beans. 1 Fruit maybe. Maybe just a piece of dark chocolate. If im too hungry, I'll panfried ONE Indian prata(ready cook) with 2 eggs + 1 slice of cheese added on.

Im so afraid of eating a huge portion of diet, mainly because despite of being thin, i always get to see this shit belly all the time..
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/ ... 68x604.jpg *just an image from the net as a guide

So right now, im very confused how heavy should my diet be... How intense cardio should i push for..
Realised i didnt state out my goal. My goal is to reach 70kg (currently 60 only) in 3-5months time.. and yet reduce my my body fat level from 20% to 12%. Do enlighten me. Thank you.

[Evicious]

So right now, im very confused how heavy should my diet be... How intense cardio should i push for..

Realised i didnt state out my goal. My goal is to reach 70kg (currently 60 only) in 3-5months time.. and yet reduce my my body fat level from 20% to 12%. Do enlighten me. Thank you.

 

My initial reaction to your stated goal (gain 20Lbs of muscle while simultaneously dropping half your current body fat) was this:

 

 

Then I realized it was actually possible. You'd just have to do nothing but eat, sleep, and workout (and maybe find some shady guy at your local bro-gym to sell you steroids). Which is a seriously stupid idea. Seriously, don't do any of that.

 

In order to achieve your goals, you need to follow these steps (or something very close to them):

 

1. Back off on your timeline. Back waaaaay the hell off. Building muscle is a long-term process, and for a naturally skinny dude such as yourself, it's going to take longer. Stop viewing your goal as a "must have now" accomplishment. View it as a way of life. Embrace the process. And speaking of process...

 

2. HIIT routines will make you stronger - they will not make you much bigger. For that matter, any bodyweight routines may get you a little bigger, but eventually your muscles will have developed to a point where you move from building more [muscle] to just increasing your endurance.

You need to lift weights, and they need to be HEAVY. Which means you need to have excellent form, and you need to be meticulous about resting in between sets. If you've never worked with a personal trainer before, you would do well to invest in one to help get you started. If you can't afford sessions with a personal trainer, you would still do well to have someone video tape your various workouts so you can post the video to the Form Check forum here on NF. And yes, full-body exercises with full-range of motion are your best bet at this point - but you have to do them right. Stick with the basics and master them first: you can target bits and pieces of your physique later.

Also, any cardio you do should be strictly in the form of a warm-up to weight lifting, or alternatively, very slow and easy as part of a rest day (such as a JOG around your neighborhood). If your goal is to gain muscle, then your ceaseless efforts to run away from your current BF% must stop. Focus only on building your muscle. Your BF% will drop as you gain, I promise.

 

3. Except if you're overeating (or undereating inconsistently, either), as you have already discovered. If you're not already tracking your CALORIES and your MACROS, you're going to struggle. Find an app or a website you like that you can input your daily food choices into. Check out this article (re: actually read it) to get started. I think you may find that your current diet needs some tweaking.

 

4. BE CONSISTENT. For the love of whatever you hold dear, stop bebopping around! I know the saying is that "doing the same thing yet expecting different results" = insanity, but so is constantly shuffling the puzzle pieces around when you can't see the picture after 5 minutes of trying to put it together. Put together a menu for your daily meals; find a weight lifting plan you can stick with, and spend the next 3-5 months eating and working out like a robot. If absolutely NOTHING has changed for the better by then, go ahead and switch something up - but only one thing. Body building is damn near a science: it's not a flash-in-the-pan quick-fix. You have to be dedicated and focused.

 

Like Aena suggested, if you have further questions, your best bet is to hit up the Warrior forum on this site. There are people in there who make Arnold look like a sissy. Just be sure you are specific with your questions - generalizing isn't going to get you any kind of an answer, it will only result in people asking you more questions. (Ex: "How do I get bigger?" vs. "What range of weights should I be lifting, given that I am XX tall and currently weigh XX?")

 

Best of luck, dude, and know this: you can totally overhaul your current physique to suit the image you want to see in the mirror. You just have to be willing to take the time and care to get there. If you rush it, you're going to hurt yourself and burn out. Slow and steady, dude, slow and steady.