gaining weight while keeping tone

Hello,

First of all, the basic information. I'm 5'9", male and 28 years old.

A couple of years ago, when I was living with my father, I weighed about 150 pounds. I worked out, light dumbbells and cardio, three - four times a week, and ate whatever was around, usually large meals (my dad's an amazing cook, and he loves to feed people). My weight was fine, but my muscle tone, particularly around the stomach area, was not what I wanted it to be.

After moving out, and living on a graduate student budget, I dropped to 140 pounds. I've been working out with much heavier weights and better cardio equipment, still three to four times a week, and my definition has seemed much better, but many people have made comments that I "look thin." I thought that the weight loss just helped with the visible toning and in the mirror it all looks fine, better than before. But today I saw a couple of pictures and I looked scrawny, extremely thin, disturbingly so.

My question is, how can I gain more weight but maintain a decent level of muscle tone at the same time, without spending too much money on supplements and other such things?
Are there specific foods I should be eating to gain mass (I eat very little fat these days, seldom any diary or meat other than chicken), or how should I change my workout habits to gain weight without losing definition?

Any help would be great.
Thanks.
 
i'm no expert, so maybe somebody else here can answer your question better.

but i do know that gaining muscle mass requires protein (nuts and i believe oatmeal too). in your situation i would continue working out regularly, watch calorie consumption, and consume A LOT of protein to make up for the lack of calories. i'm no 100% on the effectiveness of this. most people bulk up then cut to tone themselves, but if this works like i think it should then you could posibly gain at least some mass while staying lean.

once again i am not an expert by any means so if somebody knows a better way of going about it please share because i'd like to know too.
 
You're going to have to increase your calorie intake if you want to gain some weight. Theres no way around that. While you should be eating a lot of protein, you should also eat a moderate amount of carbs and some fat. Because you are lifting heavy, your body will build muscle. You may put on some fat, but your gains will be mostly muscle as long as you are eating properly.

Read the Nutrion 101 sticky in the nutrition forum for more information about how much you should be eating.
 
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