Motivation problems

[casualbb]

It seems like every time I make progress, something happens to reverse it.

I've been losing and re-gaining the same 10 pounds for around a year now, and it's fucking frustrating.

For instance, I hit a new high bodyweight of 170 pounds at the end of the fall semester. When I went to start up again in the spring, I weighed myself and found I'd lost 11 pounds. Oh. My. God.

College is NOT compatible with the kind of eating I need to do to convince my stupid inferno metabolism to actually keep part of my intake. At mid 160's I've found I need to eat 3700-4000 calories a day to gain anything more than water weight.

Even if I had the proper food available to me (which I don't because of my terrible cafeteria), it feels terrible to force-feed myself to such a degree.

I've actually considered writing off the school year as a time to make gains and focus solely on the summer, when I can actually prepare food.

To people in school: what do you do? How do you make progress?

 

[thefren]

It's tough man, I feel you. Sometimes I loose track of time easily between school and work and can't get my meals right. But somehow I always pull 4500-5000 calories and 320+protein a day. I also found that eating less than 3500 cals won't cut it for me, my body will go through them quickly. Also, I always make my own food because my cafeteria only has salads, bagels and sandwiches. I pack'em all in and take them to school with my gallon of water. Sometimes it's crazy but you just gotta prepare your food and shove it even if you're not hungry. Friends ask me how can I eat so much, and I tell them I just have to. But when I jump on the scale every week and see weightgain, that motivates me to continue eating more. i hope this helps for motivations man. g-luck.

 

[WalkingBeast]

It can be real tough sometimes. Ive been plateaud for a while myself. Youve got plenty of time though, think to the future when youll have food readily available and more time to train.

 

[whatchutalkinboutwillis]

when no food is available, only thing left is supplements and more supplements.....

not much else i can think of except taking time off school like you said.

how old are you ? your metab will slow when you get older also.

 

[casualbb]

I'm 20... still got that kid metabolism going. I'm sure I could cut like a biatch though.

 

[Debaser]

Maybe you should focus on a regular size and strength routine. That way you'll have more of a consistant indicator of progress (all your lifts are going up, your weight is going up, they're going down or staying the same you're not gaining). All that will matter is the weight on the bar. Hell that's almost all I ever do, and it's working for me.

I know this is blasphemy to you, but maybe you should buck science for a bit. Eat lots of food, whenever you can, do only basic compound lifts (maybe try the 5x5 routine I just listed?) and I wouldn't be surprised if you DOUBLED your numbers in all your lifts within a year. As well as adding at least 25 lbs to your frame. I love science as well, and I use much of it as well as logic to support my training ideas, but I believe that focusing on getting stronger truly is the key to being big in the long term. You may say that you won't gain as fast while not training 3 times a week fullbody, but hell man, to be honest you aren't gaining AT ALL. Maybe it's better to have sustained progress. If you spend the next few years doing what I'm saying here I have no doubt that people will hardly recognize you after that time.

You just can't be lazy about it. I go to school full time and I work full time. I eat between certain breaks at school, and at work I eat right before and have a 1/2 gallon milk jug that I just dump protein and olive oil into and shake it up and sip throughout the night.

I've been guilty of laziness too, don't get me wrong, but you know what motivates me? Seeing the cocky guys in the gym that throw weight around, are pretty big but aren't even that strong, and just showboat around. One day I'll be the squatting 500 lbs and they'll be thinking "god he must be on much larger dosages than me." And the look on their faces when they ask what I do for my shoulders and I tell them "overhead presses" as they wonder how the "other heads" of my deltoid got big from "just presses."

 

[UA_Iron]

This is a tough one. I am in college right now living in the dorms and I have seen some good gains this year. I have only eaten at my school's "cafeteria" about 3 times this whole semester, and the rest of the time I have been living out of my dorm.

What you need is a refrigerator - they gave us one, but its too small, I smuggled my own in. I go through about 3 gallons of milk a week, a jar or two of ANPB. I eat consistantly every 2-3hours and it really helps being able to fend off all the other crap people have laying around IE. pizza, anything dominoes, etc. Canned chicken, fruit, whey protein, cottage cheese, my Ultra Flax cereal, some protein bars (for the days where I have a consistant 2 hours of classes), GEORGE FORMAN GRILL.

I cook chicken almost everyday, and it becomes quite fast when you get used to it. Another thing useful is a frying pan to cook up 5-6 eggs with some olive oil.

All and all I get about 300g of protein a day, and the calories are mainly clean.


Its weird that you say you have trouble putting on weight eating at the school's cafeteria everyday. I went from a low of 165(broken thumb) to 180 last year eating at my cafeteria everyday - I just used to load up and eat whatever the hell I wanted. That worked well to put on weight, but it added a lot of fat. Now I am at a solid 183 with significantly less bodyfat. The clean calories have really helped.

