somethin' new

as most of you know, i've spent a lot of time trying to gain weight. i've always been a skinny guy and never weighed more than 154 lbs (i'm 5-9). i've always kind of gone in spurts of working out and not working out, mostly when things like time and money get in my way, therefore i've gone from being skinny to being slightly less skinny over the years. one thing i've realized is that a lot of people don't understand what it's like to NOT be able to gain weight. anytime i talk to someone about how i eat and how i workout, they kind of laugh about it and are shocked at how hard it is for me to gain. basically, they think i'm weird. ok, i am weird, but not because i want to gain weight.

there are a lot of skinny people that wish they weighed more, whether they admit to it or not and it's completely normal. being underweight can actually be unhealthy, just like being overweight can be (not that i consider myself to be underweight at the moment). and the positive effects of losing weight for a person are the same for a person who wants to gain. people who've lost weight feel healthier, fit into their clothes better, and just feel more confident in general. it's the same for me.

so what's the point of all this? well, i'm gettin' back on the routine after having taken some time off and i'm going to use this blog to track some of the progress. i know it's probably not going to make for very interesting reading, so i'll still continue writing about all the other random things i chose to write about. however, i'm also going to use this blog to hold myself accountable for my workouts and eating to help keep myself motivated. and if hearing about my workout and diet inspires others, that's cool too.

right now, i weigh 143 lbs. my goal is to reach 160 by the end of the semester. that gives me 106 days or about 15 weeks to gain 17 lbs. so what's my plan to accomplish this?

basically, i'm going to eat everything in sight and workout 3-4 times a week. more specifically, though, i'll be drinking about 3 protein shakes a day and eating 3 real meals a day that are high in protein. i'll need to get about 4000 calories a day to start and increase that as i get bigger. the workout routine consists of heavy lifting and low reps. my workouts shouldn't take longer than an hour, although they may go slightly over towards the end as i add more exercises. i won't bore you with the details of the diet and the workout, but if you're extremely curious, i'll give you the links for both.

the workout
the diet

i've used these programs before and they have worked well for me. i'm not exactly sure how i'm going to use the blog to keep track of my progress, so i'll just play that by ear. at the very least, i'll leave weekly updates about how much i've gained.

well, that's about it for now. wish me luck!

love,
james (all 143 lbs of me)