Newbie hardgainer seeks help!

[LameSaint]

Hi.

I'm a skinny hardgainer (5'10", 148lb, 19 years old), and completely new to weight-training. Actually I've tried training on and off for a couple of years, giving it a shot for a month and then giving up because I wasn't seeing /any/ results. Now I'm 100% determined to put on some weight, so I'm looking for help. I have a really hard time gaining weight, even though I always eat until my stomach is about to explode, four times a day usually. I have to admit I'm not really into vegetables, but I eat a lot of fruit, and I eat a lot of either pasta/meat or fibre-rich sandwiches with chicken/roast-beef for lunch (my options for lunch are very limitted), and for dinner I usually take pasta/rice and meat with a salad. For breakfast I always eat cereal (mostly Cheerios) and I usually eat that as in-between-meal if I feel peckish, or just before I go to bed.

I have a couple of questions:

1. I eat a lot, and I'm pretty sure I have a high metabolism. When I wake up in the morning, I'm always /really/ hungry. Isn't this a bad sign? Like the body doesn't have enough resources to build with? I'm not sure what to do about it, I try to eat a large bowl of cereal (Cheerios) just before I go to bed.

2. I'm not sure if I should use supplements. Since I always feel full and yet nothing seems to happen, should I try a weight-gainer..? The ones I've checked out include both whey protein and creatine, does that mean I shouldn't consider buying either of those seperately? I'm a college-student, so my budget is quite small. Is there one you could recommend?

Thanks!

 

[jonny100]

I'd say the main thing you need to consider is that so far you've only given your body 1 month of training without stopping. 1 month is enough to start noticing that your body is adapting to the training, but for most people it won't be long enough to see any obvious visible differences.

As well as eating a lot you also need to be drinking a lot of water - around the 3 litre mark if you can.

Also consider how much sleep you are getting. Your body needs a good 8 hours each night if it's going to recover properly.

Try spreading your meals over 6 or 7 times a day instead of 4. This way you won't have as much food to stomach each time so you can probably eat more.

It also depends WHAT you're eating as well as how much. You've said you eat a lot of meat and complex carbs, but what about something like cottage cheese for supper? That will help stop muscle breakdown during the night.

Are you really hitting the gym hard? And doing lots of compound lifts as opposed to isolation exercises?

All these things are factors. If you still find it hard to gain after all those things, weight gainers are quite good, yet also very expensive.