Mr. X..may I get some advice?

[Slyder190]

I think it's fair to see the mirror should be your first judge of things when trying to gain weight, and not the scale, as more weight obviously does not equal more muscle. I was wondering a few things...

First, do you agreee?

Second, if your weght does not go up after a month or so, should it then be safe to increase caloric intake? Seems like an obvious answer question, but it takes longer to find out if the training program your using is yielding gains than it does your diet.

And thirdly, would you recomend increasing EFA's instead of adding more carbs? I seperate carbs from fat and was thinking of adding more flax. I don't want to go too high in protein either, as I know the body can convert it to glucose.

Thanks.

 

[Mr.X]

I think it's fair to see the mirror should be your first judge of things when trying to gain weight, and not the scale, as more weight obviously does not equal more muscle. I was wondering a few things...

First, do you agreee?

You're right in a sense, the mirror is a good judge; however, the only problem with the mirror is the subjectivity that goes into the look. Let me expand on that; let's say you're looking in the mirror and you see yourself getting leaner and bigger, while in reality you shurnk and gained body-fat, you'd be surprised how many people have a subjective outlook problem (think about the guy with 30% bodyfat wearing a cut-off tank top in the gym and you'll see what I mean).

Thus, I usually recommend people start off their cycle with a WHOLE week of pre-cycle (pre-diet) measurements and bodyfat composition tests, from which you can judge later on if you have gained/lost/or went static.

Second, if your weght does not go up after a month or so, should it then be safe to increase caloric intake? Seems like an obvious answer question, but it takes longer to find out if the training program your using is yielding gains than it does your diet.

That depends on the situation: if you have clearly lost body-fat then you don't need to change the diet around, which would mean some muscle gain and some fat-loss at the same time (not usual if natural, but possible with a cycle). Overall, if you're not gaining after 4-5 weeks you probably need to increase caloric intake. Calories/Diet are all about custom fits, look at what is working and what is not and alter it to fit YOU .

And thirdly, would you recomend increasing EFA's instead of adding more carbs? I seperate carbs from fat and was thinking of adding more flax. I don't want to go too high in protein either, as I know the body can convert it to glucose.

People that are more sensitive to carbs should use fat-loads for caloric increases. I would add some MCT as well as UDOs choice, instead of just Flax. If you know SYL from MMS, he did a diet where he added about 10,000 calories PER day just with MCT oil

Mr.X

 

[Slyder190]

Thanks, I appreciate your help on the matter. I will use your advice.