Cannot gain weight

[johnbjohn1961]

I am a 49 year old male and everyone keeps saying i am to thin, i am 11 stones and 9 pounds in weight ,i would like to look more weighty but no matter what i do i still cannot look or gain weight.
I do not do a lot of exercise and i eat quite a lot of rubbish food for example in a day i will have 2 scotch pies, 2 cream pancakes, 2 cream doughnuts a main course at night and 2 - 4 bars of chocolate. can someone tell me why i do not put weight on?

[237SJ]

You`re eating all the wrong stuff. Try a protein rich diet, not a high sugar diet. You could build muscle by the right sort of exercise too. By the way, I`ve got 11 lbs you could have.

[boxtops]

You're not eating the right stuff. It's possible to eat rubbish and not put on weight - you'd be better off eating more nourishing food (and fruit and veg) to tone your body. What you are eating at the moment is putting you on the rocky road for cholesterol problems before too long. How tall are you? 11.9 is not a bad weight for a bloke, same as my OH.

[SmithyLad]

Your diet is terrible for a start mate. 80% of any successfull training is down to diet!
I'd suggest a starting strength routine (google search Bill Starr 5x5)
Counting calories isn't as hard as many may think, keep track of your intake at myfitnesspal.com
The key is consistency.
To slowly "bulk" you need to find your average maintenance calorie level, i'm fairly active, and my maintenance level is around 2700, I aim for approximately 500 calories over this for the first month when bulking starts, adding another 500 every 2 weeks there after (never exceding 4500)
Some good bulking foods are Oats, Peanut butter, Wholemeal bread, Olive oil, Pasta, Jacket potato's.
Remember though, bulking isn't an excuse to get fat, you need to bust your ass in the gym too!

[SmithyLad]

By the way, 237SJ's info is misleading, you only need 200g of protein each day for successfull muscle growth and recovery, It's high carbohydrates you should concentrate on, aiming for a max of 120g fat E/D

[237SJ]

I stand corrected! I only ever need to lose weight, never to put it on :-)

[SmithyLad]

lol sorry 23, i read that back to myself and sounded like i was being a D**K to you, i can assure you that wasn't the case :)

[JonnyBoy12]

Some of us on here have some weight you could have for free.

[Sqad]

Look at it this way.

You are nearly 50 years of age, you eat "rubbish" and you haven't put on weight and feel well in yourself.

I will assume here that you have had a medical and your routine blood tests for thyroid hormones , blood sugar and cholesterol are all normal.

You are NEVER going to put on weight, whatever physico-chemical equations that involve fat, carbohydrates and protein as it would appear that your weight is genetically determined after half a century of living.

Sorry........your weight is YOU, so accept it.

[mike11111]

You haven't given your height. I am your weight and have never been called thin but I'm only 5' 7''.

[rowanwitch]

what shape are the people saying you are too thin....bet they are not perfect annd may just be a little on the plump side of normal... if you are healthy revel in your magic metabolism eat a healthier diet though it would be a shame to have everything going well and peg out with a heart attack or stroke...

[johnk]

What is your height? I am 5' 6'' and 10 st. My wife thinks I'm too skinny but I have 16% fat which is in the healthy range for my age. Don't worry about it but try to move slowly to better eating

[Velvetee]

Also your body type plays a big part too. Perhaps you are a true Ectomorph.

[johnk]

What's and ectomorph?

[SmithyLad]

Ecto's have a slender build and high metabolism and generally struggle to gain weight. You can't distinguish between being an ecto, meso, or endo without atleast some training / good diet though. One of my gym buddies always considered himself ecto, until he nailed his diet and got into a solid routine, weight built up massively, but unfortunately, so did fat gains... endo.. lol