 

[bebasshome]

Some good mass gaining foods I've seen in the dorms:

ANPB
Milk
Cereal (great source of vitamins) and if you get the right kind (Kashi) a good source of Pro too!
Oatmeal (Nice, quick, and all you need is a microwave)

Grab up a nice small fridge, and you'll be good to go. Just use the cafeteria for your meats, and maybe some complex carbs (pasta, green veggies, etc)

Stay motivated bro. Keep eating, and eventually...gains will come.

Brian

 

[bebasshome]

Almost forgot....

PROTEIN SHAKES!

buy a $15 blender at Walmart, and you'll be good to go.



Brian

 

[Lord_Suston]

Shit you go to undergrad and are having a hard time to get big!!! I am in a doctorate program and still have time to train and grow just need to really look at what you are doing.
A) when do you workout, try early day like 10-12, after classes I am beat
B) do you have a partner whole is consistent
C) do you have good routine
D) caf food sucks, but there is plenty of it and a lot of tuna and salad, take tuperware and bring some to classes
E)progressive loading

most importantly it takes a real commitment, I go to school about 34-36 hours a week and study ever night from 2-6 hours. There is plenty of time if you plan right

 

[casualbb]

The training element is taken care of. It's just food. My cafeteria's food is about 70% carbs, 25% fat, 5% protein. Often that protein is in trace elements in the rest of the crap they serve, ie. oftentimes no meat dishes.

For instance, breakfast: They have scrambled eggs, pancakes or french toast, and boiled eggs. What I usually do is have 2 pancakes, a bunch of scrambled eggs, and as many egg whites as I can stomach (usually about 4). Now that's like 1200 calories, but almost half of it is from fat (blech).

Lunch I usually have to resort to eating coldcuts straight up for a source of protein.

I'm just feeling apathetic in general, maybe I need to deal with that.

 

[coolcolj]

more McDonalds required

 

[guldukat]

I'm just feeling apathetic in general, maybe I need to deal with that.

You said a mouthful right there. (I'm about to do the same so be forewarned.)

I think this is probably the crux of the matter. Once you take care of it, everything else should fall into place...you can't train or eat very well when you're heart simply ain't in the game, after all.

How to address it, exactly, I'm unsure. I can say that one of my good friends experienced something similar, and he decided to see his family doctor about it.

He'd reached a point at which he was blase by everyday things, even losing interest in sex (all the more remarkable given his very good-looking wife of 2 yrs.). His hobbies gave him no satisfaction; he abandoned them altogether. I didn't talk to him much at all for weeks on end, but when I did, it sounded as if his self-confidence couldn't fill a thimble.

I think the fact that he was under a lot of stress (marriage, paying bills, working as a physical therapist, etc.) for years on end simply created a chemical imbalance in his brain, and he wound up depressed. His "perfect melancholy" personality type let things slowly wear him down more than some other people might be affected.

He finally went to his family doc. The doc gave him a shot of test and a script for the anti-depressant Lexapro.

Placebo or not, within 2 weeks he was more like himself. Now, several months after starting Lexapro, you'd never know he'd been almost crippled by apathy, that months ago he shrugged of sex with a hot woman with "yeah, whatever"!!!!!

In my opinion, Lexapro's the best anti-depressant on the market. Others have too many side-effects.

Paxil is at LEAST as addictive as heroin, something you won't hear too often in the press (and I don't care what a lazy MD says. They can verify that by taking the thing for six months, then suddenly stop. If they don't shoot themselves in the head from the agony, they'd live to agree with me). Its sexual side FX are also well-known. Prozac tends to jack people up too much, and I've not heard much good about Wellbutrin et al.

I think you should ask your doctor about it. MDs usually prefer certain drugs more than others, but you're a smart cookie: argue with them about their preferences, and get a second opinion if you need to.

I honestly believe it'd benefit you, bro. I remember what it was like to be 20 and in school...it was only 5-6 years ago Classes are tough enough, but when you throw in relationships (especially the ones that go sour), being away from home, etc., etc., it CAN take its toll.

At the very least, telling a doc at the infirmary about some of this couldn't hurt, right?

You might think I've made too much of too little, but when I hear "apathetic in general" I can't shrug it off too easily.

-Sean

 

[casualbb]

Thanks, Sean, I appreciate the concern. Actually I have a lot of the telltale signs of depression: extreme apathy, excessive sleeping, low sex drive.

I'm gonna go to my school's medical center tomorrow. This would certainly explain a lot of things.

 

[majutsu]

CasualBB you certainly seem like a very big man in this thread! A man who can face his shit is a big man indeed. With that spirit, you will surely grow.