U.S. Army and weight gain?

[Enker]

I would say to eat tasty foods, as they are the ones that make you gain weight, followed by a nice afternoon swim for muscles, but that hasn't helped me out that much...

[Fender16]

Works for a lot of people it seems.

[Xasthur]

A friend and I are both working out at the moment and we have very different body types.

My body has taken to a few years of smoking, drinking beer regularly and eating rubbish far too often like most 20 year old people do.... I put on a few kgs. Not a lot... I'm not a fat lolloping sea cow or anything, I'm 6'0 and 182 pounds. I just need to burn 5kgs or so to get back to being in shape. I want to put some more muscle into that as well. I don't care if my actual weight goes up, as long as it's muscle replacing fat.

He is the opposite. The same diet has seen him skinny as always, no fat on him at all. He can eat what ever the hell he wants with no result what so ever.

He has to work really, really hard to eat everything he needs to whilst doing heavy weights just to put on a single kilo.

You should talk to a dietitian to gain the weight healthily and in a way that you won't just burn off.

You need to eat 6 meals a day, loads of protein and carbs and all sorts of stuff. Don't just shovel fat into your face, that won't help.

When you build muscle your body will probably start burning more calories because having muscle burns more calories even at rest.

You'll need to do weights and eat a lot of the right food.

I'm not qualified to give you a sure-fire solution, just what worked for my friend who sounds similar to you. He has had some good results in weight and muscle gain. Do yourself a favour and spend some money on a dietitian and some weights that you can do at home.

I'm setting up a gym in my garage and so far it has been fantastic. I've got a bad knee, so I can't run any more than a couple of kilometers before I end up in pain for the rest of the week, so I've got a bike in there, I've got a rowing machine coming from a family friend and I've got a weights bench. Get the stereo going with some heavy metal and I've got my own gym set up. Run upstairs, do some more free weights on the carpet, grab a cold shower and go to work.

It's only been a few weeks and I'm already seeing massive results in both fat and muscle.

[Scotch]

Some of this is really bad advice. <g> Other stuff is decent.

Don't overdo it on the protein (you can). Make sure you're drinking lots of water when you do mass up your protein intake. 40-60g protein per meal is not bad if you're well hydrated and active. Look at what you're eating. You want useful calories. Not empty ones. For your weight and desired weight gain in that time, probably something like 3k calories a day. Eat six times a day, that's 3 meals and 3 snacks in between. This keeps your metabolism high and your body out of starvation mode. Which means you're burning up fat instead of storing it. The rest of the nutrients are going towards muscle repair.

The only way you will gain mass is to break down your muscles through exercise.
They'll repair themselves bigger and stronger than they were. Which means you'll weigh more. Muscle weights more than fat.
It also makes you stronger and more fit. To really gain mass you'll need to lift weights. But don't ignore the simple body weight exercises like pull ups, push ups, and crunches, that will strengthen your core. I wouldn't even start lifting curls until you can do 10 pull ups.

Edit: And get your 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Otherwise you can eat all you want, and work out like Ahhhnold, and it's all for waste.

[FYB]

You must be a stick; 115lbs? i hope its pure muscle. I weigh near 180lbs and its not pure muscle, maybe 9 - 16lbs loss (of fat) and ill look like someone put steroids into me. I would recommend the 4 following sports:

Football (Its a good physical sport and it requires you to eat protein for a strong enduring body.)
Volleyball (Not just a girls sport, its also a guys sport and it helps you build muscle in both the upper and bottom parts of the body.)
Soccer (It will definitely burn your fat to hell. Helps build stronger legs so you can stride for a longer period of time to a farther distance.)
Olympic wrestling (I'm in the sport and it is painful from time to time but you get your whole body moving and stretching while putting on GOOD weight.)

Also, tons of protein and you'll be about 160 - 190lbs of beautiful muscle.

-FYB

[JunkyII]

Did MEPS say they won't accept you unless you gain the weight?  I've never heard of them rejecting someone for being underweight.  

They are these days due to the number of fall outs in basic training, but honestly I was alittle underwieght too when i joined, I gained 20 pounds throughout basic in muscle though (400 push ups after training will do this) Selino congrats on joining the Army, I joined about 8 months ago and im loving it. Here are some suggestions for you in your upcoming trials. Start exercising now, do push-ups but make sure you do them properly or else your not gunna better yourself. Run about 4-7 miles a week and you will be better then 90% of your company. You seem tall so rucking should be pretty easy for you just know its gunna suck and you just got to do it. If you want to practice for rucking just pack some 2 liters up with sand and put them in your back pack and walk 5-6 miles at a faster pace. Otherthen that just stay motivated with it and your time is gunna fly by, except recovery which is cleaning at the end of basic, dont look forward to it.

BTW what MOS are you planning on going into, 11B is the way to be but if you play this game I suggest you look at 15P if you dont have anything that will get you disqualified for a top secret clearance, its a Avation Operations Specialist, air traffic controller for Army bases.

