I’m a skinny guy and my confidence is very low. I’m sick of being told that I look too thin, even though I have been lifting weights.

What struggles are you dealing with?

25 comments

  1. I refer to myself as being aerodynamic. Tried bulking up when I was in the navy, got pretty toned but no amount of training could bulk up my wrists and ankles.

  2. I was the same, even was told by guys in the gym I’d never be big as it wasn’t my body type. All nonsense, you need to consume calories, I started by eating a bowl of porridge and a chocolate bar before I went to sleep, woke up and ate tuna and rice, then protein shake and straight to the gym. I gained a ton of weight and muscle and enjoyed every minute of it.

  3. From my own experience…

    I gained almost 10kg in 3 months from drinking protein shakes, creatine and just eating a lot.

    The issue is, bulking is expensive for me because I naturally don’t eat much so to encourage myself to eat more I have to eat nice food.

  4. Yes I was the exact same , consistence is key. Gym routine and muscle mass protein powder with 600 calories a shake made me get my calories I need to gain weight aswell as obviously trying to eat more.

  5. I’m the opposite. I want to loose about 10kg but can’t seem to no matter how little I eat.

  6. People will continue to body-shame you, even when/though you look fantastic. You can call them out on it but that’s easier said than done. Training and eating well will be very good for your health but do it for the right reasons. If you’re doing it to stop the negative comments, expect humans to disappoint you. Find your own good reasons for self-improvement

  7. I tried this but I could never eat enough without being sick. Figured I just wasn’t meant to be bulky.

  9. Eat an extra 250 cals a day for 2 weeks. See if you’ve gained 1 to 2lb. If you have, stay at those cals.

    When you stop gaining 1 to 2lb every 2 weeks, add another 250cals per day. Give it another fortnight. Check.

    Do this for 6 months. If you’re getting fat don’t drop cals, add a couple cardio sessions in per week. Repeat for another 6 months.

    Shouldve packed on 30 odd lb of mostly lean mass if your training is properly sorted and intense.

  11. Super-ecomorph here. Yet to find what really works to get my weight above 65kg, have tried all sorts and all I know so far is my body does not agree with a surplus of carbs, which is what a lot of people recommend first off.

    I have found switching milks to whole fat has helped to an extent, in just giving a little bit of extra volume though, but its marginal.

  12. Just keep eating bro, whatever food you usually like, just try to have bigger portions and snacky but filling things in between, fuck peoples opinion and stick to it

  13. Different people have different basal metabolic rates. Think of it as the rate of which the calories your body consumes which defines whether you lose or gain weight, through the energy being burnt by your body.

    It’s important to understand your individual BMR, as this forms the basis for your diet planning to lose or gain weight.

    Once you understand your BMR, you plan a diet to reach your goals, and factor in exercise, then it’s easier to achieve.

    Too many people still don’t understand the basic fact of calories in / calories out. This included me not too many years ago. I used to be a bit fat, and I’d never understand why it was that I couldn’t lose weight. Diet is nearly always the answer. Stuffing my face with 400-600 calories excess per day, means gaining weight.

    It’s important to focus on averages over a rolling couple of days. It’s difficult to be precise every single day.

    For the purposes of gaining weight, you’ll want to focus as much as possible on lean muscle mass, but it will take time to achieve.
    Eat lots of protein, you’ll read nonsense saying “eat 0.8grams per KG of body weight”, for someone who’s skinny though, this isn’t enough.
    I’ve had periods of serious weight training where I’ve consumed 3-4 times this amount, and it massively helped me.

    Don’t be scared of fats! Don’t always eat lean foods.

    Don’t cut all the fat off meat, enjoy some extra virgin olive oil on salad and even mixed with rice. Etc. Goods fats are useful in adding calories, and making it taste nicer.

    Plan your diet, and stick to it. Eat enough, train hard (limit your cardio, 80-90% weight training), and you’ll gain lean muscle mass and weight!! (You’ll want to progressively more towards 4-5 times training a week, but you need enough food, and good recovery for this).

  14. I was 11st u(6ft1) until I was 20 and decided to get back into playing rugby. Went up to almost 17st and stayed pretty lean when I was 25. Eat until you get a little bit fat, then eat less. If you’re naturally skinny it’ll come straight back off again without any difficulty. If you’re like me it’ll be almost impossible to get fat until you hit your 30s.

    Protein shake and 2 pints of water before bed, wake up at some stupid time to pee. Protein shake then. But also get lots of sleep.

    Split your workouts so you can hit it 5 days a week.

    Monday chest, Tuesday back (+bit of legs from deadlifts) Wednesday off. Thursday shoulders. Friday legs. Saturday arms and cardio. Sunday off. Or you can do push days/pull days.

    Some muscles can put up with more than others. I used to be able to train chest twice a week and get bigger/stronger but could only do back once a week.

    Hypertrophy lifts – 3 sets of 8 – 10 reps. Pick 1 main compound exercise a day and 3 or 4 supplementary ones. So bench, deadlift, overhead press, squat.

    Chicken, chicken and more chicken. Some eggs too, don’t skimp on the fruit and veg. Snacking nuts. Live in a constant state of “I’m full and I’ve got DOMS” embrace it. It’s your life now.

