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2004/02/08, 09:24 AM
As I mentioned on the "newbie" forum, I am a 43-year-old, 5'6" male who dropped his body weight from 252 pounds (May 13, 2002) to (at my lowest, May 20, 2003) 147, a 105 LB drop. My dotor, trainer *and* nutritionst all believed that I lost too much weight and should add some muscle mass. That is now happening, but WAY too fast! I am extremely skeptical that this huge gain (I now weigh 160 even), the gain going from December 17, 2003 to present could be muscle and not fat. I read about bodybuilders who complain that they can't gain five pounds in a YEAR, and here I've gained 15 pounds of muscle in a month???? I don't think so!! My profile (lose weight, sedentary male) states that I should be eating 2400 calories. Yet I'm gaining phenomenal weight after *raising* my calories to 2000!! (I raised from 1600 to 2000 around December 17.) Now I fully understand that this 400 calorie increase will indeed cause some gain, but this fast?? I work out for 1 hour with a trainer twice per week. I constantly walk or run but don't "count" it unless it's formal (e.g. doing a block of time on a treadmill at the gym), so, to be honest, I'm not that sedentary, but I'm no athlete, either.
My diet is fairly rigid and VERY clean. sample daily menu is cereal for breakfast (small servings of a combination of "Keto" lo-carb, Hi-Lo , 1/4 cup Can' Crunch PB cereal (for the fat, per a Men's Health recipe)and Fiber-One. For "milk", I use a Met-RX low carb protein RTD, so I'm getting about 58G protein, 5G fat, 62G carb at about 450 calories. Lunch is whatever my cafeteria serves, made very low fat (e.g chicken fajitas, hold the sour cream and cheese)--about 300 to 400 calories. Mid-meal, a protein bar (I like Tri-O-Plex. A lot of fat (10g), but I'm under orders to raise my fat anyway--360 calories). Mid-day, some vegetables (peppers, broccoli, carrots in small doses); dinner is often a dietary version of chicken parm (4 oz breast meat grilled on a whole wheat fat-free wrap with 1 oz low fat mozerella cheese and a tablespoon of tomato sauce--400 calories) and a salad (fat free Italian dressing, 1 teaspoon bacon bits are my only "extras" on the salad.) I stop eating by 8.
Supplements: Creatine (45 calories--"Trac" brand) ONLY on workout days, multivitamins and minerals, L-Carnitine (1 gram), Vitamin C (grand total about 3 grams), Secretagogue-One (45 calories) at bedtime. What am I doing wrong?
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2004/05/03, 10:02 PM
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Quoting from BimmerDan:
I stopped taking Tri-O-Plex after I had the same results and my wieght gain stopped.
I don't know why but it did.
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Tri-O-Plex came into my diet after the weight gain began. Actually, I begin to suspect that my weight gain *is* muscle--I just have to lose my fear of "going back"--my measurements, per my nutritionist and my trainer, show that 8 out of the 13 pounds gained are muscle (13% bodyfat says my nutritionist, I'd believe more like 17 or 18%, which is still OK at my age, but I'd like to do better). I begin to wonder whether or not my trainer is right--in order to drop bodyfat, I have to *grow*! But I think I'll do what I'm doing now: drop my calories to 1900 instead of 2000, and see what happens. It also turns out my thyroid level has dropped, so I may have to add more medication. Maybe that will knock out this wild gain. Thank you for your input.
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2004/05/15, 06:42 PM
I think you're right. My trainer told me to expect very fast results in the beginning since I'd lost so much muscle. I can't really keep a log because my trainer never has me doing the same thing twice. "Trick the body", he says. But something new has been added: My doctor decided to raise my thyroid medication on May 10 from 25mcg of Levoxyl to 50. I'm raising it slowly (25 1 day and 50 the next) because of side-effect concerns. Already my weight is dropping fast! My unclothed weight this morning was 156, a seven pound drop. I KNEW I couldn't be getting this bulky this fast! The next step is to drop my bodyfat. It's 19% on the impedence test, 13% on Futrex, 17% according to my trainer's impedence test, 18% on my home machine. I'll assume that the 19 is right. What scared me was my resting metabolism: despite all the exercise and proper eating, I've dropped from 1760 in July, 2003 to 1510 last week! Now I know why: my thyroid was acting up!
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Quoting from davisp:
Your situation sounds much the same as a lot of others who begin gaining muscle mass. The initial part of gaining is fast, but once you reach sizes of some of the bodybuilders you mentioned previously the muscle gain can become more difficult and require specific shocking techniques and change of diet to continue growth. Take advantage of this opportunity as the gaining of muscle mass will stop eventually and you will need to modify your routine in order to shock the muscles in to further growth. If you are not already doing so, keep a log of all your efforts and accomplishments with your routine and diet.
I went back to the gym in July 2003 at 135lbs. By September I weighed over 170lbs. My max weight has been 185lbs in November and currently I am at 172lbs maintaining.
Hope this was helpful and applies to you! Good luck with your program.
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