 :saluteJunkyII
Pvt Collard

[RTHolmes]

i need to gain 14lbs, before, well, was hoping before may. I am taking a Strength-training class in gym and i go to PT at the recruiting station. Some of u guys might not think thats much but for me its a ton. I heard that if i get alot of protien it'll help?

make sure you hit the protein window too - after hard exercise is about the only time muscles absorb amino acids in any quantity, so make sure you eat your main protein (lean meat pref) within an hour of training. faster recovery for muscle cells = more muscle mass carbs provide the energy you need for training, so meals (several hours) before training should be carb based.

best tip - get friendly with one of these:

and combine it with weights sessions geared towards strength and endurance rather than cosmetics.

[angels10]

 Ive been in the construction industry for 15 years 6 ft tall weighed 180, 15 years ago. Now 5' 11'' 350 lbs.
 Simple get a job in construction Eat once a day only at gas stations, fast food, and doughnut shops you'll pack it on in no time flat.
   
  Found out if you only eat one time a day or only every other day your body thinks its starving so it stores as much of the food as it can as fat for the starvation periods when it isn't really necessary to do so.   
 
 This happened at the end of WW11 when the prison camps were found. The hospital staff scheduler forgot to feed one of the wards every other day for a period of two weeks. These patients gained more weight than any other patients in the hospital.

[indy007]

Hey guys thanks for the information, I am gonna start trying that stuff! I really appreciate it!!

i'll let you know how it goes by the time may comes. <S>!!!!

Take a crash course in Judo, Kickboxing, or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while you're at it. Technique > size, and a lot of the combatitives you're going to train take elements directly from those arts.

[Belial]

24 beers a day keeps the muscle tone away, and pizza at 2 A.M.   Actually this is terrible advice you'll just end up looking like shawk.

[Selino631]

They are these days due to the number of fall outs in basic training, but honestly I was alittle underwieght too when i joined, I gained 20 pounds throughout basic in muscle though (400 push ups after training will do this) Selino congrats on joining the Army, I joined about 8 months ago and im loving it. Here are some suggestions for you in your upcoming trials. Start exercising now, do push-ups but make sure you do them properly or else your not gunna better yourself. Run about 4-7 miles a week and you will be better then 90% of your company. You seem tall so rucking should be pretty easy for you just know its gunna suck and you just got to do it. If you want to practice for rucking just pack some 2 liters up with sand and put them in your back pack and walk 5-6 miles at a faster pace. Otherthen that just stay motivated with it and your time is gunna fly by, except recovery which is cleaning at the end of basic, dont look forward to it.

BTW what MOS are you planning on going into, 11B is the way to be but if you play this game I suggest you look at 15P if you dont have anything that will get you disqualified for a top secret clearance, its a Avation Operations Specialist, air traffic controller for Army bases.

 :saluteJunkyII
Pvt Collard

Thanks for the advice, I do go to PT at the army recruiting station every tuesday and thursday, I am also in a strength training class in school. as for MOS i am trying to decide between 11B and 19D Cavalry Scout.

[JunkyII]

Thanks for the advice, I do go to PT at the army recruiting station every tuesday and thursday, I am also in a strength training class in school. as for MOS i am trying to decide between 11B and 19D Cavalry Scout.

Thats what im talkin about, bot great MOSs but you got to know theres really only 2 jobs in the Army and any infantrymen will tell you this, they are Infantry and support, everyone else just supports infantry

Queen of Battle! Follow Me!

[Bosco123]

Thanks for the advice, I do go to PT at the army recruiting station every tuesday and thursday, I am also in a strength training class in school. as for MOS i am trying to decide between 11B and 19D Cavalry Scout.

IDK if any of you guys know the awards for ROTC, like I said I can't do anything until I'm 17. But I was the only kid, in our entire battalion, to recieve the presidential physical fitness award. Realy what it is is: 1 mile run, Shuttle run, Sit and Reach, Curl Ups and pull ups. I recived 85% in all area of the challenge, and I now I get the award.
I'm no slouch when it comes to fitness. I am in shape and will be for a long time coming.

[Dace]

I remember when I had your problem.  I wish I had it again.  The best weight gain plan is to get old and lazy.

  Ain't that the truth.

[JunkyII]

IDK if any of you guys know the awards for ROTC, like I said I can't do anything until I'm 17. But I was the only kid, in our entire battalion, to recieve the presidential physical fitness award. Realy what it is is: 1 mile run, Shuttle run, Sit and Reach, Curl Ups and pull ups. I recived 85% in all area of the challenge, and I now I get the award.
I'm no slouch when it comes to fitness. I am in shape and will be for a long time coming.

Im not sure about this award but the Amry physical fitness medal is given to all those who score above a 90 in each event, 2 mile run, 2 mins of push ups and 2 minutes of situps. But stop trying to brag on someones thread, besides your ROTC drill privates arent that good at grading they just want the unit to look good on paper, this is something that happens all of the military