Very frustrating

[TheAugustKid]

So I decided that I wanted to get up to 150lbs after awhile of maintaining at 140. So this whole week I started back up on taking whey protein and eating as much as I could. Anyway, to make it short, I weighed myself this morning just to see if I had any progress and I weighed 139.8 naked. So I didn't do anything at all. Now I don't think I'm being impatient. If it was 140.5 or something I would understand and think, okay it's gonna take awhile. But technically I just lost .2 pounds after eating all week. I might as well not have done anything. Here is a sample of what I ate yesterday, am I still not eating enough? I always strive for at least my bodyweight in protein, I don't worry about the calories too much. Usually they are around where they should be.

This is what my meals have been like all week


Morning
1 scoop whey protein

1 tuna fish sandwich

2 hours later
TV dinner Chicken fettucini alfredo-800 calories, 36 grams of protein(not the best food in the world but it was all we had)

Glass of milk

Few hours later
2 hot dogs

few hours later
homemade hamburger with a glass of milk

few hours before bed
6 pieces of turkey- about 9 grams of protein

1 scoop of whey protein


So I know I'm not eating the cleanest food in the world. I can only eat what we have at the house. But the day equaled about 170 grams or so of protein. Is that not enough? Do you think it's harder for me to gain now because I had already gained about 20 pounds?

And also I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately. I still get a decent amount, around 5-7 hours probably a night. Could that have any effect on weight gain?

[mjh]

this isn't really that much food. How many calories? I doubt it goes very far past 3000, if it makes it there at all.

[americanadian]

More milk. Try 2% to keep the fat content down. And carbs. Not a whole lot there.

[Love_Deadlifts]

Don't worry too much about eating clean if your goal is to gain 10 lbs. Stuff your face, drink a glass of milk with every meal. That should up your kcals by about 1000.

[TheAugustKid]

Well I would need anywhere from 2200 to 2500 to gain weight at 140 according to the 16-18 times bodyweight rule. And I had 1960 not including the glasses of milk, the hamburger, or the tuna fish sandwich. Which I'm sure will put me exactly where I need to be. I'm eating more than I ate last time when I gained weight though. I don't know why it won't work now. I can try to eat more, but it gets hard. I can start drinking more milk. Unfortunately it was the one time my dad forgot to get milk at the store. Oh well, I can drink some at my girlfriends house.


Does anyone think it's because of the lack of sleep?

[americanadian]

Do you have more muscle than last time? That can cause issue with weight gain too. It burns more calories so you'd need to eat even more to get the same effect.

[TheAugustKid]

Oh yes definitely. I didn't even think about that... Damnit, better start eating more.

[Love_Deadlifts]

Oh yes definitely. I didn't even think about that... Damnit, better start eating more.

It's a vicious cycle man.

[Jcraig]

9/10 not gaining weight means you have to eat more.

[Thesecretaznman]

Since I've been trying to gain weight as well, I've slowly learned more and more that I'm never eating enough. Since I'm 120 pounds now, 1 gallon of whole milk happens to have enough calories for me to grow.

If you know what 8oz of liquid looks like, this means that I drink 8oz of milk every hour, or 24 oz every 3 hours.

I'd hope that those glasses of milk are at least 24 oz each. o_O

*EDIT*

Yes, lack of sleep could have an effect. Just try to get more sleep, and eliminate that variable. I'm working on this myself.

I understand that caloric needs is highly individual, but isn't the 16-18x bodyweight rule for loss-maintenance? I'm 120 pounds, and 120x20 means I need 2400 kcals to grow.

[Bramasole]

One week is not long enough to gauge the body's reaction to a new diet.
You also did not list any of your activities. Did you expend exactly the same amount of calories as the week before? That is always hard to tell unless you log your exercise too.

Set a calories target. Log your food into myfooddiary.com or fitday.com so you know EXACTLy how many calories you are getting.
Monitor for 2-4 weeks. You can then see if you need to make changes in calorie consumption if you are not gaining.
Those sites will also let you log your exercise so you can see how much EXTRA you have to eat just to compensate for the calories expended from exercise you did.

[sethcollins]

Also I would note to not weigh yourself in the mornings. My girlfriend and I both notice our weights fluctuate during the day, and we're always the lightest when we first wake up.

I am trying to gain a little weight too and I noticed that when I started eating higher quality food that are more healthy for me I started to gain weight. I started cooking my own foods and eating every 3 hrs. Since I started making all of my breakfast/lunch/dinners/snacks at home I have gained weight, felt better/more energized, and saved quite a bit of money. I know people say to stuff your face with whatever but I would try to get in a habit of eating tons of foods that are good for you.

[bluestreak]

Also I would note to not weigh yourself in the mornings. My girlfriend and I both notice our weights fluctuate during the day, and we're always the lightest when we first wake up.

No, you should weight yourself in the morning. Depending on what you eat, drink, what you do during the day, if you're dressed, etc your weight will vary quite a bit. Better to do it in the morning. it will give you more consistent readings.

[TheAugustKid]

Yeah of course I'm weighing in the morning. I'm interested in how much my body weighs. Not how much it weighs with food and liquids and poop in it.

and I think i'll just drink more milk.

[oggynosh]

Yeah of course I'm weighing in the morning. I'm interested in how much my body weighs. Not how much it weighs with food and liquids and poop in it.

and I think i'll just drink more milk.

Exactly... but should you do it before you go to the bath and pee or after you go :p?..bc every morning when I wake up I have to go to the bath to pee, so without those oz your weight will vary a bit..:p