22/M, 5'10" and 120 lbs. Been trying to to gain lean muscle for 6 months and only put on 5 lbs. Am I doing something wrong?

[aeow]

I've been a fairly skinny guy my whole life and a vegetarian for the last four years. I'm working on going vegan now, though yogurt is still a staple of my diet (open to good, fast substitutes for breakfast!). Right now I'm struggling to put on some lean muscle.

Until about 6 months ago, I had never really put much thought into my diet or exercise. In February though, thanks to a new job with an adjacent gym, I began going to the gym and doing some running. When I started, I was just under 115 lbs and 4% body fat. On average, I'm spending about 3 hours in the gym doing endurance resistance training and running 30-40 km per week. I've definitely gotten stronger, but I'm a little dismayed that I've gained so little weight.

Am I doing something wrong, or is it normal for weight gain to be this slow-going? Is my progress "bottleneck" likely my diet, my exercise, or both? I put an example of an average day's meals below, and can put an average day at the gym if needed. Sorry if I've left out any important info-- I'm still new to the world of diet and exercise. Just let me know I've left something important out and I'll share it. Any feedback, tips, or resources are much appreciated!

Typical day's meals:

Breakfast:
* 1 cup of yogurt
* 1 tbsp peanut butter
* 1 cup granola

Lunch:
* Big peanut butter and banana sandwich on tasty, grain-filled bread
* 1-2 apples

Dinner:
* Big salad with ~150 grams of spinach, carrots, etc. and balsamic vinegar
* Curried chickpeas (probably around 100 grams chickpeas with coconut milk, tomatoes, onions, and other veggies if they're laying around)
* ~1/3 - 1/2 cup brown rice
* Probably a beer

 

[brielle]

@aeow If your goal is to be a competitive long distance runner, sure keep running. Otherwise, that's wayyyyy too much running for someone looking to gain mass. Replace with 2-3 days of hard rowing intervals and sports outside if you want to maintain a semblance of aerobic capacity.

1) Use this program for weight training Stronglifts 5x5, good for at least a year before you need to look for more advanced programming.

2) Add two more meals to what you are currently eating. At least. Eat 5-6 full meals per day. Timing around workouts is useful, I like to eat 1-1.5 hours before and immediately after.

3) Stop running so much.

 

[childofgod24]

@aeow It seems to me that for someone exercising to the extent that you do, you should be increasing your caloric intake.

 

[patrickmiller]

@aeow Gaining weight from lifting is actually a pretty easy formula. With an intense lifting program along with a clean high cal diet you can gain a few lbs of LMM/month

You need to learn to lift weights harder than you think possible. You also have to learn to eat more than you think possible. This includes eating past being full and when you are not hungry.

For diet what works well for me is daily fruit and veggy smoothies. Banana, kiwi, apple, mixed frozen berries, pineapple, mango juice, Acari juice, pomagranite juice, plant based milk, mixed greens (kale, spinach, chard), a medium sized carrot and a couple scoops of plant based protein powder. This fills a Blend-tek 96 oz blender almost to the top and is likely pushing 1000 cals.

Organic whole grain starches: potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans & rice, lentils, quinoa, whole grain breads, steel cut oats are all great for you and cheap. I also do a lot of salads and veggies. Heated up frozen organic corn and frozen organic broccoli w some seasoning is an easy and cheap lunch snack. (Costco is your friend). A triple decker PB&J is 600 cals. Organic pasta and a simple homemade red sauce w some added olive oil can easily be made to be north of 1000 cals. So getting enough calories isn't difficult - consuming that much can be as you'll need to eat when you aren't hungry and past being full regularly to gain good weight.

So... If I were training you I'd say join a gym, learn to lift harder than you think possible (maximal intensity) with a variety of full rep lifts and eat AMAP clean food. It's that straightforward to gaining significant LMM.

 

[aeow]

@patrickmiller Thanks for the detailed response! I've been off of smoothies for a while (big move, didn't take my blender with me), but I'm planning picking up some protein powder and getting back into them. I've never bought/consumed protein powder before, but I read about www.truenutrition.com on this sub and plan on trying them out.

Sorry for the rookie questions, but what does AMAP clean food mean? Haven't seen that term before.

 

[patrickmiller]

@aeow AMAP = as much as possible.

Clean food = non processed, whole grain, lower oil, preferably organic

 

[obvioustroll]

@aeow If you're looking for powders, check out Vega and The Ultimate Meal

 

[jeddell]

@obvioustroll

If you're looking for powders, check out Vega and The Ultimate Meal

Vega is a bit overpriced. $64 for less than 30 servings.

 

[favord]

@aeow You eat very little for what you want to do. With all that running it is harder to put on muscle. Do you have problems eating more?

 

[aeow]

@favord I've also just followed my appetite, which I guess is just small by nature. On days when I go for long runs, I usually get hungrier and eat more, but honestly it never occurred to me to try to push myself past my normal eating habits and bump up my calorie intake (can you tell I'm new to the fitness scene?). It looks like that will be the next step for me though.

 

[favord]

@aeow IO suppose it's not just about eating more, a salad for dinner is never going to be that calorific compared to other dinners etc. Good luck!

 

[aeow]

@favord Thanks! Hopefully I'll have some progress to share here in a few months.

 

[dearyloop]

@aeow Good fast alternative to yogurt for breakfast:
1 whole wheat tortilla wrap; 2 tbsp almond butter; 2 tbsp chia seeds (taste great with nut butter); agave syrup for sweetness.
Wash it down with 1 cup original Silk soymilk.
This is my breakfast daily and it is vegan as fuck. Hope I could help!

 

[aeow]

@dearyloop Sounds great, thanks for the idea! I picked up the ingredients (well, everything I can find in my country) and I'm doing that for breakfast tomorrow.

 

[ochanacharles]

@aeow Putting on weight isn't rocket science. You just need to eat more calories than you burn, it's that simple. I can't be bothered to calculate the calories or macros in your example day, but at a glance it looks not even close to your TDEE let alone a surplus. It also looks like you're not getting enough protein. You do a lot of running and lifting so you'll have a fairly high TDEE. Calculate your own TDEE and eat at a surplus of that. As an example, 500kcal a day over someone's TDEE works out at about 1 pound weight gain per week.

I'm struggling to believe you were/are 4% bodyfat too, unless you're seriously ill.