    Creatine, taurine and BCAAs. Avoid pre workout supplements most of the time and cut out all other caffeine apart from right before your workout. Daily pre workouts is too much caffeine, you’ll overdo it but if you’re aiming for a massive sesh it’s a good extra boost.

    Never skip the post workout shake. Never miss a workout completely. If you can’t make it to the gym bang out some sets of press-ups or something (day appropriate).

    All of this advice worked well for me and a couple of mates 10-15 years ago, some or all of it might be outdated and frowned upon now.

    But quite frankly, looking back, it wasn’t worth the effort, maybe don’t go quite so hard.

  15. If you can afford it get a personal trainer once a week. They know how to push you more than you could on your own and can keep you on the right track

  16. Try Mutant Mass weight gainer 2x shakes a day =2.2k calories + food and you’ll hit 3.5 to 4K+ calories a day, with creatine and if you really need to, try apetamine to stimulate hunger. Helped me go from 68kg to 77.5kg in less than a year. I will shill for this company idc because Mutant mass changed the game for me. Also 50g protein per shake.

  17. You will find lots of free online resources to help you put on weight healthily.
    While genetics play a factor, almost anyone with good health has the potential to look lean and have proportional muscle mass. I don’t have genetics to compete as a body builder, but I can achieve a athletic, toned physique.
    I suggest calculating your total daily energy expenditure to figure out exactly how many calories your body needs, this is influenced by your gender, age, lifestyle etc.
    Begin by adding a surplus of 500 calories.
    Protein is your friend, 2.2g of protein for every kg of bodyweight will give your body adequate fuel to build muscle. Practise good sleep hygiene, when your body rests it repairs.

    Personal I find the sleep element the hardest because life and two young children often get in the way.

  18. Check your tdee with a calculator (google). Add 200-250 calories over your maintenance amount and keep pumping iron. Progressive overload and big compound exercises would be a focus if I was in your position. I don’t like to spend 3 hours in the gym messing around with random isolation exercises. Deadlift, overhead press, squat, pull up, bent over row, lunges and so on.

    Everyone is different but what often works is a push, pull, legs, rest routine. Go as often as you can afford both in time and mental energy. If you burn out your will to go to the gym that’s worse than just going less and being consistent.

    Eat lots of protein, 100 grams a day is a good start, get pesty with the numbers if you want to learn more. Check your tdee regularly, especially in the first months, you’re going to gain beef and adjust those calories often to keep up.

    You’re in such a prime position to have a fantastic aesthetic body, enjoy it!

  20. Read this https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/a-skinny-guys-guide-to-building-muscle-and-bulking-up/

    I put 15kg on in 9 months ish following this. The mega protein shake helps pack the calories you need in. You have to eat a lot, you’ll be full 24/7. I did put fat on as well as muscle but not too much and I feel and look way better than before. Working on getting lean now before training for long term lean muscle building. Good luck

    Just realised I didn’t answer your question but hope it helps anyway. People seem to have no chill calling men skinny, happened to me all the time and always got me down

  21. I’m 6’2 and always been super skinny, for the last few years I’ve been going to the gym 4-5 times a week before work. My nutrition used to be horrendous, shit like super noodles were a staple and they do nothing for you, I played a lot of football too so I was easily burning through. Tom Hardy in Bronson was what I wanted to look like.

    I don’t track my calories, as I’m not trying to be a bodybuilder but I eat porridge/granola on a morning with a protein shake, for lunch I bulk make like a spag bol, chilli or chicken curry so I’m getting protein and carbs in, I use ghee and butter for some fats and then my tea can usually be pretty much anything.

    I was always around middle of 10 stone but now I’m about 13 and a half stone. Carrying a small amount of fat because my work is very sedentary but if I wanted to I could either do some cardio or lessen my calorie intake but I’m all good for now. Your issue is definitely your diet but work incrementally and keep a note of it so over time you can see what’s worth eating if you over do it and need to cut food out but it’s a gradual process and you can get there eventually.

  23. Thinking you eat more calories than you do. As an ex skinny guy, you need to count your calories at least roughly.

    Also drink this shake on top of you regular meals and you will bulk easily.

    * Milk.
    * Peanut Butter.
    * Greek Yogurt.
    * 1x Banana.
    * 1-2 tea spoons of Olive Oil.
    * Chocolate Protein Powder.

    It’s going to be around 800-1000 calories and tastes like a chocolate milkshake and you can just down it then along side other meals you should be getting enough calories to start seeing growth, once you stop seeing growth you then need to add more calories and look at your other meals.

    Also come join me and others in /r/gainit

    Personally I went from 130lb or so to 180lb and most of it was thanks to that shake alongside my normal meals and lifting weights.

  25. I think the main struggles for any guy will simply be patience, realistic expectations and also putting their own body image into perspective.

    A lot of young guys are very skinny and most will bulk up well in to their twenties.

    I am around 5’7″ and was about 8 stone and change when I was 18. Gradually, over the next 5 years or more, I went up to 10 stone.

    There are kids out there now who want to put on two stone of lean weight in 6 months and they go down the route of this ‘gym culture’ and jump on steroids whilst still feeling down on themselves.

    There is nothing wrong with being a bit skinny, work on gaining weight but just realise it will happen over years and not months.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like